Beach Trip

Hello everyone! I’m sure you can guess from the title of this post where we have been. We went with Dave and Jess to Jekyll Island GA for a week. We had so much fun. The girls had never been to the beach before and I have only been a few times. Some friends from our church recommended Jekyll Island and we loved it. It is not too crowded and has lots of fun things to do.

We took a trolley tour of some of the old houses. It was very interested. So many of the “rich and famous” lived in these homes.

We also rode a bicycle around the island.

This took most of one day but it was so much fun. We saw so many things we normally would not have seen.

We did a dolphin tour one day. Little Sam saw his first dolphin on his third bithday. Then the motion of the boat did him in. He had to take a short nap. We also celebrated my Julie’s 15th birthday while we were there. Amazing to me how fast they grow up.

On the island they call this driftwood beach. It is very pretty.

Saturday morning as we were leaving we made a last trip down to driftwood beach and guess what we saw-a dolphin! Amazing! It was just swimming around looking beautiful.

While we were there a tropical storm can through. It was AWESOME! We went down to the beach that evening before it came in and the waves were so pretty. The wind was whipping and the sound was like a roar. I LOVED it!!!! On Thursday, it rained something fierce so we went down to Jacksonville FL to the Museum of Science and History. It was a fun trip with lots of things to look at.

I guess I could go on and on about all the fun things we did but I don’t want to bore you all too much. It was a great week and we are very thankful to Dave and Jess for taking us along with them. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 10, 2013 5

Mostly Pictures

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I posted pictures of what it looks like here in yard. Today we worked on the gardens. Both gardens are planted. I am so happy. It has been a wet, cold spring here making it hard to get the gardens planted.

This one is just beans and corn.

Remember when I said Hubby was working on making a raised bed. Well, here it is and it is doing very well I think. We made another one today and planted herb seeds in it and another row of carrots. I think I like this raised bed gardening. Hoeing is so hard on my back.

Our rhubarb is doing nicely this year. I think it is time for some rhubarb dumplings, strawberry rhubarb jam, rhubarb pie,…….!!

This picture is looking at the back side of the house from the corner edge of the garden.

Irises.

A fern and hen and chicks. Thanks for the ferns, Jess! These hen and chicks belonged first to my grandmother, then to my mom and now to me. I love things like that. I found the metal thing up in the field above our home. I have no idea what it originally was but I think it makes a great container for them.

Our strawberries survived the winter and are blooming! Some already have small strawberries on them.

Lovage. It will get huge, over 6 ft. tall!

Clematis.

A nice place to relax. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 28, 2013 6

Picnic and a Surprise

Tuesday we went for a picnic with the Horn’s. We had a great time. It was our first picnic of the season with them.

The picnic spot was beautiful!

Fresh strawberries from North Carolina. It’s still too early here for them but these were delicious!

I came home today to find this lounge chair being made. I love it! Thanks Hubby. We have looked at this design for a while now and he said he thought today was a good day to build one. It is chilly here today and very windy. Our temperature is 50 degrees as I type. I think there is a freeze warning in effect for tonight. Wouldn’t you know it, we just got our plants in the ground this week. I certainly hope they are wrong. It has been a beautiful day though, just chilly. Beautiful sunshine and the air is so clean and clear. I do love days like this.

Have a great evening and God bless.

May 24, 2013 5

Mint Syrup

This has been a busy week for us. On Friday, the girls and I cut some mint to try a new recipe.

We wanted to make mint syrup. One cup water, one cup mint and one cup sugar. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat slightly, let simmer for 10 min. Turn off heat and let it cool to room temperature.

For a half gal of tea, we used 1 cup mint syrup and then filled up the half gallon with water. It is absolutely delicious!! I have been making mint tea for years and I definitely think this is the best.

After making the mint syrup, we all worked in the garden. We had to take down the old fence we had put up last year to keep the chickens out, pulled up the stakes and the tomato fence. Then we got the tiller out and started getting it tilled. We had high hopes of getting the plants in the ground but the rain was faster than we were. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow (or the next day). We have had rain all weekend.

Yesterday, we went to the Greensboro Science Center with Dave, Jess and kids. We had a great time!

So much to see and do!

Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting revival at church tonight so I guess I better be getting my crew ready to leave. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 19, 2013 1

Wedding

Hello everyone! Whew, what a busy weekend we have had. Fun, but busy. Our son, Chuck, was married yesterday. I couldn’t wait to get home today and check out this picture. I have wanted a picture of all of us together for a long time. I guess it took a wedding to make it happen. And just look, we’re all dressed up too!

After the reception, we played in the hotel pool for a while before bed. We had to do something to let the kids wind down after being still for so long. Sam amazed us all by sitting still and quiet beside his Grace the whole time the ceremony was going on.

