Goodbye 2023

 Jeff and I are in Auburn resting and relaxing for a few days. It feels good to be quiet. It is cold! I am not a cold weather fan and even pulled out the jacket that I really only wear every couple of years up here. We will ring out the year out quietly. I will write more about that in a bit, but let’s share a picture or two from the last week. 

We celebrated Christmas with our little family on Friday, the 22nd. We had to share Lindsay this year but honestly doing it early since we are all agreeable makes it easy on both kids and their families. We don’t mind. Paul Allen and Lindsay usually work out a date together and Jeff’s sister and brother-in-law are fine with it too. 

The grandsons are at a wonderful age. They remind me of Lindsay and Paul Allen at that age in the same living room oh so many years ago. 

Here they are jumping on bubble wrap from a gift. It was quite loud, but little Miles was not timid at all. He couldn’t find space on it but he just jumped next to Tucker and Palmer. He stayed right in the mix of things with the big boys. What a difference a year made!

Mother spent the night with us on the 22nd since we would be opening presents until past the closing hour at her assisted living place. We got up the next morning and ate a big breakfast and leftovers for lunch before we took her home for the evening on Saturday. 

I drove her back and it was such a beautiful day that I slipped away to stroll on the beach while Jeff went over to a friend’s house to take a gift.

It was about 4:00 in the evening and let me just say I could have stayed forever. A lot of emotion was left out there on that stroll and God met me there for the walk.

Christmas Eve morning was church and such a beautiful service. Again, God met me there with comfort. After church we got Mama out and brought her back to our house and we made a pot of spaghetti. We all 3 sat down to watch a Christmas movie. We watched A Christmas… Present with Candace Cameron Bure. I highly recommend it. A nice family movie.

Donna and Al have modeled what to do with Christmas when you have adult kids. They have their own little traditions for Christmas Day. They take a drive down 30A and back. On Christmas morning Jeff and I took us a walk in the beach. A storm had blown in from the Gulf overnight and the water was still kicking and made for fun watching. I am pretty sure the waves were 7-8 feet at the second sandbar. We again picked up Mom and brought her to our house. She slept for most of the day on the couch. I think all of it had worn her out but one shouldn’t be alone at Christmas.

Still not too tired of the beach, Jeff and I once again made beach trip on the morning of the 26th. We drove west to Opal Beach and it was a bit chilly that day. The shells were heavy and made for fun scouring while we walked. 

I began taking Christmas down on that afternoon and finished the next day while Jeff and Paul Allen fished. I love the decorations but I am always ready for a clean slate.

I think it was Christmas Day evening I read or skimmed all of this past year’s blog posts. What a year! It has been a hard year… sinus surgery, 2 cataract surgeries to start with. I can breathe and see better:) Mom’s fall, spending a month in rehab and then with me, then moving and selling her home and having to get rid of a lifetime of things… then Jeff’s Parkinson’s diagnosis and retirement. That is A Lot to take in and really the year before had been hard too with Jeff’s brother passing. 

If you want to know the real honest truth I am not thinking 2024 is going to be a piece of cake either, not just with my family but with our country. You can’t have an invasion at the southern border and things not get wild very soon. Listen my own little town is seeing big problems already. 

I think I am going to need a lot of courage for the next year. I do know however that my Lord will walk with me through every hardship and provide me with the courage I need. 

I am going to rest these few days before going home. We took Mama to her sister’s to visit. I don’t think she will be able to make that trek again. I could be wrong but she really wanted to go so we took her. My Aunt Faye will try to get her to eat and cousins will drop into visit so she should be fine. 

I finished my last book for this year today. Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich. It was my 23rd book this year. A prime number and a nod to something in the book. A good one to round out 2023.

I am going to give January a couple of weeks to get used to a new routine with Jeff home before I blog again. 

Thanks for following along….

Sandy

A Random Post of Updates and Thoughts

I am finally popping back into the blog.

I have purple this week. I think of Donny Osmond when I think of purple. Anyone else? I think I liked the pink better though.

I have had lots of things on my mind this week, but time got in the way of putting them to the keyboard.

In no particular order, here is a brain unload.

Farm

I shared that we were going to sell the farm; that it was just too hard to keep up. We have come to terms with it and have plans. We have unloaded the farmhouse of all the personal things. My son's closet downstairs is the holding spot for now. We still plan to get our long farm table, Hoosier cabinet, and pie safe. 

