Happy Halloween...!

They are a motley looking crew tonight.  Is anybody scared?  You'd better watch out!

Magic Moments...

Filled with love.

Thriller...

This kid keeps me laughing non-stop!

Pickin on the Patio....

Warner Music Group sponsors a party on the roof of their building in Nashville on the third Thursday of every month.  Tonight they introduced their new group, the JaneDear Girls.  For sure their new single "Wildflower," is headed up the charts.  We had a great time and met a lot of great people.

Bang!

Again.  Do you believe it?  We have had two blow-outs in a week on our camper, both in heavy traffic.  The first one was in 5:00 traffic going into Philly where our niece, Christie, lives.  This morning on our way through Knoxville we lost a second tire. 

This is just plain dangerous.  We went from here to a camper dealer and bought four new tires and had them installed.

Farewell to Rodanthe...

Early morning on the beach before we left at 8:00.  We had a few clouds for the first time this week. 

Moving on...

Cruising through North Carolina brought with it fields of cotton.  I am a spinner so not picking some of this was more than I could stand.  How cool is this?

Bayberry for Candles...

Combing the beaches this morning brought us to a picnic area with a historic marker of a battleship lost to the Confederacy early in the Civil War.  This is bayberry and it grows wild and prolific on this island.  It also grows on the other Cape where we spend  winters.  Does anybody want to make candles?

In our quest to find the end of the earth here on Hatteras Island, we stopped at Cape Hatteras Light Station.  Wow!  History and beauty surrounded us; I was so fascinated that I took 89 pictures. 

We kept driving until there was no more earth to drive on.

After this, there is nothing but water unless to take the ferry to Ocracoke Island.

We are leaving in the morning.  Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Southern Shores Wedding

Mac and Lauren's Wedding

The perfect setting.

Congratulations and best wishes for a happy life as you go forward together.



Good Morning OBX....

We were greeted by another red sky morning.  The skies are now bluer than blue and the surf is pounding.  This so reminds us of the Cape.

The sea beckons.

Sunrise...

Looking forward to a perfect day.



Further South We Go...

He's a beach bum from way back.  We are now enjoying the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I spent the afternoon watching birds playing in the surf while Tom took a nap.  After dinner we sat in the Jacuzzi and my bones haven't felt this good in ages!

I am absolutely in my glory watching these birds play.

 

Wandering South...

We spent the day wandering around Valley Forge, enjoying the beautiful grounds, and relearning some or our country's history.

Ask someone to think of Valley Forge and they will nearly always envision an anonymous group of soldiers struggling against winter’s fury and clothed in nothing but rags. Certainly hardship did occur at Valley Forge, but the encampment experience could be characterized as “suffering as usual,” for privation was the continental soldier’s constant companion.

Army records and eyewitness accounts speak of a skilled and capable force in charge of its own destiny. Rather than wait for deliverance, the army located supplies, built log cabins to stay in, constructed makeshift clothing and gear, and cooked subsistence meals of their own concoction. Provisions, though never abundant in the early months of the encampment, were available.

This is a picture of the inside of one of the cabins the soldiers built.  You will notice a fireplace for food preparation and warmth.  While primitive, each cabin had seven bunks for sleeping off the floor.  Imagine seven men spending the winter in these surroundings.

Shortages of clothing did cause severe hardship for a number of men, but many soldiers had a full uniform, and the well-equipped units patrolled, foraged, and defended the camp. The sound that would have reached your ears on approaching the camp was not that of a forlorn howling wind, but rather that of hammers, axes, saws, and shovels at work.

The small building known as Washington’s Headquarters was the place where General George Washington and his staff lived and worked for the six months of the Valley Forge winter encampment. Beginning on May 23, visitors will be delighted by a fully restored building and completely new facilities surrounding it.

 

Sunday and Church...

This is the old coach road that runs next to my church.  You can see the new road on the right.  The new road goes in front of my house and the old road goes behind.  We have deeded rights to this old road to gain access to our barn.  This was the beautiful autumn scene that greeted me from the church parking lot this morning.

Our message today was, "Discover Your Spiritual Type."  Which type are you?

1.  God is revealed in scripture, sacrament, and in Jesus Christ and his cross.

2.  I can feel that God is real and that Christ lives in my heart.

3.  God is mystery and can be grasped for but not completely known.

4.  We participate in the mystery of God when we become co-creators with God in the world.

Granola...

