Author: Lisa -Southern Patches

Hello everyone, my name is Lisa I am a southern girl born and raised in East Tennessee. I love discovering new places and things to do. I have a lot of favorites, shopping, traveling, knitting and photography are all at the top of my list. I am married with my fur babies my only children. This blog is actually named after my beloved basset hound Patches. She passed away a few years ago but will always have a huge part of my heart. Come with me and we will explore some wonderful places and discover some really fun things. Are you ready?

Hello Monday

Hello and happy Monday!!! How was your week and your weekend? I have been a bit under the weather. I am not sure what is going on. I think it is just that I haven’t been getting enough rest. Also a change in the temperature always gives me some sinus issues. I am feeling better today and I honestly think it was just the fact that I returned from my Wisconsin/Minnesota trip and went right back to work. We had a big week at work last week. We had some filming done for commercial and promotional footage and it was a lot to prepare for. It was a bit exhausting.

It was exciting to see our cave lit up like this. I can’t wait to see all the footage. They even took a drone inside the cave.

Last Saturday we celebrated my brother and sister-in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary. It was very nice. My two nieces planned everything and had it at my nieces’ church in the sanctuary. It was supposed to be a surprise but I think they sort of figured it out when they drove them to the church instead of out to eat. We had a great time catching up with friends and family. I was supposed to make the wedding cake but I realized a few weeks ago that the anniversary party fell the day after I returned from my Wisconsin trip. I knew I just couldn’t put a huge cake together in less than a day. They bought one somewhere else and it was yummy. They did a great job with everything.

It’s hard to believe these two have been married for 50 years. I think ii was in Jr Hi when they got married.

Yesterday we celebrated my nephew’s, well my great nephew actually, 21st Birthday. A milestone birthday so we had to celebrate although, who am I kidding we celebrate anything. We had the party at my sister’s house. My nephew Chris did most of the cooking on the grill. We brought some sides and had a feast. My sister just got a new dog baby and he is precious. He only weighs three pounds and will only be about seven our eight pounds when he is full grown. His name is Cooper, and I will admit I tried to smuggle him out of the house in my purse. It was such a fun day.

Birthday Boy, Caleb holding his sweatshirt I got him when I went through Chicago last week.
Sorry about the blurry picture but this guy would not stop wiggling. He loves people and wants to be in the middle of everything.

Today I felt much better when I went to work. Work has slowed down a tiny bit. The weather is cooler and so nice, especially early mornings and late afternoon. the leaves are changing colors but not a lot and not very fast. The weather here had been fairly dry until a few weeks ago and the leaves need more moisture to turn those beautiful colors.

The trees with yellow leaves are my favorite.
We also had our first frost last week. It was beautiful.

So that has been me for the last week. I have been listening to a great audio book. Olive Kitteridge written by Elizabeth Strout. I just finished it and found the second one, Olive Again, there is also a mini series on Max. Olive Kitteridge. The mini series follows the book and I am hoping for a second season. Only four episodes in the first season. Olive lives in Crosby Maine. The books are Almost like short stories but all of them weave Olive into them. I have loved them and now I am almost finished with the second one. At first I didn’t like Olive but now I love her. She is outspoken and tough but she can be so kind and she believes in treating everyone equally.

So other than work, housework, taking care of hubs and the kitties that is what I have been doing. Thankfully my traveling is over for a few months. That makes me very happy.

What have you been up to? I am sorry if I have neglected your blog posts. I love reading all of them and can’t wait to catch up.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Home Again, Home Again

Hello and happy Monday. I just got back from a week long trip to La Crosse Wisconsin. What a beautiful city La Crosse is. La Crosse is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in the southwestern part of the state. I was there for a work trip. I foolishly thought I could churn out a blog post or two while I was there, but people, it just didn’t happen. There was no free time.

It all started last Monday morning when I left my house at 5:15 AM. I had about an hour’s drive to the airport and my flight left at 8:00. I was very concerned because I only had a 45 minute layover in Chicago O’Hare airport. I considered only taking a carry-on but I was going to be there for a week and I just couldn’t do it. So I had to check a bag and then I was worried my bags wouldn’t make it.