I shared the plan to sell the farm, but not the other plan we had. There is no hurry on any of this. It will have to be a sequence of events that occur over time. GOD'S TIME.

Anyway, we will sell the farm and then start looking for a place in Auburn (in town). For those of you long time readers, you know we go on a regular basis to Auburn and own a cabin about 30 minutes outside of town on Lake Martin. We have friends and have just made it a part of our life. I will also say it is a midpoint for so many of our other travels.

We started thinking about selling the farm, we talked it over with the kids as well. The consensus was we all would like to have a place in town so that we could all go at the same time, take the dogs, and not have to worry if we wanted to stay in town longer. We will want a larger place than the cabin and a fenced back yard, so lots of house hunting. Finding the "right place" will be key. 

When the farm is sold and the home is located in Auburn, we will put the cabin at the lake up for sale. There was a time I would never have been able to do that. Jeff loved the farm. I loved the cabin. Nothing stays the same though. IT has been a bit of a process for me to get to this point, but I am ok with it. We have had so many good times there. Seeing us all there in November sealed the deal that we would rather be in town in something with more bedrooms though. I will be able to take Mother along more and have her be comfortable as well.

So that is the update on all that. I made signs that are going up at the farm tomorrow and flyers, so we will see how it all turns out.

*Oh, back to the furniture in my "Gathering Room." We will take that to the new home in Auburn. It will be decorated in a country style. I loved that room, so that furniture is coming with us when we sell. During the sequence of events, I may have to store it awhile.

Isn't Gus adorable?

Clothing Styles

Onto to another topic. I lost weight after retirement and my back to health journey. I don't have a need for nearly the clothes I had when I worked outside the home. I felt guilty about how many clothes I had in fact.

However, I don't want to go to the grocery store or doctor's appointments in exercise gear every time I go out. Well, maybe I do, but I was not raised to do that!

Anyway, my problem is finding a pair of pants I like these days. Growing up as a teen in the 70's, I said at least a million times I wish straight leg pants would come back in style. I loved that Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, early sixties look. I did not say I wanted skin tight hug me from my hips to the ankles look though.

Does anyone else find it hard to find a pair of pants you like these days? I can't stand the way the pants hug my calves these days. I simply can't find any I really like other than the Talbot's boyfriend jeans. Those are wonderful for fall and spring, but they are ankle style and that doesn't work for winter, because I have to have socks even in Florida. I am not a bare ankle girl in winter at all. I don't want to wear booties all the time either.

Thanks for reading my vent. I will shut up and move on now.

I did find a good fashion blog. She also has a Youtube channel as well. JLJBacktoClassic.

This thing is about to bloom again. It is loving the foyer and whatever is going on in there.

Family

Hubby has had some serious knee problems that have gotten really bad...hence part of the farm decision. Before Christmas, he was told he would need a knee replacement. He is like ...NOPE.

A fluke accident caused him to break his hip back in his mid thirties. He has had a hip replacement and a revision, so he is not interested in anymore store bought parts. He opted for some of the experimental plasma rich replacement injections. He has had the three and we are praying for some real relief. He has not been in the best shape the month of January. Hubby not happy equals wife trying to be extra cheerful.

Mother has been sick with an ear infection. As I shared my laying sewing down, that turned out to be a really good decision for my mind as well. I am going to have to step up my game with her in the coming days. She is just needing me lots more. I have to spend time daily with her now, if nothing else to see that she eats enough.

This week I have been working on LHN's Spring in a monochromatic color theme.

I have rambled enough, so I will shut her down for now.

I will try not to be so absent next week. I guess I need to make a list of all that is still on my mind, so I won't forget. 

Making my list,

Sandy

Pecans, Time, and Cording

I am going to try and get out a quick post this morning on things I have been doing.

First up is pecans... well, mostly just farm talk. I haven't been to the farm much at all this fall. Football season has kept me away. There wasn't as much grass to cut, so I let Jeff attend to everything. This weekend I went up with mom (who is still sickly and I am headed to the doctor with her this morning). I went out to check on the pecan trees. You may remember that they haven't produced since we purchased the farm two years ago. This summer I noticed lots of blooms up there. It rained lots here, but not as much inland, so I wasn't sure if that helped or not. I missed the deadline to fertilize.

