Category: Living The Day to Day

Happy April, Happy Easter, And Faith Everyday.

Happy Easter to everyone. I hope you had a wonderful blessed day and was able to spend it with your loved ones.

I am so happy to see a new month. I will be honest with you. March was a rough month. A lot of things are going on.

It seems like March was the month for doctor visits. I had all of my well visits and checks in March. Sometimes it happens like that and I seem to have scheduled them all in one month. That is exactly what happened in March. I had the regular physical with my doctor including blood work, mammogram, gyno visit, and that was all just for me. Waiting to hear if everything is o.k. can be intense. All of mine were good for another year. And for that I am so grateful. But add into this mix some extra blood work for my husband, a medical procedure for my sister which has involved a lot of followups with her, some friends and loved ones having medical issues and,,, well,, it’s a lot to deal with. I am feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.

I think that having a loved one with medical issues really puts things in perspective for you. Lots of silly little things that you think are big, are not. The mundane boring day to day suddenly takes on a wonderful brighter light. If only paying those bills and mowing the yard and cleaning the house were all you had to worry about. Remember that time when it was like that? you didn’t really know just how great you had it.

Faith. I have it. I live it regularly or so I thought. I was upstairs just a little while ago putting up laundry and sort of lost in a little cloud of worry, when all of a sudden it was like I heard a voice say ” STOP IT AND TRUST IN ME”. Wow that was very powerful. I needed that. I will.

So back to the day. It was a great day!!! Although Mark had to work, he is an essential worker and we are used to him being gone on holidays, I got to spend time with family. My niece made dinner for me, my sister and brother in law and my nephew. It was delicious. I was able to visit my mother in law at the assisted living village, and this time I was able to visit with her in her little apartment. I stayed for almost two hours. It was such a great visit. It’s the first time I had been inside the apartment in over a year!!! While I was there the sweetest thing happened. Her neighbor, Mary, came over to use mother in law’s microwave and told us that is was her 67th wedding anniversary!!! I wish you could know Mary. She is always styled to the nines. Her hair is immaculate. She had on a little red track suit with a USA pin proudly positioned on the lapel. I imagine she was all dolled up because her husband had come for a visit. He does not live in the village but she does because of some dementia. She popped back in a moment later with a wedding picture and told me she had made her own wedding dress, it was beautiful!!!, and she also made her sisters maid of honor dress!!! Her husband came in a few minutes later to chat. These two are amazing. He is 90 years old and she is 87. What a wonderful testament to marriage, to life, to everything. THIS IS LIFE!!!!!

Happy Easter!!!!

How was your day? How was your month?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

A Very Happy Saturday

I can’t tell you how many times I am late getting somewhere because I will be driving down the road and see a beautiful sight that would make the most beautiful picture. Of course then I have to pull over and take the picture or fifty pictures and time just gets away from me.

Since I had the day off today I took a different road into town. I love to do this when I get a chance and see what new things are going on. I hope you do that every now and then because taking a different route is so refreshing. I had unlimited time to get into town and get my groceries today, forgot to pre-order again, so stopping and taking pictures before getting groceries was probably a form of procrastination. I hate actually going into the store and spending an hour or so gathering groceries. BUT!!! I did see some amazing sites. The trees here are starting to bloom and there is lots of color all over the woods. It was overcast and cloudy but that just added to the beauty of the day.

The road I took also takes me into a small nearby town, Tellico Plains, that I love, it is just the most charming little town. I decided while I was out I would stop at the Mennonite Farm Market. Yesterday was the first day they opened for spring.

The market had mostly baked goods and plants of all kinds including tomato plants and herbs. Not a lot of vegetables have come in yet. Of course there was still the handmade soaps and jams and jellies. I bought some of the apple butter and a tomato plant. Mark loves tomatoes and he hates the taste of the ones in the grocery store. This plant is supposed to produce tomatoes in about sixty three days so we shall see. It is a container plant and will sit on our deck.

I hope I have good luck with this guy.

