MOUNTAIN STATE FAIR

Off to market early this morning. Although I don't think anyone would have noticed as the market parking lot was pretty empty when we arrived.
Sales were very slow today but I am thankful for what I did sell as always.
After market I headed to Aldi and then home to relax for a little while. The heat is back, 84 degrees coupled with a very slow day has sapped me of energy.
As I rested I looked through the pics from the kids of their trip to the fair this morning.
Re and El ride the bee......

Love that big smile on g-son's face.......

 Daughter and EL in an elephant.......

 Daughter , Josh and EL on the chairlift........

 G-son, d-in-love and g-daughter on the chairlift.........

Re and BB ride in front of Josh and daughter and EL.......

 There's that smile again..........

Looks like they had lots of fun but they said it was uncomfortably hot over there this morning. They got there at 9:00 and left after lunch.
After a short rest hubbie and I went outside and planted all the plants I brought in from #2 son's.
At I got to replace the Hosta's that the hens reached through the fence and ate.
We finished the evening with chores, supper and a relaxing rest in the outside patio.
A not so smart neighbor was burning something this evening. As dry as it is this is scary !!!!

 The clouds moved in as the sun got lower.

 Wonder what was under this hole in the clouds and these sunrays ???????

As this beautiful scene brings another late summer day to an end I am humbly grateful for the blessings of this day and His grace as I strive to honor the Glory of His name in all that I do.
Good Night and God Bless

GRAND KIDS

After dropping g-son at school I came home in the 48 degree morning to do chores and have breakfast.  I took a long walk then came in to have my devotions and ponder my baking schedule for the day.
With business slowing and no orders for tomorrow I decided to wait until lunch or later to bake.
#2 son, who is on his long weekend off, came by for some tools and wanted me to go to his house to show him how to prune some of his bushes and to see if I wanted any of the things he was digging up. His yard is overgrown even with the dry season we have had this year. We did this last year and you can't even tell where we took things out then.
After a couple hours of pruning and digging we had cleared some things but the ground is so dry and hard he is going to have to saw some things off at the ground level.
I brought home 3 bushes and some Hostas to add to my landscaping.  Re came up and took several Forsythia bushes,some Bittersweet vine and a couple Hostas home with her. I called d-in-love but she didn't want any of the disgarded shrubbery.
At lunch time we stopped and I came home wet with sweat as my long jeans and t-shirt were soaked with sweat in the 84 degree sunshine.
After lunch it felt really good to get the shorts and tank top back on and get out in the sunshine after the last few cooler days.
A good friend and apple grower brought me by a couple bushels of my favorite cooking apple, the Hoover, thanks Cheryl McGraw.

G-son came by to spend the afternoon here while his mom ran errands after she picked him up from school. Brenda Harvey my market neighbor had bought g-daughter a gift and she also brought g-son one. He enjoyed making creations with all these shapes for a long time while he was here.

While he played I baked 5 pound cakes, an apple spice and a pumpkin spice cake for tomorrow as no orders have come in.
After chores hubbie and I went home with g-son to check up on g-daughter. This was her bath night and she enjoyed it very much.

She is a little sweetheart and is such a good baby.

We made a trip to Ingles to pick up some cheese ball making supplies. One of he elder members of our church, Mrs. Betty Jones, moved on to her Heavenly home this past Wednesday. Her memorial and reception is this Sunday afternoon.

She always made a cheese ball for all our meal celebrations at church and she had put the recipe in our church cook book. I was chosen to make this for her family at the reception. I hope is close to as good as hers always was. It is a simple recipe and as hubbie and I sampled it , the taste is great.

1 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese
1/2 lb sharp cheese
2 tsp grated onion
2 tsp worchester sauce
nuts of your choice

Mix first 4 ingredients together in mixer and blend . Shape into ball and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll in nuts, put back in refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Set out 2 hours before serving.         Betty Jones'  recipe

 After the cheese balls were in the frig I wrapped and got things ready for market tomorrow.
God is good all the time and as I get into bed tonight I am thankful for another wonderfully blessed day of His gracious love.
Good Night and God Bless.

VOLLEYBALL

G-son was in deep thought this morning on the way to school. When I asked him what he was thinking about he asked, "why is your forehead called a forehead?" , To which I had no answer except maybe because it goes before the rest of your body. In reply to that he assured me that wasn't it because it wasn't called your "before" head just your "fore"head.  I let him ponder the rest of the way to school.
Back home I did chores and headed out to market.  Today was a very slow day even though there were several bus loads that stopped by the market. Typically these bus passengers don't buy anything because they don't have room to put it on the bus.
I am thankful for what I did sell.
I left market and ran the regular errands. I was quickly making my baking supplies stops so I could meet d-in-love and the kids at daughter's volleyball game.
I made it home at 3:30 and got things put away. I headed out to school at 4:00 only to find no game and an empty gym.  There were several Pisgah folks coming in so I knew I wasn't the only one expecting a game today.
I finally got in touch with daughter and she said the game was going to start at 5:00.
After letting d-in-love know the delay I went back home to have an early supper.
Hubbie came in from work just as I left for the game.
This little sweetie pie slept through all the noise and excitement of her first volleyball game.G-son sat at the top of the bleachers and played games on d-in-love's phone during the game.

