Monthly Archives: July 2019

Check

We’ve had a busy and happy month while David has been off. We had several things we wanted to do during this time.

We wanted to have a cookout. Check, we had two.

We wanted to do some things with the grandboys. Check. We took them candy shopping and had them overnight and we had a fun time.

We wanted to see a movie. Check. We saw Aladdin and it was delightful. We all liked it so much when we came home I found our Video of Disney’s cartoon Aladdin and watched that and we all broke out into song  during the magic carpet song. I love that song.  And Robin Williams was such a good genie in it. I thought Will Smith was a great genie in the new Aladdin.

We wanted to swim. Check. I’ve been in the pool more this month than I have most Summers. Mainly because it’s been HOT.

We wanted to take a trip. Check. We went to Nashville for two days and had so much fun.

It’s been a good month. David returns to work Monday and I’m going to miss him being home all day.  He’s got a lot of work done around the house, too and that’s been nice.

We are going to go to our property in Brown Country tomorrow so David can try out his new bush hog.  We have three acres and haven’t done much with it, so David wants to clear it up a bit.

We’ve spent a lot of time sitting on our porch looking at our garden and the birds.  We have so many cardinals flying around I’m hoping they stick around through the Winter.

We call these Tiger lilies but our son-in-law told us this is Blackberry lily because the seed pods look exactly like blackberries, and they do!   I’ll try to remember to show them to you when they appear.

From one Hibiscus plant a neighbor gave me years ago it has grown to many Hibiscus plants all over the yard.  I love plants that plant themselves.

And they come in white, pink and dark pink.

This is phlox, but earlier I could not remember what it was called. David and I tried and tried to think of its name, but it just would not come to mind. Then, one night, after the lights were out and David was almost asleep and I was laying there thinking, the flower’s name just popped into my mind and I turned to David and just said, “Phlox.”   And he knew exactly what I meant. Then I thought to myself, phlox in sox in a box. And now, I never forget it’s name again!

The zinnias are in full bloom.

One of my top five favorite flowers. Easy to grow. Cheap. And you get a big bang for your buck.

And the lilies have just been amazing. I think all the rain we had earlier in the Summer has helped all the flowers.

This makes me think of fireworks.

And these are just gorgeous.  I’m taking in all the glorious flowers and will try to remember them when there is a foot of snow on the ground.

I can’t tell you what this is even though I planted it, but only one plant came up and it has all these flowers on it.

When the old porch steps were torn off, I saved them because they turned into the best flower boxes.  Here alyssum is growing in one.

David repurposed our old mailbox post into a birdhouse holder.  Not much gets thrown away.

I’ve been waiting for the perfect place to put this birdhouse.

And this one we got just last week at an antique store.

Probably won’t have nesting birds in them this year as it’s a little late in the season, but all our other birdhouses have had no vacancies all Spring and Summer.

I have done a little sewing. On the blog Country Threads Chicken Scratch, Mary Etherington had this pattern available.

Uncle Sam. I got him done just in time to put him up for the 4th.

I actually made two, but one of them is not Uncle Sam.

She’s Aunt Samantha. See her pretty earrings?  We girls are patriotic too!  She looks a little bit like Boy George with her braids  alongside her head.

She wears a floral blouse with the American flag emblazoned on the front. She is so proud of our country.

Meanwhile, Uncle Sam wears a shirt with patriotic words on it and a flag also emblazoned on the front.  Both will be brought out for all patriotic days. Flag Day, the  4th, Memorial Day.

I love the United States and could not pass up this towel I found in Nashville. David and I have been to almost all the states except Hawaii and Rhode Island. We have a wonderful country full of wonderful people when you take all the politics out of the equation.   I can honestly say I have never met any angry or mean people in any of the states. (Except for that one store owner in Ohio who yelled at us for parking where the Amish parked. ) We didn’t know!!   So don’t believe all the news you see and hear.

Hope you have been able to check off some things you wanted to do this Summer. Only one month left.   Enjoy it.  Bye.

 

Glorious Summer

We are smack dab in the middle of Summer.  The 4th of July is over.  We missed the local fireworks display, but the night of the 4th I was sitting in our livingroom when a huge, bright, beautiful firework burst seemingly right outside our window. Suddenly, there were several fireworks bursting in the air. Now these weren’t your every day do at home fireworks. These were the big ones displayed to the public. I went outside and saw that our neighbors were having their own fireworks display.  One after another the beautiful fireworks burst in the air.  We were having our own private fireworks show!   It was wonderful.  It was a gift.

