September

I need to start this post with a huge thank you to all of you who commented on my last post. I have been so sad over the loss of Gus and I read each of your comments. I just couldn't comment back. Even new people left the sweetest thoughts. Our pups mean so much to us and I know many of you could feel my sadness. One thing I have done over the past few days was to print some pictures of Gus to have around to pick up and physically look at and hold. Everything is digital these days, but I found with the loss of my previous 2 dogs that holding their photo helped. 

Awhile back I had placed pictures of our family pets in gold frames in the dining room. I didn't have Gus there because he was with me. I added a new gold frame with his picture to our wall of fame so to speak for the love that each one of those dogs have given us.

You may notice the leaves. I am trying so hard to let fall in. I love summer and other than losing Gus, summer has been good to me. Much needed rest and good times with the grandchildren and Gus were the makings of a summer I hadn't had in several years. 

It is not that I don't like fall. I really do, but I don't exactly live in the area of the country where one thinks of a traditional fall. It comes... in December when everyone has moved on to red and green and Christmas trees. Fall does come in different ways and an astute eye will catch the change of season, however temperature and colorful trees are a long way off just yet.

I have found that a slow adding of things over the month of September serves me well with fall. So the leaves above, kitchen towels, and some beeswax candles are all that are happening here yet. The light is fading sooner so I am going to try and add candlelight and lamps to my evenings. 

I ordered some beeswax candles for votives and some sticks too, so here are a few that I set out last night in the living room.

Jeff and I celebrated 42 years of marriage on the 1st. We were married on a Labor Day weekend. I have found that to be a lot more common than one would think. I had just taken a new teaching job, so we waited until the next June to have a honeymoon. We went to Nashville. I remember all the places we visited and the fun we had together. We went to the Grand Ole Opry. Life was much different back then - no online tickets. It just so happened that Hank Locklin lived in Brewton and went to my home church. He got us tickets and we picked them up in Nashville. That was so very kind of him. He was a very good man and the deed was not lost on us. 

I decided to share that tidbit this year rather than another picture of us in our very 1984 wedding gown and tux.

Here is Hank singing one of my all time favorite songs from him. A real oldie but goldie from my birth year, 1960.

I have added the link to YouTube below in case the video I have inserted doesn't work. 

https://youtu.be/DndK5hZBgu0?si=gpLXvp4nZOToW7bs

It has been a quiet week this week and I must admit I was lazy as all get out. I took naps when Valerie did and just more behaved like a sloth. I feel better for having done it so that is good I suppose.

I have been stitching and reading as time allowed or I felt like it. I will share my reading in another post. I told you I was switching back and forth with a sampler and an osprey stitch. Both are sort of large but not gigantic. I pretty much stuck to my schedule of a week each until yesterday. A squirrel caught my attention. In the stitching world, that is another pattern.

Here is where I left off with my osprey on the week I stitched that.

Then here is my progress on the sampler.

Here is the squirrel that got me off track. 

This pattern was gifted to me by someone special and I kept thinking I would pull it out ---well it happened yesterday. I was walking around in the foyer/formal hallway and I have a beachy stitch that stays out all year except for December. I love that stitch so much and I have the hardest time putting it away. As I was looking at it today I thought about this pattern and I knew it would be the perfect thing to go in the same place for the fall months. I will let you know which one I chose in the next post. 

I keep saying I am going to get back to regular blogging. I have been in a reflective mood this past week with my resting time. I really do want to, but life keeps throwing things at me to keep me distracted or unmotivated to write. I am working on it. I have so many things I would like to write about to keep a record of for the children. My blog changed somewhere along the way to a journal of good things about our family and I accepted that, but there is some stuff I would really like to add. Like I said, I am trying to get back at it. 

Motivation is lacking or it is it laziness? I am thinking lazy is the answer.

I am going to close this post with something that happened last weekend. Jeff came at me fast and furious with we needed another dog. I will admit- it made me sadder. I told him I couldn't' even entertain the idea as my heart was so broken. He let me shut him down for a few days and then he hit me with what I thought was a horrible statement and still think that, 

but....

