Carson's One Year Anniversary

This weekend was an anniversary of sorts for Carson. Our local volunteer fire department has an annual BBQ and Homecoming Event the first weekend every November. This community gathering is complete with vendors, games, food, live entertainment and a parade. Last year Carson was invited to perform her first show ever. You can read my post about that here. She played a thirty minute set in 38 degree weather. What a way to start out!

This past weekend she was invited to perform again. This time she sang for an hour in weather that was a little better. Although it was a bit windy, the temperature was in the mid fifties..much better than last year. The group after her cancelled due to the wind so she was asked to sing again after a short break. She is such a trouper.

I am amazed to look back and see how much she has accomplished with her music in a year's time. She has written quite a few original songs...had two produced and sold on itunes...and performed numerous shows. It makes me tired just thinking about it all. Oh, to have the energy of a thirteen year old again! Anyway, in honor of her first music anniversary I thought I would post a link to her youtube channel for those of you who have asked about what she has been doing lately. (Does that make me a proud mama?) I hope you enjoy!

Have a nice weekend!

I hope your weekend is full of happiness and beauty!

Shelter!

One of the most important necessities of life is shelter. This necessity is often taken for granted. We have already had quite a few cold, rainy days this fall that have made me pause and thank God for my nice warm home.

On a recent dreary day I noticed a little fellow that did not seem to be as fortunate as myself.


I wonder why he is choosing to sit in the rain?


And just when I thought he was strange, I noticed that he wasn't alone.
Are there any reptile specialists out there that have an explanation for this?


From the warmth of my own place of shelter, I noticed something else. The Camellia was almost ready to bloom!


After a couple of days of rain, the sun came out again...and so did the blooms!

I am so thankful that God has provided me shelter from the weather! I am also thankful that He chose to surround it with the beauty of His creation. Is there something that you are thankful for today?

I must admit....

I must admit that blogging has been on the back burner for sometime now for me. I must also admit that I miss it. Although I am trying to read and keep up with your blogs, I have not been communicating much with my blogging friends. I didn't realize how much I enjoy your company...so I am going to try to do better. I am going to try to carve out time for my blog no matter how busy my schedule may be.

One thing I have failed to do in my busyness is to thank Patti for the wonderful gift that I received in the mail sometime back. She hosted a give-a-way at her blog and I was the lucky winner. She sent me this lovely book and a sweet note.



Thank you so much, Patti. This package in my mailbox brightened my day! Patti has a lovely blog that is very uplifting. If you have a few minutes you should pop in and visit her.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall season. In the next few days I will try to share some of our fall happenings here in North Carolina!

Fall Preview

The past couple of months have been very busy here in our household. I ended up taking a little break from blogging. Now that Catie is settled into college life and we are settling into a new year of homeschooling our schedule has finally gotten back to normal. I have missed many of your posts, but hope to catch up soon. Our long, hot summer came to a sudden stop today with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees. I think we are getting a little fall preview. What a welcomed change!

Fall Findings

The colors of fall are amazing. I just love how the reds and greens are made even more beautiful when situated beside the color of brown. These are some photos that were taken just a few steps from my home.


Isn't this just the prettiest shade of red?


One lonely acorn fell into the dry bird bath.


Green or red? This plant can't seem to decide.


Little splotches of green brighten up the landscape.


All acorns are invited to the party going on beside the sidewalk!!!


The ground is covered with lots of acorns, big and small, this year. I hear the familiar drop and roll sound on the roof day and night. Does that mean we are in for a rough winter?

A Perfect Weekend

I love fall weekends! There is something about the way the chill in the early morning air melts into the warmth of the afternoon. There is also something special about the way that the sun's light illuminates the glorious colors that are found all around.

This past weekend our family traveled for the day to the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway once again for some sightseeing and a picnic. I can't think of any better way to celebrate a fall weekend than time spent together enjoying God's creation. I thought I would share just a few of the pictures that I took of our drive.


The trees are just beautiful when clothed with fall colors.


This is my husband's favorite part of the parkway.


Everyone loves a picnic!


Who could resist a little shopping?


We had to visit Ben Long's fresco painted on a little country church's wall.


Isn't the church absolutely beautiful?


We have been studying Michelangelo's art and fresco painting. When you home school, every trip becomes a field trip.


When your hobby is photography, everything becomes a photograph.


I love the cross against the blue sky.


Every trip to the mountains has to include some exploring.


Isn't it amazing how a little trickle of water...


...can turn into a beautiful waterfall?


Michelangelo could not have painted a picture as lovely as this.


Stopping in Hickory to have dinner with my nephew was a great ending to a perfect day.

Fall Garden

Our local farmer's market has closed for the season. What a shame! I will miss the fresh vegetables that are so readily available in the summer. Thankfully, the fall season has some veggies of its own to share. Until they are ready, I'll have to look back on pictures from the summer market.

My dad still has butter beans producing. He also has an assortment of wonderful fall greens that are just now ready to pick. We have already enjoyed some delicious mustard greens and turnip greens. I still miss my tomatoes, fresh from the vine.

John and I finally planted our fall garden (a little late) last weekend. We have not had much rain at all and we couldn't decide if it was even worth the effort. After much consideration and procrastination, we planted some romaine, kale, broccoli, and cabbage. It has been unusually warm for this time of the year, so maybe some of it will have time to grow and produce.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Unless the weather cooperates, it looks like I'll have to drag out the water hose. It will be worth it to have some good ole fall veggies to eat. Do you have a fall veggie garden? What do you have growing?

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

I love this time of year when summer slowly drifts into fall. It seems that just for a little while we are able to enjoy the best of both worlds. The days are sunny and warm, while the nights are clear and cool. This is probably one of my busiest times of the year. (That may explain why I am a little behind on my blogs.)

