Merry Christmas

I'm running behind times as usual but let me wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  I hope you all are still safe and warm. 

We had a white Christmas here on the hill.  It's not unusual for us to get a bit of snow at some point during the winter but this is the first on Christmas since we've lived up here.  About 3 1/2 inches total.

Our neighbors walked up the hill past our house to see the view over town with the snow and took this picture near the end of our driveway.  

And this was the view from the porch.  Needless to say, with temps no higher than 20 degrees all day and a wind chill in single digits, I went no further  toward the outside.

The birds were really active today.  Lots and lots of them vying for space on the feeders.  They were all flummoxed by the snow blocking their places to light on the railings.  The snow will start melting tomorrow when the temps head up to the 40's and will likely finish off on Sunday.   It's really pretty to see it like this but I'm done with it now.  It can go away.  

I think all of us are looking forward to 2021 and the hope that it will be better than this year has been.  Please stay safe and warm.  We will get through it one of these days. 

Y'all take care

The Ride Continues, Part 2

 My progress on the tumbler quilt has been slow or non-existent a lot of days but I have made some progress.  Nothing about this is hard but it takes time and perseverance.  

I got the strips cut from all the fabrics.  I don't know how many different fabrics there are.  On most I cut only one strip, a few I cut two and there were a few pieces where I only had partial strips.  Oh well, that's the point to make it scrappy.

Then the fun part started, cutting all those little tumblers.  I do not have a tumbler template and wasn't about to spend over $25 to buy one just for this project.  I wandered around and looked in all nooks and crannies to see what I could find to use.  TA DA!  I found a Dresden plate template/ruler that had never been opened.  I pulled it out, figured the size I wanted my tumblers and used painters' tape to mark the size for easy reference. 

I simply cut in one direction, flip the ruler around and cut the other piece, continuing until the strip is cut.

It was my idea to simply toss the tumblers into a plastic bin and then pull them as they came to sew them.  

One of those ideas that worked better in concept than in execution.   Since I was cutting strips of double fabric there were always two pieces stuck together and also a number of cuts lying together.  So I sat for a while and separated the tumblers into separate piles so that they could be mixed up.  When finished, I added them back to the bin in different orders and then stirred them up. 

I sat down to start the sewing.  Again, the idea works but execution is a little more difficult. 

Yeah, I had to fix that one but it was a learning process.  I continued to sew them together until I had the row about as long as I wanted it, considering that I would be adding borders as well.  

There are 25 different tumblers in that row but it is as wide as I want it for now.  There are probably about 15 more different tumblers that weren't used.  They'll go into the next row.  I'll keep sewing rows of tumblers until it again gets to the size that I want it.  

So, that's where the Ride sits at the moment. 

We are having a glorious fall day today.  Sunshine and mid 60's which is a bit cooler than normal.  This should be October weather. 

Y'all take care

Perfect Day in the Mountains

Oh, my goodness.  It is the most beautiful day here in the mountains.  About 68 degrees, sunshine, some puffy clouds floating high above and a bit of a breeze.  It's as close to a perfect day as I've ever seen. 

The hummers are still buzzing around, although not as many of them as in the past several weeks.  I've tried and tried to get pictures of them on the salvia but no luck getting anything I'd show to anybody else. 

My new flower beds put in this year have done nicely.  I'm hoping for even better results next year. 

I'm a nut about coneflowers.  They just keep on and on with their loveliness. 

A lot of the flowers have done their deed for this year but there are a few that are still blooming away.

Hubby pulled out the tomato plants this morning.  They produced fine but something just decimated the tomatoes before we could enjoy them.  No horn worm but something would bore a hole in the top of the tomato and there'd do.   I doubt we'll plant any next year.  I'll just devote that space to more flowers!!!

Hope everybody is doing well.  I've been keeping up with you guys but have had a really hard time coming here to post.  Please forgive me. 

Oh, we went over to a neighboring town last night for a songwriters' showcase.  We figured on a two hour show.  Wrong.  By.  A.  Lot.  The music stopped 4 hours after it started.  Poor performers were pooped.  That was our first time at that performance hall and it's a jewel, especially for such a small town.  

We're headed to another small town in the opposite direction next Saturday night to hear a jazz guitarist.  Good stuff. 

Y'all take care. 

Fall in the Air

The skies, they are a changin'.  It truly feels like fall is fast approaching here in the hills.  We woke to 50 degrees this morning and it was glorious.  We're being blessed with dry, sunny days with temps in the mid 70's.  I am just so tickled about this wonderful weather. 

Hubby and I took a ride up to Brasstown Bald the other day.  It had been years since we were last there.  There's been some "improvements" made such as a general store, bigger restrooms and more parking areas.   

The Bald is the highest point in Georgia and from up there you can see four states from the 360 degree view.  Supposedly, in the fall and winter when the weather has cleared out the haze, you can actually see the skyline of Atlanta over 80 something miles away.  

Also depending on which direction you look, you can see a couple of small towns and Lake Chatuge and Lake Nottley.   It sure is pretty up there and I figure we'll make the trek back up there in about to a month to take in the colors from that perspective. 

I'm excited to see what the colors look like from our house, since we are surrounded by trees on all sides and we have long range views of mountains in two directions.  

The trees have been home to lots of little birds these days.  Every morning brings a new batch of migrants of some sort.  Some of them I can identify and some I can't.  Where's my Birdlady friend when I need her?  These little guys just don't stay still long enough for me to get a good look, note important markings and then dig out the bird books to identify them!!!   

