Guess the Newness Wore Off!

This is our refrigerator on the day we got it 6 1/2 years ago.  I guess that the newness has worn off since we had to call the repairman to come.  The shock over the repairman is that we were told he would be here between 8am and 5pm...AND...get this...he arrived a little after 7:30am.  It is all fixed...and...almost as good as new?!

Woody went for a walk early so he would be back in time to wait on the repairman...well, he wasn't back before repairman arrived.  He did get back in time to write the check! Later in the morning he went to the Life Care to have Bible study with Jeff and visit friends and also stopped to see a friend at the hospital. Woody  has just returned from Monday night prayer meeting at church.

I have done a little of this and a little of that today.  After I blog, I need to go down and transfer the sheets that I washed this morning into the dryer.  I made a dish for supper called Okra-and-Corn Maque Choux (pronounced "mock chew").  We had some fresh okra given to us and I had the rest of the ingredients so decided that this recipe was meant to be!  Oh, we did have to shop at the neighbor's (Nathan and Kathy's) for onion.  So I didn't quite have all the ingredients.  I was surprised that we didn't have any onion as we "always" have onion...but I hadn't taken into consideration that Woody had been eating onion on his hamburgers and had depleted our supply.

I am having fun getting ready for an internet sewing club to start up later this week.  I haven't ever done something like this on line...but I "know of" the teacher so I decided to join. She teaches at a lot of sewing schools in the south and across the US.  It is going to take place on Facebook...another first for me to take a class on Facebook.  It is going to be a technique class and I am really looking forward to it.  I have been working on an alphabetized (the librarian in me!) list of members and the states/countries they live in.  So far the farthest away is Bahrain in the Middle East.  Most members are from the United States.  At this point, I have only met a couple of the 111 members (to this point) in person, but "know" several from different sewing sites online that I have visited over the years.  This gets underway "for real" on Thursday.  I plan to share the members list with the group once I have all the names and places for each member.  This club will last for a year and perhaps longer if the teacher has more techniques and interest in it continuing.  She will share two technique videos and other files each month.  It should keep me busy enough to keep me out of trouble...well...now staying out of trouble isn't a for sure thing...especially when it comes to sewing!  .

A Blast From the Past!

I was looking for a picture for tonight's blog and I happened to open up this one and realized that I had never posted what our old garbage disposal looked like.  I bet that not many have seen such a colorful one...very 70's right!?!  We no longer have a unique garbage disposal...this one lasted almost 40 years.  I'll bet the generic looking one, that looks like everyone elses, that we now have doesn't last even half that long! I will say that the new one is much quieter.  Our old one, when it was running, sounded a bit like a jet plane taking off.

Woody headed out this morning to do his usual Saturday running around...library and hospital visits.  He was gone longer than usual and I was beginning to wonder if he was going to get back in time for us to go to a memorial service.  But he did get home in time to change clothes and then we both headed to our church for the service.  Woody went for his four-mile walk this afternoon.  Our hot temperatures and high humidity have broken and it has been a VERY pleasant day to be outside. He enjoyed a walk a bit later in the day rather than having to go super early to avoid the heat.

The three boys survived their sleepover and all slept well.  They headed home shortly after they had breakfast.  Melany and I talked on the phone for a while this afternoon.  We hadn't talked in a while.  Often these days we send off quick text messages back and forth so it was good to catch up with her today.  Her school year is getting back underway with teacher meetings starting this coming week and she will start having kids in the classroom sometime the next week.  Tullahoma City school kids start this coming Wednesday...just too early...summer seems like it is just getting underway!

Eating & Spying = Sleepover for Boys!

We seem to be doing everything by the clock...time for supper, time for bedtime snack!  I attempted to snap a picture of them eating their watermelon that we had for dessert, but Elijah ducked under the table to get out of the picture...I fooled him! They are just finishing their bedtime snack and will head to the bathtub shortly after I finish blogging.  In between the meals, the boys...especially Elijah and Isaac have been spying on the "girl party" next door.  They have been spying both from inside and outside our house.  The third picture is of them looking out my bedroom window...watching the girls trying to break open the pinata on their back porch.  Looks like the girls are having fun!

Woody didn't get in his usual morning walk, as it was raining early this morning.  I guess he ended up getting his exercise at the grocery stores.  He went to Aldis and Krogers for our weekly grocery shopping.  The kids were in and out bringing their "spend the night" stuff over and then going back home and then coming back again...especially Isaac.  He finally just came over around 2pm and just stayed...he wanted to get a little more time for his sleep over!  I think that they are having a good time.  The three of them pretty much entertain themselves...keep coming up with different things to do.  Making up their own games, etc.  Well, I think that I have stalled as long as I can about getting the bath ready...Isaac is chomping at the bit!

