Indian Summer

For those of us in Florida, it still feels like mid summer as the temps hover around 90, more or less.   But for my northern family and friends, they are enjoying the last warm days before winter sets in.   Most every where "up North" the leaves are beginning to change.  I thought I'd share some last pics of summer with you before we embark on the fast approaching holidays.

I took this at sunset in our front yard at our rental house.   The sky was just so rich in color I had to run inside and grab my camera to capture the scene.

Here's another sunset taken near our home.   Love the cloud formations and the palm tree silhouetted against the closing light.

How about this night blooming cactus?    It's on the side fence of our yard and I needed to take the pic in early morning before the white blooms close up again until night time.    I'm not a big fan of cactus, but this is really pretty.

And I had to include at least one pic from the beach.   The water in the Gulf is still in the 80's and high 70's....just right for a barefoot walk along the water's edge.

Hope you enjoyed my pics from the end of summer.   Now, bring on the cool fronts!
Debbie

Idle Hands, NOT!

My dear husband loves to sit and watch movies.   I mean, it's absolutely his favorite thing to do.    As for me, a movie here and there is just fine, but I'd rather be doing something instead of watching other people doing something.   See the conflict I'm setting up here?

Well, after almost 3 decades of married life together, we have found our happy medium.   He watches all the movies he wants, I join him on the couch or my favorite overstuffed chair............and I knit, or needlepoint, or hand sew, or crochet, or quilt.   Get the idea?   We're still together, we can still have a conversation and share a cup of coffee, but I don't get "antsy" sitting there for hours.   Obviously, we have opposing levels of energy, but it works for us!

Last year I got back into needlepoint and here are two of the finished projects.

I just love this little Key West house and the palm trees.   Notice the little black kitty hanging over the porch rail?    It is still unframed and I may decide not to frame it after all and just hang the raw canvas "as is" in my studio.

This coastal bird was a lot of fun to stitch out, but there were times when I thought I'd go cross eyed trying to determine the varying shades of tan for his body.   All in all, though, stitching these pieces was very enjoyable.  It's just fun to see how fast the picture comes alive as you stitch the different gorgeous yarns onto the canvas.   Stitching one of these is kinda like paint by number, as the canvas is painted in the corresponding color to the yarn, so you know where to put each strand of yarn.

As for the bird canvas, I sewed him into a pillow for our bedroom.   Don't you think he blends all of our colors really well?   Here he is in his new home, sitting on the rocking chair whose fabric is a wild tropical leaf pattern in tans, soft coastal blues and browns. 

So, the next time you're bored, why don't you try your hand at some needlepoint?    It's pretty cool!
On to the time project,
Debbie

Another One Bites the Dust

Another month, that is, bites the dust.   Can you believe it?  Today is the last day of September.  Time to change my dish towels.  Even though we are in a rental, I still enjoy marking the change of seasons with just a small token of seasonal decorating.....and when we moved, I made certain to pack my monthly dish towels to use while we are living here.   It's just nice to see something hand made in my kitchen....it cheers me up.  

On to October.............

How do you celebrate the change of seasons?
Debbie

And There's More....

Just where is this farm Debbie is going on so much about, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.   It's a little less than 30 minutes from Crossville, Tennessee.    Crossville is a sweet little town on the Cumberland Plateau (the locals pronounce it Plat-Awwww).   Our farm is at 1900 feet elevation which makes it about 8 degrees cooler than Knoxville or Chattanooga, the 2 closest cities.
We just love the original downtown...here's a sampling of what it looks like.

 The local bank decorated the light pole out front with corn stalks and ribbon.   Actually, the whole downtown had cornstalks on all the poles.   Too cute!

We believe this is the county courthouse, but haven't had enough time to investigate that yet.   Every hour on the hour the big stone church around the corner plays a hymn on the bells for all to hear.   When I hear that music tears sting the back of my eyes.....it's brings back precious memories for me.

The old theater is still up and running.

We need to check out this war museum, too.   So many things to look into, so little time.

Joel and I had to giggle........this is considered a Crossville heavy traffic travel time.   Ha!   We had 3 whole cars in front of us at the stop light.  

There's even a pretty gazebo next to the courthouse.

Can't wait to check out this old fashioned drug store....wonder if it has a soda fountain inside?

And, yes, they sell moonshine, too!    Peavine is a road in and around Crossville. 

The annual Apple Festival was going on this last weekend so we made a quick run thru to see what they had there.   There were lots of crafts and homemade soaps and jellies.

 And, of course, there were tractors on display.

We got a real kick out of this "train" pulling little kiddles around the festival.  Did you notice the "cars" were made out of drums?

 Aren't these bird feeders cool?    They're made from old glassware glued together.

 And these painted gourds were really pretty, too.

I think the dragonfly was made from old fan blades and a rolling pin covered in chicken wire.

I could have loaded the truck with all these mums, they were just so pretty in large masses.

Well, there you have it....a small taste of Crossville.   There are so many more places to visit, it'll take us a long time to begin to see them all.

