Scenes from Lake Woe-beGone

Hello friends,

Paul and I are very fortunate to share some "hobbies". We love Christmas celebrations and all that entails and we love to camp and travel, we love NYC and we love our family and we love the Lord! (not necessairily in that order.....) Camping for us has become a bit of an obcession....as in, let's have the coolest set-up in the entire park! Not really, but we do enjoy all the creature comforts that we can haul out here....and do we haul! Since we are tenting it, there are alot of extras we manage to bring....porta-john (a must), 2 room bath house, very large screen room with neat stuff(video coming soon....) cabin tent, lots of astro-turf carpet, and on and on....we work very hard to get set up, and you may ask yourself why?

#1 because we still can!!!

#2 because we really enjoy it

#3 because we can't afford a camper just yet

#4 because we don't want to just sit at home, this lake is soooo close and sooo lovely, well....we really can relax out here.

#5 because Paul would like to catch a fish he can gut, skin and bring to me to cook!

So, here are a couple of videos of Paul launching the canoe.....enjoy Oh, by the way, Blogger took forever to upload these very short videos....think I will try another venu next time around, but hope you get a kick out of seeing Paul in action!

Mr. Capote does not have a corner on memories

The summer I turned 8 my mom married Jonfre Airington. We kids got to move into what we have always called it, "The Green House" It was not green....but it did have a couple of actual glass greenhouses, one free standing and one attached to the side of the ancient...at least 80 years old back then in the mid 50s farmhouse -style house complete with a huge front porch and one bathroom...upstairs (another in the dark and a bit scarry basement). That dear old house is the home of my childhood and the holder of so many sweet memories that my heart aches at the thoughts of all the laughter, tears, fears and joys of those Elmwood days. We lived just one block from our elementary school, Milton Moore, and could walk home for lunch, which we did many days! Those greenhouses became our new grandmother, Beulah's business...EASTSIDE GARDENS.

We grew geraniums, petunias, salvia, tomatoes, and many more annuals along with a yard-full of wonderful perenials which we would dig out using a sharp-shooter shovel and wrap in newspaper and sell for whatever Beulah decided to price it. Pansies in the spring, petunias in the summer and lots of weeding inbetween. Now, I say, "we" grew, but the heart of EASTSIDE Gardens was Beulah and she knew everything there was to know about plants, soil, literature, history and people! The older I grow, the more I am aware of just what a treasure she was in my life. Oh, I wish you could have known her!

So, I have a love of plants and gardening that has a foundation deep in Missouri soil. I still dislike weeding tho, but it is a necessary evil. I was not a hard worker so don't get the idea I just loved working in the greenhouse, I didn't....but...here's the interesting thing, upon reflection, working in the garden was not so bad, in fact, I am so thankful for having the experiences I shared with my sister and brother and friends and family there
at the green house.

These photos are of our home and yard. I put this other window box together to hang in front of our dining room bay window. It already looks so pretty, just love the colors. We planted 3 knockout double roses in front of the bay to take the place of two very old and gnarley (is that how you spell it???) hedges that were super ugly and no color at all. The knockouts should bring lots of color to that part of the house....2 pink and one yellow in the middle! It will take about a year for them to really show, but I am patient, since we have decided to stay....I have plenty of time to wait and watch and smell the roses!

Happy Mothers Day...Mom, Grandma, Beulah, Grandma Graybeal....

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cathy

Ah April

Hello friends, I love this time of year because everything in the yard is looking so great. Little or no weeds, no bugs, lots of rain so everything is green and lots of beautiful color. I took an idea from a local nursery and lined most of my flower boxes with burlap! love the look and it really is quite practicle and a whole lot cheaper than those other liners. Below is my kitchen herb box. I planted from left to right: cilantro, a basil that died because of a surprise frost so is not there now, but will be replaced, a rosemary and a creeping thyme.... Here's a windowbox in front of our great room window. It has cool weather plants right now and will definately be replanted by the end of May as it gets full sun and with the window behind it is very very hot there....but for now, oh my, love the look, don't you?

Here's a close up shot. Stock, riniculas and can't think of the name of the blue flowers on the ends or the chartreuse plant in the front....those will both stay as they are good in hot weather!

Well, it was a cloudy day today and so my shot of the lilac bushes did not turn out well, but you know, they say lilacs won't grow in the Carolinas..but ours did! they are just gorgeous and that is a wonderful little dogwood growing in front!

If you click on the above photo you will be able to see the lilacs a lot better!

Here's my master gardner! Paul is such a wonderful co-worker. He is the muscle in our team! We have owned our home for 23 years and are the only owners so everything in our yard was planted by us (expect for a couple of wonderful "volunteers" planted by God with the help of some little birds) It is so satisfying to live somewhere long enough to see the fruit of your labor and to enjoy it so much. We are content on Arrowhead Way.