This fall seems to be especially busy for our family. Catie has spent most of her time applying for colleges and scholarships, and Carson has been busy with her music. I am so proud of both of my girls. Although they are very different in their likes and dislikes, they both seem to have a drive to develop the talents and abilities that God has given them. John and I couldn't be more blessed.

Even with all of their activities, I have managed to savor the last little bit of summer. I am trying to hang on to my basil just a little longer. Although my tomatoes have long been gone, I did make a caprese salad one day last week with store bought plum tomatoes that I roasted to bring out the flavor. It was yummy.

I just wish that I lived near a store that sold freshly made mozzarella. Now, that would have been perfection.

To bring in fall, I decided to make something that I have never made before.... butternut squash soup. I wish I could give you a wonderful recipe for this soup, however, I can't. When I cook, I just combine ingredients that I think will be good together and go for it.

I started by sauteing onions in olive oil and a little butter until they were softened.

The hardest part about the whole experience was peeling the squash. Does anyone have suggestions to make that easier? After peeling the squash and cutting it into cubes, I roasted it in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. I turned it over once after fifteen minutes.

Doesn't that look delish! It was actually very good after roasting. I think it would make a perfect side dish.

Then, I combined the roasted squash and the onions in the pot and added enough chicken stock to cover and simmered for about 15 minutes.

After letting this mixture cool, I pureed it all in a blender, put it back into the pot, and added chicken stock and half-and-half until it reached the consistency that I wanted.

It was very good for my first attempt. Butternut squash soup is a perfect choice for a fall meal starter. It was a little rich and my family said that the serving bowls were a little too big. I'm sure that one could make it with just chicken stock to make it a little healthier, but I kinda like the richness.

As you can see, I celebrate the changing of the seasons in the kitchen. How do you say goodbye to summer and hello to fall?

Finally Fall

Lately, I have been reading every one's posts about fall decorating with envy. It seemed that I just couldn't get in the mood to pull out all of my fall things with temperatures in the nineties. However, all of that changed this week. Sunday brought us some much needed rain and much cooler temperatures. Imagine how excited I was to finally feel like fall had arrived. To celebrate the rain and the arrival of this wonderful season, I made a delicious veggie soup and started pulling out all of my fall things. I even started looking back at some of my old fall pictures for inspiration, and thought I would share a couple of them.


This is an arrangement that I made with persimmons a couple of years ago. (I was just beginning to experiment with photography back then...sorry about the quality of the picture.)


I used twine and a little ball from a sycamore tree to tie up each napkin.


Of course I had to show you pictures of my soup that I made on Monday night.


It is one of those soups that I make without a recipe using whatever I have on hand. This one has onions, garlic, carrots, green and yellow squash, thyme and kale. I usually use cabbage, but decided to try kale instead...yummy! It will be my go to ingredient from now on!

Is there any thing better than eating a warm bowl of soup on a cool, rainy day? This weekend promises to be sunny and even cooler. Hopefully I will finish my decorating and be able to post some more pictures soon. Happy Fall!

Rain Is a Good Thing

Yesterday brought us some refreshing rain! We had been hot and dry for so long that I thought this day would never come. We were sitting in church when it happened. The pastor was saying a prayer when we heard it...the rain pouring onto the tin roof of the sanctuary. Now, that is a sound that can only come from God! I think that I even heard some 'Praise the Lords' mixed in with the prayer and the rain. Today promises even more.

I thought that I would venture out this morning with my camera before the heavy rains come later on. I wanted to see if my thirsty plants enjoyed the showers of blessings. I believe that they did.



The knockout roses that had been languishing in the dry heat seemed to be singing a chorus.



The little pot of asparagus fern hummed along.



The writing spider listened intently to the concert.



It is amazing that the downpours didn't wash her away.



The loropetalum seemed to hold on to every drop that fell.



And every fall spider web appeared to be clothed in splendor.



The little mum seemed to jump for joy to finally have some cool, autumn temperatures!

Fall is finally here! "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."

A Surprise From John

I looked at the date on my last post and could not believe how long it has been. I have gotten a little behind on blogging lately. John has been out of town a good bit for his job and I have been trying to keep everything together here at home. With school to teach, animals to feed, and kids to taxi there is not much time for anything else. I always miss him so much when he is gone.

He has been building a Family Dollar store in Hurlock, Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay. I had the opportunity to travel with him there a couple of weeks ago and loved the area. It has some of the most beautiful farmland that I have ever seen. Another thing about the area that I noticed was the many places that sold Adirondack chairs. These stood out to me because I have been looking for some new chairs for our pier. We have had the old ones since we got married and they have seen better days. Unfortunately, we had to hurry home and did not get to stop to check the prices.

Imagine my surprise when John came home last Thursday with a something special for me. (Now, he is not the most romantic man in the world, but every once in a while he does something that totally catches me off guard.) It was about 9:30 Thursday evening when he pulled into the drive from the long trip. He called me outside to show me something....two beautiful chairs and a table! He said that it was a gift to celebrate the anniversary of our first kiss. Can you believe that? He always remembers that date. Isn't that sweet?



















He set them off of the truck in the side yard.




















They are still there today. It is the perfect place to see the pond and to view the moon and the stars.




















I don't think that I want to move them to the pier. What do you think?




















Maybe we need to purchase two more.



















Even the kitty likes them exactly where they are.




















Can't you just imagine cool fall nights with a blanket and a glass of wine under the light of a full moon?

Now, if we can just get rid of the ninety degree days here in North Carolina, maybe I won't have to imagine.

I thank God everyday for my wonderful husband! He is always full of surprises.