We stopped on the way home and enjoyed a picnic. The weather was cool but it was still nice.

Most things are green here now.

We have definitely been cool though. We have freeze warnings for tonight and tomorrow night. Hopefully, though, when this little cool spell is over things will warm up for a while.

Little boys wishing it was warm enough that they could get in that water. Well, I better get busy. I have lots to get done. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 12, 2013 5

Busy

Hello everyone! We have finally moved out of the rain and cold and into sun and warmth. I am glad. I am definitely ready for warmer weather and sunshine. I have clothes on the line, windows open and enjoying the day. I just finished baking chocolate chip banana muffins. I have rolls rising for supper tonight so all this added together makes my home smell wonderful.

Well, just a short post to let everyone know what has been going on here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

May 10, 2013 2

Making Ugly Dolls

Yesterday was a fun day at church. All year, we had been doing something at church called “secret sister”. We each drawed a womans name and for the year that lady was our “secret sister”. We gave her small gifts, cards etc. Then yesterday we all got together and revealed who our sister sister was. We also had lots of food.

Then we did a craft. We made ugly dolls. I’m not sure why they are called that. I thought they turned out very pretty.

We are cold here. Our temperature is 42 degrees with wind chills in the 30’s. We have been cold, rainy and foggy all week. We have had to build a fire several days. Oh well,it won’t be long until we will be complaining about it being too hot.

I hope you all have a great Sunday and God bless.

May 5, 2013 3

Wednesday

I thought I would share this picture of Katie that Dave posted on facebook. She certainly is growing. Thanks Grace for helping me do this.

Things have been moving along rapidly here. Friday we went down to Jessica’s to fix a railing on her porch. Saturday, Jess and the kids came up to us for a visit. Dave is down to the wire on finishing his book. She thought he might get more done on it if they were out of the house. It was a really nice visit. It had been a while since they had been up.

Jess and I went in halves on a 50 lb bag of soft white wheat. This is totally different from what I am used to using. I have always used Prairie Gold wheat. Supposedly, soft white wheat is for things that use baking powder not yeast. I have had a hard time learning how to bake with it. I made chocolate chip cookies Saturday that were FLAT and I do mean flat. Anyway Daniel said they were delicious! Gotta love that boy!! So I think I have finally cured the problem. Because I freshly grind the wheat kernels, they are “fluffy”. I need to add 1/4 cup more flour for every 1 cup the recipe calls for. I did that this morning with some more cookies and they turned out fine. Next trial-pie crusts. Our rhubarb is up and I think there is enough to make a pie. I want to try this recipe http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/2013/04/theres-nothing-so-sweet-as.html

We are moving right along with school. I think we will be finished by the end of May if all goes as planned. We are looking forward to summer break this year. Lots of fun stuff going on.

Well, I guess that’s about all that’s going on here. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 1, 2013 5

Tuesday

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Seems like the week rushes by here and I haven’t made a post. School is going along. Maybe even finishing a little early. I have been watching ebay like a crazy woman getting all our books for next year. Our science book is on the way and that finishes up all we need. YEAH!

Our weather cooled off a bit over the weekend-redbud winter. When the redbuds are in full bloom it always cools off some. We have been having a fire but today has nice. Hubby has been working on putting the vinyl siding on the new room. I helped him some after school. There always seems to be so much to get done in the spring.

Friday, Dave and Jess took us all out to eat to celebrate mine and Dave’s birthday. We had planned on doing a cookout at their house but the weather was too bad. We ate at a really cool restuarant. I think the name was Hillbilly Hideaway (I could be wrong on the name but it was something like that). They serve you family style. BIG bowls and platters of food. 3 types of meat and tons of veggies. It was really good. Thanks, Dave and Jess. Of course, Jess couldn’t resist telling the waitresses it was our birthday celebration so they sang happy birthday to us. It was a lot of fun. One of the waitresses and I were talking. She has several grandkids. She said “I like to watch them one at a time. I can’t handle them all at once,they wear me out, drive me crazy”. Sam looked at me with big eyes and said, “MawMaw, are you crazy?” I hugged him and said, “Yes, Sam, I think I am!” I know I’m crazy for all them. My children and my grandchildren are so important to me. I can understand though what she was saying. They sure do have lots more energy than I do.

Well, I guess that’s about all that’s going on here. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

April 23, 2013 3

Hello!

I thought I would share with you all a few pictures. Things are really coming to life here in Floyd. This is a field not too far from our home. Look at how green it is!!!

Yesterday, we went to check on a job. We took a few pictures along the way.

I love goldfinch. These were certainly enjoying their feeder.

Today is a nice day here in Floyd. Temperature is 66 degrees. The sky is overcast though. Dandelions are popping up all over the place. I think it is getting close time to make some dandelion jelly.

I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

April 17, 2013 4