Today was rainy and cold!  The wood burning cook stove is warming us nicely, though, with the added bonus of hot water for tea on demand.  I have been wanting to try a low fat recipe for granola that I found in "Cooking Light" magazine.  I love granola both as a snack in the car and as a breakfast cereal.  With only 270 calories per cup, I thought this recipe was spectacular!

Ingredients:

4 cups regular oats

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Cooking spray

1 cup chopped pitted dates

1 cup raisins

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325°.
Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl, and stir mixture well.
Combine honey, molasses, water, and oil in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; pour over oat mixture, stirring well to coat. Spoon mixture onto a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray; spread evenly. Bake at 325° for 40 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven; stir in dates and raisins. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Oh No...

Snow!

We went from summer to winter in record time.  October 15 is about two weeks early even for us.  Time to head south!



Library Day...

So...come along with me...to my little corner of the world.

Blue Sky...

We have had the most incredible weather all week.  I wonder if it is because of the time of year but the sky has been deep blue for days.  I will never take this for granted. 

Porch Sitting...

I wish everybody in the whole, wide world had a porch.  It would slow people down some.  How nice on a hot day to sit and swing, cool air blowing through your hair.  Or to sit and chat with your husband after a busy day, him going one way, me going another.  We have fun making pictures out of clouds.  That is until the head falls off Goofy and the wind blows it away.

10.10.10

How fun it is to write the date today.

Rich, Barb and the boys are here celebrating Columbus Day with us.  We went touring around the dirt roads of Landgrove and Weston enjoying the sunshine, warm weather and beautiful foliage that was everywhere.  I put a pot of baked beans in the oven before we left and for dinner we had burgers and dogs; we plucked a head of cabbage from the garden and threw together a slaw.  I guess that would be the perfect Sunday night farm supper.



Saturday...

I woke up to this...

The view from my bedroom window.  Hello world.

Moving on...

Saturday means (guess) the farmer's market.  Are these happy carrots or what?



It's Time...

I wait for this day.  It comes every year although usually it is about a week later than this.  I know it as soon as I wake up in the morning.  The feel, the look, summer is gone.  The hummingbirds are on their way to their winter homes.  They are such a presence when they are here.  Some days they are so aggressive, dive bombing me as I hang the laundry, pretending this space is theirs and I had better get out of their way.  The yard is empty now.  Things are dying back.  In two weeks we head for Tennessee and we always return to snow on our mountain.  Its too soon, it was just summer yesterday.

Firewood...

Believe it or not, he is in his glory when he is cutting firewood.  Good thing this job is never done.

More farmland...

Couldn't you just wander around upstate New York forever?  Its so different from Vermont where we call home.  We live in the mountains and this part of New York is rolling hills.  But still, you can see forever, time stops, the air is fresh and clean and on this day a brisk wind was whipping across the meadows reminding us of how baren this will be in another month. 



Rich and Tom were cutting firewood on the edge of this meadow.  Barb, the boys and I decided to walk up (they walked, I rode in the truck).  Rich could have got a second cutting of hay this summer.  Conditions were perfect.

Rich's cows...

I never thought I would see the day that Rich would have cows in his pasture.  His neighbor's barn burned down but he was able to rescue his cows and one sow.  He lost all of his piglets, turkeys and chickens.  He had no place to put his animals so Rich not only met a neighbor from across the hill but was able to help in a terrible tragedy.  Let's hope these beautiful animals make it, heal and have happy lives.

One more time...

By now you know how much I like and support farmer's markets.  Barbie and I headed for Hamilton, NY this weekend to scope out the vegetables there.  That's not all that that was going on this weekend.  It was Colgate University's homecoming weekend.  What a nice treat to see so many young people wandering around enjoying the market.  We canned applesauce this morning and dried the herbs from her garden.  For dinner we had fresh beets, corn, and parsley potatoes.  Frost tonight.

The Palmer Farm...

My son, Rich, bought a farm a few years ago near Hamilton, New York.  I took this picture from the next hill over looking back at his barn.  It was amazingly beautiful today, the first cool day of October.  We have had so much rain recently that his pastures are still as green as spring.  It was a joy to wander to the top of the meadow and cut firewood all day.