Almost Heaven....

Almost Heaven West Virginia...

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River....
Life is old there, older than the trees....

Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze....

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong....

West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads....

All my memories gather round her...

Miner's lady, stranger to blue water...

Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye....

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong....

West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads.....

I hear her voice, in the morning hours she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away....

And drivin' down the road, I get a feelin'
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday....

Country roads, take me home....

To the place I belong....

West Virginia, mountain momma....

Take me home, country roads....

Love

This morning after Steve left for work, I had to pack a suitcase and head to an out-of-town conference. While I was packing, I saw the cutest thing.....A note he had written to himself in his own messy handwriting...

It was apparently a list of reminders to himself. At the bottom of the list he wrote, "egg salad" so he wouldn't forget what to eat for supper! I had told him several things to remember to do in my absence (because you know, there are just certain things that WIVES do and not husbands).... and one of those things I mentioned was that I had made egg salad and put it in the fridge for sandwiches. I thought it was terribly cute that he had to write that down. And it made me feel so very important and needed. So I wrote a little note to him at the bottom... if he sees his list, and if he remembers to eat the egg salad, he'll see my note to him.

I hate to be away from him when I have to travel ... which thankfully, isn't often. Many times we'll arrange it so he can accompany me on my trip. But unfortunately, this time he had to stay home and mow hay. What's that saying... "You gotta make hay when the sun shines."... well the sun is shining, so the love life sometimes gets put on hold.

He keeps bugging me to post certain pictures... and I keep telling him I will post those pictures when I WRITE about that topic.... I try to explain to him that you just don't post random pictures in the blog... but he gets impatient. So for my husband, whom I miss terribly this evening....

A picture of the hay in the barn.....

Often this time of year, the hay is stacked to the rafters and the barn is full. This year, we were able to sell some hay right out of the field... and we still have a field or two to cut... so the barn is not yet full.

And a picture of a group of calves meandering around the hill in the early morning ....

I love you Steve.... you are my other half, and I am incomplete when I am away from you. I'll see you in two days.

A Beautiful Weed?

Queen Anne's Lace...

Some people call these weeds...

They grow wild here, and I think they are simply gorgeous... and since they are snow white, they are perfect for black and white photos. I think later I'll take a walk and pick a bouquet of wildflowers.... I'll keep you posted!

Come on in......

Welcome to our humble abode!...
This is the sign that greats visitors to our front door. It's very special because it was handmade by my younger son, Alec, at 4H camp last year. I LOVE it!

I don't really have a decorating style... not one that you would put a name to or find in a country magazine. But it is MY style, and I love it. It's primitive, warm, cozy, peaceful, relaxing, country, family.... it's home.

When you walk in, you are greeted with a mix of antique and just plain old... in other words, some of the decor is not old enough to be antique, but just OLD. My husband's mother collected mirrors and picture frames... this mirror was part of her collection, and it now hangs in our entry-way. The urn came from my kids' great-grandmother's farmhouse (you could say my "ex-grandmother-in-law"... but it sounds better the other way, I think).

The display I put together on the staircase landing... (another urn from the ex-grandmother-in-law's house... by the way, even though I divorced her grand-son many years ago, I loved her. She passed a few years back, and I'm thankful to have these urns.)

A beautiful old quilt we found in Steve's mom's antique trunk.... it now graces our stairway.

Another of my attempts-to-be-tastefully-primitive displays...

And nothing really tasteful about this... plaid on plaid. Hmmmmmm....

The wood stove has always been one of my favorite things in the house. In the winter, it is our only heat source. In the summer, it gets to display some of my painted primitive boxes.

This is my mis-matched hodgepodge corner, which I love. The old lamp is another treasure from Steve's family. The chair was discovered in an uncle's home after his death... it was actually hand-painted by another aunt-by-marriage. Notice the table covering? It was my very own baby quilt.. made by my aunt when I was born 41 years ago!

The silhouette image is of my older son, Kyle -- now 18 -- this was made when he graduated from preschool. What a treasure! And the basket? It's special too .. made with love from a friend and fellow teacher, Jo.

What's that mess in the window? I told you I didn't have a decorating theme! It's not country, not primitive, and doesn't fit in with the rest of the decor... but they are beach treasures... from a vacation with my husband on a clear, cool November day before we were married. How could I not display these?

There's probably some rule against this in a decorating how-to book... I'm sure you're not supposed to display pine cones and sea shells within so many feet of each other?

Basket collection...

And more baskets! I love the basket tree in the corner. But talk about organized clutter!.. it almost hurts your eyes, huh?

The kitchen.
The china cabinets behind the table contain a mix of old and new... but again, all treasures in some way.

My oldest and favorite is this pitcher.... it belonged to my grandmother (mom's mother) who is pictured here. And before that it belonged to my grandmother's mother... priceless.

I have to wrap up my tour with a shot of my younger son, Alec... on the couch with his iphone.

That's a peak into my house, my life. We don't have anything expensive... but it's all priceless. Decorate with what you love... display your treasures, and it will be beautiful.

Maybe All is NOT Lost.....

Guess what I saw?

Some of the pumpkins are starting to vine! See the little "Curly Q"....

We are still battling bugs... daily. We go out and squash them, trap them, spray them, hypnotize them... well, we don't really hypnotize them, but we would if we could! We have tried to do some repair work around each hill... as the squash bugs have tried their best to destroy the root system. They destroy the roots and somehow keep the pumpkins from thriving, and often even killing them.

Like this... We have some poor plants that still look like this one. No hope.

But we have several that are trying their best to come out of it. Like this one. Notice the smaller curled leaves on the left? That is evidence of damage. But you can definitely see evidence of growth. This one maybe has a chance at bearing pumpkins for us.

And we have some that really do look healthy.

These plants with the speckled leaves are supposed to bear mammoth pumpkins. We only planted a few of these, but they are doing quite well.

Here is a shot of a portion of our pumpkin patch.

Compare it to last year....
June 20, 2010

They were even blooming last year at this time.

We've planted nearly TWICE the pumpkin seeds as last year, but at this point we would be happy with HALF the yield. But hopefully all is not lost.

Beauty in the Midst of the Storm

It seems that every day we get rain. The days are warm and muggy, and the humidity always seems to bring a shower.

Oftentimes, the rain will be accompanied by a fast-moving, hard-hitting summer storm. The sky will get dark over the barn, a refreshing wind will move through the trees, and deep rumbles of thunder can be heard in the background.

The late evening storms always paint the sky with an amazing array of colors.

These pictures were taken yesterday evening....

And I am reminded to be thankful.... Thank you God that we can find your beauty even in the midst of the storm.

Ellie Mae

This is Ellie Mae! We got her about two months ago, and I've posted a couple random pictures, but I've never officially introduced her.

She is a mammoth donkey, and I don't really know what that means exactly... but she IS quite large, so maybe that's all it means.

We don't really know what she is good for yet... but she's gotta be good for something. We've heard (and read on the internet) that donkeys are good to run with cattle to protect them from coyotes. Well, maybe so... but our Ellie Mae doesn't particularly like cattle. She is kind of a loner.

She runs free in the pasture, happily munching all the grass she wants. Then often she'll mosey down to the barn lot of the evenings to beg a handful of grain or sweet feed.

We thought it would be kind of fun for kids to be able to pet her when they come to pick out pumpkins in the fall. Here she is with my nieces.

I love the fact that she smells like a horse (don't horses have the most unique smell ever?), she has large soft ears, and droopy eyes.

She's only four years old. Donkeys have a very long lifespan of about 50 years, so I hope in time she comes in handy for something!