This morning while at the kitchen window, I watched a flurry of birds flock to the two feeders and settle at the birdbath. I had two Eastern bluebirds, unusual for late fall here, two female red-bellied woodpeckers, winter juncos and my usual daily feathered friends. Brought a smile to my face and full sunrise this morning, no mountain fog. My heat pump guy from Mountain Air in Hayesville showed up at my door at 8:15 after another night of cool air blowing from the vents. I know friends who love 64 degrees inside in winter but we never did. Thank goodness Cliff and I shared the same inside comforts. The heat pump needs two new boards which will arrive next week. The heat pump is about twenty years old. Made oatmeal cookies and started writing a few Christmas cards. I'm recycling some from other years as my scanner won't talk to the computer so can't talk to the printer. Very frustrating. Hopefully, Mark can help me when he comes at Christmas. I'm starting a
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Until I can find someone who understands why my iPhone won't download photos to the computer, you have to use your imagination. Saturday night I attended An Evening of Remembrance for those who passed away between December 2022 to the end of November 2023 at the Baptist church in town put on by Ivie Funeral Home. Since receiving the invitation in the mail a month ago I hemmed and hawed whether to go as I dreaded dredging up emotions and walking in alone but a week before I dropped by the funeral home to let them know I would attend. I was okay walking down the aisle and chose a pew towards the back when someone approached me and said "don't I know you?" She was from the senior exercise class that I took only twice and asked if she could sit beside me as she was alone and didn't want anyone to see her get emotional. For her to remember me after only only showing up twice I must have left some impression. I guess not too goofy. As it happened it was positive
When I woke this morning a little after five, very rested, no head talk in the night, I wondered how to fill my morning since it was too rainy, damp, dark, dank to walk in town. Going near any store was not an option and we are under a weather alert for high winds with possible 30-40 mph gusts that could down limbs and branches. I did 30 minutes yoga live with Hannah then while eating my oatmeal breakfast Michael texted me that he needed a childhood picture of himself for his accounting firm. They want to update the employee bios with childhood photos. Hmmm...........that's a challenging task. I pulled out all the boxes from the bathroom closet, brought them to the living room where I would have plenty of room to sort and go through albums. Looks like those boxes hadn't been move in quite some time. The large roach hotel was dated back to April of this year and it was time to vacuum up the dead debris behind the boxes. I actually moved everything off the floor and clean
Another gorgeous Autumn day with a mostly sunny sky and temperature around 70. I've been outside most of the day pulling old dead flower stalks and piling them in the woods. The garden is almost cleared of tired dead debris and now has a nice blanket of dried falling leaves to decay as nature intended. House plants are still outside and when the weather drops to thirties I pull them all close to the house at night. Many herbs still thrive. I still use fresh parsley, mint, Italian oregano, rosemary and a few others. I placed hay around them as they will stay out all winter. The blogging stopped because for some unknown reason my iPhone pictures won't upload to this computer. Also tried to print my Christmas card design but the scanner icon on this computer is gone and I can't find it anywhere. So, can't scan, can't send pictures to blog and it's frustrating. I tried to think what Cliff would do but I don't understand techie issues. Mentally trying t
Just harvested my first ginger root! Have never grown tumeric or ginger root Rhizomes. It felt so uplifting to dig my hands into the soil and feel the Rhizomes. This spring and summer gardening was depressing and most herbs and vegetables struggled to survive. Between days and days of clouds and rain and my tired mind and body, the gardens suffered. Looking back now I can see how weary and out-of-sorts I was. Sleep was interrupted by a busy mind. Without a full restful sleep my brain was foggy many days. I'm finally coping better, have fewer brain-fog days, and sleep more restfully until 6 or 6:30 waking without being depressed. There are fewer days that I walk around not remembering what I'm doing, fewer days that I don't care if I'm even doing, and after all these passing months have fewer bursts of tears that sneak up and catch me unexpectedly. I can make Cliff's tapioca pudding for me now without sobbing, drive by Station 17 without aching, or emptyi
