September is Just Flying By!!

 Hi Everyone!  I cannot believe it is September 23rd already!!  Where did the month go!

Well first off I guess some things are not meant to be.  I broke it off with Michael on Friday.  He started bossing me around, which he had never done before.  He was becoming very cynical also, which is not good.  He actually told me if he didn't want to do something (like go somewhere on a short trip) and he didn't like the place or just didn't want to go he wouldn't even consider it.  We were supposed to go along the Blue Ridge Parkway on this coming Saturday and Sunday.  When it came time to pick the date, he told me to pick the date and if he didn't like it he would change it.  That just isn't the way you decide things when you are a couple.  There were alot of other signs something wasn't right, so I called it off before it started to be more than it was.  That is why I took it slow and said we have to be friends before we could be more.  I will miss Ivan his dog, he was a sweetheart!

Well my lawn guy aerated, overseeded and fertilized my lawn and today there is a misty rain, which is great for the lawn!  I thought my dahlias were all done but they started blooming again when we had that cool weather a few weeks ago.  They are gorgeous (see below):

I got all my Fall decoration out and decorated for Fall.  I was pretty happy with the way it turned out throughout the house and the front door.

I painted this pumpkin picture in acrylics.

I see the leaves are changing.  I was down at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden 2 Saturdays ago and there was a maple tree that was totally red already!

I started a job on 9/7 at Harris Teeter (the grocery store here) as a personal shopper.  Well that ran me ragged so I switched to being a cashier and I like that much better.  I'm getting too old to be running around the grocery store shopping for someone else at marathon speed for 5 hours with no break!  I really liked when I trained on the cash register.  The people are so nice that I work with and the customers have been wonderful too!

Well that is about all I have for today!  I hope everyone enjoys the last few days of September and embraces Fall!!

Hugs,

Sherri

Another Month drawing to a close!

Hi Everyone!  I cannot believe today is the last day of August!  This year is just speeding by!  I hate to say this but I am so ready for Fall.  It has been so hot and humid here this summer.  There are also a million bugs that go along with that type of weather.  I have been eaten alive this year it seems!

Well alot of things have happened since my last post in the beginning of August.  I have started dating someone.  I know, I know after Scott I didn't think I would date again.  That was such a bad experience.  I met Michael the second week of this month.  We had lunch and everything went really well.  Then he couldn't believe I never bowled before, so we had lunch and went bowling.  We had a picnic in the Park with our dogs so they could meet.  It went really well with Riley and Ivan.  Ivan is a 1/2 yellow lab and 1/2 Golden Retriever.  They got along really well.  Then Michael and Ivan came to dinner at my house.  The other day Michael and I went to lunch and then bowled again.  Monday we are having a picnic at his house and I am bringing Riley.  So things are going really well.  We are taking everything slow though.  He is divorced (5 years) and it wasn't pretty.  I am really glad I met him and it is working out so far.

Riley and Ivan walking in the Park

Fountain in the Park

I cannot believe Riley turned 11 months on the 16th of this month!  Where did that time go.  He is usually such a good boy, but he does still have that puppy wild streak in him every once in a while (which is to be expected).

Riley 11 months

Even with all of this heat, my garden produced some really beautiful flowers.  Some of my dahlias were smaller than normal but I still had a really huge dahlia.

Dahlia-Large Dinnerplate

Clematis

Another Dinnerplate dahlia

Mr. Lincoln rose out of my garden.  This rose has a beautiful fragrance.  I just love it.  I planted it for Owen, my grandson who just loves Abraham Lincoln.

This rose, My First Love just keep on giving and giving.

I made some Fall wreaths for the doors of our church.  I took the summer ones down today and put these up.  I think they turned out really nice!

I have been working on another 18th century shirt for a customer.  It turned out really well.  It took about 1.5 weeks.  I shipped it to the customer today.  Here it is!

I have been knitting a little also in the evenings.  I am making a table runner designed by Margaret at Heidi and Lana.  It is called picnic.  I made it 17 stitches bigger than it called for.  I like a wider runner on my table.  The yarn is called Sky and that is by Heidi and Lana also.  It is an easier project and I like the way it is turning out.

