FALL IS FINALLY HERE!

Ahhh, beautiful fall in Mississippi!  Summer was TOUGH this year, but now . . . .

I was just driving along the other day to get some paint at the local Home Depot and there they were - about a gazillion birds on the power lines and it just looked like a Kodak moment. So, I did a whoopee-do and pulled out the trusty camera which stays in my purse most all the time.  Thought they were worthy of sharing.

I like the lone white one.

The shape of the one in the middle of the pic is nice.

The last of the zinnias from my yard.

One morning I was out taking my early morning walk and there were spider webs all over the woods floor - a rather strange phenomenon - lots and lots of them all over the ground.  Maybe they are always there, but not visible because of the dry air.  There was a very heavy fog this particular morning.  Go figure.  Kind of looked like I went to Hob Lob and bought some of that Halloween spider web stuff and spread it all over the place.  

This huge web was hanging between some trees and looked quite spooky with our old shack in the background of the pic.

This one was over in the woods hanging from some trees and was about 7 feet wide and tall.  I almost walked into it.  Ooooooooooh!  I could not find the spider, but I hope she was not sized in proportion to her web.  Double oooooooooooh!!   Pretty neat to look at.

Nice shadows on the secluded leafy path on the back of our property where some of our neighbors ride their four-wheelers and the deer use it to go for their daily drink at the swamp about a quarter of a mile away.

Even though the garden looks like it hasn't been tended to in years, I do check on it almost daily.  The prettiest bell peppers of the season are on the vines right now as well as some nice okra and Sweet 100's tomatoes.  Yum!

 

A great friend and I plan to check out the Canton Flea Market tomorrow and soak up some more of the beautiful fall weather.  Should be a great place to recharge my crafting batteries and catch up on some local news.    

Hey y'all, hope you enjoy fall as much as I do.

SATURDAY BLESSINGS

Saturday was one of those nice little gifts from God that can just pass by without your giving it a thought, but luckily I have some pictures to remind me.  A brisk walk in the early morning cool took Johnny and me by some pretty wild flowers.  When we were in Oregon last year there were signs everywhere to destroy noxious weeds (some wildflowers/weeds).  ;(  We just mow them here in Mississippi.  

It may be hard to tell from this picture, but the entire field was covered in the pretty yellow flowers.

After the grands arrived, we spent the day outside on the back porch watching them play.  Until the battery ran out of juice, Baker chauffeured Sidney around the back woods in her princess car.  A great time was had by all.

While Ginger and I were watching we realized that they were going to destroy all the spider lilies that were in full bloom all out though the woods.  So I took a quick sprint to get a few pictures before the flowers were history.

Just seeing spider lilies brought back fond memories of my childhood.  They remind me of the start of a new school year.  Every year I would take my teacher a huge bouquet of them and that made me feel so proud all day when I would see them on her desk.  I don't think there was such thing as paper towels, but my mom would take an old rag and wet it, wrap it around the long stems and then cram it down in an empty can.  I loved all my teachers and was one of those little annoying girls that just did whatever it took to please the teacher.  Lots of the other kids must have wanted to sock me or something.  Oops.  Back to the subject.

I have no idea who the info came from, but I was just sure that if I pulled up the spider lilies granddaddy long legs spiders would come running up out of the ground.  Heaven knows I would never have pulled up mama's spider lilies! 

As Ginger and I were talking about them I asked her what they made her think of and remarkably she told me that she thought spiders lived in the ground under them.  I promise I did not tell her that. 

Later in the afternoon Baker had a friend come play and they had a splendid time picking up sticks in the woods and building a "bonfire."   When he called us out there to take an up close look at their handy work, low and behold, they had pulled every spider lily they could possibly find and put them right on top of the wood pile to look like real red flames.  Boys will be boys.

 Those boys were so proud of their work. 

What a fun day just relaxing and listening to the cicadas make their somewhat annoying noise while we talked and enjoyed the porch swing.  For those who do not know about cicadas, the story goes that they will not be back again for 7 years.  Weird, huh?  We found the empty shells they had already shed attached to almost every pine tree out there.  I think they bury back into the ground after shedding until time to reappear in 7 years.