Cool morning temperatures that last longer allowing me to walk later, trees that shed their leaves early on the yoga deck, my walking into a large spider web in the early morning that wasn't there the day before, and deer devouring anything they can forage, plants that didn't appeal in the summer are my signs that fall is approaching. Yesterday I craved our homemade applesauce. Talked to Cliff as I prepared the bag of honey crisps as he used to for the sauce. Farmers Almanac is predicting a cooler wetter winter for North Carolina and the rest of the Southeast. We won't know until it happens. I feel like chocolate cake. You get three guess..................... Midnight snack.....hostas Tulsi.....holy basil. Makes a great fresh tea and is good for all ailments. Deer never touch these plants and they smell sweet. Answer to the two sticks plant. It's a blackberry bush that was overflowing and full this summer. It even produced blackberries that I ate before the deer
This morning I woke around 6 but stayed cuddled up under my down comforter another twenty minutes or so listening to relaxing music on my iPhone. Took a quick shower to loosen my shoulders then returned the two HB feeders and the seed feeder to the back porch. I can see the seasonal changes beginning as the raccoon waits patiently for me to turn out the lights each night so it sneak up the porch steps, jump up on the rail, and drink all the nectar from both feeders then empty the seed feeder. During the summer only the seed feeder came in each evening but as animals change their diet getting their bodies ready and storing fats and sugars for the winter they are eating everything. Yesterday while weed whacking near the garage I found one of my white wine bottles on the ground. It had to have been removed from the recycle bin and carried down back and around the side of the garage. I have an alcoholic raccoon.While my breakfast porridge is cooking, I put little piles of sunflower see
Some days are full of doing tasks and chores that Cliff did for me. The floor wasn't that dirty but he enjoyed saying. "Guess I need to pull out the vacuum. I'm tripping over debris." I thanked him. Whenever I was in the kitchen trying out new recipes, making cookies or the double batch tapioca pudding for him, he was there beside (getting in my way sometimes) washing the utensils, pots/pans, cutting boards, drying them and putting everything back in their proper places only to have me take some things back out and reuse again. "I just washed that" he would state. He learned to ask if I were through with things before he cleaned up after me. I thanked him. He emptied the dishwasher when it was finished in such an orderly manner (getting in my way sometimes because I was also in the kitchen working but he wanted to be there with me). I thanked him. Every morning he made my bed reminding me of the order that the pillows needed to be placed. John&
Saturday mornings are Farmers Market mornings. It's my time to stroll through the three pavilions visiting with familiar vendors and adding new ones to my routine. There is so much wonderfully fresh produce weekly and I have had to control what I buy now or I'm throwing food away. Last week I bought a North Georgia Candy Roaster squash. They are sweet and make delicious pies. The old farmer who sold it to me is one I try not to engage in conversation with during the sale. His conversation never stops while I'm cradling the heavy squash. Once I broke away from him I hooked a golf cart ride with a volunteer back to my car, placed the heavy squash in the back, and returned to the pavilions. I've frozen many of the veggies for fall and winter. This morning I was compelled to stop at a pipe display, not that I was thinking about taking up pipe smoking like the old mountain women, but what caught my eye and brought up unexpected childhood memories was the craftsman us
Six months on this date has passed since I kissed Cliff's face for the last time. At first the time passes painfully slow yet now I look back and can't believe it's been six months. Each summer he watched the blooms develop on his lilies waiting for them to open each morning. The past couple of years though he didn't see the flowers because deer would eat the sweet blooms early in the morning. This year his lilies made it all the way to full open flowers. I told him his lilies were open and beautiful. About two hours later as I was making my bed in the little room I spotted one doe having his lilies for breakfast. Looks like another blossom trying to form. We've had so much rain this past week that the rivers are thick with clay runoff. Yesterday stormed off and on all day with periods of heavy rain and close lightning. The weather station was taken down when I had the shed moved and hasn't been put back up. I miss see the barometric pressure changes,
Green and yellow beans are almost ready for picking. Cucumbers coming in slowly. Red salvia (self-seeding) are growing everywhere between other vegetables and I allow them to. Hummingbirds and other pollinators love them. My first zucchini! Didn't even know one was growing under those large leaves. Also found a watermelon growing. I've never planted melons. The compost heap is full of seeds that grow voluntarily. I shouldn't even plant seeds from a packet, just spread the compost and let nature go from there. Fava beans. I love fava beans. They bring me back to when I walked from our home down the gravel road, past the bulls, which scared the daylights out of me because my older brother, Chip, used to tell me the bulls would charge at me so I had better run quickly past them, to the Portuguese Club where I bought their delicious fava beans during festivals. This morning I enclosed these babies in a little fence to keep the bunnies from nibbling my leaves.
