Wow, What a Storm!

I woke up early this morning not feeling good, so we didn't walk. I missed it!

John took this shot of Jessie sleeping in this morning. She looks so comfy all snuggled up in her little bed!

I somehow missed getting pictures of the necklace Jessie made this weekend. Val let her pick from a bucket of beads and she strung it yesterday and Val took it home to finish putting the clasps on it and brought it in to her this morning. Val is such a sweet person to provide her with things to do!! Guy's metal bistro table and chairs sold this morning, yea for Guy and Sue, they were so happy to get the call saying it was sold!! I got a picture of Jessie at the table, it's a really cool table! Here's some pictures from today.

We had a visit from our favorite customers today, they came to pick up the commission John did for them. We always enjoy visiting with them, and had a great visit!

We took Jessie home, then headed for home. We could see clouds and lightning in the distance and soon drove into a HEAVY rainstorm. We could hardly see where we were going and it was so loud, we couldn't hear each other talk! Wow! It had rained on my garden, and everything looks good.

Another Walk in Paradise

Our little goose family looked so cute marching across the lawn, we only got a few minutes of them walking around before the grounds keepers drove up and scared them and away they raced, into the water. Jessie loved watching them, and I think she was wishing she could swim with them. We also saw a heron land on the far side of the lake, it looked like he was fishing.

Jessie had a great time playing on the lawn today and I got some cute photos of her posing.

No rain today, I thought it was going to, we got clouds and thunder, but it must have gone around us. We were glad because we could grill our steaks tonight. We ran out of fuel, so we ended up broiling them, but they were still so good! I made corn on the cob and a salad to go with and Monna had some of her chocolate pie left for dessert. YUMM!

Jessie watched a movie with Monna this evening and decided she wanted to sleep in the barn, but I think she didn't like it when they told her all the doors would have to be shut and locked, so she moved her chairs out by the trailer under the awning and slept outside. John said he'd give her a dollar if she would sleep outside all night and she earned her dollar! She said the chair was way more comfortable than the sofa in the trailer. The chairs recline to a sleeping position and she used the footstool to add a bit more length. I thought she would freeze out, but she said it was so warm, she didn't have to use all the blankets. I felt better with her sleeping close by, where I could see her out the door.

On the Road Again

We left a bit early for the barn this morning so we could stop and I could take pictures of the old bridge I've been wanting to photograph for a long time. Poor bridge is in bad shape, the middle has all collapsed, but it's still scenic.

Jessie and I went shopping this morning. John sent us to Pinetop Office Supply to get him some scratchboard stuff, then we checked out a scrapbook store looking for a 2" circle punch, then we ran down to WalMart and got a few things, including a cute purse for Jessie to paint.

A lady came into the barn today, carrying what we all thought was a baby. It wasn't until she gave it to Monna to hold that we discovered it was a doll. It was so realistic looking! Jessie fell in love with this little 1 month old boy and wished she could adopt him. He was adorable!

The lawn is mostly in at the Barn! It looks so inviting and cool. They ran out of sod, so are waiting for another order to get here to finish up. It's going to be so nice to have a lawn and it should cool things down. Jessie loved being able to run and play on green grass!

It rained here this afternoon, we got quite a bit of rain and thunder and lightning to go with it. We even lost our electricity for 10 or 15 minutes!

Up A Tree with Jessie

I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned this morning. I went to the dentist John is going to now, I like him. I need a couple things done, a crown and a filling repair, the rest of my teeth are fine, yea! While I was gone John set Jessie up to do a painting. It turned out really cute, she did another abstract, this one for her Mom. I forgot to get a photo, bummer!

Jessie loved sitting out under the locust tree today, she played with her DS and climbed the tree and had a great time. John and I sat out with her to visit. It is a great place to sit, surrounded by leaves and fresh air!

Later, Jessie had fun playing in the water, then she and Pa caught grasshoppers and fed them to the fish.

Raindrops are Falling on my Yard!

We got a nice gentle rain this morning! It was cloudy all day and we had a gorgeous sunset, but I couldn't get a good picture of it. It was a deep beautiful pink.

John and I had arranged to pick up our fascia this afternoon after he got home from work, then go pick up Jessie for the weekend. They called this morning and they still don't have it ready, but they say they have all the pieces now, they just need to bend them and they will make them today and deliver them tomorrow. Since we'd already arranged with Jessie to pick her up, we went to her house when John got home and got her. Here's Jessie sporting Pa's hard hat.

Sunrise, Sunset, Swiftly Fly the Days!

Wow, where is the summer going? It's already almost halfway through July! We had a gorgeous sunrise this morning.

And a nice little rainstorm this afternoon.

Tree Trim or a Butchering?

