Michael Stacked a Peck of Peppers

 It's Friday Favorite Foto Day!!

Today I chose a picture that is interesting in the fact that it doesn't look real. Like, I mean, how do you stack peppers. Peter Piper picked peppers but I don't believe I ever heard of him stacking them. 

But, leave it to my son who is quite the gardener. He takes after his Daddy who loved to plant and harvest. I don't know which was best at it but I sort of would lean in Michael's direction, not his Dads. 

Michael has been square-foot gardening for some years now and every year has quite a bounty to feast from. Here he is with his sister, Shirley, inspecting his veggies. 

I was visiting and he'd gone out to gather the peppers,

 

he came back on the patio and proceeded to stack three on the patio table. 

I love the different reds and greens in his display. 

Fall, a time of Joy

 Fall, to me, is a time of joy mixed with a tinge of sadness. I think the sadness comes because of the passage of time. To me that is important for I am on the downhill slide of life and I guess I want to hang onto it for as long as I can.

But...that time of joy. The heat dissipating, the changing colors, things and people in a flurry preparing for a winter which lies ahead. That all is a cause of joy. And, the birds that fly overhead in search of a warmer winter, the butterflies that take a long sip of nectar from flowers now in their passing days. It seems to be a time of preparation and also a time for reflection. I gather my 'nuggets' and store them away. those nuts of happy memories so that I might drag them out and live them again on a cold snowy day. 

Each day is filled with new discoveries and yesterday I witnessed something I had not seen on my balcony before. A Cloudless Sulphur butterfly happily sipping nectar from the last of the lantana blossoms. I got so close and watched it in awe. That memory was one of those nuggets that I definitely will pull out when I am wrapped in a warm blanket watching the winter encase us all. 

Some Missions Accomplished

 I finally found my storage box with my Fall decorations in it!! 

I don't have much. It doesn't take much these days to keep me happy. I don't need every inch of my apartment cluttered with stuff... anyway, I did a couple things. 

This is my table decoration. Yes, I know .... it's not time for the pilgrims yet but she is holding a pumpkin so I guess that counts, right? 

I made this little fall arrangement and set it atop my jewelry cabinet

There's a couple of things sitting here and there but I didn't take pictures of them. 

And, on to other stuff

I stayed awake a lot last night. I am not like most authors who plan out their books, have a notebook filled with ideas of how it will go, know the plot from beginning to end. Most of my chapters are thought out in the middle of the night, one by one. I let my inner voice take me on this writing journey. 

Well, last night I started thinking about the next chapter and hours later I had every chapter written in my head . 

I like the direction it is taking and I am quite excited to move along and get it done. But, I am not telling... not one hint. Sorry, you'll have to wait 'til it's published. 

We got little effects from the Hurricane whatever his name was that hit the coast. By the time it got to us it was just rain and not a great deal of that either. Sure feel for those closer to the coast, though. My son in north alabama wasn't hit bad either. 

I made some new snacks for my football watching on Saturday. It was Pepper Jelly Pinwheels. 

The tortillas worked fine and BTW I used 2 instead of one and it worked great. But, I wonder how they would be using crescent rolls instead of the tortillas. 

Guess that's all for this Monday Morning. Hope you have a wonderful week. 

'Tis Apple Picking Time

 Recently I was bemoaning the fact that I felt a need to perk my blog up a bit. So, I have decided to make Favorite Friday Fotos. Today happens to be Friday so I am off and running with my new idea. I wonder how long this one will last. I do tend to try new things way too much. At least, that's what my daughter says. 

                      This is my favorite photo of that day!

In October 2011, after my husband had passed away in January of that year me, Shirley, her hubby John, her daughter Brittany and Brittany's little one, Dylan drove over to the Charlottesville area of Virginia to explore Carter's Mountain. 

It was a great trip but I was so sad at the number of apples that had fallen off the trees and were just lying there rotting. I wanted to pick them up (bees and all) and bring them home to save what I could.

 They have yummy apple cider doughnuts!! 

and tons of apples to buy

And, the wee one had fun discovering his first patch of pumpkins. 

Memories Remembered

 Lovely weather!! Cool, sunny and I could live in this kind of weather forever!! 

