Happy Fall Y'all

 According to the calendar, it is officially fall. It is one of two seasons that I wait for the astrological date to show up before calling it the new season. 

For 2.5 months it has been a sauna down here. We have had more 100-110 heat index days than can be counted. Honestly most of those days have been that. I have learned new things about summer flowers with that kind of heat. It is no wonder I just can't envision fall OR

is it ---that we think of fall and think of a New England fall with glorious color earlier than I would ever see???

Fall here in our area is big hay bales in the fields to the north, cotton blooming, football with cute sundresses as the attire for a college girls. Everyone else wears shorts and a school tee. I knew a trip to Auburn would let me welcome it in -fall as I know it that is.

One of my older pics since I didn't take any this past weekend.

On one note of leaving summer to move into fall is the lack of acorns. Last year gave us a mast year of acorns, so I would venture this year we could call it a scarce season of acorns. What will the squirrels do?

We traveled to Auburn this past weekend and had a nice time. It was hot, but still all the above things were noted and it felt like a southern fall. November is fall here in my area. I am actually looking forward to it now that I have decided it is fall, but I don't like to rush the days either.

Lindsay and her family came with us as well as Paul Allen's dogs. They went to Tennessee for a wedding.

Dansby walked right up in front of them posed for the picture and pretty much said, "I am going to be in this picture!

Katie snapped this one of the Florida kids hoping for cooler weather in the mountains, but not finding it. They did love the bears.

Little Valerie is growing up so quickly. We put her baby (aka, Lindsay's old baby doll) to nap this morning on the couch.

For lunch she got mad at me because I told her she couldn't put anymore chili on a cracker until she ate one. She can make a stink face very well.

I have been decorating since we returned from Auburn as well. I think it just can't happen until I make a September trip to Auburn.

All the same stuff but a few pictures anyway.

Do orangey shells count as fall decor with a Jesus added to the center?

The table has finally gotten its pumpkins. These are my favorite fall decoration. I got them at Joann's about 12 years ago. I saw them the minute I walked in and knew they were coming home with me.

In other things around the house, we added some more of that tinting to the living room like we added to the kitchen last October. OF course, we waited until summer was almost over to do it. Just like when we did it to the kitchen I was slightly worried about how dark it made it. IT is kind of like looking outside through sunshades, but the way it cools things down is absolutely a game changer in a good way.

Tucker and I had used a thermometer to measure the difference in the heat from the kitchen table with the tinting to the area in the living room without tinting. I had Jeff call the next week to have them come out and do it to the windows.

Also around the house...

the boys knocked over a lamp downstairs when they were all over celebrating my birthday midSeptember. Miles came up the stairs to tell us that glass was on the floor and that Palmer had done it, but the truth was like reading the book by the Berenstain Bears called The Blame Game. I had at least 50 of those books which I gave to both children and Paul Allen said later that night he read that one and it was the exact story of what happened downstairs with the lamp. They were playing with a ball which Palmer threw at him, but he kicked it and it hit the lamp.

All was well, but it made me do a switcharoo of lamps so I guess it turned out well. The only thing that broke on the other one was the light bulb. Now, the lamp below may actually need to come upstairs and pull the old one back out which is metal.

Here is what I pulled out from the closet.

The above lamp was a set that my mother-in-law made for me decades ago. One had broken and I ended up letting Mama use this one in a bedroom. When she moved to assisted living I got it and store it thinking one day I would use it. It looks nice there. Oh and the glass in the picture frame broke. 

Boys will be boys.

Around the neighborhood...

A new house has been built 3 doors down on the water. It has kept me entertained for months on end.

They built a new dock and sea wall which the kiddos and I watched out our kitchen window with great interest. It took almost 3 weeks to do all of that.

Count 3 docks and you see the new one. The pine tree in the corner of the yard - well, I now have to watch and see if it lives. They upped the seawall and filled in dirt over the roots of that pine. I don't think that is gonna work. Something to observe.

I took this late yesterday while walking. I have to wait until it is less than a 100 degrees.

You can't see the plants but let's just say they made me happy. I complain about all new builds in our area because the builders do not leave trees which are essential and they plant non native shrubs. It boils my blood. I am not lying.

Anywho, I saw camellias, azaleas, palmettos, and such ----all native to our area. 

First time and since it is so close to me it made me extremely happy. Now, to see who buys it.

I finished the beachy fall stitch. I now have to fully finish it. I just have it folded for the picture.

