BEAUTIFUL MARKET DAY

As g-son and I opened the door to go to the van we got a shock as the wind was all of a sudden blowing very hard.
It is cloudy and I wondered if we were in for an early morning storm.
By the time I got home and got ready to do the chores the wind had died and the skies didn't look as threatening as they did earlier.
I made it to market a few minutes early today.  Business picked up as the morning's weather took a change for the better with sunshine and nice warn temps.
I thank God for the sales I made today.  Rebekah came late but sold several things also.
As I sold a couple small bonnets and looked around at some of my empty shelves I decided that starting next week I am setting aside at least 30 minutes of sewing time each day.  Maybe after g-son and get home from school in the afternoons would be a good time.
After market I ran errands and picked up baking supplies along with making a stop at the farm outlet for cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries.  These strawberries are the best of the season so far, they are really good !
I made it home around 3:30 and unloaded and had a snack before hubbie made it in from work.
We did chores while a couple steaks cooked on the grill for our supper.
After supper I needed a walk to walk off supper.
Sadie peeks out of the Buttercups in the pastures.

I was glad to see mama duck has managed to raise at least a small part of her original flock of ducklings.

She had about 6 when they were really little and tonight I saw 3 maybe 4 so she has done a great job keeping them from harm.
I came back up to the house and hubbie and I watched darkness come from the outside patio.
We are both really tired tonight from staying up later than usual last night so it is an earlier bedtime.
Grateful to a loving Lord for blessing me undeservedly each and every day.
Good Night and God Bless.

BAKING DAY

Not many more of these trips into first grade for g-son.  Wow this year has passed super fast for me but not for him I don't think !!

After dropping him I came home to chores and breakfast before I got my baking duties for the day started.
Had a nice visit from #2 son who is off today and doing yardwork. He came by to return a ladder he had borrowed. With him living so close it is easy for him to share tools with hubbie.
I baked 12 caramel cakes, 2 chocolate, 2 pound and 1 blackberry wine cake.  Don't know how this holiday weekend will be as for as business because there is the garden jubilee downtown and there is usually no parking spaces in our lot for our customers.
I did get an order today for 3 caramel cakes for tomorrow but have no orders for Saturday so far.
After lunch I dusted the house then worked in the garden pulling weeds until it was time to pick up g-son.
His dad has worked the last couple nights replacing a culvert where they had to close down the road so he was up this afternoon when we got back and g-son went home to see his dad for the first time in a couple days.
They got the job done so he will back on a regular schedule tomorrow.
Work is continuing at an unusually fast pace down on the bridge at our place.

I worked some more in the garden before chore time.  This is one of my favorite times of the year and this is a major reason why.

Just run up to the garden and gather a healthy feast in a few seconds!!  I added some sauteaed shrimp to this bowl for a delicious meal.
After supper  I did weekly paperwork and started icing cakes. I iced the 12 caramel and 2 chocolates while watching the finale of Survivor on TV.  My favorite player came in second but it was a good show for a change.
Well it is late and I'm tired to I'm outta here.
Thanking God for all the blessings for this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

RUN AROUND TUESDAY

Got g-son off to school this morning to start a very busy day for me. As soon as I dropped him off I remembered I needed some baking supplies from Walmart.  That wasn't one of the "to dos" on my list today but it had to be done.
When I got home and got the supplies unloaded I started a load of laundry before I went out to do the chores.  With all the ins and outs I have today it is going to be hard to get the laundry done today. I don't like leaving either my washer or dryer running if I'm not here.
After chores and breakfast I squeezed in a short walk while the laundry dried.
These are the potted plants I planted last week and have never gotten around to getting a picture of them.

Some of these are perennials and some are annuals . I thought I would try these red Geraniums on the sides of the back door instead of the ferns that I usually have here.

My yellow Iris are blooming now.

Along with this beautiful rose.

Sage blossoms are really good in salads, they give a spicy flavor.

This Rhoddie has just a few blooms on it again this year. I'm thinking it needs some type of fertilize that it is not getting.

The Kousa Dogwood is covered with blooms this year.