Shoes for JoJo

This morning Joseph (aka JoJo) showed up at our house with three of his siblings.  They all wanted to go with Joseph to buy shoes.  Kathy hurt her foot yesterday...playing with the youth group from church!  So at first I didn't think that she was going.  Woody and I were trying to figure out how I was going to transport four children with none old enough to sit in the front seat...and get car seats and boosters for them in the car also.  But Kathy showed up and said that she was able to drive since she had a boot for her foot from her last foot injury. (She went to the doctor later this afternoon and he says that it isn't broken...but she has to wear the boot for at least a week.) So six of us headed off to help Joseph pick out some shoes.  Now the top picture shows more children than we took.  The two young girls on the right are the shoe store owner's granddaughters.  I taught these girls' mother in Montessori school many moons ago.  They were helping out at the shoe store this morning.  The middle picture shows Joseph looking in the mirror checking out the first pair of shoes that he tried on.  In the end he chose the ones that he has on in the bottom photo.  He is much happier with more room for his little toes!

Woody got up and walked early this morning.  He and Graham ran an errand to attempt to buy a new blade for the lawnmower.  In the end they had to make two trips because the lawnmower shop needed to see the lawnmower to be sure to get the right blade.  They thought that just taking the blade would work...but no.  It started sprinkling just as we drove back into the driveway after our shoe shopping trip.  By the time that Woody and Graham got the lawnmower loaded it was raining a bit harder and not long after they headed off it started pouring...not for very long but poured enough to get water into the trunk of the car  since they couldn't close the trunk down with the lawn mower in it.  The did get a new blade and Graham got the blade changed and has mowed some today.  The grass in their backyard is pretty tall and thick since Woody wasn't able to mow it this last time that they were gone due to extreme heat and then due to rain.

I have done a little of this and a little of that around the house today...started a few cleaning jobs...will continue to work on them some more tomorrow.  Today the children and I discovered an interesting spider web in one of our living room windows...it looked like a hammock connecting one side of the curtains to the other.  One of the reasons that I decided that it was time to do some cleaning!  But I had gotten rid of a spider web on this same window last week...guess I only got the web and not the spider.  I guess a day or two will tell if I relocated the spider this time!

Woody made his crispy quinoa burgers again today.  And, he also made what I call his meat loaf burgers...these burgers have what you would put in meatloaf...not my favorites!  I prefer "just meat!"  He made me some of those too.  He put them together and I broiled them for our supper...along with some to eat on other days.
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Tomorrow is the day that Esther is having a sleepover for her 10th birthday party.  The boys are planning to have their own sleepover...over here!  Party! Party! Party!

Caught Us Another Bandit!

Nathan and Kathy and family got home last night after being away in Texas for a church camp where Nathan was camp pastor.  This morning Elijah was greeted by this little raccoon that got too curious about one of his traps.  Elijah had set the traps hoping to help us relocate some squirrels away from our bird feeders...but got this little critter instead.  After everyone got a good look at him, Nathan released him back into the wild.

Not long after the excitement over the raccoon, Nathan came over and said that I needed to come outside and get a picture of Esther on the hammock that friends gavethem.  Ummmm Nathan and I had to try it out too.  And, Nathan insisted on getting a picture of me on it...for the blog...so I guess I am obligated...but if I am on the blog then he and Esther will be too! They had the frame but no hammock...so now they have both. I will confess that I had to have Nathan's help to get out of it!

Woody walked early this morning.  Later in the morning he went to the farmer's market and got tomatoes and a large zucchini.  I "see" zucchini bread in our future!  After lunch, I headed off to work in the church library.  The three of us managed to get all the new books processed and on the new book shelf all ready to be checked out. A good accomplishment that will make our fiction reading library patrons very happy. 

                                                                   
And, now I leave you this fine evening, as I attempt to live the "Life of Riley!"

On Closer Inspection...

On closer inspection of this photo, I spotted a person down next to the metal gate in front of the barn with a yellow slicker over their head.  It's fun to work on the pictures after getting home from one of my photo excursions.  I snap them pretty quickly on the trip and sometimes am not aware of what all shows up in the picture until later when it is blown up large on the screen when I am editing them. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and perhaps you will spot the person in this photo.  I wonder what this person thought about the car that slowed down with three ladies in it with their cameras sticking out the car windows! A good portion of the barns that we take pictures of are abandoned...or at least don't have people around...but once in a while...

Woody spent time in and out today attempting to do a little mowing.  It hasn't been quite as hot today, though still not very cool!  He did manage to make several swipes across the areas that he has been attempting to mow all week.  He just walked back in the door from his walk to and from the prayer room at church.