I think I would like to do more of these, but I am going to get back to my sampler and osprey. It feels so good to want to stitch. 

I am going to discuss reading soon, but I have one more thing to share to this post that happened yesterday afternoon, and this post is already very long.

The doorbell rang and Jeff answered. It was a delivery of a special piece of art from an old friend.

I cried! 

I have a friend who I taught with at 2 schools, one back when I was young and then one when I was close to retirement. She would later come to my church and we have a long story together. 

She has pancreatic cancer and is taking chemo to give her time. She is currently staying in Birmingham with her granddaughter to take the treatments and have someone take care of her. She is an only child like me. Her mother is alive and in her 90's here and just went on Hospice. 

When Chris found out she had cancer, she couldn't talk to anyone, but I kept texting and checking in with here. I told her she didn't have to answer but that she had a lot of people who cared.

Two days after Gus died she finally called me. She ended up comforting me, but we had an hour long conversation and covered a lot of ground.

She got one of the ladies from her Bible Study group here that knows our family well to ask the kids to send her pictures of Gus and had someone locally that I also know to do a sketch of Gus. I will treasure it forever. 

You know all the people we come in contact along the way weave our stories into the most amazing tapestry when we look back.

I will close for now....

Blogger is driving me nuts again. My feed of blogs is not refreshing. Arghhh.

I have to share with you what I learned about full sun and 110 degree heat with flowers AND oh, I planted a mum. 

More coming soon.

I hope to catch up with everyone soon.

Sandy

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

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.

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

July 19, 2026

Summer is ticking off quickly. I will say it again...I am loving it! I think the past few have robbed me of the down time I needed so I am enjoying this one. There is a disturbance out in the Gulf right now. I hope it decides to fizzle out and disappoint all the weather personalities. 

I am going to make this a quick post with not a lot of details, but just record a few things. Hopefully, I will be back for more a newsy one with thoughts again.

I finished the bunny. "Maggie Mae" by Stacy Nash. I used 28 count linen which made it larger than the pattern called for. I think I would not do that again. I think they are meant to be smaller.

I think Aida would be a good choice too since they are full coverage. Just get you some 18 or 20 count and stitch away.

I pulled out the cabbage plate to display her for a photo.  Currently though she is just sitting in my sewing room.

A grouping of them would be cute. I purchased the goose, but I am not planning to stitch it anytime too soon.

This week's children's activities included a park visit and a gym visit. One of the gymnastics gyms in town has an open gym for an hour and a half for preschoolers. Tucker was gone to baseball camp so Katie and I  took the other 3 to gymnastics. It seemed to be a hit. Everyone entertained themselves with all the equipment. Valerie saw the boys turning flips so she found a bar she could hang from.

Valerie is the most chilled child. She is so easily entertained and handles those 3 boys well. 

Tucker's baseball camp was a dud. Not at all what Lindsay thought. No go for that one next year. I think he liked the golf camp last year much better even though was so hot. He has one more thing this summer and I think that is fine. Not everything has to be scheduled.

Jeff and I made it to our event in Pensacola last week. We enjoyed our evening out by ourselves. Here is our selfie.

The family made it to the Blue Angels home show on Saturday. There were tired children and some tired old folks too. We had a lot of fun. I realized it had been since 2022 that we had gone. '23 was the year Mama fell and I spent the summer getting her back on her feet and the last 2 have been tough years for Jeff. A diagnosis for Parkinson on one and bladder cancer the other, but hey- this summer is giving us a break. I am going to pass on all the pictures from the day except this one of Valerie taking her nap. 

The bean bag has been a wonderful thing for boat rides. All four grandchildren have been on a boat since infancy and they love it. Miles was seeing the Blues for the first time and he loved them. I worried he would think they were too loud, but he didn't flinch. 

The F-35's here at Eglin fly over our house 3 times a day. At 11:00ish they fly directly over. Yes, it is loud. The other 2 times they are a little left and right of our house, so people around here are used to the noise. I thought she might sleep through but she woke up in time to watch. Thankfully for me:) BECAUSE I love airplanes. 

I will log off for this week and pray that the storm only produces rain but not too much and no wind. In fact, right outside our cul-de-sac is a tree that is leaning. It has not always been leaning. We have had a ton of rain lately and I think the tree is diseased. Jeff called the power company. They said they were putting a work order to get it down, but they have not arrived yet. Power lines will be down if it falls. I don't think it will take much wind. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Fortunately no houses will be in its path, just the road the power lines.