Any time you have windows you are likely to have bird strikes.  A week or so ago I was sitting here and heard this "whump".  At first, I thought it was upstairs but realized it was too loud.  Went over to the other side of the fireplace and looked out that door and there on the deck was this little guy, totally stunned from his smack into the glass door. 

He sat there at least 10 minutes before he was able to fly away. 

Every day we are treated to hummers jostling for their feeding territory at one of the seven feeders outside.  They are constantly buzzing around out there.  We're enjoying them immensely, knowing that it won't be too long before they're gone for the winter. 

I'll do my best to be back much more regularly.  I do enjoy reading everyone else's blogs, so I guess I need to return the courtesy by posting something for you guys to read, huh? 

Y'all take care. 

Our Winter Storm

We truly did have a winter storm.  It was nasty no matter how you looked at it.  We got freezing rain first, then sleet and then a tiny bit of snow. 

The birds and squirrels were feeding at a feverish rate, trying to take in enough calories to help keep them warm. 

The first thing I noticed when the temperatures started dropping was the formation of icicles on the bird feeders. 

They finished off the feeders in one day.  When I went outside the next morning to refill them, I crunched on the ice the whole while.   Our temps stayed below freezing from Tuesday until early on Thursday.   The ice in my yard didn't all melt until Friday.  I recall times like that while growing up here in northwest Florida, but this is the only time it has been like this in the past fifteen years.

Now, its just cloudy and dreary but quite warm - in the low 60's.  You can bet if it stays this way, our plants will start springing forth in the next couple of weeks.  It's a few weeks early, but if we don't get any more freezing spells, it'll be okay. 

No other exciting news to share at the moment.  Hope my northern friends stay warm and safe with all these storms coming through. 

Y'all take care. 

Yup. It's nasty outside.

Just looking out the window and noticing that the water drops on the leaves of the oak trees are turning to ice!!!!  Already noticed the icicles forming on the bird feeders from the drizzling rain.

Bummer.  I'll be back soon. 

Y'all take care. 

Coldwater Adventures

Hello, dear friends!  Its been too long. 

We spent the month of July near Ellijay, Georgia in a little cabin on the banks of Mountaintown Creek.    The first ten days we were there, I thought I might have to grow webbed feet because it rained so much.  

Raindrops a fallin' over my head......

We loved the cabin, even with its shortcomings.  I spent more hours than I can count out on the front porch just rocking and watching and listening to the creek. 

Just up the way 

And, just past the end of the driveway 

Now, you have to understand that I'm a flat lander.  Where I live, the elevation is a whole 11 feet or so.  Yes, that's the correct elevation.   Did I say it was flat?      Anyway, we eased into the hills and then the mountains as we drove up.  As we entered Coosawattee River Resort where the cabin is located, the roads became an adventure unto themselves.  The paved portions were in very good shape but just wide enough for two vehicles to meet, and just hope one isn't a service truck!   They are as crooked as any pile of spaghetti you ever tossed, and also going up and down.  Also, there's the paved but divided one lane portions.  They took some getting used to.  

And, then there are the gravel roads.  Lots and lots of gravel roads.  With hills.  Some with very steep hills.   Which must be climbed by our little red car in order to get to our cabin which is on a private drive off one of those gravel roads.  I swear, I thought we were driving into a rabbit hole when we headed down into that driveway!!  It was really just a twisty trail wide enough for one vehicle, all covered over by trees and bordered by more trees and a little stream.   Then the trail turned, widened a bit and ran along the bank of that glorious creek to the cabin.    

Looking to the skies 

We had real fun learning how to shoot up the drive and stop precisely on top before heading down the slope on the other side.  Then, there was the entertainment of backing down that drive to the turn around area.  Nope, couldn't just drive on down and do a three point turn to come back out.  Trail not wide enough and slope too steep.  Couldn't head on down to turn around somewhere else, cause there wasn't anywhere else to turn around unless we plain drove up to the neighbor's door and turned around in his driveway!   Oh, I forgot to say that his driveway is also the end of the road.  

The wide part of the trail

 Hence the backing down our driveway with trees and a bank on one side and the drop off on the other.    I know.  In the picture it looks like it would be easy, and for some folks it might be.  However....Hubby and I aren't those people, although I might have a slight advantage.  It did get easier, though, as time went by.  

And remember that flat lander thing?  We live in a one floor house where we have maybe a 6 inch step up into the house.  Once we got to the top of the driveway, it was 30 stair steps over four sections up to the deck.  You shoulda seen us unloading the car.  Not a pretty sight at all.   Once we got up there, we were perched among the tree tops looking directly down onto the creek.  Worth every step of it.  (Most days, anyway.) 

If you'd like to take a look at the cabin, here's the link.   I'll be back soon. 

Y'all take care. 

Oh, Happy Day

We're still in the area subject to the influence of Hurricane Isaac but, thankfully, just the outer bands of weather.  Therefore, we took the shutters off the back door this morning and the light streaming in was like a shot of sunshine straight to my soul!!!  It felt like bindings were loosened from around me.

When we put the shutters up, we were expecting to receive the brunt of the storm and planned to evacuate.  As the track shifted westward our forecast changed and we decided to stay home.  Since the shutters were already up, however, we left them there.  

Shutters ready to go up.

We go through periods of clouds, blustery winds, rain and then back to sunshine.  So far, we've had very little rain and no unusual winds.   

We'll sit tight until tomorrow and then all the shutters will come down. 

While it can be frustrating to deal with all the uncertainty, I try to remind myself that its better to be prepared for what doesn't happen, rather than be unprepared for what does happen!! 

Stay safe everybody.  

Y'all take care.