Yesterday I conducted the second session of a Recalling Your Memories workshop here at the Commons. It's just so darn important to record what happened in your life so that your grandchildren, great-grands and so on will know where they came from and who they have as ancestors. It doesn't matter how... handwritten in a notebook, in a computer file, Recorded with your cellphone.... JUST MAKE SURE YOU DO IT. 

We actually are having fun listening to each other's childhood antics as each one reads their notebook entries. And, believe you me, there's some doozies. 

One read about a plane ride when she was young where the plane's landing gear did not deploy so they did a belly landing and had to scoot down those long slides out of the plane.

Another told of seeing a snake crawl into a hole in her flower garden so she got her husband's pistol and shot several shots into the hole hoping to kill the thing. (that was my story)

Another told of relocating a groundhog out of their yard to have it return and they did it again, same results. Guess it liked their yard. It was coming back long after they sold their house.

And, so on.....

I have a large theme binder full of pages of my and my husband's life from birth to now. I wrote down everything I could and he could remember. Our children will have a ball with that. 

My Shirley came today so we could go to lunch and she noticed some OLD letters lying on my dresser. Had a fit over them and I told her I had a whole stack of letters that me and her Dad exchanged from back in the '40s and 50s. They are all tied with a blue ribbon. She made a suggestion that I should have thought of years ago... they need to be in archival preservation.

So, I just ordered the supplies to do just that. That makes me feel good. I am doing something to preserve our past. If you think I want to be forgotten a year or two after I'm gone forget it!!  I've got proof all over the place of all the things that made me what I am today. The rest is up to those I leave behind! 

New Ideas and Other Stuff

 I wish I had more stuff going on in my life than I do so I could entertain you all with these amazing posts but alas I do not. My life right now is consumed by writing and that book is getting interesting!! I am over half-way finished and I am about to add this big mystery to the mix. So, yes, I am super focused on all that right now. Sorry.... 

We did have a cookout last night which was fun. But, no pictures! I didn't feel all that swift and I just didn't get up and mingle that much but the table where I was sitting was a barrel of fun. We laughed and laughed and that felt so good. And, afterward I 'snuck' me an extra hotdog up to my apartment so I could have it during my football game today!! Yep, it's Saturday and Alabama is up against Mississippi State. Lordy, that ought to be a fantastic game. 

Shirley brought down cupcakes to the cookout, German Chocolate and Brownie Carmel... She knows I love the German Chocolate so she had 4 cupcakes in a container. Some of that will Football treats as well.

I do read a lot but if the book isn't all that spectacular I don't' remember much about it later on. Some books just grab you though. I like Charles Martin's writing and Kristin Hannah. Alan Levy is my new favorite. Oh, my gosh, I loved "Theo of Golden" as did nearly everyone who has read it. And, of all things I am now obsessed with Harlen Coben. He's got tons of his mystery books on Netflix. Who are your favorite authors?

I think that maybe I should set up one day a week for a 'speciality' post (the same theme) so that might make me have something interesting to say. What you think? 

1. What's you favorite item (say five or six photos of same theme) and you pick your favorite

2. My favorite photo day

3. Four or Five Flowers 

4. Favorite places I have been

aw, come on... help me out here. What you think? 

Y'all have a fabulous day. And, if you root for a special college football team I hope your team wins!! 

A Nor'easter Week

Fall is here. Can you  believe it? 

It decided to turn cool. This Nor'easter is making my ears and nose cold. I am NOT going to turn my heat on but you can bet I am going to put my feet on the heating pad while I watch my Saturday college football. Roll Tide!! 

My week has been interesting. I am less willing to drive in the rain now at this age than ever. I don't even want to do it in a drizzle. Wednesday I had a dental appointment and guess what... it was drizzling!! I told myself I was brave and I must have believed myself 'cause I took off in that yucky mess and made it fine. Glad that trip was successful! 

Friday was a pretty day. Thank God for sunshine!! My car needed it's yearly inspection and I had an eight o'clock appointment to get it done. I mean, I don't usually get up 'til 8 but once again, I told myself I could do it and I did. Another successful trip. I'm getting pretty good at this!! 