I picked up pecans under three of them. It appeared that they were all skinny and dried up...duds. I have done my research. Two things I have discovered from my little research yesterday is that they are nutrient deficient and if it doesn't rain in August and September that they will be shriveled as that is the months they fill out.

Mother found a piece of paper with my grandma's handwriting on it with instructions on fertilize proportions. My plan is to do that this year ON TIME. Jeff keeps telling me I don't want 100 pecan trees producing at one time.

Anyway, as I got them home I started cracking a few more. Some of them were good, so my plan is to go back one day this weekend. I am going to go around and crack a sampling from the trees and if I find a good tree I will pick up the rest from that tree.

The ones I collected will be used for decorations this November. I thought a little Mason jar full with some brown and green ribbons would be cute. I can used them on my Thanksgiving table.

Mother. She has been sickly between tooth and ear. I don't think they are related as the ear has been an issue for a good while. The tooth got hot and bothered after some dental work. The tooth situation is scheduled to be fixed in two weeks, but we are headed to immediate care this morning for the ear.

Time Management... I realize even though I am retired that I seem to have a bit on my plate. Some of which is self made. Trying to own a piece of farm land, having season football tickets, a large home, two adult kids that I still dote on, an aging mother, and taking care of my husband and myself's health by being making sure most of our meals are home cooked is a lot. Even as I type it I know that is kind of insane. Jeff and I have been talking lots lately about making some changes after the first of the year. oh, and throw in getting a puppy. I really must be insane, but he is so cute.

All of that to say, I decided I must be wasting time somehow as I seemed to never get my to do list done which causes stress. I decided to do a detailed list of where my time was going a couple of weeks ago. What came out of it was that most of my days are chopped up with duties. I don't seem to have too many of those blocks of time I crave. Even if I think I have them scheduled in, mom calls upset about something or other family members need help with something.

I decided to think on that and came up with this. I have to learn how to make the most of 15 or 20 minutes and make those short blocks of time scattered throughout the week. I am trying to do just that. I may share more on this later as I am about to get dressed to take mom to the doctor.

Stitching --- A post is coming on that soon. I have been stitching in the evenings and yesterday I tried my hand out at making the cording that Vonna at The Twisted Stitcher does so beautifully. I haven't quite got it mastered, but I am way closer after giving it some time yesterday.

The red is the color I think I will go with and no this is not how it will look. I have figured out better than this.

Forgive me for any mistakes. I have no time to proof it...
Say a prayer for Mama if you will and I will be back sooner this week than later.
Sandy

Lemony Meets the Cows

We are going to the farm on Wednesday evenings for June and July. Our small group takes a break during those months for vacations and we meet just once a month. We are tending the garden and trying to make sure the fruit trees get going. We didn't do what we were supposed to with the fruit trees last summer and they barely grew at all.

Here is one of the peach trees.

The cows came this weekend and I didn't go. They are low line cows, so Lemony, the Golden is not much shorter than the girls. There are four girls and one bull named Captain Morgan. The guy that owns them says he has no plans to kill these for meat as I once thought. If he gets a boy from the pregnant cow he will sell her. Apparently these cows have papers and bring a great price. Who KNEW??!!

When Lemony first got out, she wasn't sure what they were and tentatively walked up. She is such a city dog. They actually seemed more interested in her.

After we had worked in the garden gathering our squash and cucumbers and then planting pumpkin seeds, we went back to visit them. More on that in a bit.

I am beyond excited about pumpkins. We learn as we go. We have learned so much both gardening years. We might actually figure all this out in a decade. Yikes. Lindsay has been after us to plant pumpkins. I planted one packet of seeds. I have no idea how many this will produce. I followed the directions on the packet for number and spacing. We will see. I would love to one day have enough to let future grandchildren have fun in the "pumpkin patch."

We plan to do some peas and okra a little later.

I am also working on 10 pecan trees to see if I can get them to produce. I decided to only fertilize 10 this year. Some are newer and some are older. I am experimenting. I don't need all 100 of them to produce at one time. I will keep you posted.

Lemony loves riding in the mule. She and I were in it and she just lays down on the front seat next to me and looks out the side like she is a queen. We still miss our Lucy, but we are moving into a good routine.

