Saturday 07.29.17 and Sunday 07.30.17

This weekend was wonderful!  John and I had such a great weekend!  Saturday started out going to a new diner for breakfast, then on to the Farmer's Market!  We found so many good veggies and fruit.  We bought green beans, potatoes, corn on the cob, Dragon Fruit, peaches, sourdough bread, yellow squash, lettuce, blackberries, heirloom tomatoes, 2 succulent plants and flowers, of course flowers!  Here a few photos of the things we bought:

The biggest blackberries I have ever seen!

Dragon Fruit sliced open

Dragon Fruit at the Vendors Stand, so colorful!

Heirloom Tomatoes

A large bouquet of all white flowers-so pretty!

New Potatoes

Lovely Peaches

Dragon Fruit by itself again

Succulents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So when Jenny and the boys arrived for a visit on Saturday afternoon, Jenny brought figs, blueberries and kiwi.  We made my first every smoothie with Dragon Fruit, figs, blueberries, banana and kiwi.  It was so good!  We put it in a bowl instead of a glass.  It was so good as you can see!

Jenny and the boys stayed for dinner.  I made pork chops with apples and onions, corn on the cob and green beans with the new potatoes.  Everything was so good.  After Dinner Jack and I talked about seeing if the potatoes we planted in the Spring were ready yet.  We had alot of ran for about 5 days a while ago and I was so afraid they had rotted.  He and I dug them up and to our surprise there was a bowl full.  Here are some photos of our potato adventure:

Jack and I diligently trying to find potatoes.

Jack with his cash of potatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had such  a good time!

Today was a lazy one for John and I.  I slept until 9:00, that is very unusual for me!  Then we had breakfast on trays in our room and watched HGTV and DIY for a bit.  Next thing you know I am waking up and it is 1:00!!!  John had fallen asleep after he finished his breakfast too!!  I guess we needed the sleep after our rather busy day yesterday!  The rest of the day I read my current book, Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani.  Love this book so far!!  I had another smoothie!  Had leftover Chinese for dinner and just chilled out.  That is my kind of day!  The weather here has been beautiful-no humidity and a nice breeze all day!

I hope you all had a good one!

Fun Summer

This summer has been really fun!  It has been a hot one, but bearable.  During the 4th of July weekend we went up to NJ to visit my Mom.  We got to see everyone, family and friends!  Then the next Friday we left to go to Wrightsville Beach with Jenny and the boys.  Owen's 6th birthday was that next Tuesday and we promised him a weekend at the Beach!  We went to the beach, the aquarium, the pool and out to dinner.  The boys really enjoyed themselves making sandcastles and playing in the water.  Here is a picture of what I think sums up the whole trip!

These boys have stolen our hearts since the day they were born! 

My flower gardens are pretty much done.  All the daylilies are done and the roses are just starting to pick up again.  Once it gets so hot, the flowers slow way down.

I hope everyone is having an awesome summer!!

A Walk Around the Yard 06.06.17

I haven't had much time to post my yard photos, but tonight is the night!!  My daylilies are just gorgeous this year!  I attribute that to so much rain earlier this year and it continues to rain alot this year here.  I love every last one of them!!  One I bought last year has bloomed this year too!  Without further ado, here is my photos.

All those flowers add alot of color to the garden and our life!  I have always had a flower garden and I always will!  The last photo was one I took in our fern on the front porch.  A sparrow made a nest and proceeded to lay her eggs in it.  About 8 days later I went to check if the babies hatched and all 4 eggs were gone!! There has been a bluejay hanging around here and they do rob eggs from other birds.  The grandboys would be crushed if they knew some other bird stole the eggs.  I told them they hatched while they weren't here and flew away.  I hate telling a white lie, but I couldn't take the boys being upset either!  When I told Jack (because he asked about the eggs hatching on Saturday) he said he was glad that those birdies all flew away together!!  So sweet!  I really enjoy sharing what knowledge of birds, flowers, nature, etc. with the boys.  Hopefully they will remember something of what I have said and pass it on to their children some day!  That is how I learned about these things, from my Nana!!

Saturday, 4.29.17 Butler's Pantry to Tea Bar

Well almost everyone who knows me, knows I am allergic to coffee.  That's right no coffee for me!  I do love to smell coffee but to drink it, it just isn't pretty and I'm going to leave it at that LOL!!  I have been thinking about taking our Butler's Pantry that is between the kitchen and the dining room and turning it into a tea bar.  John doesn't drink coffee either, we are definitely tea drinkers.  Well here is what the Butler's Pantry looked like before I worked my magic:

Now after working my magic, here is the new McDermitt Tea Bar open for business:

I have a pottery piece from Seagrove, NC that I cherish and have in my tea bar also.  I had it in the Butler's Pantry too.  I just love the imprinted flowers and ferns and the colors of the glazes.  Blue and Green are my favorite colors!!

I also took a Printer's Drawer like this:

I then took some of my very large stash of Young Living Essential Oils and did this:

After I worked all this magic before 7:30  in the a.m. (Thought I could sleep late but couldn't) I made myself a wonderful cup of Raspberry Vanilla loose tea and then went outside to see my roses.  This is what greeted me:

What a beautiful way to start my morning and the weekend!  Mother Nature and God are truly amazing!  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Antique Carpenter's Wood Planes

As most of you know my Dad died 12/6/17.  My Dad started working before he was 16 years old.  He had 2 older brothers who were builders and he followed in their footsteps.  After high school he started out as a mason working for himself and then gradually started building houses.  He had a collection of antique wood planes.  When he died I told my Mom they should stay in the family because they were handed down from other generations to my Dad.  I told my Mom that if no one else in the family wanted them, I would love to have them as a remembrance to my Dad.  She told me I could have them, so I brought them home to NC with me.  I was just looking at Country Home 2016 magazine and this is what I saw:

The wall is loaded with antique planes.  Photo via Country Home 2016.

Below is my Dad's collection of antique wood planes handed down through his family and now they reside on my bookshelf wall my Dad built for me.  He didn't use any of these planes to make the bookshelf wall but it was all made by hand by him.  I think I am going to take some of the books off the shelf and put the planes there so you can see them better.  Kind of a tribute to Dad!  That man sure did love to work with his hands and wood!!  Love you Dad!!

This isn't a wood plane but it was my Dad's last wooden fold out ruler he owned.  I remember as a little girl holding that ruler so he could get an accurate reading.  I also got my fingers pinched in between the hinges more than once LOL!!

Just think by opening a magazine, seeing a photo how many memories come flooding back to you!  Life is truly amazing!!