He said he needed another dog. His emphasis was on needed. He said he wasn't going to live long and that we had never gone more than a few months without a dog and he needed it and that I would need it too. 

I turned him off, but he proceeded to find a litter born on August 15 in Milton (an hour drive away). They had one boy left and he can come home on October 10. I reluctantly drove with him to visit the lady and see the kennel. 

Well, y'all know when I held him I cried and loved on him and he nuzzled me and I was hooked. I am still walking around crying at the most random times but yes, we are getting another Springer next month. I will wait to tell you more then.

That drive over to Milton and other places was our quiet celebration of 42 years of a blessed life together since we would be keeping Valerie on the actual anniversary. I consider keeping those grandchildren a blessing too. We visited a plant nursery, a flea market and held a puppy. Aren't we just wild? 

- no, but we are enjoying all of our days together despite Parkinson's trying to take a bite out of it. One thing that has happened with age is I say yes more often to things I once would have said no to. Everyday is a gift.

Coming up soon... which flowers have survived a very HOT August and start of September. Not really expecting that heat to leave just yet. Birthdays. Trip to Auburn. Football season. 

For now - off to watch college football and cross stitch one of those fall beach stitches.

Sandy

Tribute to Gus

 Where does one begin to write a tribute when the heart is so broken? 

Gus, the eternal puppy.

I have struggled with the loss as anyone who is a pet lover would understand. Gus went down so quickly that it was a shock to us.

He was running and playing all summer with the grandchildren. Then about 2 weeks ago, he slowed down. He seemed to be panting, not because of being hot but, a general feeling of he is not ok.

I took him to the vet last week on a Tuesday where I was asked had anyone ever told me he had a heart murmur? From that moment I felt like Charlie Brown where I couldn't focus on anything else. They did tests and fortunately Jeff answered the phone with the results. We put him on a heart medicine on Friday and still he wasn't ok. All weekend, he wasn't exactly sick but he was not himself. We called first thing Monday morning to get him back in. Jeff took ,him and they took an x-ray and at our suggestion put him on an antibiotic because we thought maybe he had gotten sick from the bayou water.

Tuesday everything changed and very quickly. I was laying on the floor with him while Jeff called the vet. We made the decisions to take him to the emergency vet. A scan showed 2 tumors on his spleen and liver and that his spleen had burst and he was bleeding internally. Pure shock. 

The only consolation is that I spent most of that day petting him and holding him. I got to say goodbye - a hard one, but a goodbye.

I was unable to stop sobbing for 24 hours.

He was my gift for 9 years. Only 9 years was all I could think about, but somewhere in that awfulness God began to show me that my 9 years with him had been such a gift. I was at home all day with him, something I had not been with my other 4 dogs. Gus had been my sidekick all day everyday. We had only been away from him for a couple of weekends in his life. He has been our constant companion of joy and light for all of those 9 years.

This past Sunday, I typed 2 lines on my phone from the message. Our pastor has been preaching on the 23rd Psalm for some time now. 

On Sunday, he said...

"Don't waste the green pastures."

and 

"What we learn on the mountaintop is how we will live in the valley."

Gus was absolutely green pastures. He walked with me in green pastures and did all he could to bring joy to our family's lives. 

I have to be grateful for that and the 9 years (the mountaintop) of being blessed with his joy and energy for life. He walked with me through some tough things.

He loved everyone so much. He met 4 grandchildren and shared his parents with them. He loved them and always wanted to be where the action was. He entertained freely. No amount of rough play was too much. He was the ultimate chid's dog. If they were here playing, he was joining them.

He was the best traveler. He rode in the front seat in town looking out the window like he was making sure all was well. Stoic and completely out of character for a Springer to sit that still. When you got on the road to leave town, he would jump in the back seat and sleep until you stopped.

Everywhere we went people noticed him. Gus was as handsome a Springer Spaniel as you would find. The best physique, the best coloring and combination of liver and white on his saddle. He had little freckles on his nose that made anyone stop to look. 