While Jeff was watering the fruit trees, she and I wandered back over to the cows. She decided to take off full steam running towards them and under the fence she went. I think she had decided they were big dogs and could play. Everything was fine until the bull didn't seem to like that running with his girls. He comes running over. I nearly died! No pictures because my heart stopped beating for a minute.

Lemony is a roll over on her back submissive girl if trouble looms. She plopped down and he is throwing his neck around. I finally managed to get her to understand to get out of there. I remained calm while doing this. AMAZED at my own calm voice. I think she knew he didn't like it, and she was confused. I will have to watch her with them until she learns her way.

These are my two stitching projects that I am working on. I want to finish them soon, because I plan to devote July for Christmas projects. I am not prioritizing my fall stitching this year. I may do some in August. We will see. I really want to get the samplers and the Christmas things done first.

I got off to a very slow start this morning, so I have to leave this computer and get busy.

Off to work I need to go,
Sandy

Memorial Day Weekend

It was a pretty quiet weekend around here. I spent a good portion of Saturday helping Lindsay with a project, while the guys were all fishing. Lindsay is in charge of a seating chart sign for Tyler's twin brother who is getting married next month. Her mom-in-law asked her to come up with something. I think we have a pretty good thing going, so I will share it with you when we are done. She scoured Pinterest of course for ideas and we thrifted a few things and got the rest from Hobby Lobby.
Sneak peek...

Memorial Day is a aways a holiday that sparks emotions. One of which is just the sheer gravity of how lucky we are for the sacrifices of so many. I always tried to teach that to my students even though they much like me had summer on their mind. It is not a holiday to be taken lightly in my mind. We are so blessed!

On the other hand, it does mark summer for me. Even though, the official start of summer is later in June. Here in the deep south, the warm temps are in full swing. When I was a kid, I looked forward to summer and beach trips or just the free time to listen to records, play with my cousins, or read.

Later, when I had children, I could not wait for school to be out to be with them. Jeff and I were looking at photo albums this week. I took so many pictures of them in the summer. We lived for that time together with no schedules. Time flew too fast.

Now days I get to enjoy all the seasons, so I can't really choose a favorite season anymore. Summer is hot as blazes, and we will be drenched in sweat very soon just walking out to the front yard, but it still holds the promise of a lazier schedule.

The cows arrived at the farm this weekend. I have not seen them in person yet. I will go up on Wednesday to see about the garden and meet them. Jeff couldn't stand it, so he went up today and sent me the following pictures.

One of them is expecting any day now. I can't really tell from this picture, but maybe the middle one.

They are miniature cows. I have never seen any in real life. 

Jeff titled this above photo "French Kiss" when he sent it. No, thank you! 

Below, is "Captain Morgan," the bull.

I can't wait for Lemony to see them. Wonder what she will think?!!

I made a top today. I didn't put a ton of effort in it, but I did cut out a skirt that I plan to sew carefully. I also want to make a shift like dress, and then I will go back to just crafty sewing for awhile, or at least I think.

I will most likely just wear it around the house and on the dog walks this summer. 

Jeff made some fresh salsa tonight and brought home these from the grocery store.

Oh my word, they were delicious. Yes, the bag was full and we ate them all. That didn't help the diet, but they were all things I can eat. I mean they were yummy!!!

Let's see, I finally took my Freedom stitching to the framer's. I haven't gotten it back yet, but I am so in love with the frame I picked out. I can't wait to show y'all.

I have two things I am working diligently on. Alternating days... I will share soon. I was hoping to finish the two I am working on by the end of May, because I have some Christmas stuff I want to work on. 

That about sums up my weekend,

Sandy

My Week

Last week was a great week, so much so that I just soaked it up and stayed off the blog. Those weeks when I don't have a million errands are few and far between, so when they come along you have to make the best of them.

My daughter works close by and comes for lunch most days. I love it and miss her when she can't come, but she had to go out of town for a good bit of last week, so no lunch prep. I used the time wisely.

Most of my days last week began with morning walks with Lemony. She is enjoying them immensely. I bring her back home and then go for a more vigorous walk afterwards. I love strolling with her down the street. We have enjoyed the birds and morning time so much. I need to be a great photographer to show y'all the beauty, but alas I am not one.