I have spent some time today cleaning up from my most recent sewing projects and starting to plan more.  I spent quite a bit of time looking at fabric online...planning some projects that I want to do.  I am now taking apart a pair of pajama pants that I like that I have worn out...but like them...so am tyring to salvage them for a pattern.  But "on closer inspection" I think that I would probably be better off just going to Walmart and buying a new pair! These were extremely well made even though they were inexpensive when I bought them many years ago.  They are NOT easy to get apart.  I may give up soon and figure that it just isn't worth the time and effort and hope to find another pair that I will like equally and use the fabric that I am thinking about using to make something else! It's not like I don't have other projects waiting in the wngs to be started!

 

Farm Decor!

Some farms are fancier in their decor than others.  This farm had lots of peacocks and this one posed on the fence in front of the barn.

Woody came in a few hours ago just dripping and said, "It's too hot to mow!"  Our temperatures continue to be high and the humidity is high also.  We had our first good rain since the hot temperatures showed up.  We got almost an inch and a half last night.  Woody's new digital rain gauge that Melany and family gave him for Father's Day is working great.  This is the first time that we have been able to test it out since Graham got it set up.

I did manage to finish my baby sewing this afternoon.  I was all ready to sew last evening and the storms started coming through.  We had some heavy rain and quite a bit of lightning and thunder.  We had only one really bright flash of lightning and then one big crash of thunder.  The rest of the time it was mainly rumbles of thunder and rain.

Woody just returned from Monday night prayer meeting at church.  Late this morning he went to Life Care and had Bible study with Jeff and then visited with friends there.  Then he made a stop to see one of the Life Care residents who is in the hospital. Woody walked early this morning.  He said that the temperature was cool, but that the humidity was high after all the rain we had gotten in the night.

That about sums up our day.  We are now ready to settle in for another very quiet evening enjoying the AC and ceiling fans that keep us cool.

Good Day for Sunflowers!

It has been another hot day here in Middle Tennessee...good day to show this field of sunflowers!  Woody stopped to let me take a picture of this field when we were going to Shelbyville a few weeks back.  This field belongs to a friend and she had told me that they were in bloom.  You can see how far away I was from the field by the top two pictures.  I zoomed in on the third one...note that all the sunflowers are facing away from me except for three!  It was not the best time of day to get them as they were following the sun.  My cameras weren't very happy with the time of the day and me pointing them towards the sun.  I had trouble getting even these three.  

Woody went to the library and made a stop at the hospital to visit with church members.  After he got home, I headed off to run an errand or two.  I needed elastic and made a stop at the quilt shop to find some fabric to match friends' kitchen paint so I can make them something for their new house.  I did sew a little this mornning...got started on the diaper covers that match the little tops that I have made.  I needed a certain size elastic for them...reason for my errand.  I made a main dish salad this afternoon featuring imitation crab.  We had a little for supper just to make sure that it tasted good.  Now it is in the refrigerator getting nice and cold for our lunch tomorrow.  Woody walked early again this morning and did some watering.  We mainly tried to stay in and keep cool.  

I heard on TV just before coming upstairs that the hot temps are supposed to start going down tomorrow...and that we may get some rain...of course that means...a bit lower temp...BUT raised humidity levels...probably won't feel much cooler even if the temperature does drop a bit!  Typical TN summer featuring the 3 H's = heat, humidity & haze!  

Another Hot One!

When I thought about a picture to portray today's heat, the above pictures came to mind.  They show a truck load of hay on fire in the median on an interstate in VA.  I took these on one of our trips to National Institutes of Health (NIH)...many years ago, now.  The bottom one is my favorite...shows the fireman spraying water on the hay and the hay and water flying all over the place.  I shot these out Woody's car window as we drove by very slowly since the traffic was down to a crawl due to the fire.

It has been another good day to stay in and pretty much do as little as possible!  Woody did get his walk in early this morning.  Later in the morning he went to Aldis and Krogers to do our weekly grocery shopping.  I did manage to get enough energy to put away the groceries after he got back home. For a while this afternoon, I sat in my chair and hemmed baby items....good quiet activity on a hot day!  One is ready for the buttonholes to be cut open and then sew the buttons on.  Just before I came in to blog I pinned up the hem on the other one.    I'm planning to have the second one hemmed before I go to bed tonight. Then I will have diaper covers that match to make.  Slow and steady...hopefully the babies won't be grown by the time I finally get them finished! At least I am accomplishing a little something in this heat.

Woody said that when he came out of Krogers today that the heat was absolutely stifling.  It is especially noticable when coming from a very cold air conditioned store and then have the heat that is radiating off the asphalt parking lot hit you full on along with the humidity!  Woody has done some more watering trying to help our plants survive the excessive heat. He has spent a lot of time in his chair also reading, working puzzles, and watching TV.

Lazy Days of Summer!

