Snow and Ice

I thought I would share a few pictures with you all of what it looks like here this morning. We had some snow fall during the night and then the ice came. We have some wind and lots of trees are down because of the ice. So far, we still have power but I’m sure lots of people do not. We have water collected in buckets for just in case. When the power is out, our pump doesn’t work.

These two pictures were taken looking out from the dining room window.

We are snuggled in for the day, staying warm and having fun.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 26, 2012 5

A Ride Down The Parkway

Hello everyone! I thought I would share a few pictures from along our beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. It is lovely this time of year.

I have always loved this church sitting upon the hill. Saturday was a wood cutting day here. Chuck and his family came over to help. We brought down 2 huge trees. We got them all cut and brought home. We still have to split them though. It was a really fun day. Chuck’s girlfriend had never been part of wood cutting. (She’s a town girl). I think she had a good time though. The kids had lots of fun.

Today the girls and I went to Roanoke to pick up a few things. We went walking through the mall, which is something we don’t do very often. I stepped into Macy’s-my first time. You all remember that I have been looking for a hard anodized pot to use for cooking down my sauces. One like Mrs. Sally let me borrow this summer. Well, they had one on sale for 1/2 price!! Yeah, me!!! I was very happy. I very seldom come across deals like that. I certainly am glad I walked into that store.

Well, that’s about all that’s been happening here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

October 15, 2012 3

Apples

Monday, the girls and I went to the pastor’s home to pick apples.

He has about 10 trees (I think) and they all look like this one. We picked three 100 lb. feed sacks full. I am estimating each sack holds 1 and 1/2 bushel of apples. So that means we got close to 5 bushels of apples. At our local store, apples are selling for $20.00 a bushel. That means I have about $100.00 of apples sitting in my kitchen that were just gave to me. God is good!! They also gave us the last of their grapes-about 1 bushel. Yesterday, the girls and I juiced the grapes they gave us and did one batch of juice from our grapes. We also did a batch of apples in the juicer and tried a new recipe crockpot maple apple jam. It is very good. It reminds me of apple butter but has a distinctive maple taste.

We picked the last of our grapes today-about 1/2 bushel. We put them in the fridge for today. Maybe we will just eat on them for a while instead of juicing them. I hope to do more apples this evening but I’m not sure. We might have to wait until tomorrow to start on them. I am wanting to try a new recipe I saw for apple pie using honey instead of sugar. It looked really good.

Well, I guess that’s all that has been going on around here-just grapes and apples. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

September 5, 2012 8

Sunday

Hello everyone!! Yesterday was our annual horseshoe picnic, however, being how I am I forgot the camera. I did take pictures last year so if any of you haven’t saw where we do our horseshoe picnic, you can check out last year’s pictures here: https://merryheartcrafts.com/2011/06/26/horseshoe-picnic/

We had a great time yesterday, with lots of good food(of course). After eating we played horseshoes, had some pickin’ and grinnin’ (I did the grinnin’) and all around good fellowship. I think we are very blessed at our church. We have lots of fun together. Next Sunday, will be our annual picnic and baptizing at Gallimore Pond. We do not have a baptismal at our church. We baptize at a beautiful pond that is close to our church. And, of course, while we are there, we might as well eat. The next Sunday will be our annual Sunday School breakfast at Smart View Park, just about a mile from our house. We eat a wonderful breakfast and then have Sunday School. There’s just something about eating outdoors that I love. Every time we are having a church service out in the open like that, I feel so blessed to live in this country and so thankful to everyone who has sacrificed in one way or another so that we can freely worship where ever we choose. There is just something special about the sound of hymns as they float through the trees. We take so much for granted here in this country.

Okay, sorry about going on like that but it is how I feel. Tonight is our last study lesson on Titus. I think we are going to do Exodus next. Not sure though, we will decide tonight. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

July 22, 2012 3

Birthday and Cherries

Today we celebrated my Julie’s 14th birthday. My, my, how time has flown by. Seems like just the other day, my Lord was surprising me by giving her to me. God is SO good. We celebrated at Groundhog Mountain with hamburgers, hotdogs and chocolate cake. The Horn’s came with us and Dave, Jess and the kids met us on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Meadows of Dan. We had a wonderful day!!

Mrs. Vicki bringing trucks for the boys to play with. You will notice she has on a jacket. It was kinda chilly here this morning. 42 degrees when we got up. I think it is supposed to be about that chilly tonight too. It was a nice day though-definitely not too hot.

Daniel seems to be deep in thought.

Jess and Katie. Katie is staying warm in her blanket.

From the picnic area, we went on down the Parkway to Levering Orchard to pick cherries.

The trees were loaded with cherries.

Can you tell Sam loves cherries!

If you look closely in this picture, you will see a man in the top of the tree picking.

We all had so much fun. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than with family and best friends. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 2, 2012 7

Birds and Spring Cleaning

The other day when we went to work with Hubby, Grace got these pictures.