Daughter's JV team won their game but had 2 really close matches which daughter's facial expressions show.

D-in-love took the kids home after the JV game because g-son had homework and g-daughter got hungry.
Daughter helps the varsity team warm up. They were playing Pisgah high school.

 The varsity team also won their game in 3 sets so it made for a short night.

In this picture the photographer took I am sitting to the right of the outstretched arms in the black top with my red bag in front of me and d-in-love and g-daughter are beside me.

I came home after the first match of the varsity  so I could get the animals fed on a regular time.
I also talked with an old school mate and friend who is a photographer about photoing daughter's wedding next summer. We are meeting with him Monday evening.
After getting the chores done I sat outside in the cool evening air.
Today has been back to summer after a cool 47 degree start it got to 81 this afternoon. In the next few days looks like summer is returning, I thought the early Fall temps were to good to last !!!

There was a beautiful orange cresent moon tonight but before I could figure the settings out on my camera for a picture the moon dropped behind the mountains,boooo !!!
Thankful tonight for all the blessings of this day and praising God's name all day long.
Good night and God Bless.

THE BEAUTY OF EARLY FALL

G-son was  in a good mood as we traveled to school this morning.  He once again arrived just behind the little girl on crutches and once again he walked slowly behind her to open the door.
Back home I did chores in the 44 degree still really cool morning.
After breakfast I took a walk in the fresh air to get my day started.
Back inside I fired up my newly repaired ovens and crossed my fingers.
The noisy fans were eerily quiet, I even had to open the doors a couple times to check if they were running.  The temperature control knobs were obviously tighter and held the temperature steadier than when the ovens were new I think. All was going smoothly until I heard the first beep from them and turned to see that the bottom oven had indeed shut off and the display had the "err" message.  Grrrr, I restarted the oven and didn't have any other miscues.  I think I will give it one more chance before I get on the phone.  I feel there is no sense calling the same repair company if it isn't fixed because the guy scratching his head told me flat out that this is the only thing he knew to do to fix it.
I will need to get hold of someone at Sears who can help maybe get someone who has worked on this problem before.
After lunch I gave my entire house a good cleaning. With the baby being born last week there hasn't been much time for deep cleaning so today was the day.
Just as I was mopping myself out the door d-in-loves mom came by for a cake and we had a nice visit.
I went up to the garden and picked our first fresh greens to cook for supper. They were okay but rain would definitely give them more flavor.
Hubbie and I watched the news then I took an evening walk in the lower pastures.
The Golden Rod still draws me to its Fall beauty.

These Purple Asters are colorful.

The brightest spot I found was these Yellow Daisies which have grown from one little bouquet to a large mass that is fence tall and six feet wide.

The Virgins Thumb or Heart Heal, marked by it's distinctive heart on each leaf,is hanging full of little flower heads bowing under their weight.

This is the first Ironweed I have seen in a couple years down here and it isn't in the same place as it used to be.

These skeletal looking blossoms are growing all along the front pasture fence. I looked them up and found that they are Autumn Clematis.  I have never seen it here before and I wonder if the seed the landscapers spread after the bridge construction contained this seed. It is really pretty.

 These are the seed pods after the pretty white blossoms.

I watched the sun's last rays brighten the western sky and took a short rest before going inside to get the weekly paperwork and billing paying done before getting things ready for market.

Giving God all the glory tonight for a beautiful world and all the creations He made for our enjoyment.
Good Night and God Bless

OVEN REPAIR DAY

Up early to get g-son to school. Not quite as cold this morning as yesterday, only 44 today.
I delivered a caramel cake to a birthday girl on my way home from school. Happy birthday and surprise Betty Pace !!!
After chores and breakfast I postponed my walk until this evening so I would not miss the call from the oven repair man who is supposed to come before lunch today.
I changed out the curtains and rugs in the living room and did housework while I waited.
I was beginning to wonder if he was even coming today when at 12:45 he called to say he was waiting for his helper then he would be here.
They worked for over 3 hours on the oven. After lifting the heavy double oven out of the cabinet and getting it back in there and all the new parts in place I thought this was going pretty smooth. Then they began to re-calibrate the new temperature knobs !!!  I could tell both of them were getting discouraged as they went through the instructions time after time and nothing happened.
Finally he called someone who apparently knew more than the both of them and it was done in no time. But it was 4:00 !!!!!
At least it works , but the real test will be when I bake tomorrow and have both ovens running to see if they start shutting off on their own .  I am crossing my fingers that this is the fix and I won't have to get into it again with them, but like I told him , if it is fixed I don't mind spending $430 but if it isn't I want my money all back !!   Here's hoping this is the end of the repair !!!!!!!!
After hubbie got home from work we watched the news then did evening chores.
After we ate supper hubbie went on my walk with me. We walked in the lower pasture on this really nice clear, cool evening. These Goldenrods sure bring Fall to mind.