He loved walking with me. It didn't matter if it was the same old path here at home or in Auburn, he was always up for the stroll and smelling the same spots each day. On those walks, I would often pray and release my worries and he was right there with me.

He was energetic and well behaved. He would slip off from the house to go down the street if you were out in the yard, but all I had to do was blow the crow call and he would come running back home.

He loved swimming as all our dogs did so a towel by the door was always needed. 

Jeff has always been an early riser and would go get coffee in the mornings and drive around town. He calls it his prayer drive. Drive around and pray ---Gus was always with him for that. He would come back home and jump on the bed to see if I was awake yet. If not, he would just lay there, but I shouldn't open my eyes because that meant go time. The day is waiting, Mom.

He went every morning since Tucker was born to pick up each grandchild to bring them back to our house. He understood we were headed to pick up the child and his role was to come along.

Gus has been such a joy to me. His presence has helped me through some tough stuff these past few years. I am completely undone, but so very GRATEFUL for the time I had with him.

He was the healthiest dog we could think of until just a couple of weeks ago. Optimal weight, boundless energy, love was the name of the game. That made what happened so hard, but I am doing my best to land on the good times that I was gifted with him.

May we all love life as Gus did and fill it with zest and joy.

Gus

 Gus died yesterday. When I get myself under control I will write a tribute to him. 

Gus, the Springer

At the end of last week, I had it all set in my mind that I was going to get back into the routine of a weekly post....then, 

Gus, the Springer turned up sick and it upset both Jeff and me so much I couldn't write one. His sickness was rather quick coming on or kind of so. He has been having some loose stool for several weeks but not all the time. I had wondered if he had a stomach bug brought on by the bay water. Then a bump came up on the top of his head that we felt warranted attention. Along with this, he seemed lethargic and was panting nearly all the time. Yes, we know it is super hot, but the panting had gotten Jeff's attention. I called and took him into the vet mid week and all I heard from that visit was, "Has anyone ever said he has a heart murmur?" They did some bloodwork and told me too much information so that I came home quite upset. When they called on Friday with the test results it was good that Jeff had answered the phone. He was able to ask all the right questions  and we started him on a heart medicine. All weekend both of us were thinking and quite nervous about him. Lindsay finally convinced me I needed to call today and get him back to the vet because maybe he just has an infection. 

I will spare you all the details, but he is on an antibiotic to help with the fact that he could have an infection, a probiotic to get his stomach settled and an x-ray has been made. His heart doesn't seem to be as pressing as our initial thoughts were, but still concerning. We will go back to see how he is in a couple weeks and the x-ray is being looked at by someone else too. Besides Gus being my baby, he has wrapped Jeff up in his little world too being home with him all day everyday. Gus has welcomed all 4 grandchildren into the world and they all thing he is a KING. He is never far from one of us. He has started his medicine this evening so I am hoping in a few days he will be back to normal.

No dog has been more spoiled or had more premium food than Gus. Until a couple of weeks ago, he has been the healthiest looking and acting dog we have ever owned. 

He is beside me under the sewing machine table as I type.

Oh and the bump on his head was nothing of concern.

My post is starting off grim, but I will end on a good note.

After fretting over Gus, I have another thing that I haven't exactly fretted over but have deep sadness over it. My dad is buried in a country cemetery. Y'all are gonna have to imagine the woods kind of country. I will not be sharing pictures. I have this thing about taking pictures of graves. It is not for me! My parents were from the woods outside of Brewton, Alabama and I mean the woods. The community is called Range on a map, but growing up it was Deer Range to locals. They grew up a couple of miles from each other and the local one room school house was about center mark from each of their homes. My mom's side of the family is buried on donated land from that side of my family and the little church is pictured in my sidebar. The graveyard for that side of the family is right next to it and family lives all around it. I have several generations buried there. The site is pristine and well taken care of. 

