Late Summer in Murphy

 I did not wake up yesterday morning and think to myself, "how about making some chicken cacciatore for dinner" and yet, that is what I ended up making. Perhaps I wanted to celebrate Mr. Bruce feeling like himself again, after a Tuesday that found him mostly in bed?

Shocked is what you are probably experiencing as you read the above because aside from Covid our first December in the cottage, Bruce just does not get sick. Instead I get both of our share of illness! It seems to have been a 24 hour bug and he is good as am I. Hallelujah and amen to that.

The chicken was good despite the fact that I have not made that dish in years. I wonder why I waited so long? 

Speaking of years, oh my goodness! Old blog post HERE. I was making note of my 701st blog post back in 2010. Call me amazed when I read that post, and you should too by the way, that I was praising to the hilt a book called Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann. Matt read it too and we both could not believe how good it was. Well, if you can imagine, and I suspect you can, I am currently reading a book I got from our local library, two streets away from here, and one of the blurbs on the back of the book is from him! What are the chances that I would come across that blog post yesterday? Slim, my friends, slim. Tommorow There Will be Apricots  is what I am reading. Somewhat emotionally draining which is fine after the fluff book I mentioned in my last post. What I had no idea about is that she turned that book into a little series, so there were others who were entertained, or so it seems.

Whew, let's put in a pretty picture! About time!

While I am not complaining, heretofore there has been a shortage of butterflies for me to ogle. No longer friends. The one above was from Sunday when we finally went to The Crowne for brunch following church. Matthew gave Bruce a gift card for his birthday (5/18!!!) and we surely had taken our sweet time going there. You may recall that restaurant as the site of the wedding in June. 

The garden that serves the restaurant has grown significantly since we were last there and was producing loads of shishito peppers that the owner was picking while I was taking butterfly photos!

With only one plant it is hard to amass too many at one time, but ours are coming along, as is our okra!

And strawberries!! Usually because, again, one plant, I leave them for the birds.

I do love their little pink flowers. On the subject of pink flowers, one of my dahlias!! I love those flowers and I still cannot get over that I put a seed in the ground and voila!

I know that sounds silly, but it is so miraculous to be involved in the process of bringing beauty into the world! 

We take no credit for most of our plantings as they were here when we arrived, but what I will take credit for is appreciation. I am all about counting my blessings and our landscape is full of things to be thankful for.

Rose of Sharon is in the hibiscus family and talk about a prolific bloomer. The tree that split in two is still producing great numbers of flowers in two cycles . It is astonishing. 

Here is a look at the garden in late summer. (yellow dahlias!!) upper right.

It takes a sharp eye to notice that the bean plants are winding their way around the handrail with beans coming along nicely. The herbs are all fantastic and just this week I planted new broccoli plants!! The amount of sun hitting the garden has changed dramatically since I started in late March with plenty of sunshine happening now. Perhaps it would be better to have lots of sun earlier in the year and now when it is so hot, less? I'm still learning! Aside from the mosquitoes, I just love it! 

I've got some insects for you.  A Katydid on the front porch column. 

Bruce spotted this scary guy in the church parking lot. 

That would be an Eastern Hercules Beetle with that scary looking horn in the front.  

Isn't it fun coming across things you've never seen before or rarely see? That beetle is a case in point, however I have to admit it would not be anything I would want to touch. Bruce did pick it up and it had a hard shell. Two days ago I was walking home from the library and thought perhaps I would go around the block to our home and was I ever glad I did because the sun was shining brightly and I was not sure what I was seeing up ahead and then it became clear it was a hawk. A small hawk.

Merlin identified a Red Shouldered Hawk in the vicinity earlier in the morning, a rare occurrence. The truth is I heard it myself, but I'm giving Merlin credit nonetheless. One would think I could identify lots of birds by their call, but one would be wrong.  I do, however, at least recognize the call of a hawk as it not only distinctive and plentiful in Orlando.

It was not until I was able to use my bird id that I discovered that this small hawk is actually a Cooper's Hawk that was kind enough to pose for me before flying into a nearby tree.

And that, my dear friends is why I always carry a camera!

An absolute gem of a rose lives on that same street where I saw the hawk.

My zinnias are very tall and very covered with powdery mildew that I have been unable to stop from multiplying. I read somewhere about spraying with diluted milk, however, that does not seem to have worked at all! Bruce raised the bird feeder, as I mentioned and it is six feet about the ground now which gives you an idea about how tall the zinnias are! 

Too bad there are no hummingbirds on the feeder in the picture above but I will tell you that they have been plentiful this year.  Note the addition to the pole. I caught Lucifer looking longingly above his head, but so far it is too tall for even the likes of that crafty cat.