The Redbuds are blooming!!!! I just love them. By the time they are bloomed out they are actually purple but the pods when they first come out are red and that is why they are called redbuds. When I see the redbuds I know that spring is officially on the way. But don’t forget Redbud Winter is one of the first winters we experience in the south between spring and summer. So that should be here within the next couple of weeks. The temperatures will turn really cool for a few days.

See how red the little pods are before they bloom out.
Beautiful Countryside
You can see the reflection of the cows in this pond.

I continued my drive into town and a terrible thunder storm hit just as I was pulling into Walmart. I sat in the car for a few minutes and the rain stopped. I ran up to the doors at Walmart and the power was out and they weren’t letting anyone in. I waited a few minutes and went back to the car. It was noon so I went through a drive through to grab a hamburger and sit in the parking lot and wait until they let people back into Walmart. It was almost an hour before I was able to get my groceries. A rather long morning but the fact I didn’t have to be anywhere made it great!!!!

I got my groceries, forgot to pick up the mail, oh well and went home. The rain continued so we all took a huge nap and I read a book and cooked dinner. A pretty good Saturday. I had a really crazy week so having an uneventful lazy, picture taking, napping, reading, cooking and just enjoying the rain kind of day was exactly what I needed.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Goodbye Winter

Can you believe it is spring of 2021? Remember this time last year when the pandemic was just starting to make a difference in our worlds? I think spring almost slipped by without notice. As many things did of course.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts spring is definitely in the air. Trees are blooming, buds are popping out daily, the grass is getting greener and mowier. But I have to give winter it’s due diligence. Winter I love you. I love you for many reasons: I don’t have to bare a lot of this super frighteningly white skin. I feel more secure in layers. I can wear my stretchy pants and boots and I look somewhat stylish. I can pull a toboggan or hat over my staticky hair and it still looks fine. I can spend more time indoors, it is cold after all. Knitting is much more fun in the winter months when it is cold and you have yummy warm yarn resting on your lap and legs while you knit. Hot coffee and warm banana bread on a cold morning is just heavenly. Walks with the babies while I am bundled up and breathing the cold air is invigorating. I don’t sweat as much. I love wearing boots but in the south it is just too hot to wear boots all year long, winter is best for boots.

So you can see my love for winter is pure and true. I could go into some of the yucky winter things like icy roads, I’ll stay at home. Hibernation, I am the queen of that thank you very much. Boredom, I have never been bored in my life I can always find something to entertain me. Having to bundle up every time you go out, see the paragraph above and you will understand. No I can’t think of a lot of reasons to dislike winter.

Spring arrived yesterday with sunny skies and a slight breeze ruffling the trees. The air was soft and sweet like it is before the hot temps and humidity set in. It was a great day. I took the babies on a couple of walks and they seemed to enjoy being outside sniffing the grass and anything else they could plant their little noses into. It was so nice being outside and enjoying the sunshine and spring air.

So goodbye winter until we meet again and if you are from East Tennessee you know that could very well be next week, HA!!! It isn’t actually spring until we go through all the winters in the south. I know I have mentioned these a few times but here is a few that I swear by:

Redbud Winter – Mid-March to early April, when the redbud trees bloom.


Dogwood Winter – Mid to late April, when the dogwood trees bloom. Often a heavy frost falls in dogwood winter.


Blackberry Winter – Early to mid-May, when the blackberries are in full bloom. In the Tennessee mountains, this often coincides with the last frost of spring, which can kill new plantings on the farm.


Whippoorwill Winter – Mid- to late May, when the whippoorwills can first be heard in the twilight of evenings and before dawn.

There are a couple of others but these are the ones I grew up with. I would often hear my parents say its’ “Blackberry Winter, the black berries are blooming.” I knew that summer would soon be arriving but for a little while longer we would have to add an extra blanket on the bed.

My husband makes fun of me for believing in these different winters but that is what a lot of farmers use as a guide for planting different things. I can assure you they happen year after year. Who am I to question nature. Plus it gives me a little more of winter to enjoy. Now where did I put my sweater???

No matter the season,

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!