We have had alot of thunderstorms with rain but no lightning lately.  This picture is from yesterday late in the day.  It got all dark and windy and then very loud thunder.  The rains came down in buckets.  It last for about 1.5 hours or so.  We did need the rain, it was so dry here again.

Well that about wraps it up for this post.  I hope everyone is having a good summer and that you all have a wonderful Labor Day!

Take care,

Sherri

I Can't Believe it is August already!!

I hope everyone is having a great summer!  Happy August!  I cannot believe it is August already-how time flies!!

It has been a hot and humid one! First it was really dry and drought like conditions but then the rains came.  It is drying out now.  My gardens are thriving and I am thankful for that!!

Here are some photos of my gardens:

One of my favorite daylilies.

Here is a bouquet of my glads.

I picked the last glad for the year.  

My miniature pink rose has been going strong all summer!

One of my beautiful dahlias.

This red dahlia is so pretty.  The color is just so beautiful!

My veggies have been growing also!  Here are some things I have harvested.  The tomatoes are having a hard time with the ground being so dry and then wet.

Several tomatoes, a cucumber and chives from my garden.

The bugs have been really bad this year.  Every time I go out into the garden just for a little bit, those mosquitoes and flies bite the heck out of me!!  Here is a little (well not so little) visitor I had the other day!

Huge grasshopper on my dahlia!

Riley has been growing also over this summer.  I think he must be done growing now, well he might grow a little bit more.  He has developed quite the personality!  He is so strong, much stronger than any of the other Goldens I have owned.  He actually went to go see my neighbors little boy, forgot I was attached to the leash and got it all tangled around my finger and my finger got broken!  Very painful but all healed now!

I'm sorry to say I had been really sick for over 2 weeks.  I actually thought I had COVID.  I have never had COVID but it felt like what everyone was describing.  I didn't have COVID but I did have a very stubborn upper respiratory infection.  I ended up having to go to the Dr. twice and the second time she gave me a steriod and that cleared it up!  I cough every once in a while now but not too bad.  Don't ever want to go through that again!

I also celebrated my 65th birthday on the 23rd of July.  I was sick, so it was a quiet day.  Glad I made it around the sun again!!

Everyone have a lovely rest of your summer because before you know it Fall will be here!

Sherri

Happy July 1st!!

Happy July 1st Everyone!!  I hope this post finds you all well!  It is a hot and humid one with a nice breeze this morning.  It has been so hot here but finally last night we had a nice rain!!  We actually had a thunderstorm too.

My veggies and flower gardens are doing well.  I was a little worried with all the heat (the sun has been so intense).  The yellow squash doesn't seem to be producing anything yet, lots of blossoms but no squash.  I see some green beans coming on the plants and my cuke vines are out of control!  I picked my first tomato yesterday.  It was really big but I'm sure the heat has something to do with that.  I have been watering every nice, except last night I saw the rain coming.  My flowers are starting to fill out and alot of the daylilies have scapes with buds on them.  Some are blooming also.  Here are some of the plants in the garden:

Black-eyed Susan from my friend, Janice.  Thank you Janice!

Coleus in one of my containers.

Daylily

Daylily

Daylily

First Dahlia of the season!

This is my side garden.  The plants are starting to fill out and I love the way it is all growing even in this heat!

Sundial Pink Cone Flower

I just love all the different colors and I can't wait until everything has grown to the right size next year!  I try to buy alot of perennials so I have repeats every year.  I fill in with just a few annuals.  Great way to save money also!  My ferns on the front porch have grown even more:

These are my Boston Ferns on the front porch.  I bought these pulleys, which I thought would be great.  You just pull them down to water them and then push them back up.  Well while they are hanging, they twirl and now that has messed up the pulleys working.  I think I'll have to take them down, fix the pulleys from being twisted and somehow stop them from twirling around.  I hope I can make them work again!  The concept is great!

This summer I have also made 2 wreaths for the front door of our church.  Every Sunday I would go into the church and there would always be 2 empty hooks (one on each door).  I thought wreaths really need to be on there not just these empty hooks.  I asked one of the older women who seems to be in charge of flowers for the altar, changing the cloth colors on the altar (which is now my job) and a few other things around the church about me making the wreaths.  She said you just go ahead and it will look beautiful!  I went to Hobby Lobby and got everything I needed and this is what I created:

 I think it looks much better than 2 empty hooks.  Sometimes you just have to pitch in and do it!!