The hummingbirds feed on the zinnias but until two days ago I'd not seen a butterfly on them until two days ago when I jumped up from my lunch, telling myself to not get my hopes up as I reached for my camera from it's bag by the front door on the coat rack. Generally birds scatter when they hear the door open but not so with this butterfly with a torn wing.

Come to think of it, Dolly Parton died that day. Of course I needn't include her last name because she is one of those unforgettable persons that has done so much good in the world, she is recognizable by only her first name. We have yet to visit Dollywood which is just 100 miles of roads with more curves than you can shake a stick at. Friends have gone though and say it is beautiful and who is surprised by that?

We did an errand yesterday and drove home on some roads we'd not used before which is something we need to do more often because there are lots of interesting things going on around here. This was quite the sight. He had just finished putting feed out alongside the road and looked up and waved when I took the photo.

Those are some fancy chickens, aren't they?

Bruce has been working on all kinds of projects for the church in his role as chairmen of the trustees. Whew...it is a lot, but anyone who has worked with Bruce in the past knows that he does not know how to not put in a lot of effort. It is in his DNA. Good thing I am used to it!

I wish I saw more Carolina Chickadees because they are as cute as a button.

Being the citizen scientist that I am (haha), my bird count was but six this morning, down from at the height of summer, in the 15-18 range. As has been said before, I am learning what birds are here in what months. Plus I am tracking the times of the sunrise and sunset which I know can be done with a phone but it is just as handy, if not more so, to open a notebook with your own handwriting and see what you want to see.  Practicing my handwriting is part of the process because I find when I do need to write something my handwriting is deplorable. 

It's a good thing I know how to type!!

your friend,

Gail

Who Celebrates an Anniversary This Way?

 Friends, it has been a bad year for mosquitoes despite our efforts. I suppose the only answer is the coming seasonal change which is a welcome idea for me as it has been far too hot for my liking. That said, others have it much worse, so my complaints are probably falling on deaf ears! 

On the other hand, an abundance of rain has made everything grow like crazy. In my last post I mentioned how the town is adorned with hanging baskets overflowing with flowers that have to be seen to believed. So who better than me to show you a sample?

A sweet potato vine that doesn't know when to quit! Plus that new window painting....how charming is that?

I think there are maybe 40 of them, but don't quote me on that.

Even the side streets have them.

Finally this beauty!

I know what you are thinking, "you are from Orlando, the home of Disney World where the flowers grow in perfect profusion"! I get that, I really do, however, they have both a huge staff, and a huge budget, which to my mind, makes our little town's yearly display noteworthy. After a long winter, the flowers bring sweet relief!

So not only has there been an inordinate amount of mosquitos, there has been temperatures,  the likes of which are mostly unknown in this part of the country.

It was crazy hot when we met David and Ann at the Labyrinth, found at the Hinton Center, a Methodist retreat on the shores of Lake Chatuge in Hayesville.

Having no recollection of ever having done one before, Ann demonstrated our next steps.

For many folks it is a spiritual practice, for Bruce and I, we were just trying to figure out what to do next. That's not to say it was not an interesting experience, but as a first timer, we just did what we were told! 

It has been a different sort of summer than I imagined it would be due to my having to go to the doctor far more times than is my style. I generally stay away for as long as possible. Between that and the heat, my regular walking has mostly gone to the dogs. Finally I did take a morning walk after my monthly stop at city hall to pay the light bill. (haha) Remember that saying? It is true, however, that I do walk over and pay our bills there because it is so easy and I like to get to know the clerks. 

Three very cool sightings, including this crazy weird mushroom that looked gelatinous.

Look at this scene, moss, a bird's feather and more moss, along with a fallen leaf.

Rarely do I see any great blue heron's here, but by golly on this day I just barely caught a photo of one heading down the river.

Matthew posted something about how some trees are losing their leaves early due to both drought and heat and I believe I walked across some of the same.

On that same day Bruce was meeting an air conditioning guy at Harshaw Chapel and needed something, I can't quite recall, but I do recall walking it over to him and being rewarded with this view. 

It's quite lovely isn't it?  

And aren't there so many things in this world that are lovely, including all of you my dear readers?

 Heading home I walked in front of the museum where there is a native plant garden. Woo hoo!!

Then again, there are some things that are downright hard to deal with aren't there?  Yup, it is spike ball season, AKA chestnuts that are dropping like mad.

As you know I have been recording the birds at 8AM most mornings. Every now and again I miss, including the morning of my colonoscopy, which happened to be Tuesday of this week, thus I am late in posting. I read somewhere about counting the foggy days in August and it will predict the number of upcoming snow days and that day was most definitely counted!