My dad's cemetery is not attached to the church down the road but was deeded to the church by one of its congregants many years ago. She is no longer living. When I was young and really up through my teens my mom kept the area around my dad's side of the family manicured. At some point, the church took over keeping it up and I sent money each spring to help with it. I still visited it and saw that it was all good. With Mama's fall, Jeff's Parkinson's diagnosis and the keeping up with all of that I didn't go that far out of Brewton to check on it. It was brought to my attention from a cousin that things had deteriorated badly. I am so glad she informed me because if I had driven up that little dirt road and saw without warning the state it was in I would have passed out from shock. 

I came to a slow realization that there is no one younger me than me that even lives out there anymore. The church like so many other small congregations is very old and honestly dying. I am taking back the care of my family again and will do so until I can't. I have researched and discovered this is a nationwide problem and does not matter the denomination. or the region of the country.  Jeff and I drove up on Saturday morning and left before daybreak to clean. I will make a monthly visit for the foreseeable future because I can't imagine I can even hire anyone to go that far out there to do it. 

The person who was in charge of the cemetery decided since they couldn't get anyone to take care of it and were running out of money decided to spray poison all the whole area. I think the families of people there should have been contacted before that happened, but I am over all that now and like I said, I will take care of my portion which is on one end of the land.

So yes, that has had me a bit worked up too. Bet this post was not on your radar. Let's try to salvage it with some happy stuff.

I have been stitching when I can. I started an October wordplay. I had chosen some brighter colors other than called for in the pattern,  but I honestly didn't like where it was headed and stuffed back in my bag and went and pulled out something else. Here it is ---will I come back to it? I don't know right now. I am just not feeling it. It doesn't look all that bad from the picture, but I just didn't want to do it.

I pulled out 2 different things to start. The first is a small sampler called "Upon My Heart" by Plum Street Samplers.

I stitched for a few days and decided to pull out a bird. I am going to rotate them each week. This is where I  left off on Saturday below. I will also add I enjoyed every stitch I did on this one.

The bird I have started on Sunday has been on my mind for sometime, but I have had some inspiration for getting it out and moving forward with it. An osprey, perhaps my favorite sea bird (I have many favorites) has decided to rest in the top of the oaks next door. It has been hanging out for a couple of weeks on the bayou. They have a very distinct call so I know when it has arrives each day. It has been there almost every morning when I go out on the deck. It would fly off when I would open the door, but the past few has been a little slower leaving hence the following pictures.

Tip top center 

I didn't know if we would have many birds coming and sitting in the trees when the pines by the water were cut, but they are finding their way to the oaks. I have watched more than one species have a dinner of fish in the trees. 

NATURE is really cool! Now, will it stick around. No clue, but it has inspired me to pull out my osprey pattern and I will share that on a next post.

I am reading as much as stitching and trying to keep my flowers alive in the August heat. I am still in summer mode and haven't even thought about fall yet. It is just too hot here. I am sure once it finally does cool down I will love it. 

I do really and truly plan to try and do a weekly post on Sunday afternoon. We will see!

Signed,

Sandy, the dog lover.

August 14, 2026 A.D.

I did survive a full week of 4 grandchildren. I admit there were a few moments when I thought I would run down the road screaming. HA HA

There was much noise and too much running in the house, but I do think the little ones found summer to be a good one this year. Back to School happened on Tuesday this week and all seem to be doing well. Miles had such a horrible time last year starting daycare that I think that the entire family was holding its breath --not just Paul Allen and Katie. He is in preschool this year and while there have been some tears, he does seem to be adjusting well. Thankful!!!

I will attempt to catch up with our 2 weeks summary style.

First up, Miles celebrated his 4th birthday with a pool party at Katie's uncle's house. Fun was had, so much so that this was Miles on the way home.

He enjoyed the cupcakes I made for the party and somehow managed an extra one without his mama knowing. 

I didn't take a lot of photographs with the grands the week I kept them. Katie sent a batch of photos every day the weeks she kept them all. I was hanging on too much I think.

However, I did grab a few of Tucker taking care of Valerie. He is so good to her. She got on the scooter and wanted desperately to be able to make it go. No worries, Tucker just pushed her all around the cul-de-sac. This was the only picture I got of it, but she was loving this attention.

