Meanwhile, Back At The House

I am sure that everyone has insomnia from time to time. I know a lot of people have it worse than others. The old insomnia bug has bitten me in the last few days. It could be that traveling is catching up with me and I am in need of some down time. It could be just a lot on my mind from day to day living and life. That’s just the way it is sometimes and I am hoping that will take care of itself soon

I feel like I have been playing catch up after being gone so much the last few weeks. I had to repot one of my orchids and give the rest of the orchids their weekly watering. Simone is blooming again. I just love this color.

My father in law passed away several years ago. He lived next door to us. We kept the house and my brother in law used it a couple of times. We finally decided to put it on the market. We had to clear everything out of it. We decided to buy a small storage building to put on our property to store what was left from his house and put some things from our house in it as well.

Mark and my nephew Tyler worked last Friday and Saturday getting everything cleared out of the house and moved to the storage building. I was able to help them on Saturday. Lots of memories came up while sorting through the house. Old pictures and letters and stuff. Lots of stuff.

All of this has to be taken to the dump. We also had things to take to Goodwill and some things we took to our house for safe keeping.

***This is Allie Cat (Our mama cat). I call her camo cat this time of the year because her colors blend with the colors of the leaves.***

We have a blink security system. Last week when I was in California I heard the alert one night around midnight. I saw this bobcat. We have seen bobcats before but it was a little unnerving seeing it so close to the house. I am so glad I bring my outside kitties in at night.

***The picture is not the greatest but you can see it is a bobcat and close to the house.***

My sister trip to Gatlinburg a few weeks ago wound up costing me more money than I had planned. I left my bite splint, which I sleep with every night because I grind my teeth, behind in one of the drawers in the bathroom. I immediately realized it the night I got home. The next day I called the condo association. They are just a call center and weren’t actually on site. I told them the room number and exactly where I had left it. They charged me $25.00 just to have someone look for it. They told me they would be in touch. After a week I called back and they said no one had found it. I am thinking it was probably thrown away. On Tuesday I had a dental cleaning and I was fitted for another bite splint. $525.00. OUCH!!!! So yes a much more costly trip than what I had planned. A lesson learned always double check everything before you check out. I usually do and I can’t believe I left it behind.

The weather here has been great!! Cooler temps. We do need some rain. It would help the leaf colors change quicker. Right now the leaves are so dry they are falling off of the trees before changing colors. Some rain is expected here this weekend so maybe that will bring some color changes.

***The Goldenrod is everywhere. I think it’s beautiful even though it is a source of a lot of allergies.***

***You can see some color starting here but not much at all for this time of the year.***

A lot going on right now. This was the first week I have worked five consecutive days in a while. I am happy to see the weekend. I am trying not to be overwhelmed by things. I always think I have to fix things and make everything right and do and be for everyone and make everyone happy and do all of this without making it seem tough. WOW!!! Sometimes that is just not possible. I have to remind myself of that daily. Sometimes it’s easier than others.

I am glad to be taking a breather this weekend with not a lot to do. What wonderful things do you have planned for the weekend?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Hello Monday (Home Again)

I am so glad to be home after a week in Northern California. I got home late Friday night. Again another long day of travel. I left Redding California at 6:00 AM and then had a long layover in San Francisco. I like the San Francisco airport there is a lot to see and do there. However I barely made my flight leaving Chicago, O’Hare with just minutes to spare.

It was so good to be home and snuggle the babies. I think they were all glad to see me too.

I love the week I spend with other cave people. These are people who own or manage show caves across the US. We get to visit other caves and learn about their area. We also share ideas and experiences that are working or not working for us. This is a great networking time.

This year our host cave was Lake Shasta Caverns in Lakehead California near Redding. Such a beautiful area but man I was unprepared for the heat. Most of the days the temps were mid 90’s F. I thought the temps were going to be more like home so I didn’t bring enough cool clothes. It was hot!!!!

Some of our highlights: Sundial Bridge

We also took a walk on Sundial Bridge it was beautiful and a beautiful night for it.

This boat ramp is sooo steep. The water in the lake is down about 200 feet. It’s hard to believe but it was down even more in the spring and early summer. The sky and water is an unbelievably blue color.

***We had a nice boat ride on Lake Shasta.***

***My best cave girlfriend Ann. She is from Pennsylvania and I only get to see her a couple of times a year.***

When Shasta Lake is full, it is 517 feet deep at the dam 90% of the lake’s water comes from the rainfall. Currently it is about 200 feet lower than it should be.

Shasta Dam was built between 1938 and 1945. It is 602 feet high, 3,460 feet long, and 883 feet thick at its base. There are 15 million tons of concrete in the dam in the form of concrete blocks that are 50 feet square and five feet high. Shasta Dam was the 17th dam built by civil engineer Frank Crowe, who designed a system of towers that were used to get concrete to each of the 16,900 block forms.