I've been hearing noise all day and discovered that some tree trimmers are working down our street trimming back the trees that are under the electric wires. I'm wondering if they are going to butcher them like they did the last time? They cut out the middle of the tree way down to the trunk and left the outside uncut. The poor trees looked horrible, all butchered up and they still do, several years later. They would look so much better if they would just cut them back evenly! Sam usually does his own and his are the only ones on the street that have looked good, but he hasn't trimmed them in a while and they got too tall and so his are getting cut right now. Poor trees! Well, they didn't cut out the center like last time, but they didn't trim them so they look good either. They cut them kind of flat on top and left the sticking out parts there.

I got a call from the company that is making the fascia trim for us. She said that they'd been sent the wrong color for part of our order and had to reorder so it might not be finished for us to pick it up on Wednesday. Umm, it was supposedly finished last Wednesday and they said the only reason it wasn't delivered was the other order they were delivering got delayed and when John talked to them on Thursday, they said they could deliver it on Friday, but we were going to be gone so arraigned for this week. So what's up? It should have been cut last week and they would have known about that then. Did they use ours on another job and run short??

Humid Day

It's humid today, I hate humidity! We went on a short walk this morning, we picked a path we haven't taken much and discovered we could go down it until it hit a road, then we walked on the road a bit, and took the path back past the goose pond and got to see the little family grazing again. It was just the three of them today. It's getting hard to tell which one is the baby now, I think it's the one in the middle, its neck is shorter than the other two.

After our walk Monna took John and I, Alan and Vickie and Bea out for breakfast next door at the Country Club Restaurant. It was buffet and so good and I was so stuffed! I am constantly amazed at how much Bea looks like family. She reminds me so much of Aunt Irene!

John is working on a new scratchboard now, it's a baby colt riding in a saddlebag. The colt was born while its Mom was on a ride far from civilization and since it couldn't walk to the trailers, the guys on the ride fashioned a bag for it to ride in.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

We walked on the golf course this morning and found not just our little family of 3 geese, but 3 extras! The little one is getting so big now! I keep calling them ducks, I don't know why, I guess because they just look like ducks to me when they are swimming. We walked for an hour today, not sure how far we went we wandered around on the paths until we came back to the start. It gets confusing to me where we are after winding around and changing directions so many times.

Frank is putting down sod on this side of the barn and they've started trenching for the sprinkler system and the lights. The sod is coming Wednesday, I hope they are ready by then! Looks like there is lots left to do!

We got another gentle rain today. Maybe the monsoons are here. John and I went shopping this evening, we were too tired to venture down to Wal Mart and picked up a few of the most needed items on our list at the Dollar Store, picked up a pizza and went home, ate and watched a movie.

Happy Birthday Monna and Valerie

Monna's birthday was yesterday, so John and I gave her the scratchboard he did for her of her T-Bird. She loved it!

Several of us went out to dinner at the Lotus Garden tonight to celebrate. Val's birthday is Monday, so we invited her too, to celebrate her birthday, but she couldn't come. John and I got sweet and sour pork and it was so good and there was so much of it! We brought home enough to feed us tomorrow night! Yumm!

It rained this afternoon, a nice gentle long rain. Things smell so good!

Rain, Rain, Where Are You?

Got all my errands done today and watered my garden. Plants are looking good! Still no sign of the guys delivering the fascia, so John called him to make sure it didn't get delivered to the wrong house, and they hadn't come over. The clouds look threatening today, but no moisture.

John called this morning to tell me that Ralph Drain passed away this morning. Mom had told me that Ralph and Colleen weren't doing well, so sad to be losing all the old timers in town!

Waiting

I hate waiting for people who never show up! The company that is making the fascia trim for our house was supposed to deliver today, so I planned to do my errands after they showed up, but they never showed up and never called. How rude!

So I puttered around in the garden, put mulch on plants, watered, watched movies and waited. .

Vanished Friend

I went to the museum this morning and visited with Linda and got the email address of Patty's sister and sent her an email. Hard to believe Patty's gone. Here we are in October 2009, our last visit.

The words to a poem I read way back in high school keep coming to my mind today and I am reminded not to put off communicating with old friends!

Around the corner I have a friend

In this great city that has no end;

Yet days go by, and weeks rush on,

And before I know it, a year is gone,
And I never see my old friend’s face,

For life is a swift and terrible race.

He knows I like him just as well

As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine.
We were younger then,

And now we are busy, tired men;

Tired with trying to make a name

Tired with playing a foolish game,
‘Tomorrow,’ I say, ‘I will call on Jim,

Just to show that I’m thinking of him.’

But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,

And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner!— yet miles away ...

‘Here’s a telegram, sir.

Jim died today.’
And that’s what we get and deserve in the end

Around the corner, a vanished friend.

by Charles Hanson Towne (1877-1949)

On a good note, I had a visit from a cousin this afternoon. We had lots of good times together as kids but don't get to see each other very often now.

My grapes are getting big!