I had a doctor appointment at 11:00 in Asheville, then I stopped and did more grocery shopping on the way home.
Got home just in time to have a quick lunch before getting Dolly to the groomer at 1:00.
Back home ,thankfully I have found a new groomer that is only about 10 minutes away, I did more laundry and housecleaning.
I picked up g-son and we were here just long enough for him to eat a snack before the groomer called to pick up Dolly.
Dolly is missing one of her toenails. The groomer said she was like that when she came in so I'm not sure what happened.  I didn't see any blood at anytime or notice her limping but she isn't bleeding or limping now either so who knows what happened. Her haircut is exactly what I wanted so that is nice for a change.
I finished the last load of laundry for the week while g-son played with some building blocks.
After d-in-love picked up g-son I did chores and then relaxed for the evening, tired from all today's running around.
Blackberries are really blooming every where this year, hopefully there will be a lot of sweet tasting wild berries this year.

With a high temperature of 73 and a mostly sunny day it is a very nice comfortable evening to watch the sunset.

Grateful for safe travel as I did all my running around today and for the loving grace of my precious Savior.
Good Night and God Bless

CALLING ALL PURPLE MARTINS !!!!

A strange Monday morning today as d-in-love is taking g-son on a trip to Dollywood today with some friends and so hubbie and I got to leisurely snooze a little later today.
As I did the feeding chores the morning air had a definite nip to it again this morning calling for a jacket and long pants. This morning's temp was 40 degrees.
After breakfast I took a walk around the farm with camera in hand.
Calling all Purple Martins,  there are new houses with vacancies here !!

Hubbie finally finished these and got them up. I don't know if we are too late or not with everything being a little behind this spring.
This beautiful Weigela bush is really putting on a show in the back yard this year.

I spent the morning determined to get the last of my plants set out.
I actually had added 2 more flats to my collection Saturday when I bought a flat of basil and a flat of dill with one 6 pack of parsley in it.
Sooooo   I got out the tomatoes left over from a couple weeks ago and headed up to the tubs on the side of my greenhouse.  These normally are filled with pretty St. John's Wart but the cold temps this winter ended their run of many years.  I cleaned the tubes out and refilled with new soil.
One of them got the tomato plants which are Speckled romas and Tasti Lee cherry tomatoes.
The other tub got the Dill. Just as I finished planting all of it Sadie promptly hopped up in the tub and sat on my plants.  I got her out, straightened the plants, fortunately none were damaged too badly, and went in search of a barrier to protect the fragile plants.

These old calf panels worked great and will also give the Dill something to lean on when it gets tall.
I planted the Basil in the row of onions that we have already pulled up and eaten.

While I planted,hubbie mowed the lawn.  I decided it was time for me to take a break so as I sat outside and drank water the skies clouded over with a thin layer of clouds. I took a picture of this plant as it flew through the wispy clouds.  I think it is funny that the propellers look like they are stopped !!

After a short rest I helped hubbie cut down some dead bushes and a Blue Spruce tree that has been dead for a while now.
The yard looks really good tonight after a hard days work and I am tired but accomplished feeling.
The high today only got to around 65 but the intermittant sunshine helped make it feel like a comfortable day to do outside work.
Thanking God for a strong back and the blessing of health He gives hubbie and me.
Good Night and God Bless.

EVERYBODY'S BACK SUNDAY AND 1994 MAY MEMORIES

G-son slept like a rock last night and didn't wake me even once moving around. We had to wake him up this morning at 8:30 to get up and eat breakfast and get ready for church. 
He and hubbie went on ahead to Sunday school.
I did chores and then headed to church to get flowers on the communion table and get set up in the nursery for our quarterly nursery duty day.
We had a very easy day with about 30 couples from our church gone on a "marriage retreat" in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.  #1 son and d-in-love are there also that is why g-son has spent the weekend with us.
We only had 3 little boys in the nursery and g-son wanted to stay and help out so he played with them in the floor saving us from getting down there !!
For lunch we only had #2 son as daughter is also in Tennessee. She has spent the week end in Nashville, Tenn. on a bridesmaid's and bride's weekend get away of one of her friends that she teaches with.
This is the wedding party ladies side. The bride is in the center and daughter is on far left in blue scarf.

Everyone made it home safely this afternoon and g-son and daughter's dog left leaving hubbie and I alone for a relaxing afternoon.
The weather is cloudy and cool again today staying in the low 60's.  The sun finally made a late appearance but didn't help the cool temps much.
Not much exciting going on around here so it is another good day to continue my decade pics for the month of May 1994.
As I have said before I chaperoned a lot of the kids school field trips and on this trip to the Greenville zoo hubbie also went along.