Front side of the dam. We were able to walk almost all the way across it. It was so hot.

***We had dinner at a restaurant called Huff’s at the beautiful Bridge Bay Marina***

We had several speakers throughout the week.

Lake Shasta Caverns is one of the most beautiful caves I have ever visited. But it’s not easy to get to. Actually getting to the cave though is half of the fun. You take a boat across the lake from the opposite side of their ticket office. You then take a scary bus ride up a steep mountain road for 1.5 miles. Then you are at the entrance to the cave. There is 300 steps getting into the cave and then 300 steps back out. But it is totally worth it and the Lake Shasta Caverns crew have it all down to a science. They handle it all with ease. They also offer dinner cruises on the lake you can check it all out on their website here

At the top of the hill just before going into the cave. This was an amazing view.

***The inside of a stalactite. This one had been damaged and broken. But you can see the detail and beautiful design within it.***

These two boys are called The Fiddlin’ Brothers. They are 14 and 12 years old. They have only been playing for a few years and they are amazing.

After the cave tour we had dinner at the caverns and some entertainment. Such talented dancers.

On Friday morning I had to leave the hotel at 4:30 AM to catch my flight to San Francisco and then to Chicago and then into Knoxville. It was a long day and I didn’t get back to the house 10:30 PM. What a week.

***A beautiful sunrise in San Francisco***

A lot of airport time. I had a 3 hour layover in San Francisco. I have to give my new bag a 10 out of 10. It was on wheels and didn’t wear my arms out and it was small enough to fit under my seat. I splurged on a couple of books. For some reason I can’t resist books at the airport.

***And of course you know I took knitting.***

So I am home and so glad to be here for a while with no travel plans for a few weeks. How are you? What exciting things have you been up to.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Catching Up While I’m in California

I am waking up in California this morning. It is very early here about 5:30 AM. It is 8:30 AM at home. I still feel just a bit jet lagged. Yesterday was a very busy travel day for me. I started at 7:00 AM with a flight out of Knoxville and then to Chicago and then to San Francisco and then a short flight into Redding California. I am here for a Caves Association meeting. I will tell you more about that as the week progresses.

My weekend was great!!! I got home from our sister trip on Friday. If you didn’t catch that post you can read more about it here. On Saturday I had the usual groceries, checking on mother in law and laundry. My nephew, Tyler, had messaged me earlier in the week and wanted to go to the local Mennonite Farm Market near my house. He had never been but had heard a lot about it. So we did that early Saturday morning before all of my other errands started.

The fields around the market are just beautiful. I love the simplicity of the Mennonites. They use every field to raise vegetables. They have sheep and cattle and rabbits. They also bake some amazing breads and cookies. They make beautiful furniture. I have my eye on two Adirondack chairs that I would like to have. I may ask for those as an early Christmas gift. They usually close the market in late December and don’t open back up until early spring. Of course the seasons depend on what they are currently selling. Right now they have an abundance of squash and peppers. I bought okra, green peppers, chow chow, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, and a cantaloupe all of this was about $17.00. Tyler bought several jars of honey, I think he was giving it to some of his friends. He loved the market and wants to go back. He was looking for corn but they told him it was a little late in the season for corn. Spring and early summer is the best time to buy corn there. I plan to go back and get some more okra to freeze so that we can have it all winter.

***Isn’t this a beautiful scene. You can tell that winter is coming and colors are starting to change.***

Many different types of squash.

I love this view looking out over the fields. This is molasses. I am not a big fan of molasses but they do sell a lot of it.

***I bought some of these peppers. I planned to make my husband a nice meal on Sunday. Since I was going to be gone all week to California I knew he wouldn’t cook a lot for himself.***

Muscadines, I do not like muscadines but my husband loves them. We have a couple of trees on our driveway that have quite an abundance of them.

The peppers were listed as to the severity of heat. Tyler bought some of the hottest peppers. He loves really spicy foods.

***Isn’t this Indian Corn pretty? I think it makes a great decoration for fall. There were also some pumpkins but I didn’t get any.***

On Sunday I didn’t do a lot except get my clothes ready to pack. I hate packing for an entire week. The temps in California are actually very similar to what East Tennessee is right now. Cool in the mornings and mid 70’s to low 80’s F later in the afternoon. Although I just looked at the weather here and now it is saying mid 90’s for most of the week!!!!

I did cook dinner on Sunday. We had quite a feast from all the vegetables I had gotten at the Farm Market on Saturday.