I slept better last night, all night, but am still waking tired. I added a 3 mg melatonin to my nighttime routine about three months ago, a suggestion from a retired nurse who thought it might help me drift into sleep and calm my mind. So for the next week at least I'm dropping the melatonin to see how I feel when I wake. Yesterday afternoon we had strong wild winds bring in thunderstorms. Trees twisted and lost leaves and branches. You understand their strength when wind looks like it's pulling them out of the ground yet they spring back straight up. I thought Cliff was overboard with all the battery backups but after yesterday, I understand his madness. There was a continuous flickering of power for about 15 minutes. I turned off the A/C and the TV even though they are protected by battery backup. The generator does come on until it sense about ten seconds of power loss. A friend just a few miles away was without power for twelve hours. At nine I went into town to
When the phone rang late this morning and Mark's name showed up, fear and anxiety took over my mind. Mark rarely calls and it's always in the evening if he does. Mark sends quick texts. Not a great one as his brother, John, for conversation. My first question when I answered was are you okay? He gave a little chuckle and agreed it was out of character and his routine to call, especially during the day. Mark has been driving package deliveries for Uber and Walmart while he's between jobs and was sitting in the Walmart loading zone for a twenty minute wait before he could pick up his next load and decided to call me. Somethings are just too much information to text so he called to ask how I was handling my issues. Since the shed was moved almost two months ago, I've been waiting for the driveway to be graded and the hole filled in. In order to have the shed moved a couple of volunteers moved all the huge container gardens to various places around the yard damaging th
"no words needed".............................. Went to Walmart yesterday morning after walking Konehete Park and noticed the 3-burner grill I had looked at a couple of months ago for $149 was marked down to $96. Into my cart it went and my neighbor on the north side of my house offered to assemble it for me. Actually, his wife offered to assemble it until she saw how many directions and pieces it had and told Charlie he could do it. It'll be so pleasant to do fish outside again and not splatter it all over the cook-stove (NC terminology). Also, bought a light lilac butterfly bush at Tractor Supply on the way home and with last night's pouring rain the ground was very workable for me. This past winter the one degree temperatures we had around Christmas killed some of my established bushes and perennials. I'm still looking for the deep purple one. After I planted the new bush I weed whacked the lower yard beyond the fenced garden, raked and piled up dead
Some mornings are emotionally rough, especially with so many being cold and dreary and slow to see the sun. We've had low 50s starts which makes the house cold, to me. My mornings begin with a warm shower and 20 minute yin yoga slow stretches to get the kinks out. As I type this at one o'clock, the temperature has reached 80. Unexpected emotional ups and downs are draining, tiring some days and long dark dreary mornings trigger the blues. I've also been overwhelmed with the state of clutter and unfinished projects for months that I have no control over. This week I began to feel some relief as a few tasks showed signs of completion. Weeks ago the shed was moved exposing the sinkhole. To move the shed a friend from station 25 disconnected the power and finally got time to come back, extend it and hook it back up. So now I have lights in the shed again. Also weeks ago before the shed was moved all the large plant containers were "rolled" all over the place
My wild daisies that grow along the side of the road and are seen popping up everywhere that isn't mowed or weed whacked to perfection. They are creative and free spirits bending in a spring rain and waving to and fro with a breeze. They are resilient as they straighten up after thunderstorms and each spring with their shallow roots grow in dry conditions along our dusty gravel roadside never disappointing me. Our acreage is full of these wild beauties this year because I didn't keep up with the weed whacking so nature delighted me with her smiling daisies. While I enjoy Mother Nature's gift my Tonka weed whacker remains quietly tucked away in the newly cleaned out shed. I went to the gym this morning and walked the loop outside then did some gentle floor yoga with Mary Anne. Worked in the garden pulling weeds, lots of weeds when I got home. Tomorrow morning volunteers should be here around 8:30 to empty the truck bed and return the heavy equipment back to the she
Wednesday morning a group of volunteers showed up to lift heavy tool chests, chain saws, and other bulky things from the shed. They were all tucked snugly in the bed of the Toyota where they still sit waiting for the guys to reappear and put them back in the shed. The seniors took a break while the younger guys kept cleaning out the shed. The amazing mule.................. All the containers with tomatoes and herbs were rolled to the side of the garage so this guy could get the mule in place. He put skids under the left side of the shed and greased their surface. Hopefully this week Jamie will be here to grade the driveway and fill in the sinkhole so the containers can be placed again. I took a couple great moving shots of the mule moving the shed but they wouldn't load onto the blog. I'm in the process of throwing away some of the useless stuff. The guys will tell me what's necessary and what should go in the junk bag.