David is taking the whole month of July off and we have been doing a little traveling, a little grandchildren spoiling and a whole lot of swimming. I can’t remember when I have swam this much in a long time. It’s been really hot so I enjoy the pool more because the water isn’t as cold.

Our grandsons have been enjoying the pool also. We had two of them over the weekend and we did a lot of swimming.  One day we were in the pool for four hours.

It seems like we have always had our back porch and we’ve used it a lot.  We’ve already had two cookouts and everyone ate on the porch and no bugs!

This is the view from the porch. David installed another swing. Now we have four swings on our property.  And they are all used!

Molly likes swinging with anyone who sits down on the swing.  She thinks she owns that seat and when I am sitting with her, she growls at anyone else who wants to sit with me.

He wants a dog so badly. I tell him in a few years when he’s grown he can have any dog he wants.  Right now he lives in the city with no fenced in yard and the dog would be left alone a lot which would not be good for the dog.

This is another grandboy and of course, Molly must sit with him. Notice she takes up the middle. And if dogs could smile….

The bees are busy pollinating the flowers.  We have a lot of bumble bees and butterflies on the flowers.  And Hummingbirds are good pollinators also.

Flowers are blooming all over.  Some I know the names and some I don’t. This is Bee Balm or Monarda.  The ones in front are Cone Flowers or Echinachea.   I probably misspelled that last one.

I

I planted these Cone flowers years ago and they have multiplied. That’s the kind of flowers I like.

We have dozens of Day Lilies in various colors.  There is a place called New Creation Lilies south of us where we have bought several of our lilies.

Every year I am amazed at all the flowers that come up in what was a very barren back yard.

We took a short trip to Nashville, Tennessee for our 51st wedding anniversary. We both wanted to visit the Pickers’ store, Antique Archeology.  It was smaller and more commercial with several of their finds from the show in the store. David and I each bought a ball cap.  The store is located in an old car factory and there are several nice stores throughout it.

This is their sign.

And this is the side of the building.  I did purchased one thing. A towel with a picture of the United States on it.

This is the original floors.  Deep gouges in them, but they have character and I’m glad they saved them.

Nashville has a lot going on. We almost ate in a honky tonk until I read the menu and nothing sounded good to me so we went on.  Remember the show this is from?

And this?

 

We drove around looking at all the sights.  Downtown was busy and the Country Music Hall of Fame is there.

This was the giant guitar out in front of it.

There are a lot of old warehouses made into little stores.

You could really shop until you dropped if you are so inclined. I’m not a shopper.

We would like to go back and see a show or two.

And to think it all started with hymn books.

No, we were not in New York.

We followed back roads.

Through small town America. There are really a lot of small towns across our country and each one is different.

Driving through one town we saw this sign and we were hungry, so we stopped.

But don’t park here. Mammy’s neighbor does not take kindly to people using their parking lot and Mammy’s was busy.

We got there mid afternoon and we had not eaten all day so we were hungry. Our meals were delicious and we wanted to try their pie, but the group in front of us bought all the pies up, so there were none and they closed at 3:00 on Sundays, so we just made it in because another couple came in after us and they told them they were closing.  Now we want to go back for the pie!

We’ve been here before. Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home.  A one room cabin.

To think a whole family lived in these small quarters and one day one of them would be president of the United States.

Abraham swam in a small creek behind the cabin and evidently almost drowned in it.

He was saved by a neighbor boy.  History could have been different if he hadn’t been saved.

We saw these beautiful trees everywhere.

This past week we took some of our grandboys to a candy factory outlet store.  We’ve been there before and candy is really cheap and so good.

The boys were like, well, kids in a candy story. We told them they could get what they wanted and I have never seen anyone shop so fast.

These are pictures of happy boys with their bags of candy.

Well, he doesn’t look too happy, but he really is.

I controlled myself and only got one box of candy.  It was hard, though.

We celebrated our fifty-first wedding anniversary and our daughter and son-in-law got us balloons and flowers which I though was nice.

I hope we can celebrate several more.

Hope you are having a glorious Summer where you live, but stay cool.  Bye.