Speaking of walks, I have just so enjoyed spring this year. I know the serious summer heat is coming, so I am trying to get outside now as much as possible. I got half of my outside windows done last week. I have puttered in my flowers and roses. Lemony has enjoyed the water and has been swimming everyday.

I did lots of housework, but I did pop into Instagram for eye candy a few times. I fell in love with this porch picture that James T Farmer posted.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/jamesfarmerinc/ 

It is not his porch, but his is pretty great too. I love this porch and could seriously relax there. I love all of Farmer's books. He graduated from Auburn in horticulture I think, but he is amazingly talented at putting those beautiful gardens together. He has a two Instagrams. The picture is from his more business related one, but I love his personal account as well. https://www.instagram.com/jamestfarmer/?hl=en

The garden at the farm had to be attended to as well as the beginning of the week had been so dry. We went up Tuesday evening just to water the garden. The small amount of squash plants are doing well and I will have a reasonable amount to deal with this year. I still have some yellow onions to gather as well. The tomatoes are not looking so well. It had been so dry. That has changed with the end of the week, so hopefully that will help them.

Thursday night, our local Auburn club had their annual big dinner with a coach visiting. It was one of the better ones I have been to in a while. Paul Allen and Katie (the girlfriend) and Mama went with us.

That was my boring week, but fun week.

On Saturday, we went to the farm to mow grass. There were three of us mowing, so we got a ton done. Jeff was weed eating around the pond and was sort of "ambushed" as he calls it by a large water moccasin. He was holding the weed eater way out and the snake came up from the area he had already done. He looked down and said he still has his younger day moves, because he was back peddling up the bank despite pine straw trying to make him slip. It unnerved him to say the least. The snake crawled out into the water. He grabbed his gun which was loaded with snake shot and started looking out across the pond because he thought it probably swan out to the middle. As he is scanning his way back to the bank, he realized it had only gone out about a foot and had just its nostrils out of the water. He was waiting on Jeff to come back to strike. Jeff shot him three times in all. He was 4 feet 2 inches long and as big as his arm according to Jeff. Since I do NOT look at snakes at ALL. I had to take his word for it. Everyone who saw the picture, said something to the effect ..."Oh my goodness!" I took their word for it as well. They are moving!!!

We also went to our lake cabin near Auburn after church on Sunday to do a little yard work on Monday. We are going up in a few weeks for a few days, so we thought we would get a good bit of work done early so we could relax in a few weeks. We got only weed eating done and the porches cleaned before rain set in. I must say it was a beautiful rain, but hard and steady enough that no more work was getting done.

I love the cabin in all seasons, because you really see the seasons there. We don't see seasons here along the Gulf Coast. Maybe a little cool weather in the winter, but not the tree changes. I love all of the trees there. There are so many different kinds. Here we have live oaks (which I love), palmetto bushes, long leaf pines, and transplanted palm trees (they are not so native to our area). You see palms everywhere on the famous 30A, but they have all been planted there in the last 20 years.

In stitching news, I have yet to frame or do a finish on Freedom, but I will handle that this week. I have been working this week on a sampler.

This will go in the gathering room at the farmhouse.

I have lots of mending to do this week, so I will spend some time in the sewing room, but not on fun stuff. I have to take up a dress and hem a skirt for my daughter to name a few.

That is all the goings on in my world. I will try and post a bit more this week.
Sandy

P.S. Two other random pictures from my phone.

A hawk on the boat house last evening.

Auburn's softball coach was eating at the same place as us at the lake. Sly picture huh?! Anyway, he spoke later and was so nice. He had a game win earlier in the day, and they were looking at film on a laptop with the owner of the restaurant. 

A Late Weekend Wrap-up

While last week was very tough, plans for the weekend had been made months earlier, so I had to try and handle grief along with the weekend plans.

Warning

This is a rather long post with no pictures. I guess we will see if you really enjoy reading my posts. 😃

Mother and I used to go to the Extraordinary Women conference each April for many many years. It was one of our little things to do together. Three years ago, we couldn't go because of my step-dad's cancer. Then it just seemed we never got our steam back to go again. We would talk about it each year, but just say maybe next year.

