How Did This Happen?

 I just finished lunch a bit ago. Bruce has gone to meet with Marji and David for a lesson in caning. As I sat at the parlor table, eating my ham sandwich, watching not only a beautiful Goldfinch at the feeder, but twin hummingbirds flying in and out of the porch before landing on their feeder. A squirrel was lapping up the water from the bird bath, which explains why it has been so dry of late. Yesterday morning as I went on the back porch I could just make out the bunny rabbit down below. The days are shortening at a rapid pace now. As are the changing trees. 

Following Hank's departure last evening, I peered at the sky and watched as the nearly-full moon appeared from the cloud cover, something that has been in very short supply here this summer. Clouds I mean.

We had him over for an early birthday dinner, although when I scheduled it, I thought yesterday was his birthday. 83 years young by the way! Once he has his new hearing aids he is going to be get-to-go.  Still giving flying lessons I might add. And riding his motorcycle to Asheville. Nancy is the keeper of the dates and in my foolishness I did not confirm the date with her, leading to my slight blunder. He could care less if we had him over on Monday or Thursday, he was thrilled having his birthday celebrated.  I have a whole series of birthday cake photographs of yet another failed baking attempt, fortunately saved by a suggestion from our friend Suzann. I will spare you the flop, but all is well that ends well. 

Maybe as you age you just find rolling with the punches is the way to go? Or maybe it is just me? 

At any rate, as I turned back toward the house, I was struck with the thought that we could not be any more pleased; it is like a dream come true, living in this sweet house with the scallopy screen door and crazy textured walls.

Wonder of wonders, those clouds produced some overnight rain that continued falling softly as we began the day.

It has been like a part time job keeping all my planters watered. I've never had so many pots of flowers before and it is glorious. Rain will make the job a wee bit easier.

I've got gold, red, orange, white and purple mums for the first time in my life. My whole life!

Perhaps you remember, well scratch that, of course you do not! Anyway, last early Autumn I purchased six plants of yellow mums, putting them in tiny pots along the front steps at the cottage. Circumstances dictated that we leave for two weeks, during which time we returned to Florida. Predictably, the mums died in our absence. Ever the optimist, I put them under cover of the cottage porch. We brought them here and if you can imagine, lo and behold, they began growing. Well those back porch steps were calling for some floral delights and by golly they are almost blooming! 

Notice the pan on the steps as you read this next bit. Because of all the heat, the hummingbird feeder developed mildew which I finally figured out how to get rid of.

I tried bleach which did a little, but after a while I discovered that hot water and bleach might do the trick. The hot water did wonders, along with some vigorous shaking and finally it was clean. A bottle brush should be on my shopping list. Anyway, little missie here, screwed up, which come to think of it, is a bit of a theme in this post. Regardless of my botches, I seem to come out okay in the end. In this case, I mixed the sugar and water and set it on the burner on high. Duh, bad time to go out to water.  If you have ever smelled burnt sugar before you get it. Unpleasant indeed.

Something more pleasant is an example of how I love the lighting in this house.

As I walk through the rooms, I cannot resist documenting the many ways that the light comes in. The little tomatoes are from D'Anna's garden. 

Stick with me friends, we are a long way from being done!

Changing leaves, oh how I love thee.

Looking to the left from our front steps, the houses heading up the hill have more leaves to show off and as each day passes there is increased vibrancy.

Thinking of the steps reminded me of this little incident that is another example of all is well that ends well. I walked out that cute screen door and discovered this.

It is rare for a bird to sit still, so between that and seeing the red, I thought the finch was injured. Calling Bruce to come outside, he watched for a bit, wondering what he could do for the bird, when fortunately, he flew off. Not far mind you. It flew into the bushes near the feeder, resting for a bit before eventually flying off. Whew!

While we are on the subject of birds, I have some exciting photos to share with you. but not before an introduction. Or maybe explanation is a better choice of words? In any case, for nearly all summer long I have avoided walking and most especially the part called "Fisherman's Loop" because my experience has been one of misery on that portion due to an excessive amount of mosquitoes. As you well know, that is not a winning combination for me. Because we have had cooler nights (56 degrees), I assumed it might be safe. Ever the optimist, I took my chances and was I ever rewarded!! First, I saw a cool butterfly with a long name. Red-spotted Purple Admiral. That's most certainly a mouth -full!

A Buckeye. I always thought this was a Moth, but I stand corrected.

Those were good sightings, especially because I was not expecting much happening on that day and walk. But then, as I came closer to the confluence of the Valley River and the Hiwassee River, I heard a familiar sound. A Belted Kingfisher!

A very rare sighting for me, but that pales in comparison to seeing an Osprey!

Both birds are common as the day is long in my neck of the woods, but here? Not so much. I'm pretty sure I've seen neither since I've been in Murphy. Good stuff!!

Here's more good stuff. The Taco Bell tree is changing!

When we visited two years ago, our friend Karen described it as such because it is in their parking lot. She also described it as her favorite tree and I cannot wait to see a huge ball of orange before we know it!

So any idea what these are?

If you guessed Chestnuts, we have a winner! They are raining down from our backyard tree, as are leaves from an adjacent tree.

I will show you the case they pop out of in my next post. Scary business, covered in little spikes.

I'm still not done!

Not a week goes by without a stop at our favorite thrift stores. Above are the goodies I discovered in a  cookbook I had the pleasure of finding. During our first year of marriage, my dear husband bought me a set of these cookbooks for Christmas and I was so touched, I bawled like a baby. There's a picture in Orlando of that day. Look at this beautiful handwriting which will be legible to older folks.

Supper and card party!!! Isabelle! The letter in the photo above is from the Southern New England telephone company stating that they had no choice but to raise rates, dated November, 1968. Nothing new under the sun, right? 

You just know how much I love finding that kind of stuff!

I took lots of fun pictures of a great party we attended on Sunday afternoon with good friends and an outstanding setting. Most of those will wait for my next post but this one showed so much joy I want to include it today.

The first three ladies from the left are sisters and I have two sisters as well. I used to have five though. Typing that makes me feel super sad. By the way, these ladies are dancing in case you could not tell!

But as someone who believes that there is a reason for everything, I try not to dwell on that, instead I concentrate on the future which is bright. Especially when I concentrate on how much beauty there is yet to be discovered in our little corner of the world.

How did this happen??

Heaven only knows.

your friend,

Gail