I think she did a really good job. Today was spring cleaning day at church. Every spring we set aside one Saturday to come and clean the church. Heavy duty cleaning. We had a great time and the church looks and smells really nice. We were hanging up the freshly washed curtains when I noticed how nice they smelled. I commented on it and was told they had been washed in the homemade lavender laundry soap that I made. How about that!

Here are a few random pictures taken today.

This picture is looking directly across the road from our church. See how green the trees are getting.

Grace cleaning the windows.

Steve cleaning the ramp.

Not sure what Ross is doing.

And they think we women talk a lot. Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 14, 2012 4

Hello Everyone!

I think it has been a long time since I made a post but things have been kinda busy here. Jess and the boys came up on Thursday. We spent Friday doing some shopping and then Dave came up Friday evening. He and Hubby went over to our pastor’s house for a men’s shoot on Saturday. Today Dave, Jess and the boys went with us to church. It was pastor appreciation day. We had a fellowship meal after church with lots and lots of good food.

Today has been a very nice day here in Floyd. Sunshine, a slight breeze and a temperature of about 65 degrees. Very nice. I hope to get some fall pictures this week to show you all. The trees are starting to get beautiful colors here. Tomorrow the girls and I will go down to play with the boys while Jess has one last ultra sound. She only has about 3 weeks to go.

This is a picture of some flowers that are blooming beside the road on our way to church. Aren’t they pretty? Well, I have a lot of posts to read to get caught up on what has been happening in everyone else’s life. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 9, 2011 5

Fallen Leaves

Yesterday, we went to our Pastor’s home. They had some corn to give us and some peaches. I thought you all might enjoy seeing some pictures we took. As you can see, I think fall is coming on us pretty fast. Some of the trees are already losing their leaves. Our temperatures this morning was 55 degrees. Our morning temps have been in the 50’s for about a week now. So much nicer sleeping weather. Anyway we got about 2 bushel of corn and almost a bushel of peaches. We will be busy today working all that up. Grace is my helper when it comes to shucking corn. She loves it. Julie will be inside doing other work while Grace and I shuck. Then I will let Julie help with the blanching while Grace has other chores.

Also, a couple who go to our church told us we could come and pick plums from their tree. This is exciting for us. We have never known anyone who had a plum tree. We want to make jelly and I was thinking about trying plum juice. I wonder how that would taste? I guess we’ll find out. We probably won’t get to go pick them until later in the week. I let you all know how it turns out.

This is a picture of some of the trees in the Pastor’s orchard. If you look close, you can see the ladder at the tree we picked peaches from. I will show you all a few more pictures next time. Well, we better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 16, 2011 8

Cherries

Look at these beautiful cherries. David’s mother has 2 of these cherries trees in her yard. She graciously gave them to us. Thank you, Donna. We went down Friday morning as Hubby was having difficulties with his computer too. While Dave and Hubby worked on the computer, Jess and I with the kids went to pick cherries. We picked 3 gal. and didn’t even hardly take a step.

Look at how the limbs are just bowed down to the ground. You could just stand and pick. No tree or ladder climbing. I really liked that.

We ended up staying Friday night and most of the day Saturday getting Hubby’s computer up and going. When we came home I put the cherries in our steamer juicer. We got 5 1/2 qts of juice.

Sunday morning just before we left to go to church, Jess calls and says Dave needs Hubby’s help. Their shower drain has come loose and flooded under the house and the heat pump was not working. This of course means no air conditioner and for a pregnant woman that was bad. It is really hot where they live with lots of humidity. Well, we changed clothes and headed down to help Dave. While the men went to Lowes, the girls and I went to pick more cherries. We got 2 1/2 gal. I have one batch in the steamer juicer now. I think I will make jelly from some of the juice and then just can the rest. It is very good. We had fresh cherry juice with our breakfast this morning. The Lord is so good to provide us with treats like that.

Well, I have clothes to go on the line and much to do today. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 30, 2011 4

Horseshoe fun

Just a few pictures of the fun we had at our horseshoe pitch. We think we might do it again before summer is over. It was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful place down by the river, a great place to camp.

This is a picture of our pastor and his wife. I believe the Lord truly led him to our church. I have never known a pastor to fit in with a church like him and his wife do. I think they are truly dedicated to the Lord and want to serve Him.

One of our catawba trees. We have several in our yard. Right now we are enjoying our “summer snow”. When these trees bloom out and the bloom starts falling, it looks like it has snowed in our yard. Very pretty.

A better view of the blooms. We spent some time yesterday with our friends, the Horns. The kids had fun playing together. Vicki and I walked around her yard and garden. She has a beautiful garden this year. She has already picked peas from her garden. Hopefully, ours will be ready soon. We had a pretty good rain yesterday. The garden was needing a drink. However, the rain came while we were gone, so the clothes hanging on the line were soaked. I had to bring them in, spin them out again in the machine and then dry them inside. Oh well, things like that happen. I think it will be a nice day here today. Kinda hot for us but it is getting that time of year. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 16, 2010 2