A couple of months ago, I decided I would get tickets for her March birthday, and that we would try and go as she is slowing down and I know there is coming a time when even if she wants to go she wouldn't want to climb stairs or have the stamina to go.

The conference was this weekend. I had absolutely no desire to go. She has been sick with a sinus infection and then with the antibiotics for it. Then, I had Lucy's passing.

I decided we would do an abbreviated version. Friday nights are always a speaker and then a concert by someone. I have seen Mandisa, who by the way is a must see if you ever get a chance. I have seen Francesca Battistelli who is also wonderful. This year was Sidewalk Prophets. While I would have loved them on any other weekend, I knew she wouldn't. On Friday evening, we went on to to Pensacola to let her shop and then to hear the speaker. We left early instead of staying for the concert.

We knew were going to do only half of a day on Saturday. The question was would it be the first half or the second half. When we saw the speaker list, we had seen the second half ladies before, so we opted for the first half.

I learned a few things this weekend that had nothing to do with my sadness. Mother handled the amount that we did fine, but she would not have really been too good for the whole day. She is in good health, but the last three years she has slowly gone down. She fell four years ago in a fluke accident, then a few months later, my step dad got sick. She has just slowly slowed up. She no longer walks like she did. She has lots of flexibility and can get up and down with ease. In fact, better than some half her age. She cleans her house from top to bottom, cooks for herself, reads, and does puzzle books (cryptograms). She does not seem to want to meet anyone new or socialize.

I am thinking her bus trip to Maine this summer with my aunt will be her last big hurrah for something like that. This is mostly older people who go on these trips, so it should be slow paced, but it should wipe her out. At least, I think it might.

Sometimes that body slows before the mind, and sometimes the mind slows before the body. Either way is stinky.

I had a hard time enjoying the conference this year for many reasons. I wasn't excited to go in the first place, then my situation, and then the fact that it is kind of hard to watch your parent slow down.

Two of the five ladies we heard were worth my getting out of the house for. Nothing earth shattering, but again my mood was not the best. Don't worry ladies...I am good. I am enjoying my time in retirement to study the Bible with more time than I have ever had.

There are just seasons in life that there are tasks to do. I am in a season of trying to care for Mama even though she is just not what she used to be. However, I am loving the season of being able to impart advice to my daughter who comes about three times a week for lunch. I wouldn't trade that for the world.

There was also one more big thing for the weekend. After church on Sunday, our lead pastor wanted to have the church staff to come to the farm for a get together. The lead pastor and family are dear friends of ours and are frequent visitors at the farm. A couple of weeks ago while there, he thought how good it would be to let the staff come and not have to do anything but just show up for an afternoon of fun. They have been working so hard in the weeks leading up to Easter. Many are young with families on a tight budget.

So, we hosted a cookout with them having to bring nothing. Fishing, 4 wheeler rides, rides similar to a hay ride, balls, and long walks were had by all. IT was a good outing for Lemony. All kids are drawn to a big ole Golden Retriever and she let all of them pet her.

That my friends was a busy weekend with a lot of tears in between for Lucy. I am better today. I am putting a book together in the next month for the kids and me of our dogs. They have been a big part of our family life. Looking at all the pictures has helped me remember her fondly and know that she is suffering.

If you survived a picture less post then have a great evening. I will try and do better next time.
Sandy

Beach Walks, Farm Walks, and Weather

Before I took Mom to the doctor this last Saturday evening, the weekend was going well. Hubby and I got a bite to eat, walked on the beach, and made a Hobby Lobby visit in Destin. What a date night!

Here are a few scenes from our walk. It had been warm all day, but it cooled off so that I needed a jacket, however these days I am bit more cold natured. I seemed to have passed the hot moments for now anyway.

The reason for the Hobby Lobby trip is that since I refreshed the living room with some blue coastal items, and I love many of the other rooms such as the dining room, bedroom, and pool table room with their coastal accents, I have decided that my guest bathroom could use a refresh. I went looking for some new artwork for the walls. I have decided to go with some real artwork from locals rather than the Hobby Lobby looks.

I will keep you posted when I choose the new items and get the bathroom refreshed. Y'all know how doing one room leads to another.

On Saturday, we went to the farm to plant some onions and potatoes. I did get that done. Those were two of the things we planted last year that were used up. I learned a lesson on the zucchini last year.