On days like today, it is best to just be lazy!  Neither Woody nor I have done a whole lot.  Woody did walk this morning.  Later in the morning he made tuna salad for our lunch.  Very good served on a thick slice of garden tomato.  I have done some sewing...some at the machine and some by hand.  I didn't sleep much last night so I have done a lot of napping off and on...I would do a little sewing and then nap for a while and then go back to my sewing or reading or doing sudoko puzzles.  Woody has been reading and doing his daily crossword puzzles and watching some TV.

The above summer pastoral scene seems quite serene...doesn't it?  Well, look closely at the top of the overgrown silo.  Sometimes it is best to be alert even on a lazy summer day!  Below are closer up pics of the top of the silo.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

A heat wave has settled in here in Middle TN and we're not moving any too fast.  Woody did walk this morning to beat the heat.  He had wanted to do some mowing, but it was just too hot.  So that "to-do" stays on his list!  About the only thing that I accomplished today was going to work in the library as I do each Wednesday after lunch.  The three of us got well underway processing the new books.  Several of the books even got put out on the new book shelf...all ready to be checked out.  And, one got checked out.  Boy was the car hot when I went out to get in it to come home.  Today was one of those days when it is best to stay inside in air conditioning!  When I think about air conditioning, I think back to the days when I was a child...just think I grew up without air conditioning and I lived in Arizona!  We had water coolers...or what are now called swamp coolers.  BUT it was dry heat...at least most of the time.  When it did get humid...boy did those water coolers not work very well.  We did have vents in our house like the air conditioning vents of today and the air blew out the vents...well, the damp air that blew out of them was the bane of my existence back then (especially in my teen years!)...as that damp air really did a number on my naturally curly hair! I would walk by a vent and "BOING/FRIZZ" my curls would go!!!" The other thing that I remember about water coolers is packing for vacations.  We would get all our clothes neatly folded in the suitcases all ready to wear during our vacation.  Well, when the suitcase was opened the clothes were all damp from being packed in a house with a water cooler...and warm from being in the trunk for the length of our trip. Steam would practically rise up out of the suitcases!  Funny where my mind travels sometimes!  Maybe I am thinking about taking trips when I lived in AZ due to the fact that my sister is planning a trip to TN in a few months.  I have started my list making for prior to her visit...so far one list with food ideas and one with things "to-do" before she comes.  After starting those lists I sat down and snoozed for a while...too hot to get started on doing any of  them...even though I live in an air conditioned house and should be able to keep on keeping on even in the heat...guess not!

When It Rains...

And, as the slogan for Morton's Salt goes..."When it rains, it pours!"  Well, today we have had a bit of rain...and Woody just experienced it on his walk home from the prayer room at church...just a pop-up shower...really didn't pour.

Today seems to have poured phone calls and several of them with very serious news.  The calls have sort of taken the wind out of my sails!  None of them are news from or about our immediate family...but from church family...hard to hear certain news from or about people we have known for so long.

Woody did some watering this morning...I'm sure that is what brought on this evening's rain showers...not a lot of rain, but hopefully helped the plants.  The temperatures continue to rise so plants are struggling a bit...so watering them and a shower or two will hopefully pull them through these hot humid times.  I opened the door a few minutes ago after the rain shower and you could practically cut the air with a knife...it was so humid!

I am a bit farther with my sewing projects.  I got a lot of hand basting of bias strips around the necks and armholes of two little diaper shirts so they are now ready for the next steps at the sewing machine.  I headed out the door later than usual for my hair appointment...it was for  late afternoon this time rather my usual time...soon after lunch.  I have been concerned most of the day that I would forget it because of the time change.  But I  remembered and made it on time.  And, I feel much better having it really short once again.  It grows just too fast at this time of the year...and with the natural curl and wave that I have, it can get unruly very quickly with all the heat and humidityr.  Best to have it cut so short that it can hardly move! I know it is a good hair cut...when I step out the door after getting it cut on a windy day and the wind doesn't move it! No wind today...but I'm sure that it wouldn't move if there had been wind!

We had leftovers of what all I have been cooking over the last few days.  Next door at Nathan and Kathy's house they call it, Dorrell's Diner, when they have leftovers.  So I guess that's what we had tonight.  I did do a little cooking today...without heating up the kitchen.  I made a new recipe for guacamole...pretty good.

Now that Woody is home from the prayer room, I guess we are both settling in for a quiet evening at home...per usual.

Monday Revisited!

It seems just like yesterday that it was Monday...and here it is Monday once again.  I guess that it is good that they keep rolling around!

Woody got up early and got his walk in before the day heated up.  Later in the morning he went to the Life Care Center and had Bible study with Jeff and the visited with several other residents. After Life Care he made a stop at the local hospital to visit a friend he usually visits at Life Care, but is at the present in the hospital.  On the way home he stopped at the pharmacy and picked up prescriptions for both of us.  This evening he went to Monday night prayer meeting at church.  He returned just little while ago.