I may pull out my Fall decorations tomorrow and make this place look more seasonal. I don't do much.. there's no storage for a lot of stuff and I just don't have the energy to be lifting and tugging at boxes that hold things I really don't need. We'll see how that goes. 

I spent two days going through some old keepsakes I have stored in totes under my bed. I told you storage was in short supply around here! What memories all of that drug up along with a ton of dust and used tissues I had blown my nose on and somehow they had hidden under my bed. I got rid of that mess and then cleaned up and neatly arranged my keepsakes back to await another day when I want a little trip down memory lane. 

I'll share a couple of my keepsakes that I am so proud of... 

This is my grandfather's school book. He signed the inside of it with his name and date... 1886. 

Another one that I treasure: a V-Mail sent to me during WWII from a friend who was serving in Italy. I was 10 years old at the time so this letter is 82 years old now.  

The envelope that it came in.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend. And, if you are rooting for a college football team I hope your team wins!!

Blessings and Tribulations

 Good Morning all you fine and fancy bloggers out there. It is a good morning anytime you wake up and can still move around, live your life, be happy. Don't you think!!

I've been sort of discombobulated lately. Seems if I get thrown off my routine I struggle to accomplish anything... for days!! I gotta fix that, there's no time to waste being discombobulated. Don't you just love that word! 

I have to tell you that my 'neighbor' who called the cops on me the other day waited a few days after she'd sent the cops on my trail for making noise, she goes to the office and gleefully tells them that SHE is the one who set me straight 'cause she hadn't heard a peep out of me since that policeman told me to behave myself. Guess what, girly, I've not changed a thing I have ever done and I just can't wait until my housekeeper gets here next week and starts doing her thing up here. Do I sound vindictive? Maybe, a tad. I am just so tired of all this mess.

I started a workshop here at Centerbrooke. I am sooooo into preserving our history (family history mostly) so I invited anyone to participate in writing down their memories in a notebook so that their grandchildren will have a sense of who their grandparents are. There were about 8 of us. They were so into telling their memories as they recalled them, of sharing and talking and having fun. And, guess what, I did not take one single picture!! What was I THINKING!!

My son-in-law came yesterday to accompany me to the eye dr. I can't see a blooming thing once my eyes are dilated!! And it takes me forever to get over it. My appointment was at 11... when I went to bed last night I noticed that my irises were still not back to normal but they are fine this morning. I have the best son-in-law. Besides being my DD (designed driver) he also fixed my dead mouse. But it wasn't my mouse at all but my computer had a glitch. He's such a wizard!! I'm so blessed! 

So... I guess I will get busy and catch up on all those chores that I neglected when I was discombobulated. Love that word!! I'll see you again soon. 

Knock, Knock Who's There?

I promised you another story about Susan's visit with me!

We had been to lunch with Shirley and came back to the apartment to yak awhile. After Shirley left Susan got out her watercolors and, sitting in the floor, began to paint. I picked up a scrapbook to look at. 

KNOCK, KNOCK

Susan went to the door and opened it. A policeman was standing there. 

Seems that the lady downstairs had called the cops because we were making too much noise!

So, he went down to her place to check her out. Came back up and told us that she had told him I was always making a lot of noise and that my grandson visited regularly and made a lot of noise.  

Guess what!

He has not been to visit me but one time!!

You see, this lady has been complaining about me for the three years since she moved in. 

 she is regularly calling the office complaining about all the noise I make. (I even don't wear shoes in my place so I don't make noise walking)

I've lived here 12 years and have had several people living under me. This is the first one that ever said I was noisy. One even told me she enjoyed living beneath me 'cause I was so quiet. 

Then the banging started and went on for over a year. I really thought it was coming from over me but the policeman said it was her. She'd been banging on her ceiling with a broom handle to annoy me, I guess. To me it sounded like someone hammering down a carpet. And, it happened one night at midnight that woke me up out of a sound sleep. ( I must have been snoring really loudly)

That policeman couldn't have been nicer. He said that the minute Susan opened the door he saw that we were not at fault and told me to live my life and enjoy it. I could have hugged his neck!! 

I guess this whoever she is has never lived in an apartment before and thinks she's not going to hear anything or anyone. Shirley said she'd pay me $5 to drop an iron skillet on the floor and we were laughing about it. it's just so ridiculous. 