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cathy

Catching up part 2: NEW FRIDGE!

Hello friends, Well, I tried to re do these photos, but no luck....so, here, in the wrong order are photos of our new refrigerator! I wanted an ice maker...so here it is! Here's a shot of both doors open! LOVE IT

Here's a photo of one of the features that sold me on the LG...the base pulls out so you can fit a pitcher or the coffee maker's pot on it and fill it right under the tap for the filtered water! It is sooooooo cool! Here's the sweet fridge. We are very happy

Now, we have plans to get a new microwave and paint the kitchen cabinets and then get some new counter tops. All on the agenda.....oh, and sometime we will be getting the washer and dryer, gotta bit more saving to do.

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cathy

Catching up part 1: The Sale

Hello friends, So, this is what my great room looked like the first morning of the big Tea Pot/Tea Cup sale about a month ago. I had gotten very serious about weeding out my tea accoutremont. Many items were very difficult to part with, but I knew I had to be strong and determined! I also decided that my first goal was good homes for all this great stuff, so to that end, I had two options for pricing. #1. buy a grocery bag for $10 and fill it full with items from select tables and #2 Tea Pots were either $10 for large or $4 for small and all bone china tea cups and saucers were $10. That was it.

A view of the bone china tea cups...there were 30! I sold all but 3 hooray!!!

The tea pots, can you believe it???

Day two...still plenty to choose......Day one was huge, lots of traffic and full bags! When it was over, I was left with 2 boxes for Goodwill....that was it! I was thrilled and I think everyone who came felt they had gotten some nice items for good prices. I still have plenty of tea cups in my collection....about 100.

So, we have spent a whole year de-cluttering, intentory-ing, packing up, hauling to storage...then hauling back 10 boxes at a time to once again decide what to keep and what to dispose of to the tune of 18 boxes full for the big sale! I have touched all this stuff way too many times, I must be honest here....I am glad it is gone. We have shed literally a ton!!! My criteria for this process: Keep only what we will use. that is it. Now, remember, simplifing is a process. I know I am not really done, but, I am on the right track and heading in the right direction. Spring is here, summer is not far behind, camping is fast forward, yea!

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cathy

Oscars....weather

Hello friends,
Seems to me all the buzz is either the Oscars or the awful or wonderful (depending on where you are at the moment) weather....I actually think this is a good thing, because, well, we could be talking the huge national debt, or say....instability in the mid-east...or perhaps threats from North Korea???? And that's just a start! What is going on? I am ready for some peace and civility. Doubt we will have that any time soon tho. Is it just me, or does the world seem a lot scarier? There are still good folks everywhere, but seems like the bad guys are center stage. What can good people do? Well. for now,we must be diligent in observing the world situation. Then, perhaps, we might have to stand up and speak up on an issue that burdens our heart. We might have to put our money where our mouth is and invest in a cause....We cannot be complacent, we must be passionate. Will refuse to be controlled by the media, we will thoughtfully and thoroughly research the issues and make intelligent and independent decisions based on our very own observations and opinions. We will remember the heroes of the past and what made them such icons. And I, for one, will pray.
Search yourself and discover your core values. Those values or principles you will not compromise ---ever. This is very important. Find some, take a stand, be a hero!
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cathy

Tea and Chocolate with EVA

Hello Friends,

because I used to work at the Eva Perry Regional Library I still have friends working there and they remember me (fortunately) and I love them all so it is always a treat to go back and be with them again like the "old days"...kinda. Some of the old team are retired, some at other libraries, some, like me, went on to a new career (tea entrepeneaur, that's me)...but it is always good to go back and see those sweet faces, hug their necks and catch up a bit on what's happening. So, when I got an invitation to do a tea themed program I was thrilled. This Valentine's Day I spent at Eva doing a Tea and Chocolate Pairing event. All went very well, lots of help setting up, serving and cleaning up. We had a full house and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves and of course, I love to talk.....great fun! The table where I steeped the teas

Some of the audience

Me, the tea expert!

Photos compliments of T Witherspoon

I learned alot preparing for this event and also enjoyed tasting the new teas, all of which, by the way, were delicious. Temple of Heaven Gunpowder Green, a Sumatra oolong and a very good Golden Yunnan. Lots of savvy tea drinkers in our area and all very enthusiastic, so we had good questions and everyone drank their tea....all of it....every bit, so I know they enjoyed themselves and that is such a good sign that the tea drinkers are becoming much more sophisticated! good news for the tea industry!!

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cathy