I checked out the "drought rock" in the creek and was surprised to see it still had a little water covering it in spots.

These are the only clouds in the sky tonight.

We checked out the dried up farm pond.

Not many times have I been able to stand in the middle of the pond with dry feet.

The bottom is still pretty soft but there is no signs of water anywhere.
We sat out in the patio and watched darkness fall tonight after our walk.
This is a card we got today from church.

My sentiments exactly on this 1 week birthday of g-daughter !!!

Thankful to God everyday !!
Good Night and God Bless

BRRRRRR !!!! 40 DEGREE MORNING !!!

A 7:15 alarm jarred us awake this cold, 40 degree morning !! Hubbie has to be in Asheville at 8:45 for his annual physical exam and I am picking g-son up at 7:45 and taking him to school.
After dropping him off I got home just as hubbie was leaving.  I had to get out my car manual to see how to get the heat to come on in my Honda. These new cars sure can make you feel stupid !!!!
The heat was on I just had the fan on the windshield only setting, duh !!!
I needed the heat this morning as this is still the temperature .

I did the morning chores and had breakfast, then took a nice long walk in the refreshing cool air.
This little sweetie is going to her first doctor's appointment this morning.

Thankfully she was declared "very healthy" and is almost back to her birth weight.

I did 3 loads of laundry this morning while hubbie, who passed his physical with a warning to lose some weight and get back on his niacin supplement, mowed the lawn. He wanted to get the mowing done on our property around #1 son's house before d-in-love got back with g-daughter to sleep.
After the laundry was finished I headed up to the garden. We needed to get all the dry bean vines off the trellises we use .

The hens will be munching on dried beans for several days.Hubbie will wait for one of the boys to help him carry these heavy panels out of the garden.

We also cleaned this spot where the winter squash grew off and replanted it with Collard seed.

Then we moved on to the Fall garden we already have planted and tilled and weeded our greens and turnips. I am totally surprised at the growth of these things in this dry weather.

We have some Tendergreens and Kale that are ready to eat.
This year the rabbits are finding a way to get through the "rabbit" guard fencing we have around the garden and they are nibbling on the greens. They must be pretty particular as they leave some things alone and love other things. They haven't touched anything so far except the kale.
D-in-love brought g-son and g-daughter by after she picked up g-son from school. He is taking a Monday afternoon class the Flat Rock Playhouse offered at his school and he said he really enjoyed it today. G-daughter slept through the visit.
Re brought the kids over for a little while this evening also so they could play. She was supposed to work tonight but got flexed off so she had told them they were coming over and they wanted to come play for a little while.
Daughter called and had made it safely home from a class she had to go to in Raleigh today. She left yesterday afternoon and stopped by a girlfriend's house in Morganton to see her new baby on the way.The class was the last of the series she has to go to down there to get her teaching lisence.
I don't like for her to drive that far alone but it doesn't bother her. Thanks be to God for His protective arms around her as she traveled.
Hubbie and I sat outside for a little while tonight after chore time, until it got too cool to be comfortable.
Another cold night is on tap tonight with predicted low 40's again. Our high today was 78 with bright sunshine in a completely cloudless sky.
Grateful to God for a wonderful day and all the blessings He sent my way today.
Good Night and God Bless.

COOLER SUNDAY

Church is looking more like Fall every Sunday as more decorations are added.

Pastor finished up 1st Timothy today.
We were presented the rose that all new babies get in our church since #1 son or d-in-love weren't there today.

There was another rose for another little baby girl also this morning given to her grandparents, Perry and Laura Breedlove. Their daughter Melissa gave birth on Friday. Melissa and #1 son graduated high school together.
After the service we had #1 son ,d-in-love and both kids along with Aa, Re and both their kids for lunch.
There was some smoked chickens left over last night and we had a couple for lunch along with green beans, corn,rice and slaw.
Everyone enjoyed getting to know g-daughter for her first lunch visit.
After they all went home to let the kids get naps I ran out to Aldi to get some more of the lazy susans that I got last week for reorganizing my cabinets but they were sold out . I checked at Lowes and Home Depot while I was in town but they didn't have any either so I will look on line.
I came back home to meet, Pam Davis a friend of mine who was coming to cut some Curly Willow limbs from my tree for some wedding arrangements she was making for a wedding next week.
I enjoy visiting with Pam when she comes as she and I have much in common. She used to have the table beside me at Curb Market before she had to take a full time job. We had a lot of fun when she was there.
She crammed the jeep wrangler her and her husband Rick were in full of branches and off they went .
After chores I watered all the potted plants as I shivered in the cool evening air. It is 54 degrees at 10:00 tonight so I'm sure we will make it to the low to mid 40's before morning on this crystal clear night. These next few days that are more typical for early October than September  are going to make us feel like Fall has arrived, could it be true ????

The mountain state fair started Friday and over 40,000 people have already attended in the first 3 days of perfect weather .

We have no plans to attend this year at least not yet !!
Hubbie and I both spent the evening relaxing and getting ready for another busy week.
Wondering what God's plans are for my family and me for this week and thankful for the blessings He sent my way today.
Good Night and God Bless