Ugly, noisy little rascal I must say.  We all had fun finding all the empty shells on all the trees.  Every tree we looked at had at least 4 shells.  There must be millions out there chirping.  Surely sounds like it.

Thank God for the big blessings and especially the little ones.

HANGING THE BANNER AND THE WREATH

Last week after tropical storm Lee brought us a blessed weather change and much needed rain, (LOTS AND LOTS OF RAIN!!!!) the weather was just too great to waste in the house doing the cleaning and washing.  However, it was perfect for some heavy outdoor crafting like a pine cone Della Robbia type banner for my front door.  Those pine cones are little buggers to work with.  My hands are still raw and look like I have been wrestling a small bear.  Because of the extreme humidity and warm temperatures in Mississippi even during the winter months, I opted for only pine cones and gourds with no fresh fruits and nuts - just too expensive and too much spoilage for me.  After Thanksgiving  the gourds (we grew them several years ago in the garden) will be replaced with something for the Christmas season, maybe I'll spring for a pretty fresh pineapple. 

With the weather still so beautiful today, I just had to finish up one of the muscadine vine wreaths I made some weeks ago when Johnny brought home the mini excavator and did a bit of underbrush removal out in the back woods.  I spotted all those vines he pulled up and just couldn't stand them going to waste - 4 nice wreaths out of all those vines - free!  Anyway, I had a couple of extra small gourds that I had just never done anything with.  After a quick washing, sanding, wiping with some paint wash and spraying with polyurethane - viola, another quick fall wreath to go by the carport door. 

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Since we will be going back out west for a few weeks, my mind seems to be on getting preparing for Christmas before we leave, so I'll share these thoughts with you.  I have a big "gift box" labeled as such in my attic. When I find a really good buy or something that I think will make a good gift on the spur of the moment (forgot someone's birthday or just need a "happy") I just put it in the box and I know where it is when I need it and don't have to make a mad dash to the local all night store.

Also, write down possible gift ideas when those special people mention something they like or would like to have when you are talking with them between now and Christmas. I always try to keep the tiny notebook in my purse. You just never know when grandma will mention something and you just can't seem to remember when the time comes to get her a gift.

Remember 911 - Don't forget to stop tomorrow and thank God for this great country we live in and all the blessings and freedoms we enjoy as Americans.  Remember our public servants and military personnel that keep us safe everyday.  I am so proud of the jobs that my son-in-law Joe does as he serves in the Army in Germany and my oldest grandson Nick as he is serving as a new police officer in Texas.  

Place your faith and trust in the Lord, not any man.

TOO MANY PROJECTS GOING AT ONE TIME!!!

It seems like I just can't get my mind to stay focused on one thing sometimes.  Surely I am not alone in this problem.  There are just so many things I want to do (crafts and things like that, not housework and things like that) and I find myself jumping from one to the other without totally finishing any of them.  I am going to blame it on the weather.  It is still the tootiest long, hot summer I can ever remember.  I am just praying that hurricane Lee will be kind to New Orleans and surrounding areas but give us at least three or more inches of rain along with some cooler temps in the next few days up here in the middle of Mississippi.   Thank God our oldest daughter's inlaws faired well in Rye, New York last week when Irene roared up the east coast. 

If it gets COOLER and rainy, I am totally ready.  I have gathered a huge wash tub of pine cones for a project that I am about half through with.  Maybe I can get it finished in a week or so.  It is a messy project that has to be done outside and I can't wait to blog it, just not yet.  I hope it will turn out like I think it will.   

If it stays HOT and rainy, then I will have to work indoors and finish a huge sewing project I have been working on for several months.  It really needs to be finished by mid October and I will have to really boogie to get it done by then.  Several days ago there was the crazy urge from out of the blue to paint some fabric for a pillow top.  So now that is laying around half done until I can remember to buy the pillow form or re-purpose one I have laying around the house. 

 One project we did finish (actually, Johnny did this one) was to rescue a thrown away slide which was perfectly good, except for a missing leg.  So, being the handyman that he is, Johnny performed surgery on it and Baker and Sidney had tons of fun before taking it home and using it in the swimming pool - even more fun.  Yippee and it was FREE!