She has also learned to cry or pout when things don't go her way. Tucker is seen here comforting her after I told her she couldn't go downstairs with Palmer and Miles. 

Last weekend we went for a quick weekend trip to our Auburn house to check on some work we had done. It was a very nice thing for me to get a break after a week of keeping the grandchildren.

We had some work done to something called a drip ledge. I have no idea why we really have this piece of wood on our home. No one in the neighborhood has it and all it seems to do is attract rot under all the oak trees. We had that repaired as well as pulling up some hedges that I hadn't like from the beginning and they had just started looking poorly. We had them pulled up and replace with some of the new hybrid azaleas. Looks so much better. I also really enjoyed the time up there. The landscape is just so different from here along the coast. Always a treat to see the big lush oaks up there.

I think these will be a much better look along the drive. Our neighbor set us up a drip on a timer to keep them watered during all this heat. 

I know no one is going to believe I am saying this....

May we just have a week without 3 digits in the heat index???

It is hot! 

School starting is a must, but it is why I say summer seems over at this point. The freedom of summer days with no schedules is over and the calendar fills up with all things. It takes a bit to settle in to that idea and has all of my years. 

Summer is just a gift to me. I know it isn't for everyone, but it is for me.

Here is the parade of boys on their first day of school.

Tucker - 2nd grade.

Palmer doing VPK again as he is so small and that late summer birthday. He is doing it at a different place which was Lindsay's plan all along. She will now only have one pickup after work and he is in Destin at the same place Tucker goes after school. A lovely little church. Palmer has gone in with no tears at all and I am pretty sure by the end of the year he will running the place.

Miles is next. He is a year younger than Palmer but they are the same size and Miles has no idea he is a year younger than Palmer. He is attending VPK at the same school Tucker and Palmer did for VPK (well Palmer's 1st go around). Such a sweet church school. If all goes well this year, he will go to Kindergarten next year even though he is really young because he seems to be extremely smart. Either way, he will go to the same school his mommy teaches at. All of this in Niceville.

I have little in the way to share for these 2 weeks because most of it was feeling old. I also had my colonoscopy this week. I was wiped out after it and I think it was because I was so tired going in. I had no polyps and that has now been the case for the last 2. I was deemed high risk and started these at age 40. My dad died very young from colon cancer. In those days, they just didn't know what he had and did an exploratory surgery and burst a polyp. It spread quickly so there is always a tinge of nervousness with me around these.

All is well though. I have spent a few days trying to restore order to my house. I think this big old house is like a big playland to the grandchildren. I think their great grandparents would love to know that so much fun is had by their great grandchildren in the home they built.

I took 2 pictures from the top deck down the bottom deck this morning. I shifted all the plants around last week one evening to adjust to the sun. Some that say full sun needed some shade from the 110 heat index. It has helped. I decided not to adjust or not show. Jeff has been trying to do some pressure washing. So pressure washer we see.

Anything in the ground is pretty lush because in our area we have a sprinkler system built in for watering.

That is where I have been the last 2 weeks. I haven't had much time to stitch so I plan to get back to that this weekend and next week is supposed to be even hotter so stitching here I come.

Goodbye from Sunny Florida,

Sunny Sandy

 

Let's Review July

 How can it be August? Teachers went back to work yesterday, and I ALWAYS still get that pang of summer's over even though for me it is not. Katie even posted the sweetest Instagram post about what a wonderful summer she had. She was tremendous help with Lindsay's boys this summer. We did so many fun things together and it has helped me have a feeling of really having a summer. I feel like the past few years have been tough and I had missed that good old slowing down of time and schedules (even though I do thrive on schedules). This summer has been good for me in so many ways. I feel refreshed!

Since my last post, we took the boys to the Temple Mound Museum and Camp Walton Schoolhouse downtown. The city has refreshed the area and built a new museum and added to the schoolhouse buildings. I had not made a time to go and visit it, so off we went. It exceeded my expectations. It got close to lunch and nap time so I really need to go back. The little ones enjoyed it. I won't show you too many things, but I think some are worth noting.

The sign under the clock and above the door says, "Procrastination is the thief of time."