I got up and decided that it was time to tackle cleaning under the kitchen sink so I could put the things that we had taken out for installation of the new garbage disposal.  Nathan got it in and working and the small leak addressed.  That was a bit of a job as I had to decide what could be thrown away as well as put things back.  Looks very neat for the moment!  This afternoon I have spent sewing.  Over the weekend, I finally got all the parts and pieces cut out for the two little outfits.  So now I am getting them sewn together.  The shoulder seams and the side seams are sewn and now I am applying bias binding to the neck and armhole edges.  I also made six little buttonholes.  So I am well underway in the process.  I put the sewing aside long enough to put our supper into the oven.  We had Simmer Steak--round steak cooked slowly in the oven with tomatoes, onions, and green peppers along with several of our fresh herbs.  We had it over rice...very tasty!  I came back upstairs after supper and was doing some hand basting when I realized that it was time to blog.

Woody has come back from the prayer meeting and is settled in front of the TV with a book and/or a crossword puzzle.  I'm going back to do a little more sewing before I call it quits this evening.  All in all we are settling in for another of our quiet evenings.

Simply Saturday

It has been a fairly quiet Saturday.  Woody walked early this morning...on the cool end of the day!  Later in the morning he went to the public library. He has helped me clean up the kitchen after leaving dishes last night due to the garbage disposal installation.  I filled the dishwasher and Woody did the rest by hand.  The job for the disposal isn't quite finished...a pipe needs to be replaced.  But the sink and dishwasher are usuable. I spent the afternoon working on tomorrow's Sunday School lesson for my ladies' class.  Now we are both just settling in for a quiet Saturday evening.

World Adventurers Return...Finally!

Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, Elijah, Isaac, and Joseph pulled into their driveway a little before noon today.  They have been gone since June 25th.  They all look none the worse for wear!  The reason that I add that in is that their return trip went every way but smooth!  I will say that they had a wonderful mission adventure in Iceland and Poland.  The Family English Camp went very well...this is a camp that Polish families go to to practice and get better at speaking English.  Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, and Joy helped in different groups as English speaking leaders.  There was lots of recreation and other fun things going on besides English classes!  I just hope that the return trip fiasco doesn't shadow the good times!  I doubt that it will. One or another of them have been over here telling us about their adventures both in Iceland and Poland.  For this trip they have been in Iceland, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia (had to look that spelling up!), Canada, and then back on USA soil.

They were supposed to get home on Tuesday...they pulled into their driveway late this morning after traveling since this past Sunday...they traveled for 128 hours (5 days, 8 hours)!  I will "try" to relate some of their misadventures on the way home.

  They drove in a rented van from Poland to Berlin Germany on Sunday.  They spent the night in a hotel Sunday night near the Berlin airport.  They were up and out and ready to give back their rented van (an interesting story in itself...rented from a Polish company so they couldn't just return it to a rental place at the airport...someone had to come to pick it up.  When they hadn't come they parked it and put the key in a safe place and messaged with their Polish contact what they had done and they headed to the airport to get checked in.  They were all checked in and "thought" that they would shortly be getting on their plane and heading to Iceland.  Well...there was a weather delay that meant that the plane wouldn't leave in time for them to make their connection in Iceland.  The airline told that they couldn't fly on their next flight...that they would have to wait till Thursday to fly out of Berlin.  That didn't sound like a "good plan" to them so they bravely got a refund from the airline and then set about trying to get reservations out of Berlin for 9 people!  At first Nathan and Kathy thought that they had made a bad decision when they started to try to book reservations and the prices were sky-high.  But they finally found a company that was supposed to be able to make reservations at affordable prices.  Finally Kiwi.com did come through and they ended up flying out of Berlin late Tuesday night on the airline that said that they couldn't fly till Thursday.  They flew to Iceland and had a long layover but not really long enough to go to a hotel...so they slept in the airport. And, not in an area that had chairs since they had to wait to clear security in the morning.  Kathy said she slept a bit when she wasn't checking on the children or talking to airport security!
 
They flew out that morning and flew to Montreal, Canada where they had an 18 hour layover!  Well, that layover didn't end being quite that long as the flight out of Iceland was delayed due to a personnel problem with loading the luggage!  Whatever that means!  They did get a hotel in Montreal and were too tired to do much except find a grocery store to get some food for a meal and some snacks.  They flew out Thursday from Montreal to Dulles airport near Washington DC but in Virginia...problem with that...their van was at BWI near Baltimore, MD.  Nathan had to rent a car to drive that 1 1/2 hour or so drive to get their van. Then he had to make that same trip back to Dulles to pick up family and luggage.  Then they were finally on their way under their own steam to head for home.  They stopped last night in Virginia...not very far from the TN state line.  Kathy took a video of Nathan's phone's GPS telling them that they had crossed over the TN state line...there was a lot of whooping in the background on that video!  Quite an adventure...but praising God for their safe travels and for their adventures...what a wonderful experience even with the "few" hiccups on their way home.