I will do my best to keep my whining to a minimum, but good grief that prep is absolutely horrible!! That said, after waking up at 4AM for the second dose, which was so, so, so hard to make myself drink, the remaining part was smooth sailing from the woman who checked me in,

to every nurse, tech, as well as the doctor, all of whom were wonderful! The good news is it was all for naught because it was normal, something I knew it would be so long after the event. It will take something very, very drastic to happen to me before I will EVER do that again!! 

Of course that was our anniversary and while there was no formal celebration, we celebrate each and every day that we are together no matter what the calendar says.

Remarkable is what I had to say when I came out the front door, to check on the weather and look who I found on one of the railings?

That would be a Chinese Mantis should you care to know. What's more, it stayed in that same position, not moving anything for hours and hours. He might still be there except I had to water my plants and I think I must have sprayed him off? 

A sweet fragrant rose is in the house.

Sharing the glass is basil that I have grown. Actually I am merely the steward of the plants because apart from putting a plant in the ground, or better yet a seed, I just take care of it and hope to do my best. Right now there is a vase of hydrangeas, zinnias and a tiny one of the dahlias, grown from seed.

When I put the geranium in the pot, I planted seeds given to me by Robin and they have far exceeded my expectations.

Two things, back to our birdies. First the good news. Goldfinch have been showing up most days, much to my delight.

And here's the bad. You may recall that we have been battling a feral cat who lurks in the huge bushes and I dislike him so much I named him Lucifer. While this cat could be a female, I'm still calling it Lucifer. But I digress. I was actually getting out my bird journal from the beautiful blue-green cabinet Bruce built for us with my eyes gazing out the window facing the bird feeder as you see it above. At that moment in time, it did not look like this....it looked horrible in so much as I screamed out loud when I saw Lucifer leap up and grab hold of the plastic tray you see on the right. Running out the door screaming, he trotted across the street with a bird in its' mouth!!! 

Having tried a physical barrier, squirting water, and yelling, all of which have done absolutely nothing to deter this driven cat, Bruce got busy and raised the pole even higher to six feet.  Two days in and we are good, however, I would put nothing past that cat!!!

Going without solid food on Monday was very challenging for me, maybe more so because we are a three-meal a day family. I spend a considerable amount of time preparing food, something that brings me pleasure. Instead, after playing pickleball, I went upstairs, as far from the kitchen as possible, and read a book. A whole book aside from the last twenty or so pages. I finished those pages at 5AM after I forced the prep drink down. The main character moved to a new state and it was quite the challenge moving from Memphis, TN to Vermont. There are lots of other great books to read out there, so if you find yourself in a situation when you want to be entertained rather than think too hard, try that link to see what I am talking about. I found it at our local library.

All that to say, with all the emphasis I can muster with my keyboard, we sure have been thrilled and blessed by our move. It's been fun for you all as well, hasn't it? 

your friend,

Gail

Around the House

For the past months I have taken a lot of people photographs, not really my specialty, but I do the best I can. There was the more than a thousand at the pickleball tournament, two weddings, a memorial service and then there was VBS, accounting for countless more thousands. 

With that in mind, let us have a look at what is happening in our yard and sweet home on Campbell Street,  shall we?

You betcha!

As I was carrying something to our office from the kitchen I glanced to my left and what to my wondering eyes should I see but this site through the window in the door to the back porch and yard!!

Picture me flipping out, calling out to Bruce, "come quick!!!", and both of us racing down the stairs to the basement in order to see this magical sight through the sliding glass doors. Neither of us can remember seeing a deer laying down, and especially not in our backyard!! I'm thinking they were enjoying the shade from the penetrating sun, using the gigantic magnolia tree as their umbrella. 

For what we think was ten minutes, they rested; I had gone out the front door and around through the fairy garden in order to see them a little bit closer without frightening them away.

As soon as one got up, they all got up and trotted through our neighbor's yards to parts unknown.

What an unexpected blessing!! As well, one day I was standing  right near the zinnias when a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly landed on one of the bloom,s so close to me it was crazy. I've done a fair amount of watching butterflies in my time and never before has one come so close to me. It was magical. 

Here's some exciting news: Bruce's watch has been repaired and looks better than it has for years!! I am including this because in the future we will wonder about it and won't have to wonder too long because I have a handy search engine on my blog that has helped us countless times. We say to one another, when did this happen? I never remember, but my blog does!! 

I'm feeling good and this recent saga will be a thing of the past soon. Hallelujah!

I did want to show you this drawing that the cardiologist made for me to demonstrate how A-Fib works. Perhaps I mentioned that he was kind? 