Checkin' out the locals,
Debbie

Dream Come True

It was 19 years ago when Joel, Jeremy and I rented a sweet little cabin on 10 acres up in Valle Crucis, North Carolina.    That little farm intrigued Joel and I, and we often talked about how much we would like to own a property like that some day.   We have searched, researched and traveled around over the years......looking to recreate the lovely "feel" of that original property.    And then 4 weeks ago we found it!   Seriously!   Our very own restful piece of land, a farm we can now call our own.  We closed on the property 3 days ago and couldn't be happier.

We haven't come up with a name for the place yet, but here are some pics we can share with you.

This is the back of the farmhouse on the left which has a screened in porch running the length of the house.   The structure on the right is a huge pavilion with it's own kitchen and bathroom in the enclosed area.    What a great place to sit under the shade while the breezes keep you cool.

Whenever we buy a house, I always ask Joel to take a pic of me with the sale sign.....the realtor was removing it and he snapped this pic for me.....we're just a little excited about acquiring the farm!  It was a little drizzly that day, and windy, too.   Hence the raincoat.

We'd like you to meet some of our new neighbors.

From the road approaching the farm, this is the view of the bluffs, boulders that are 2 stories high are hiding behind the trees in the foreground!

Two of the barn stalls have garage doors and a cement floor.   Joel has big dreams of someday putting his woodworking tools in there.

 Here's another view of the pavilion.   The family that previously owned this property had a large family and they had their family reunions here.   See the RV garage off to the right?   It even has water and electricity right at the garage....all set up for our RV.

This used to be a working farm, and we're not quite sure what we'll be doing with the remaining part of the barn.    For now it'll be a good place to shelter the huge mowing equipment Joel has been daydreaming about.

 All I can say is......pretty..........all 12.7 acres of it!

 The wind vane is always in motion.

And the back porch even has a "slamming" screen door.   I just love that!

This solid cedar picnic table with benches was built by the farmer who had access to a mill where he had all his wood cut from the property.   Talk about solid!   

We even have a pear tree!    And was it ever loaded
with pears.......I backed up Joel's truck so it was under
the tree and jumped up and started to load the
bushel baskets we bought the day before at Tractor
Supply Store.   The flatbed of his truck made a handy
ladder for us.

Every time I pulled a pear off the tree, another 3 fell, making Joel do a lot of ducking.   There are also 2-40' grape arbors which had been loaded with grapes when we first looked at the property 3 weeks ago.    Joel thinks he may have to learn how to make wine now that we know they produce about 30 gallons of picked fruit from each arbor.

On our way back home to Florida we made a 4 hour detour in north Georgia to see a guy about a stove.   We found exactly what we wanted for our old farmhouse kitchen......a 1952 Chambers stove.     Won't it be fun to cook on this pretty baby?

So that's the nickel tour of our new farm.    We are beyond excited and can't wait to go back up there and spend a few days exploring our new land once again.

Farm Chick Wannabe,
Debbie

Dog Day

We all have a morning ritual, something we do to start our day with a familiar task.   For my husband, it's taking the same coffee filled travel mug with him as he drives to work.   My mornings are not complete without a cup of cappuccino in my favorite mug.    And I guess dogs are no different than we are in that they like to do the same thing each and every morning.

Since we moved into the rental, we have a lot of people walking or biking up the sidewalk in front of our house.   This seems to provide endless hours of amusement and entertainment for Winston and Molly. 

She jumps onto the couch and deftly lands on the sofa table which is up against the window, parting the  verticals with her nose so she can see what's going on out there.   Winston is tall enough that he just parts the verticals and barks.........at each......and........every....person who goes by.  Without fail.    Are you getting the picture?   Molly just looks, but Winston barks.   Over and over again.  

Think I'll have that Cafe Mocha Vodka Valium Latte now, please,
Debbie

Knitting Fever

The thermometer outside is still registering in the 90's, but my internal clock tells me Fall is just around the corner.   And while waiting for lowering temperatures to bless us with sweet relief from the heat, I get the irresistible urge to pick up my knitting needles.   I know just how to scratch that itch, too.   It just so happens that when we moved earlier this summer, I took the time to organize (ahem) some of my enormous stash of craft supplies, making it easier to find projects all ready to go.

Let's see, there's the bin of U.F.O.'s (unfinished objects like quilts, etc.), there's the bin of Christmas quilts(someday I hope all the beds in our house will be graced with lovely holiday quilts), there's the bin of smaller sewing projects I've collected over the past couple of years, and then there's the bin of yarn....complete with patterns.    So I dug out the bin of yarn and discovered some simple cotton yarn and a few patterns I downloaded from the internet.   Ahhhh, just the perfect project for a few nights of knitting.   AND, the cotton isn't so hot to work with (remember, we still have our A.C. running full tilt).  Who wants to work with itchy wool in this heat, right?

 

And here we have it......Ta-da!   Wash cloths!   And they were so fun to knit, too.   I think I'll be making a whole bunch more of these.   I especially like the wavy one.  Each one took only a few hours to knit, which was a perfect way to satisfy my knitting fever.  And how gratifying to have something useful as an end product?   I started using the wavy one yesterday and I love the feel of it under my fingers as I'm scrubbing dishes.   Yes, I'm hand washing dishes as the dishwasher at our rental has been deceased for a week now.   Ah, but that's another story for another day.....

Till then,
Knitting fever has abated,
Debbie