I was surprised at they all got into writing on the chalkboards or slates. I think I need to go buy some this weekend for next week. I am keeping all 4 this coming week. I NEED prayer:)

The new museum is a whole new building downtown and I was quite simply amazed. There were wonderful displays and stations set up for the children to actually do things. With myself, Jeff, and Katie we were able to spend quite a bit of time in there letting them have fun.

The above scene caught my eye because I love stuff like that, but I learned something I didn't know and I have been to the old one with students before. The pottery in this picture is unique to our area.

Like I said, I could do an entire post on this place, but it went through our local area and pirates must be in that since we have a big Pirate Landing each summer, the Billy Bowlegs Festival. I have written before about this. In the last area of the museum, they got to dress up. Valerie made herself in charge of the steering wheel. I can tell you now those boys were not allowed to touch it. She holds her own:)

Final thing about the museum. We must travel back through the museum to the front...

where we entered and almost missed this....

Jeff actually spotted it. 

On the far right is his dad. Mr. Palmer was a city councilman back in the 70's when the whole idea for the Temple Mound Museum was approved and a structure was built at the top of the mound. There are actually 2 mounds right downtown. It is the heart of downtown and you can miss it if you come through the area.

Kind of neat that his great grandchildren are visiting it.

Palmer has turned 5 and really looks like a 5 year old. He stayed with me this past week by himself.  I feel sure he was bored but I tried to let him run errands with me and cook to keep him from being too bored. It was really too hot to be outside. We had gotten him a new fishing rod and he so wanted to fish, but it was a heat index of 116 with this picture.

Here he is with his biscuits that he helped make. In fact, 4 of the 5 days he wanted a biscuit for breakfast.

He cut his in half and added his own jelly. He learned before the end of week that Mimi's peach preserves were worth trying too.

He followed Gus wherever he went, so Gus got lots of loving.

Miles is turning 4 this week so I will share more of him next visit.

I added to my flowers. Yea, I am crazy. I decided I really liked all the color this summer. It brought in bees even to the bottom deck by the water. I love zinnias and marigolds. I found I don't love the mixed pots of flowers as much as one plant in a pot. I would have to do a bit more trial and error on which grow well together. I added 2 new to me plants to try. They are not new to the lawn and garden section, just that I had not tried them.

One was called Golden Trumpet or Allamanda. It has done very well even with the heat indexes and full sun like that. It holds its blooms all through the day.

This one will be a keeper in the summer line up.

I also added a Rock Trumpet or Mandevilla. It is lovely...no picture, but it looks pitiful in that full sun. I think it could use some shade in the day and its present location is in full sun all day. Few things can look that good all day.

In my stitching world, I have 2 things to share. One shows how poor a blogger I have turned out to be. I met my sweet friend that I met through blogging ages ago in Pensacola this week. She and her husband were down for a conference and I drove over and met her. We didn't take one picture, but I talked nonstop and let her talk a little bit:) It was so good to visit with her and I think that "no picture" is the result of truly enjoying the moment. Not everything needs a picture to validate its worth!!!

I have stitched patriotic all summer long. I have been steadily working on the Pledge of Allegiance by Plum Street Samplers. The pattern is divided into 6 pages. I wanted to finish the first 2 pages before I set it aside for some seasonal stitching (fall). In all of this patriotic stitching, I think I learned I like to stitch things in season?

Here is where I left off on July 31st.

It was evening when I took the picture and I don't have time to redo things. 

Next week it is all four grandchildren so I should fall into bed or the couch each evening. We are watching the new Little House of the Prairie show on Netflix. Hopefully we finish it this weekend because I will be too tired next week. 

I am welcoming August. I am glad Miles has an August birthday. I feel like August often gets overlooked with school starting and everyone tired of hot weather and longing for fall (except me). I do love fall, but it is a long way off for me. Jeff's mom had an August birthday so it is kind of nice to have a family member to celebrate again in August.

Even Gus is tired. He really will be after all 4 are here. I am working on my plans this weekend. 

Wish me luck,

Sandy