Before we move to the home pictures,  let's take a look at a fun activity from last week. Our friend Curt, who has been struggling with his health for far too long is feeling some improved and having a bunch of fellows play a pickleball tournament in his driveway was just the medicine he needed to keep him on the upswing.

Their view is SO impressive; I especially like it when there are clouds in the mountains.

Nancy is a wonderful hostess and makes things look effortless. She asked if I would come along to keep her company, but in reality she can hold her own with all the men, having been raised with five brothers on a dairy farm in Minnesota.

For the record, her quilting puts mine to shame!

Here's a  picture of our sweet town all decked out for America 250!

I just realized I have not taken any photos of the astonishing hanging baskets around downtown. I'm correcting that this week! The are so big it boggles the mind.

Supporting the local farmer's market is something we like to do on Saturday mornings, knowing how important it is to show support, not just showing up but spending money!  More customers, means more vendors, means more customers, we know the formula, having lived that life for ten years. Dana taught us that.  This week we came home with some nice items, including colored eggs, (love) even though they taste no different, pickled carrots, some onion rolls and a cinnamon bun for the man of the house.

The little bowl of tomatoes came from my plants. Can you believe it?? I have no idea why they are so small but they are pretty darn tasty, especially considering how bad the plants look right now!

One vendor, a woman, sells a variety of live worms. 

The quarter, placed by her, is to give a size perspective. We did not buy any.

Oh good grief, this will give you a laugh. A carrot that has been in the ground for four+ months!!!

The tops are pretty so we have just let them be, however curiosity got the best of me last week, thus the photo of a poor excuse for a carrot!

Last Friday night was the monthly art walk with glass artists featured at one of the galleries. The artist below teaches classes and I'm thinking of taking one of them for fused glass class. The tea light holder in the foreground is what she is making.

We ran into our good friend, Jayne who corrected me when I told the person I was introducing her to that she was 92. Not so fast Gail!! Only 91.

She makes all manner of things, including the jewelry behind her. We know multiple, mostly women, over 90 and it just amazes me how lively they are. Always keeping busy is their secret. 

Sadly, in the last month or so, two friends near our age, have died. Jeanette and Susan were their names and I met them both at work, spending years working side by side. May they rest in peace. 

Last Thursday we hosted a "listening session" at our home and it went well.

We had no idea what it was when we said yes to hosting; now we know that when a new pastor comes to town, he wants to listen to the congregation in order to get to know them in an intimate setting and allow them to learn more about, in this case, Evan. Intimate is the operative word in our small living room, although there were several more people there not pictured. Little Porter was a delight. Notably, a rainstorm began and oh my word, as 9 PM rolled around, the lightening was fierce. Whether I have written about it before or not, please forgive me for being repetitive, but goodness gracious, thunder booms in the mountains unlike in Florida where there is no echo involved. Twice last night we were awoken because of thunder.

I may have mentioned that I am keeping a garden diary about when I plant things, how they are doing, what is in bloom, that sort of thing. In my mind I go over each area and document what I see. Thus, I know that I started planting in the middle of March which was great for some things, like the lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage, but not so great for others that should have been planted later. Hopefully it will help me improve my skills, and I use that word loosely!

Let's look around. After a spell when they had aphids these beauties are coming back strong. I love the fact that they are double petunias.

This single petunia was purchased and planted at the same time, but got very straggly so after a big trim it is perking right back up.

Zinnias for the WIN! Planted from seed, I cannot believe how tall they are getting. Plus, look at this!!!

Watching the birds from the parlor window is great entertainment, especially when I can keep "Lucifer" at bay. Yup, I named the horrible cat Lucifer. Talking on the phone with D'Anna this morning, I saw him bypass my attempts at making it hard to get to the feeders. Today he was just standing below the open feeder waiting to leap high in the air to grab one of our birdies. "Wait a minute", I exclaimed to her as I ran outside to shoo him away. I wish I could say he was afraid of me, yet, I know that is not true. He just runs off when I appear. :(

Okay these geraniums!!! Are they not excellent? Never before in August have I had this bounty of blooms.

In the backyard, the coleus are showing their intricate patterns,

Did I show you the latest crop of mushrooms in the remaining hay bale? 

I never get bored here because there is always something new to notice. Who did this?

As you need not be reminded, it's handy having a woodworker in your family. After cleaning out two bird boxes, both of which had remaining nests (!) even though I only knew of the Titmouse that took up temporary residence in the box above, but anyway, he took the face plate off, made a new one and it looks perfect again. Open for tenants!

I'm stopping after this one, I promise.

Finally the green beans are growing and how how thrilled I am to have dahlias! 

This evening we are going to walk a labyrinth, another new experience. You, dear readers, will be one of the first to hear all about it!!

your friend,

Gail