I love okra and I’m not sure how you cook your okra but I always do mine the way my mama made it. I like crunchy okra. I don’t want it do be soft and mushy. I start out by cutting it and then dredging it in cornmeal or flour. I didn’t have any cornmeal so I used flour. I salt and pepper it and fry it in a large skillet until it is starting to get brown on the edges. I then drain any oil, which is not a lot because I don’t use a lot of oil, and then I transfer it to a small baking pan and finish cooking it in the oven.

So you can see we had quite a feast. Stuffed Bell peppers, a baked sweet potato, okra and cucumbers. All from the Farmer’s Market.

I moved my suitcase into the little den I have upstairs. It’s easier to pack it here and bring clothes and put in it and it’s not in the way while I do this. Kitty Kitty kept watching me from her perch on the loveseat. I think she knew what this suitcase and clothes business meant. Her mom was leaving again. I caught her a couple of times trying to get into the suitcase.

And now I am in California for the week. It looks like a beautiful day here. I know we will be doing a lot of fun things this week and I will be sure to take lots of pictures.

Have a wonderful week.

Always remember

Love your day your way.

Friday Favorites: Sister Trip

Hello and happy Friday. I just got home from a three day sister trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee. Gatlinburg is about 70 miles from us and we have an annual Sister Trip every year. We tried to figure out how many years we have been doing this and the closest we can get to is about 30 years. We first started Sister Trip when my mama was alive. It was me, my mama and my sister Sandy. After a few years my two other sisters Pat and Carolyn joined us. Then my mama passed away. Several years later we lost my sister Carolyn and then last year we lost my sister Pat. We did add my niece Tammy, who is just like a sister to us. So we are back to three of us going. And we always have so much fun!!! We don’t always go to Gatlinburg we sometimes go to other places. Next year we are planning on a cruise.

We skipped Sister Trip last year because it was just too painful not having Pat with us. We bought a rose and took it with us this year and put it in the chair on our deck that she would have sat in. It was so hard not having her with us but we knew she would have wanted us to go.

This is a picture from our deck. The moon was beautiful and the weather was so nice. It was cool in the mornings and then warmer in the afternoon.

We had a lot of great food. We usually get breakfast items to take to the condo and eat one meal while we are out and then usually leftovers for dinner.

We always take a jigsaw puzzle to work. My sister Sandy and I love these. We bought two at T.J. Maxx on our way in and we picked this one to start with. It was a nice autumn scene.

The finished puzzle.

I always take knitting with me. I love these colors. I am making a scarf and some headbands to donate to the cancer office where my sister got chemo this year. They have a little collection table and I put several things out earlier in the year. Everyone loved the headbands. It covers their ears and part of their head and this is really helpful when the weather is chilly but not too cold. I will probably do some toboggans as well for colder weather.

We drove into Cherokee one day and went to the Casino. We didn’t spend a lot of time there but we did stop at Newfound Gap and got some pictures.

We visited Anakeesta it is in the heart of Gatlinburg. I have a ton of pictures of Anikeesta and I will do a separate post on that very soon. It is such a fun place. It is listed on their website as a mountaintop adventure, and it is!!! It is just the cutest place. They have it decorated for fall with lots of leaves and pumpkins. There are several overlooks to sit and enjoy the beautiful views. Check out their website here.

The only way to get to the top of the mountain is by chairlift, these red pods, or by bus going up a scary mountain road. We chose the pods.

Look at all the seating where you can just enjoy the beautiful mountain views.

O.K. now for some more favorites. We always stop at T.J. Maxx on our way into Gatlinburg. I found two jigsaw puzzles. We always work a puzzle on our trip and I had left the house without bringing one of mine. I bought these two and we worked the Autumn In The Neighborhood scene first. I will start on the pumpkins soon.

I have to tell you about this nail polish that I have discovered. I have always loved Sally Hansen nail polish. It is very affordable and it lasts. I came across this Insta-Dri at Walmart and decided to try it. I loved it!!! I did my nails Monday night and the polish still looks great!!! I will be buying more of this.

Turkeys in our yard!!! This is not all of them. I just happened to look out the window on Sunday and this is what I saw. Of course when I went out to get a picture they took off. But I love having them around.

This is the only book I have to report on this week. It was an audio book through my Libby App. It was good. It was a little long but it had a good story and a great ending. I have so many books to read, I mean actual books that you hold in your hands and turn the pages, I must quit downloading and buying books. At least until I read half of what I have on the shelf, shelves. A lady I follow on TikTok listed all of the books she had to read, and put all the titles in a jar, and when she finished one she would just draw out the next one. I love that idea. I may just do that. Sometimes the books I think I might not like turn out to be the best.

On our way home today I stopped at Joanne’s Fabrics and bought these two color wheels of yarn. Two years ago when we were in Sevierville I bought two of these but they were in multiple colors. They didn’t have any of those this time but I did find these on clearance. They will be great for the headbands I am going to make.