Cloudy Days, Cooler Temps & Flowers Still Blooming

So far we have had a mild fall with very warm temperatures and lots of rain. It has sure made the garden flowers last a lot longer than normal.

beautiful pink camilla

pink and white camillas in full bloom

the white is hidden among the pink blooms

moss roses still blooming in the birdbath planter

moss under the pine tree

cloudy days in the garden looking towards the church

the trees are so pretty this year changing colors

trumpet vine already going dormat

first poinsettia of the season - time to start getting ready for Christmas

Sandy

White Wednesday at Jennifer's House

We thought Sunday afternoon was going to be another beautiful sunny day so we planned on painting at Jennifer's so her house would be ready for winter since Mom finished the painting on our house and we had left over paint. We did get it painted but never did see the sun come out - nothing like a cool cloudy day to make one's paint brush move faster and faster.

front steps ready for painting

corner of front porch, scraped - sanded and ready for new white paint

finished and ready for winter

her lions standing guard on her newly painted front porch

Visit Kathleen at Faded Charm for more wonderful White Wednesday blogs.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sandy

Jennifer's Hydrangeas & Leland Cypress Trees

Mom and I have transplanted some of our hydrangeas to Jennifer's house over the past 5 years. The first one we transplanted has been a beauty, full of blooms each year and getting bigger and bigger.

A baby from when I pruned the big bush last year and stuck in the ground on both ends of her house by the driveway - this is 1 year old. I have 3 bought ones in between our babies.

One of the bought ones I picked up 2 years ago at K-Mart on clearance - they turn bronze much faster than our old varieties and this one bloomed this year. The other 2 have not bloomed yet.

Jennifer's big bush after I pruned it last week - it fills the entire corner and spills over onto her walk way going to the back door.

dried blooms from my pruning - they are so beautiful

baby leland cypress tree I planted last month - 3 in all

Leland cypress trees I planted last year - we are trying to cover up the neighbors animal shed - hopefully in another couple of years we won't be able to see it any more as fast as these trees are growing.

Sandy

Gorgeous Sunday

This past Sunday was such a beautiful day, it was sunny and in the low 70s. Mom was out of town so I arrived at Jennifer's at 7:30 am and worked on her loveseat and drainage ditch next to her driveway. Actually got both done and had time to get most of the paint scrapped on the front porch so we are ready to paint the next warm day we get.

poor chair before

I had been planning to restain this chair the past couple of years

beautiful chair now

amazing what a couple coats of stain will accomplish

drainage ditch before

This ditch runs close to her driveway and to our horror a couple of years ago we found out it does spill over into the driveway and washes her gravel away if it is not kept cleaned out and now that we have flowers planted it sure makes a mess with them. So every spring and fall I clean out any debris that has accumulated.

swept the dirt and all is well

Mom thought it was clean enough to eat on

11 bags later and I am through

By 3:00 I was ready to call it quits and sent Jennifer a text message to bring me a burger from Arbys and a cherry turnover home for lunch. She did even better -- she brought Olive Garden take out -- manicotti and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Is she a perfect daughter or what and she didn't even know I was working at her house all day. It was so delicious. I ate and called it a day.

On Monday I trimmed 2 bushes on either side of the front porch and finished scrapping the paint. Mom arrived in time to help me bag up the debris and then we even managed to get the bags hauled off before the rain started.

Now if we can just get a decent enough day to get the front porch painted and her house will be ready for winter.

Sandy

Cross Stitch Quilt Blocks

Finishes

DC Comics Super Heroes Close-Ups

The Atom

Garfield...A Real Sport

Football

A couple more blocks for lap quilts for children at Hatch's House, the Pediatric Cancer Center in Chattanooga, TN. This is coordinated for volunteers through Lavender Lime Quilting.

Sandy

Books, Books, & More Books

There is nothing better than having time to sit and read a book. I enjoy reading more than any other hobby and would sit and read all day long if I could. I have 11 feet of oak bookcases, 6 feet tall in my bedroom and love every foot of them. I make time to read every night since I try to cross stitch while watching TV.

part of small wall of bookcases

Julie Garwood & Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick are 2 of my favorite authors

we are fortunate to have 3 different Border stores in our area

part of the longer wall of bookcases

another favorite author - Suzanne Brockman

half priced book store -- can't get much better than that

they even have fairly recent bestsellers at times

Catherine Coulter -- another favorite is her FBI series

we have 2 very close Books A Million stores in our area

only 10 minutes to one of them

books, books, and more books everywhere you look

Sandy

White Wednesday

This Wednesday I have some black and some white. I'm showing a few of my swans I have collected over the years along with 2 cross stitch pictures my daughter stitched for me in Christmas' past.

1st picture she cross stitched for me was this gorgeous black swan

she still lived at home at the time and managed to keep it a complete secret

black swan figurine I found at the Royal Dutch

my 2nd second cross stitched picture from Jennifer, these beautiful white swans

she had her home by this time so I didn't know anything about them either

white swan figurines

beautiful white swan figurine Jennifer gave me for Christmas one year

Thanks to Kathleen at Faded Charm for hosting White Wednesdays and check out her blog for more wonderful White Wednesday blogs.

Sandy

Shopping Marathon

We had such a perfect day yesterday, temps right at 70 degrees, sunny and very little wind. Would have been a great day for working in the flower garden but we decided a TJ Maxx-Home Goods, Marshalls and Ross shopping marathon was in order. We left home at 10:30 and arrived back at 6:30. It was a wonderful day and we can't wait for another shopping marathon.

first stop was Marshalls and we found time to visit 3 for the day

Ross' just happened to be next door to Marshalls

how convenient is that

partial picture of our loot

we managed to squeeze in 2 JoAnn stores

had to run through Arbys for refueling

nothing beats their cherry turnovers for extra energy

another picture of partial loot we found

love my 2 jeweled handled spreaders I found

we hit 1 huge Home Goods store

and 3 regular TJ Maxx stores

all in all it was a great day and here is a picture of all our bargains -- assorted dishes to match what we already have, a couple of Christmas presents, 2 new rugs for the renovated bathroom/dressing area and 3 gorgeous glass heart ornaments

Sandy

Works In Progress

With the ending of racing season on Nov 21 I'm trying to get organized with my big stitching projects since I should have more time to stitch until we start racing again in March. I have decided to make a start with these 3 from my WIP file drawer that I would like to get finished.

Heritage Sampler by Aury

Acerca del bordado

25 ct Antique White Zweigart Over 1

Recommended HDF Silks, 1 Strand

Elvis

Vervaco Kit from Belgium

18 ct Light Fiddlers Cloth

Recommended DMC Floss, 1 Strand

The Snow Leopard

Dimensions Gold Collection Kit

28 ct Evenweave

Kit Included Threads, 3 Strands

Hopefully at least one of these will get done this winter and I can take something else out of the WIP drawer. Of course, Jennifer would prefer The Snow Leopard being first since it is being stitched for her. haha

Sandy