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 friends how was your weekend? I took a few extra days off. The end of the year is coming and I have some vacation days that I need to use before the year ends. It was also my husband’s birthday so we have had a few days of celebrating. Nothing fancy just a couple of dinners out. I made my hubs special pancakes and bacon for breakfast on his birthday and I made him a pumpkin pie. We actually spent most of the weekend settling my MIL back into the Assisted Living Village where she had been living until a few months ago. It has been a bit of a somber weekend. Life happens and you deal with it one day at a time. Sometimes one minute at a time.

Back in July my mother in law had an episode and had to be taken to our local hospital ER. She was unresponsive and after many tests the doctors told us she had had a mild heart attack. After spending several days in the hospital she was released but wasn’t ready to go back to the assisted living center where she had been living. The doctor recommended that she go to the nearby nursing facility where she could get care and therapy. After three months of being there she was finally set to be released about two weeks ago. She was so excited. I had planned to take a half day off from work to help her get settled back in.

As I was driving to the nursing home to help get her clothes and everything loaded, the administrator called and said she had just tested positive for Covid. WHAT??? So she would not be leaving for at least ten more days. Also she was in quarantine with about twenty other patients who had tested positive and we were not allowed to visit. We couldn’t call her because she can’t hear well enough to have a phone conversation and she gets very agitated trying to communicate. We were so disappointed and I know that she was. We had to rely on the staff to get messages to her and try to keep her spirits up. I am sure she felt like she had been forgotten.

I did visit with her after about a week and told her she would soon be moving back to the village. So on Saturday we finally got her moved.

It is amazing how much of a set back she has had. It’s sad and depressing and it just makes my heart break for her. When we got her to the assisted living village she looked around like she was seeing it for the first time. She kept saying “well I guess I will just have to get used to this”. She seemed almost disappointed to be there. And she had been so excited just two weeks before that. She was so confused. She is almost 89 years old. I know she has been through a lot but this last bout of Covid and being quarantined away from everyone has really taken a toll. After we left her, promising that we would return the next day to check on her, I felt like we were leaving a toddler alone to care for her self. I called to check on her later that day and the staff told us she was doing well and getting adjusted. By the next day it was a little better and more and more of her friends from the village were stopping by to see her. I think that made her feel more at home. She can’t wait to have her hair done in the shop inside the village.

So hubs and I returned the next day to check on her and because my work is only about ten minutes from her I can drop in daily until she gets readjusted.

We had a quiet day today. We decided to put our Christmas tree up. We have to do things like this when we have days off together and have no other obligations. I feel that waiting until Thanksgiving is over is just not enough time to decorate for Christmas. I say why not celebrate the entire last two months of the year. I don’t feel like it is taking anything away from Thanksgiving by enjoying some Christmas festivities as well. But that’s just my opinion.

I don’t have a tree topper or a tree skirt yet but the ornaments are on. This tree is 32 years old. We have had it since our first year of marriage. We haven’t put it up every year but we have many of the 32 years. That little red rug was crocheted by my grandmother Rose, she taught me to crochet, and I use it every year. I just noticed that bottom could use a few more ornaments.

I have done quite a bit of knitting and crocheting while I have been off the last few days and Kitty Kitty has been my constant companion. She loves being near yarn.

I have one more day off tomorrow and I have a few fun things planned I will catch you up on Friday Favorites. Have a wonderful week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Wordless Wednesday 11-2-2022

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Southern Folklore And Predicting The Winter Weather

November is here and our beautiful fall weather will soon turn to winter. Fortunately here in the south we don’t usually experience harsh winters or a lot of snow. And I have often heard if you live in East Tennessee and you don’t like the weather just hang around for a few minutes and it will change. But you may not know that there are subtle signs that can help you predict just what the winter might hold.

When I was a little girl, usually starting in late summer or early fall, I would hear mama and daddy talking about the upcoming winter. My mama would say “ I think it’s going to be a rough winter just look at those woolly worms.” My daddy would talk about how the geese seemed to be flying south earlier than usual. That meant an early and cold snowy winter was coming.

I still cling to this southern lore, Appalachian way of predicting the weather or whatever you want to call it. My husband makes fun of me and calls it ridiculous but he secretly knows I’m right. Ha!! Just like the various winters we experience before summer actually makes her hot, humid appearance, the weather can be a little fickle. If you missed the post about the various winters check it out here.

Here are a few of the things I have heard throughout my life about foretelling winter weather:

You can tell how harsh the winter will be by looking at the color of a wooly worm. The more black on the worm the colder the winter will be. If it has a broad stripe across the middle or more of an orange color the winter will be mild. Just look at this wooly worm we found at work last week. the brownish orange stripes are so tiny you can barely see them. I would say that means a really cold winter but we will see.