Fun Day

John and I met Alan, Vickie and Bea in Greer this morning and had lunch at Molly Butler Lodge. I hadn't eaten there since Mom, Carleen and I ate there on our Girls Day Out a couple years ago. We weren't very impressed with the food then, but what I had today was very good and everyone else said theirs was too. I had a Strawberry Salad with chicken on top. John had a prime philly sandwich. I think they have added more area to the outdoor seating area, I don't remember it looking like it does now. The guys came back home with us and we had such a good visit. Bea reminds me so much of Dad and Aunt Beryl and I told her I was adopting her into the family! She could be their sister, she looks so much like them.

We found that Vickie's Dad worked for Allis Chalmers, so she was happy to see our Allis and sit in the seat. We tried to get her to take her for a drive, but she declined.


On the way home from Greer we passed by a float from the parade, it was Dale Goodman's Abe Lincoln. I heard about it last week and felt bad that I was going to miss seeing it. When we went by, he was standing up, we went back up later to photograph him and he was sitting. We talked to a lady that saw the parade and she said he would sit while going under the wires, then stand up. So cool!

We went to Mom's this evening for a BBQ. Andy's family, Carleen, Sandy and Gary, Mom and John and I were there. I didn't think to get a picture until Gary and Sandy had left and Carleen didn't want to be in the pix, but here's the rest of us.

Happy 4th!

I hope you are all having a great 4th! Nikki, I hope California and the fireworks tonight are fabulous!

Here's a shot from our early morning walk. We usually leave about 5:30, so we have plenty of time to walk before the cut off time for people walking on the course.

Today was the last day of the festival. We had moderate traffic, I think Charlie Clark's is getting most of the people. We sold a few items, not many. Don't know why, but sitting around all day is hard and leaves me totally exhausted!

On the road again . . .

It was good to get home this evening! My plants all looked pretty good, the ones in front are a bit wilted, but okay. I found 3 new tomatoes!

Our first NetFlix movie, Avatar, was waiting for us in the mailbox. We watched it tonight. John thought it was shown in 3D in theaters, and if so, must have been fantastic! We both liked it.

I had a sad message waiting when we got home that an old friend, Patty Hackett, passed away. Such a shocker. I got to see her when she was in Arizona for a visit last fall, we had a grand visit laughing over the fun days excavating at Casa Malpais.

Happy Almost 4th!

We went for a walk this morning. I am finding it hard to walk this year, lots of aches and pains with every step, Donna was right, 60 hits and you all apart, LOL! Here's how the tents looked as we left for our walk this morning.

And here's the beautiful area we walk in, I always wish I could stay here.

Another slow day. One of our visitors had been to the NEAFAA festival and said it was packed. They sure aren't coming here. One of the tent artists had such interesting work, I talked with her a bit and found she uses things like wadded paper, string and leaves to make the interesting patterns.


I sent my first text message today! I had to get help from one of the artists to figure out how to do it, thanks to Christine. Nikki was headed to California and I wanted to see if she'd made it there yet. She had and just got back from the beach, wish I was there with her!

We had a quiet evening, went for a walk and watched a movie. The Internet dropped us and we didn't get to finish the movie. We were watching UP, cute movie. Saw this neat curly grass on our walk this evening.

Off to the Barn

We left early this morning for the art barn. This is a festival weekend and we're in charge of the cleaning this weekend, so we to get there to clean before opening.

The road is being worked on, I guess they are going to widen it, and this narrow cut, near Greer, is being widened. Wow, there is a lot of rock to be moved!

All the tents were set up and things were hopping when we got to the barn. We had an okay day, not that many people and very few sales.

The artists all surprised me with a cake and card this morning and sang to me! What a sweet surprise!

Ate with Monna tonight, chicken, salad and pasta. We'd brought chicken to grill and it needed to get cooked, so we supplied that. It was good!

We watched a movie on Netflix this evening, I slept through it, LOL, I was tired!

The Big Six-O

Wow, I never thought I'd be this old! When I was in my teens, I figured I'd be dead of old age by 30, after all, that was OLD! So now here I am twice the age I thought I'd ever be and I'm still here. So far, it's been a good day, John slept this morning and I browsed Netflix a bit more, adding to my stash. Thanks Charles, I'm having such fun! John offered to take me out to lunch where ever I wanted, I picked Subway sandwiches eaten under our locust tree. What better place to eat than our own little glade! We went shopping this afternoon and got steaks and corn and had them for supper, yumm!!


I got my birthday gift from John yesterday. He got me a Jim Tunnell print I've been wanting for several years. Jim had a booth at art barn festival and I fell in love with a sepia photo of some old worn cowboy boots on the feet of a cowboy. I was going to get a print then, but waited too long and he'd sold out. I was reminded of it this year when one of our customers mentioned Jim, she loves his photos, too. John contacted him and ordered me a print, bigger than I was going to spring for. Waiting does have its rewards!