Yep, folks I am up here having a party every day! Gee Whiz.  I'm 92 for gosh sakes. I couldn't kick up my heels if I had to. 

We've had some laughs out of it. And, the cop said if she banged on my floor again that I was to call the cops on her!! So There! 

This Southern expression is for my 'nice' neighbor!

 

Susan's Visit

 Susan left this morning.....

So sad to see her go but we had a fabulous visit, so relaxed, filled with laughter, talk, painting, good food and such a loving, sweet time. 

On Tuesday Shirley came down. Susan said she'd like to go to Cracker Barrel. It had been years since she was in one so that's what we did. That was a fun outing. 

Shirley joined us once again for lunch on Wednesday. (We ate out a lot!!)  We hit First Watch and enjoyed that a bunch. We always have a great time when the three of us get together. 

Susan and I spent some quality time just talking.... about everything. She has recently taken up watercolor painting. She had brought her supplies down (just like Mama didn't have any!) and she sat in the middle of my living room floor and painted and painted. 

We went through the scrapbook that I'd made of her, her dad and my trip to Europe back in 1991. What memories that dredged up. I gave her the scrapbook to take home but not before I made a snapshot of each and every page of that thing. I may want to look at them again sometime. Here's one of the pages I took a picture of. 

I just hated to see the visit end... 

P.S. come back again soon. There's an interesting story I have to tell you of something had happened during her visit. You'll love it. 

A Visitor and Lilies

 What a lazy Sunday... the air was cooler, the sunshine bright but not unpleasant and the world just looked gorgeous out my balcony doors. Then the telephone rang... it was my daughter Susan. She's the one who lives in New York. I saw her at her son's wedding in Georgia back the first part of May and now, she tells me she will be at my apartment tomorrow for a few days visit. What a wonderful surprise. I love surprises like that! I can't wait to see her. 

I got another surprise a few days ago.. daughter Shirley brought me a bouquet of white ginger lilies and some little reddish blossom she called a bat's face. The small flower does look like a bat's face so go figure! Those lilies are so aromatic. I just sat there in my recliner taking all that wonderful fragrance. The plants came from my aunts garden back in Alabama when she was still alive. And, she's been dead since 1981, so that cutting has been thriving, blooming and multiplying for 45 years in my daughter's yard. Amazing!!

So, I'll go for now, make sure everything is ready for my visitor tomorrow. Good times ahead!! 

Oh, by the way, I got this picture of that bat-faced cuphea flower off of the internet just to show you what it looks like.  Weird, isn't it!! 

A Bit of This, A Tad of That

 The start of a new month. 

Boy, they are flying by now. Just wish time would slow down so I could catch up!! 

I've not been doing a blooming thing interesting lately. Oh, I did go to Sam's Club today and shopped. I haven't been in a grocery store in ages so I just had myself a blast wandering around. I bought a cantaloupe, some plums and a bag of lemons and a package of already cooked chicken legs and thighs. Had one of those legs for supper tonight. 

I freeze my lemons so when I get a chance to buy a batch of them, I do. I freeze the juice or I slice them and freeze the slices. It's just amazing what all you can freeze! 

While I was writing one day I had a chapter where my main characters attend a football game. I've watched a lot of football over the years (Roll Tide) but there are still plays and terms that I don't understand. 

Anyway, my grandson, Griffin, played on the Rutgers football team during his college years so I called him for some help. He gave me some valuable pointers and promised he'd fill me in on what really happens during halftime in the locker room. That ought to be interesting. But, I did warn him that my book was based in the late '40s so really bad language wouldn't have been used back then. 

My basil is looking mighty peaked. Leaves turning yellow and dropping off. Does basil die off after a productive season or am I just not taking good care of it? 

I'll go for now and crawl in bed and read 'til I fall asleep. Tomorrow is another day! 

Friendship

 I just want to take a moment and express to you how much your friendship means to me and has meant over the years. 

You've been there for me time after time and I appreciate your love and care more than you know. 