Woody did his usual Friday run to Aldis and Kroger.  He got home from the store about the same time as the world travelers pulled into their driveway.  I have spent the day listening to the tales told of their adventures...from climbing volcanoes, to walking behind waterfalls, to teaching English, to learning to dance a Scottish dance, to favorite foods eaten, etc., etc!

This evening Nathan and Graham are helping us out by attempting to install a garbage disposal...ours was the original with this house...almost 40 years old!  They don't make them the way they used to!  Nathan and Kathy put one in their house when they moved here 11 years ago and had to replace theirs just before they went on their Poland mission trip.  So they "thought" that it should be easy since they had just done but ours being so old is a bit different and has caused a bit of a problem getting it out and then put back in and now there may be an electrical problem...perhaps we didn't really need a new one after all!  Hopefully I will have a useable sink before they leave on their next great adventure!

This is Thursday? This IS Thursday!

Do you ever have days when you wonder what day it is?  This has sort of been one of those days for me.  I keep having to think about what I did yesterday...worked at the church library...oh, yes, that means that today is Thursday!

Woody got up and walked early in order to get his walk in before the day started heating up and getting more steamy.  He has worked at mowing once again today.  The area that he is mowing had gotten quite over grown and thick...so it is quite an effort on both his part and the mowers to mow a path through it. He also gathered up all the aluminum cans that have been gathering in the garage for the next "can man" trip.  Today was the day for that trip to recycle them and get money for the international mission fund called The Lottie Moon Christmas offering.  Woody and others in the church gather cans all year and periodically Woody takes them to the "can man."  Good job done...once again a bit wider path in the garage to slip the car into.

I have worked some more on the sewing projects that I am currently working on.  These are tiny items...baby clothes...a couple of my friends have new grandbaby girls so I decided that I felt like sewing for baby girls for a change.  I am making two of the same pattern just with different fabric and trim...trying to sew them at the same time...seam the shoulders on one top and then sew the shoulder seams on the other, etc.  I still don't have all cut out for them so am proceding slowly.  Maybe it is the hot humid weather, but my "get-up-and-go" got up and left!  I cooked pasta tonight for the two sauces that I made earlier in the week.  Slowly the fridge gets emptier.  I took something out of the freezer a while ago as I think that I am going to have actually cook a new recipe tomorrow.

I am hoping to have quite a tale to tell in tomorrow night's blog...about a GREAT adventure!  Be sure to tune back in tomorrow same time, same station!  

A Tennessee Century Farm

Tonight's photos show a farm that we happened to run across on our travels last week.  When I was sorting the photos I noticed the signs that are next to the barn door.  I could just barely make out that the bottom one says that it is a Century Farm.  What that means is that the land has been owned and farmed by the same family for over one hundred years.  I read a little about the program and there are over a thousand such farms registered with the farm bureau.  This is done for recognition of the families and also for historical preservation.  What I read that there are registered century farms in every one of TN's 95 counties.  I'm glad we ran across one in our barn excursion!  I will be looking for more Century Farms when we go on our farm photo excursions.

Woody has kept quite busy today.  He walked early as it has been and still is a very hot day.  He also watered some of the gardens...our container gardens on the back porch definitely need it on such hot days...they dry out quickly despite lots of rain in our recent past.  He read a book that I handed him this morning...one from the most recent book order that I made for the church library.  He had it finished before it was time for me to go work in the library.  He washed the air filter that goes in our downstairs AC return.  He did get the lawn mower going so he mowed.  He also bought and put on a new air filter on the mower.  And, he made a trip to the local drugstore to pick up a prescription. Now he's settled in his recliner watching TV and working crossword puzzles.

I completed the prework on the book order so the books would be ready for processing.  After lunch, I headed off with a stop at Sherwin Williams to pick up two paint strips.  I need them to match some fabric to them for something that I am going to make for someone.  After that stop, I headed on to the church and worked for a couple of hours at the library.  The three of us got a good handle on the new book order and are underway with getting them ready to be checked out.  This order will be mainly of interest to our fiction readers...looks like we have some good new reads!  When working with the books in the library it just makes me wish that I could read faster...or even read two at the same time....so I could read more of them.  There are so many good books out there...and what seems like so little time to read them all!  I made a quick stop at Walmart on the way home as I needed to pick a couple of things.  I didn't have to do any cooking other than warming up things as we continue to eat what I cooked over the last few days.  The refrigerator looks like it will be time for me to cook once again in the very near future!  I checked out a new e-book the other night and have been enjoying it when I sit down to rest...that is if I keep my eyes open.  I sat down after supper and the book was there before me on my iPad...BUT my eyes closed so I couldn't see it for several moments!  I may go back to reading after I publish this or I may work a little on my latest sewing project...for some reason I'm not all that motivated to sew at the moment...partly because I still need to cut out more of this pattern and cutting out isn't my favorite part of sewing!