I have taken on a project I never thought I would be getting into!  I am sewing by hand an 18th Century Man's Working Shirt for Mason!  He has taken an apprenticeship at Colonial Williamsburg and he has to wear authentic clothing.  Hence the hand sewn shirt.  It has been very interesting researching this sewing project.  I am using linen thread, which is run through beeswax to keep it from breaking down and going through the fabric easier.  I will be putting bone buttons on this shirt.  I am working with a pattern from Burnley and Trowbridge (Purveyors of Accurate Goods for Historical Fashion).  I am sewing right along and it is taking shape.  I'll post it when I'm done with it!

Well I better get sewing and I have to throw some laundry in the washer.  I hope everyone has a lovely day and stop and smell the roses or whatever flower you can!

Hugs,

Sherri

Summer is Definitely Here!!

 Hi Friends!  I hope everyone is well here today!  Well I don't know about where you live but summer has definitely hit Rockwell, NC!!  It is hot, humid, some stray thunderstorms, etc., etc.  I have been mulching like crazy around here but I have to do it early in the morning and usually about 2-2.5 hrs. is all I seem to be able to do in this heat!  Here is some of what I have been doing:

The mulch came from the main big tree in this photo. Nothing grows under here so I decided to create an "island" of the big tree and the cedar tree next to it.  Looks so much more finished!

This is 2 bushes (more like trees) in the front yard.  One is a crape myrtle (rt.) and the other is a deutzia (lft).  I created this island around them too.  

That is it on the projects for this season though.  It has about worn me out.  I do love creating as you know!  Some day I would like to put a nice cement birdbath between the deutzia and the crape myrtle.  I have alot of birds coming to the bird feeder in the front garden and to my hummingbird feeder.  All the flowers in my garden are growing and thriving.  I don't think I have lost anything, which is so good!  My friend, Janice from my church has given me some plants lately too, which helps with the cost of buying perennials, roses, etc.  She has given me a bee balm (red), Blue Salvia and Black-eyed Susan.  They are all doing so good!  The other day she may have created a monster-she showed me a new garden center on the way to Mooresville and it is wonderful!  Here are some of the flowers blooming in my garden now:

Daylily

Foxglove

Sombrero Adobe Orange Coneflower

Zinnia

When my girls were little in the summer we used to visit my Grandma and Papa every Wednesday.  She lived a little over an hour from our house.  We would visit, then have lunch and then visit some more before leaving to go home.  I had a Tropicana Rose in my garden and I swear that thing would know it was time to visit Grandma because she would bloom right before the visit.  I would cut one or two depending on how many were blooming and take them to Grandma.  She had this one bud vase she would put it in.  About 6 months before she died she gave me the vase and told me to always take care of it for her.  See below my Tropicana rose from my garden here and Grandma's vase:

Tropicana Rose in Grandma's Vase

It won't be this year but I saw this beautiful arbor with a gate.  I really think I can make this.  I would like to make this and then picket fence the backyard.  It would be great for Riley to run around back there.  This year is definitely out of the picture for this project but maybe 2025!  Here it is:

Two Saturdays ago I went down to Gold Hill, which is the little historical town below me.  I saw on FB that Gold Hill Flower Co was having an event.  You could bring your own mason jar (or they provide one for you) and they would have a ton of cut flowers out of their gardens for you to arrange in the mason jar.  I decided to go and I loved the experience!  Melissa, the owner was so nice!  Here is one of the bouquets I created:

Flower Arrangement I made at Gold Hill Flower Co.  I decided it would look beautiful on my table in the eating area.

Monday would have been John's 70th birthday.  I cannot believe that he will be gone from us for 5 years on 11/27.  Jenny posted this photo on FB and I just love this photo of him.  He was such a good man and everyone should strive to be the kind of person he was!

John

Well I am off to knit before I leave to have lunch with the Houses without Spouses group from church.  Once a month we meet at Longhorn Steak House and have lunch without each other.  They are a really nice group of wonderful ladies all widowed like I am.

Everyone have a wonderful week and enjoy your day!

Sherri