I wish I could just invite you all to my apartment and we'd all just sit around and drink (whatever it is you like to drink) and talk and talk 'til the night falls and then the sun comes up. But, I don't think you all would fit in my apartment and that's a bummer. 

Having that many friends is such a blessing! 

Life is so short...

Live it filled with gladness and graditude.. I am glad that I have you and I am grateful for each of you.

Oh.... and then there's this...

He he!! 

What a week!

 That book is eating me alive. No, not really but it surely does eat up a lot of my time and thought. I'll be so glad when it's finished and published but I am just now getting to the good part. So, it's type, edit, type, erase, put new stuff in, take stuff out, type some more. I tell you, it's a job. 

The workers finally finished putting down the new sidewalk so that awful racket stopped. It really looks nice. So, it was worth it. 

I got in the dumps last week, didn't want to do a thing, was more unsteady on my feet and believe you me, that's not good. I am scared to death of falling but I didn't thank goodness. I had night leg cramps and then diarrhea. Gee, guess that was too much info. But, I then remembered that I had not been taking in much fluid so I most likely was dehydrated. My sweet granddaughter shipped me some electrolite powder to make sure I am well taken care of. It's better than gatorade. 

My youngest grandson, Tighe, is starting his freshman year at Indianna University this week. The family helped him settle in. Mama's sure gonna miss him. They are so close and he's such a great kid. 

I did take some time out one day to do a line and wash watercolor. I just don't have the time I'd like to be able to paint. I don't ordinarily do line and wash but I do enjoy it when the notion strikes me. 

Too Many Willies

 Have you ever said 'I got the willies over that.'  Willies being something that causes goosebumps, is eerie or disturbing. 

Imagine have the name Willie. My full name is Willie Latane Barton. 

Yep, and to top it all off when I was younger than a grasshopper I started dating a handsome young dude. His name was Willie Elbert Barton. 

Two Willies should have been enough but WAIT.... there's more.

I was named for my father who was killed by lightning when Mom was 5 months pregnant with me. Everyone called him Willie. So, I was named for him, William Albert Alexander . 

And, my husband (that good looking dude I found early in life) ... his Dad was named Willie Armstrong Barton. 

So, now we are up to four Willies. 

One more to go... Elbert's grandmother's name was Willie Dee O'Rear. 

Guess what we named our children: Linda Marie, Steven Elbert, Shirley Ann, Michael Alan and Susan Renee. 

             There will be no more Willies in this family!! 

What a Racket!

                           Talk about NOISE!! 

We've had plenty of it this week around Centerbrooke. I'm three floors up and still the jack-hammer was ear-splitting!! Yesterday I was reduced to just piling up in my bed and watching tv (with my door closed, of course). That cut most of the racket out. Today more of the same. 

Why they are tearing up a perfectly good sidewalk is beyond me. I am sure they have their reasons but they didn't share them with the residents. This photo I took yesterday around 10 a.m. 

Same place, same time today

I'm all for progress... however, it would be nice to know what progress they are trying to achieve!!

Scary Times

                                               This is my daughter Shirley                                     

         She's my sidekick and my "partner in crime"

She's had such a rough time of it lately. I was worried about her. She fell some time ago and ended up with bursitis in her leg so she has been having to have steroid shots in that leg ever so often. 

So, she went in for a shot just over a month ago and the next day there was a knot just below the shot site so she called the dr and they told her that it was a hematoma, that likely the PA who had administered the shot, likely nicked a vein. That the blood would be absorbed back in to her body.... but it would take some time. 

The knot got bigger. She was a lot of pain, got to where she was having difficulty walking and could bear no pressure on that area. And, it continued to worsen. Trips to the dr. ... tests done... etc, etc, etc and all the while she is getting worse and worse.

Well, to make a long story short.. 

Her dr. sent her to a large hospital in a nearby city to have that 'hematoma' drained on Friday. It was not  a hematoma!! It was an infection that had grown to the size of my hand on her upper thigh. In all likelihood caused by a compromised needle or medicine (steroid) that was used. 

Thank God,  she is already much better and is now able to do some chores around the house. 

It is scary that someone who is supposed to make you well can cause such painful results because of negligence but it happens. My son and I thinks she ought to sue but she's not sure. She's not a 'sueing' type of person. We'll see.