Baker especially enjoyed the other project I did manage to finish - the floorcloth.  Perfect for putting his train track together on, even though it was about 100 degrees on the back porch at the time.  Kids don't really care.

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

I saw an interesting, cheap idea the other day at an antique shop.  It was an old chair with a torn up caned seat.  Someone long time ago had re-purposed some old rags and wove a new seat.  It was so cute!  So, here is my version for my old porch rocker with a ratty seat.  Actually I wish I had used monochromatic colors in dull tones.  I may redo it when it's time for another new project.  That would be NO TIME SOON.  Anyway, if you have an old chair that needs a seat, drag out the rag bag and put one in.  It is FREE.

Have a wonderful, safe labor day and enjoy making something.

FLOORCLOTH FINISHED

After six long weeks of working on this little project, actually about eight if you count the time I stewed over what I was going to paint on the piece of canvas I bought, I finished the floorcloth to use on the back porch.  I don't know that I am altogether thrilled with it, but it is what it is - finished.  I like it and yet it seems a bit too folk artish or juvenile or something like that.  Maybe the colors I used are a bit too "happy" or bright.  At least it doesn't clash with the swing cover. 

I will admit, if I had it to do over, I surely would not have undertaken a project this large (about 3'x6') without several small ones under my belt.  A lot of things were learned about what to do and not to do in the future.   It's been a long time since I made one back in maybe the late 80's.  It was fun all over again!

 

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Now is a great time to think about Christmas shopping.  So many things are on sale right now because of school starting.  New crayons, cute pencils, markers, etc for stocking stuffers   Just think how nice it would be to already have most of that done before the holiday hubbub starts.  Don't forget to write down in a little notebook or something what you bought, for whom and where you hide it so you don't re-buy.

JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF

With a tiny break in the heat and humidity - rejoicing over just 94 degree weather, believe it or not - the shutterbug has me and I just can't help myself. 

This beautiful butterfly was attracted to a rug I had laid out on the back porch to shake out.  I have no idea what may have been the attraction, but he spent hours flitting back and forth to it.

The next picture is not particularly great, but it was a rare sighting of two mama turkey hens with a combined 12 young fledglings in the church yard.   They were running as fast as they could away from us, but you can still see about 10 of them in the picture.

Dragon flies move so fast and are so hard to get a focused shot of.  This is just one of about 180 shots I took.  Patience, patience, patience paid off. 

I never tire of looking at the beautiful creatures God made.  Get your camera and go enjoy a bug or something.


PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

I try to always keep onions on hand and especially like to buy lots of them when they are on sale.  However, it doesn't take long for them to go bad, so I freeze them for quick use later.  Just chop and saute' in a bit of bacon grease, olive oil or just plain water.  Once they are cool, place spoon fulls on small pieces of wax paper and loosely place in a Rubbermaid type sealed container.  Make sure you label the container.

 

You'll always be ready to throw a casserole together.

WILTING SUMMER ROSE

Summer, 2011 will definitely go down as one of the toughest this old gardener can recall - persistent heat reminiscent of opening the oven door when baking biscuits at 400 degrees without the promise of a single yummy bite, hair-curling humidity and dehydrating drought.  You gotta love Mississippi summers! 

Having finally made it to August and the little kiddies back in school, hopefully some of us can go to a local football game and manage to sit on the bleachers without getting bun blisters.  But for me, I am just an old wilting summer rose waiting around for the beautiful butterflies that are everywhere this time of year. 

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

All lovers of birds, you just must give them a nice cool place to drink and get a good bath.  It's such easy, cheap fun to watch them come and enjoy themselves.  Use a container that is at least the size of a large dinner plate and about 2 inches deep.  I have been using an old plant saucer for about 15 years.  It sits on a big stump of railroad cross tie and is near a bush they can hide in until brave enough to perch for a drink.   They drop in everyday about mid morning and late afternoon.  Cardinals are the most frequent visitors and usually come in as a couple.  He always takes the bath first while she patiently waits.  Very interesting to watch.

Enjoy the free joys in life.