This was daughter's class that we were with this time.

Her teacher was Mrs. Whitesides that year, that is her in the hat rounding up all the kids.

I remember daughter an animal lover anyway loved the hands-on part of this zoo.

Back  home these are some of our cattle that May.

Thanking God for the traveling mercies He sent my familie's way this weekend and for the comfort of having Him to give all my burdens to.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSIER MARKET DAY

G-son slept well last night, seems he loves sleeping between his Pawpaw and me and snuggles in tightly.  Especially on a really cool night such as this one, 38 degrees at 8:00 this morning.
He was the first one up and said "hey it is morning you know" !!!
I got the chores done and got things ready for market so we headed out right on time today thanks to his early awakening.
I had a pretty good sales day and the customers are starting to increase with each passing week.
G-son was the man of the morning today with all the girls. Of course little Evy doesn't look very impressed with his computer games !!

Cora on the other hand was very interested in the games he was playing.

I was impressed with him as he found a "girls game" and tried to teach her how to play.

Cora will start kindergarten this coming August and will go to the same school as g-son.
Rebekah's table is across the aisle from mine .

Evy having lunch.

G-son left around noon with hubbie to go have lunch and shop at Sam's Club and Walmart on their way home.
Market was a cool place today and the heaters were re-started to chase away the chill of the low 60's cloudy drizzly day.
The rain started about the time it was time for me to leave market so my stops where few.
 I stopped at Aldi for baking supplies and at the Farm Outlet for fresh green beans, tomatoes and potatoes for tomorrow's lunch.
I got home before 3:00 and hubbie helped me unload. I had a snack then sat out in the sunroom and watched the light rain fall.
G-son is in Lincoln Log construction mood this afternoon and is eating everything that isn't nailed down. He must be making up for the last few days of not having any appetite with his sinus virus he had.
After chores and supper he got out the laptop and has entertained himself on it this evening watching movies while Pawpaw watched another race on the TV.  I sat out in the sunroom and watched the flames in the electric fireplace and caught up on some reading. This is normally a fall or winter pastime but the heat from it felt really good tonight.
Grateful tonight for a very blessed day and looking forward to a worshipful Sunday.
Good Night and God Bless.

FUN FRIDAY

Got g-son taken to school and back home to keep little Evy while her mom sleeps some this morning after working all night.
Evy jumped in her bouncy seat while I had breakfast and then we did the chores together. It is really cool this morning around 53 degrees and cloudy.
Back inside we played awhile. Or rather she and Dolly played and I watched and cheered each throw of the ball and catch.

It was funny to watch as Evy found two of Dolly's balls and would throw them one right after the other until Dolly didn't know which one to chase !!
Evy is getting to be such a smart little girl.

She took a good nap about mid morning and I baked 6 caramel and 2 pound cakes for market tomorrow.  While they were in the ovens I sat up her playpen to see how she would do in it inside.
She acted like she loved playing with all the things I put in there with her.

She was having such fun I had to hunt for something to do in the kitchen so I cleaned off all my counter tops.
We ate lunch and then her mom came to pick her up to go home for her afternoon nap.
I tried to sit outside for a break but the clouds soon covered the sun and the cool breeze ran me back inside the warm house. The high today was 63 degrees.
I finished my cleaning job in the kitchen and it looks very good after I got rid of a crowded corner shelf I had in there for years. Of course one cleaning job always requires another cleaning and today was no exception as I had to clean out some of the cabinets to find places for the things I took off the shelf.
Hubbie came in from work and we watched the news and then did chores.  The higher mountains are getting some snow flurries this evening but we just got a small passing shower.
G-son came to spend the night with us tonight.
He had Texas toast and bacon for supper ??

At least it's a break from the normal mac and cheese !!??
He wanted my laptop and that was okay with pawpaw because there was a race on TV that he wanted to watch.

I iced cakes and got things ready for market while they occupied the living room.

Thanking God for a very blessed day.  What could be better than a day that starts with this one......

and ends with this one...................

 I feel very undeservedly blessed !!!
Good Night and God Bless.