This is the scene of the getting winded for Mama on our walk. I will take the mule next time to go to the compost bed.

Sweet Lemony wondering why we don't catch up.

That is Mom bundled up. It was cooler on Saturday.

The picture below is going to be a shooting house. I think it is more like the Taj Mahal. It is going to be so big and tall. Anyway, the shooting that will be going on is more likely to be photographs. My husband used to take pictures when we first married ALL THE TIME. He just got busy over the years, but has bought him a new camera and wants to get back into it.

I will share the finished house when it is done if you have no idea what I am talking about with a shooting house. Paul Allen and Tyler probably will use it during hunting season and I have seen lots of deer in the woods and almost every weekend there is one dead on the side of the road from having been hit by a car, so they should have luck. I have no idea when hunting season even is. Not my cup of tea. I am a "Don't kill that sweet little Bambi!"

One last thought for the day then I have to get busy with chores. This has been a crazy winter. We have our share of mild winters here and I love them. I hate the storms that go with them which usually pop up later. Yesterday, it got really windy out on the island here. A car toppled over and lots of stuff being blown around. I haven't looked to see if they determined it to be a tornado yet. Either way, my daughter's office is downtown close to the island and she had everyone hopping. It blew the doors open. She is like me. We take weather very seriously. She had everyone up and moving to the hallways.

The azaleas are blooming here and at the farm. I was quite surprised that they were blooming at the farm as that is further north near the Alabama state line. It wasn't just the Pride of Mobile (pink) that always bloom earlier than the others. 

The red orange ones in the background were blooming as well. I haven't seen any white ones in full bloom yet. They will be long gone here by the official start of spring.

I collected some camellias for home. There are four of the biggest camellia bushes that can't be called bushes anymore at the farm. They are gorgeous. White, red, deep pink, and light pink.

Turned around for the other view.

That is all folks for this morning.

Off to get busy,

Sandy

A Most Wonderful Thanksgiving

 I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving. I feel so incredibly blessed at the end of this day.

Everyone had so much fun and ate way too much. I ate more today than I have eaten since last November 4th when I started my diet. I will not be eating that much anytime soon. I don't look like I have lost that much in the pictures coming up, but honestly my clothes were baggy.

I will start with the family pictures taken later in the day. This is the cast of characters at our Thanksgiving event.

First up is my family. Mama, Jeff, me, Lindsay, Tyler, and Paul Allen.

My chickadees. Paul Allen, Lindsay, and son-in-law Tyler (really my son-in-love).

The chickadees with their grandma.

My niece Kristan with her hubby, Torrey and their twins, Tanner and Katelyn.

All the younger ones. We are a small family. I am an only child. Jeff has a brother who has no children and a sister who has only one, Kristan.

Kristan, Torrey, twins with Torrey's parents (on the left)  and Jeff's sister (Donna) and brother-in-law (Al) on the right.

I love that we have Torrey's parents with us most years. They are family too.

And then the Palmer group ---minus Jeff's brother, Danny who left before I rounded up everyone for pictures.

I had to work hard to corral everyone for these, so it was getting late. I will have to try and edit them before printing.

Now, for the action shots.

There was filling our tummies in the gathering room which by the way was awesome. Can't even begin to tell you how yummy everything was.

There was lots of fishing. Our pond is down about 3 feet with the drought, but our neighbor has a pond right next to ours that actually is fed by a creek, so we fished next door.

Paul Allen and Tanner

Tyler

Paul Allen, Katelyn, and Tyler

Tanner and Tyler

Torrey, Tanner, and Katelyn

My sweet Lindsay

Kristan and Katelyn

My boys, Paul Allen and Tyler

Jeff and Paul Allen

Lots of target shooting.

And shooting cans of shaving cream.

And for once I took tons of pictures, so I will spare you anymore.

When it got dark it was time to go in for dessert.

Yes, I was a blessed lady today.

Now, tomorrow it is shopping with my daughter, mom, aunt and uncle, and cousins.

Then, it is time to go shopping for the tree. AFTER last year's debacle with no lights from my prelit tree, I am going real this year. Paul Allen is convinced it will not be a good thing with the dogs. We shall see.

THEN, Saturday is time for the Iron Bowl. I am just hoping it won't be a beat down whipping.

Blessings to all.

Be back next week,

Sandy