Tuesday

Woody has worked on mowing the section of the yard that he started yesterday.  He came in earlier and said that he thought that he was going to have to get a new lawnmower.  We bought this one more than 30 years ago so I would say that it has proved its worth over the years.  Woody wore the hat of handyman for a while this morning.  He fixed two drawers in our kitchen that kept going off the track.  It will be so good not to constantly have to keep putting them back on the track for them to almost immediately come off the track. After supper, Woody walked to the church prayer room and has yet to return. 

  

I have sort of had a slow day.  I started out the day sneezing my head off and using about half a box of kleenex, but as the day went on those allergy symptoms left.  I worked on a new order of books for the church library.  I have them all ready to take to the library tomorrow so we can start processing them.  I have also started cutting out my next sewing project.  Today the only cooking project I did was make a box mix of Red Lobster biscuits to go with the other food that I prepared over the last couple of days...something new to add to the leftovers.  I checked out an e-book that I had requested and started reading it.

  

Moo Day Rolled Around Once Again!

We have had a pretty busy Moo day (Monday).  Woody has been on the go since early this morning when he went on his walk.  He said that it was very pleasant out...in the 60's and the humidity was down once again. We are supposed to be in a heat wave for the next few days.  Today it neared 90 degrees...but I don't think that it quite made it.  Woody headed off mid morning to go to the Life Care Center to have Bible study with Jeff and visit with friends who either reside there or are recouping there.  One of our friends, who he usually visits there, is in the hospital so he made a stop at the hospital to check on him. He came home and attempted to mow in an area that he hadn't been able to mow due to all the rain.  It is a bit of a challenge as it didn't stop growing just because he couldn't get to it...pretty thick and tall!  He has made a swipe or two through it and pulled down some poison ivy.  He showered after coming in contact with the poison ivy...hope that is all that was needed to keep him from having a problem. Woody doesn't usually have a problem with poison ivy.  It is Nathan who is highly allergic to it.  So I guess it is good that Woody attacked this poison ivy as it was on Nathan's fence. Later in the afternoon, Woody took some church literature by and visited with a gentleman who is a part of his deacon family care group.  Then after supper he headed off to church for Monday night prayer meeting.  He has just returned from church. He came in and changed clothes and headed back outside to do a bit more mowing while the sun still shines.

I have had another busy cooking day.  We have lots of fresh veggies that I need to cook before they aren't so fresh!  I made pesto with our home grown basil.  I used some of the pesto to make pesto mayo to put on my BLT at lunch.  Very good!  I stewed some chicken pieces for a pasta dish that I wanted to try...Basil Chicken over Angel Hair.  It used fresh tomatoes (of which we have an abundance at the moment) and fresh basil (another trip out to our herb garden on our patio).  A friend brought us some fresh green beans and I cooked some of them to go with our pasta dish...I cooked the green beans with fresh marjorem from our herb garden (another trip out the back door to the herb garden).  We had a yummy supper using two new recipes.  I have chopped, cut, diced, etc. a lot of food today.  And, at this point I am pretty beat and have come upstairs to rest my back which is protesting!  Woody has helped me clean up the cooking dishes/mess...such a big help!  We also had freshly picked corn that our friend brought to us with our lunch today...best corn so far this year!

Sunday Blessings!

SUNDAY BLESSINGS FOUND ON OUR BARN EXCURSION!

Proof!

Here's proof of how green EVERYTHING is here in Middle Tennessee of late due to all the rain...even the barns are green (or at least some of them)!

Woody got up and walked early this morning.  After the library opened, he headed in that direction for his usual Saturday morning library visit.  Late morning he went to our local hospital to visit church members who are in the hospital.  He visited with a friend who had emergency surgery late last night. On one of his morning trips he stopped at the pharmacy to pick up one of his prescriptions. After lunch, Woody and I drove over to Shelbyville to go to the Christian bookstore there.  He picked up his books that hadn't sold. While he was in the bookstore, I attempted to get in touch with our friends who live in Shelbyville.  I didn't get them on the phone, but we drove by anyway and found them at the site of their new home that is being built.  We got the grand tour!  I'm glad to be able to better picture what it will look like when it is finished.  We had a nice impromptu visit.

I have been in cooking mode today.  This morning I made a vegetable pasta salad.  We enjoyed some of it for lunch.  Then after we got back from Shelbyville I cooked our favorite rib recipe: Cantonese Spareribs. We enjoyed them this evening with the Rice Garden Salad that I made yesterday.