Luckily, All of my flights were on time and getting through O’Hare was a breeze. I have flown through there several times and I am getting very familiar with the layout of the airport. Even my bags made it to La Crosse. The hotel has airport shuttle and they picked me up outside the airport. Easy peasy. Remember my post a few weeks back about travel? If not you can check it out here. I did follow a lot of those suggestions but sometimes I think it is just the luck of the draw when dealing with time zones and flights.

I got into La Crosse at noon on Monday. There was a one hour time difference. I took a little rest in my room and then met one of my friends for lunch. She had arrived for the meeting the day before. We walked into town and found a neat little restaurant, Bodega’s. We then spent some time walking through the town and visiting some of the little shops. We went to an amazing book store that was connected to a coffee shop. There was a young man playing a piano inside the book store and singing softly. It was just precious. We also got Ice Cream at a shop called The Pearl. It was so yummy. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you the temperatures that week were mid 60’s F. It was lovely. The trees were golden and had changed color much more than here at home.

Monday night we had an opening reception. This is an annual meeting so I was reunited with some of my friends that I don’t get to see often. It is always so much fun catching up. The following days were filled with meetings, seminars and a day trip into Minnesota where we toured two different caves. More on those in my next post. Let me tell you it was an exhausting, exhilarating, learning, and sharing week. Whew.

Before I knew it, it was Friday morning and my flight left at 6:00 AM. I was okay with that. I like early flights because that means I get home early. I did cringe a little when the hotel told me the shuttle to the airport would leave at 4:15 AM. Oh well, who needs sleep?

Bodegas. A nice little brew pub with up to 400 different bottled beers and 20 taps. There were even games to play if you wanted.

We got some food.
The Pearl Ice Cream Shop.
I picked the Snappin Turtle.
It was so good
The mighty Mississippi
The hotel was centrally located so lots of things to do within walking distance.
After being in a chilly meeting room all day a couple of us enjoyed a drink by the fireplace.
There was a beautiful park across the street from the hotel. People were walking their dogs and riding bikes and enjoying the chilly fall weather.
We were awakened early Tuesday morning by a fire alarm. Luckily it was a false alarm. Still a little scary.

Reuniting with great friends is priceless.

How was your week? I had a great time but as I always say, There’s no place like home!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

A Devastating Week

Hello friends. I have been so sad this past week. Hurricane Helene hit some of our surrounding areas really hard, devastatingly hard, life changing hard. Fortunately for us, our hometown was spared. But I feel so much for the people who are without a home and some without loved ones. It’s just too unbearable to think about.

Last Tuesday my sister, niece and I headed out for our annual three day Sister trip. We always go to Gatlinburg Tennessee and rent a condo. We don’t really do a lot we usually visit a couple of attractions and read and eat and work jigsaw puzzles. You get the idea. It is always a lot of fun.

We arrived on Tuesday and the rain started early Wednesday morning. Early Wednesday morning we decided to drive over the mountain to Cherokee North Carolina. It was about an hour drive and it rained the entire time. We didn’t stay long because visibility on the roads was so bad we wanted to get back. We did see some beautiful elk along the way and a bear.

By Thursday the rain had intensified. We knew a hurricane was about to make landfall in Florida on Friday. We decided to cut our trip short and get home. I am so glad we did. The Gatlinburg area did not have a lot of flooding but it was still a lot of rain and that caused a lot of standing water on the roads. I think we all felt better getting back home. Cutting our trip short was nothing compared to what so many people experienced.

Parts of East Tennessee, only about an hour from us, and Western North Carolina was hit really hard. A few weeks ago I was at a meeting at Chimney Rock Park in Chimney Rock, North Carolina. I did a post about it here. Now the downtown area is gone. The streets are mud. Most of the shops are gone. The roads are gone. People are stranded in their homes. It’s bad.

Lake Lure Before
Lake Lure after
Downtown Chimney Rock (This was the road through Main Street)
Downtown Chimney Rock

I apologize for the blurry pictures. Some of them were taken from Instagram, FaceBook and TikTok.

One thing I know is that these people are resilient and they will rebuild and stand united with each other, and help out in any way they can. People in our area are packing boxes of food, supplies and clothes to be taken to Asheville and other parts of Western North Carolina.

I guess I have been into myself this week thinking about loss. If you pray please send up a prayer for all of these people. All of the people and places who have been affected by this tragedy. Hug your loved ones close and tell people that you love them every chance you get.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!