And then look at these guys with all the orange and brown. I haven’t seen any like this so far this year. I think they would indicate a mild winter.

Other predictions include, the number of fogs you have in the month of August, that will be the number of snows you have during that winter.

If squirrels are very active gathering up nuts like chestnuts and walnuts it means there is going to be a longer winter. I don’t know about you but the squirrels around our property have been very busy lately.

Rings around the sun or moon mean that numerous snowfalls are likely. This was a favorite of my daddy’s. I heard him say this many times.

The number of wasps and hornets you see in September indicate a harsh winter.

Larger than usual spider webs built high.

If ant hills are high in July winter will be snowy.

If berries and wild fruit are plentiful in fall bad weather is coming and the abundance of berries and wild fruit and nuts are just what the wild animals need.

Flowers that have a second bloom in the fall or hold onto their blooms late in the season forecast a colder winter.

If squirrels stash their nuts high in the trees, the snow will be deep.

Mushrooms galore, much snow in store. No mushrooms at all, no snow will fall.

Winter time is harsh but I think that birds, animals, and plants provide us with subtle clues to what winter might hold for us.

I grew up hearing these predictions and I have always found them fascinating. Some of these predictions have been passed down for generations.

What have you noticed lately that could be a prediction for the coming winter?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Hello Monday

Happy Monday, Happy Halloween, Happy last day of October, if you can even believe that. Where did October go? It’s one of my favorite months and it just when whooshing by.

So do you celebrate Halloween. I think it is a little fun holiday. You don’t have to get too deep into all the hoopla. I dressed up as Raggedy Ann I’ve had this costume for several years. This is the first time I have worn this one in several years. We had a lot of school kids visiting at work today so it was really fun.

My weekend was fairly busy. My Saturday morning plans with my niece sort of fell through at the last minute so I had some extra time in Saturday morning. I had an extra cup of coffee and enjoyed the mild temperature outside. I did a little cleaning and a grocery pickup.

On Saturday afternoon I met my brother and sister to go to our elementary school reunion. Union Grove School. The reunion was being held in nearby Athens. The school that my older brothers and sisters attended was closed after I finished fourth grade. We had to then commute to another school. This small school held classes for first grade through eighth grade. And we found out Saturday night that in the very early days of the school being open it included ninth through twelfth grades. The school was open from 1919 to 1973. It was only about 5,000 square feet. As the community grew so did the number of students and with the age of the building it couldn’t be kept open.

I loved this old school. I think everyone was sad to see it be torn down. My younger brother and I then had to be bussed to a school about thirty minutes from us. But the bus ride was even longer.

I didn’t know if many of the people I had gone to school with would be there but there were a few and it was so good to see them. I even got phone numbers from a few. A girl who I had always thought was a mortal enemy, lol, was there and we talked and got reacquainted and exchanged numbers to keep in touch. She was just lovely and it just proves that many times what you think of people while growing up is not always the person they grow into. It seemed like there were many more people from my older brother and sister’s classes attending than mine but it was still a lot of fun and the food was great.

Lots of old pictures. None I could find of my class or my younger brothers’. I guess because we were the last class there.

Me my brother and sister. We had so much fun!!!

Sunday was a quieter day that I spent at home. Mark had to work so it was just me and the kitties. I decided to make lotion bars. Well it didn’t start out that way. I had planned to chill, maybe watch a movie, read my book, nap. You know the usual Sunday things. But Sunday after lunch I started cleaning out my food pantry. Ok let me just stop right here and say that it is terrible how much food is wasted at my house. I sometimes don’t even know what all I have in this closet. I threw a ton of stuff away with a pledge to myself, and all of mankind to stop wasting. But back to the lotion bars. They are all natural made with shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax. I also use the Essential Oils to scent them. I made about thirty, this one below is the largest it is 4oz. and the flower below that is only 2oz. I just enlarged it for detail. I put them in small tins and give them as gifts and sell them locally. I got a big order last night for Christmas. I love making them and my kitchen smells so good.

While cleaning the pantry I discovered a whole jar of coconut oil. I wanted to use it so that is where the lotion bars came in.

I then returned to the task of cleaning out the pantry and reorganizing all my food. And vowing my grocery bill would be half as much this week as it usually is. Guys it looks so good. I know where everything is and how much I have. If only I did this every couple of weeks. I will I will!!!!

I also made peanut butter balls to take to work for our little Halloween goody table. They were a big hit.

I have to leave you with this sweet picture of Gus and Kitty Kitty having a very serious conversation in the window and a last picture of a beautiful red bush. The color is still hanging on. It is always one of the last to leave for the season.