We are now settling in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household. I think that it is safe to say that we have had an entire day free from rain...that hasn't happened for some time!

Seeing Red?

I used a special effect on one of my cameras where you click on a color in the scene and it only shows that color in the picture you are taking and the rest of the picture is in gray scale.  The night before we went on our barn photo trek I decided that I wanted to use this special effect at least once.  And this scene seemed the place to use it...two red barns and a red brick house. Not an effect that I use often, but it can make a pretty neat picture in the right circumstances!  Here is another that I took in a regular setting...so you can see ALL the color.  We had moved on down the road a bit, but it shows one barn a little of the other. The tree is interesting too.  We're not sure what kind it was...but blooming...an orangish red bloom.

I'll post a picture of a close-up of one of the branches and see if anyone knows what kind of tree it is.  I have been looking at some TN tree identification information...but so far haven't come up with a match as far as I can see!

We have actually had an entire day that we have had no rain...at least in the daytime...not exactly sure if we had more rain in the middle of the night or not.  Our weather is supposed to turn HOT and of course that means HUMID due to all the rain that we have had...and perhaps HAZY...and then we will have the 3 H's of Tennessee summers!  

Woody actually got his four-mile walk in early this morning.  Later in the morning he did our weekly shoppint at Aldis and Kroger and made a stop at WalMart.  This afternoon he announced that he had gotten the driveway all cleaned off...something that he had had to keep putting off due to all our rain.  It does look nice...at least till the next storm!  

I did a little cooking today.  I guess it was a "revert to my mother's recipes" day.  I made her Rice Garden Salad recipe: a really refreshing salad for summer...a little like a potato salad but using rice.  That is sitting in the fridge melding its flavors till tomorrow.  Then I made another favorite of ours that Mother introduced to us: Hominy Casserole.  Other than cook and fold some towels and put away a couple of things, I have pretty much taken it easy today after my galavanting yesterday!  I did look at a few of my barn, etc. photos, but haven't sat at the computer for very long at any time today.

We are all locked in for the night.  I'm sure that it will be another quiet "as usual" Friday evening.

I will close by wishing Elijah a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  He's finally actually 8! He celebrated in a bit different way today..."Happy Birthday" sung to him in two languages!  

We Stop for Barns!

As tonight's first photo shows...we stop for barns even in the rain!  I drove over to Marie's house and Carolyn, who lives across the street from Marie, walked over to Marie's.  We were on the road by 9am...and, the sun was shining.  The above barn was taken a little after 9:30 am.  The first place that we stopped was to take a picture of this waterfall...note that there is mist rising off the water but the sun is shining...the waterfall was taken at 9:04am.

Not long after the waterfall, we came across a group of goats including several kids.  We decided that they were photo worthy.  Note that the sun was so bright that it "blew out" the background in the top corner of my  goat photo. This was taken about 9:20am.

 About the time we finished capturing the goats on our cameras' memory cards, we looked up and said, "Uh-oh," and this was what we saw in the not so far distance. Isn't that a neat mail box that I captured along with the ominous clouds rolling in!  This was taken about 9:25.

It started raining on us about 9:30am (top picture with the stop sign) and it poured till about 9:50am. So we only had hard rain for about 15-20 minutes.  Because...one minute I took the photo below with it pouring.

And, the next minute I took the next photo of the same barn...with the rain stopped. If you click on the photos to make them larger, you can really see the rain coming down in both the first picture and the one just above the last photo.

The rest of our trip of around 50 miles was made with only a drip now and then...and mostly those drips were coming from the trees.  We had everything from sunshine, dark ominous skies, and clouds breaking up to show blue sky peeping through.  Our circuitous trip took us to Shelbyville where we stopped for lunch.  While lunching we saw a friend from Tullahoma and several friends from Shelbyville.  I will be using today's trip photos, I imagine, for a while on the blog.  I took quite a few pictures...imagine that!

Woody stayed home and held down the fort.  He made quite a few attempts to do yardwork and also to get his walk in and the weather didn't cooperate for him as well as it did for us on our trip.  He said that he got to the end of our street once and there came a big boom of thunder so he turned around.  He said that it rained off and on most of the day here.  We must have either stayed to the north, south, east, or west of the rain on our trip except for those fifteen to twenty minutes! 

We had a great time driving through the beautiful rolling hills of Middle TN.  We live in such a beautiful state...and, we could see all that our plentiful rains of late have done to keep those hills very, very green and the creeks running swiftly and waterfalls coming out of rocky ledges! We enjoyed seeing and attempting to capture just some of the beauty of God's world today.

Oh, I am hearing rumbles of thunder starting up as I type this...sounds like we are in for more rain...there seems to be a pattern to our weather these days = Rain, Rain, Rain, and MORE RAIN!  It is now pouring!  We certainly haven't had to do any watering of the gardens lately...that's nice!