Hello and happy Monday. What a fun weekend I had. My friend Lorie and I decided a couple of weeks ago to check out the annual Lavender Festival in Oak Ridge Tennessee. Oak Ridge is about an hour from us.
The Lavender Festival has been held annually since 1999, always the third weekend in June because that is when the lavender is in bloom in Tennessee, and was voted “Best Festival” last year by The Middle East Tennessee Tourism Council. The Festival is free and so is parking. More than 150 vendors are set up for the festival. There were several bands playing and lots of food and drink vendors. There were some Lavender garden tours that could be purchased but you had to sign up for those and I think there was an additional fee for those.
Lorie and I took off early Saturday morning and got to the festival around 9:30. Lorie spotted a prime parking spot very close to the entrance. What luck. The weather was perfect. It did get a bit warm as the day wore on.
I bought one of these lavender plants and then discovered they are toxic to cats. Lorie is taking it to her house.
This booth had infused glass. I love the designs. This artist has amazing talent.
There were a couple of vendors selling these concrete planters. They are made by mixing concrete and pearlite together and putting them in boxes or buckets to frame them. I bought the one on the right with this gorgeous succulent.
We didn’t get to try the lavender lemonade the line was just too long.
Beautiful and smelled so nice.
Several Bands were playing. This one was really good.
More of the infused glass. I especially loved the little cat ornaments.
Lots and lots of flowers, succulents and even fresh fruits and vegetables. Lots of everything.
By mid afternoon the crowd had really grown.
Me and Lorie. We have so much fun when we get together. I love hanging out with her she is up for whatever adventure we get into. Nothing is too crazy for us when we get together. This might be good or bad, HA!!! We decided to make the Lavender Festival an annual event for us.
We didn’t get to try the lavender lemonade but we did try the Bold Rock Blackberry Cider. It was yummy and really hit the spot in the heat of the day
Before coming home we stopped in Sweetwater at Sweetwater Creamery and got some ice cream. This is such a cute place and the ice cream is homemade and delicious. I got Peppermint Pattie.
Peppermint Pattie. They also make the waffle cones daily. This is a single scoop!!! Yummy.
I brought my succulent home and put it on the deck. I think it fits in well with the rest of my cactus family.
Sunday was a rather quiet day. Mostly hanging around the house with hubs and working on clearing some things from the garage. A really nice weekend. How was your weekend?
Hello and happy Monday. I had such a lazy weekend. I like having those occasionally but they make me feel like a sloth, and that I should be doing more. I did the usual groceries, laundry etc etc. Mark was off on Sunday and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs outside. We’re trying to do some summery things but we both like being inside. Mark has really bad allergies. Plus it is rare lately that we have days off together.
The first thing I did Saturday morning was give some much needed attention to my orchids. I have ten now. I had one that was needing to be repotted. I don’t like repotting unless I really have to, but with this one I had to do. The roots looked terrible. I trimmed off the rotting roots and replanted her in a clear planter with fresh orchid potting medium. I gave all the others some love and trimmed off a couple of dead stems. They all seemed much happier.
I also did my grocery pick up but I wanted to stop at a little Marketplace in town. It is set up in a large building decorated with individual booths. So the booths can be very different. I didn’t have a lot of time but I will go back this week and get some things I had my eye on. Look at this little Americana Uncle Sam:
Isn’t he adorable.
And I love the weathered look of these flags.
Of course seeing those flags made me want to come home and get some of my patriotic things out. I made these flags two years ago. If you missed the post on how to make them you can check it out here. Patriotic Bouquet. I actually thought it was last year that I made them. But I started going back through my posts and realized it was two years ago. Man, time flies. That could also be the reason they are looking a little worn HA!!
Last week I finally got around to painting my little wrought iron bench. I did the chair a while back. This bench was in pretty bad shape. It came from my mother in law’s house. It had been in her garage for many years. It had a lot of rust spots on it. I scrubbed it down and painted it black. I used a spray paint with primer. I love the way it turned out.
A few weeks ago I bought a tomato plant from the Mennonite market near my house. It is doing great!! It has about twenty five tomatoes on it. They are all green and I can’t wait till they get ripe.
Tomatoes. I don’t even eat them but Mark does.
Marigolds are blooming. I just love the orange ones.
How have things been with you? Have a wonderful week!!!
Hello and happy Friday!!! The weather here has been very nice, so that is definitely a favorite for this week. The temps have been in the low eighties and the humidity has been low. The mornings have actually been chilly, sweater wearing weather. This has made for some wonderful pre-summer days. Lots of people are starting to take vacation and it is just a lovely time to be out enjoying the sunshine.
First and foremost I have to tell you my that my Friday Favorite of all time happened today. I have been keeping you up on the journey with my sister, Sandy, who has Lymphoma. She had her last treatment about five weeks ago. Last week she went for a PET Scan to determine if there were any cancer cells present and today we went to the doctor for the results. SHE IS IN REMISSION!!!!! This is just the best news that we could have ever hoped for. She is feeling so much better and moving around much better. I think we were both so excited we could have hugged and kissed the Doctor and the NP and everyone at the hospital. It has been such an incredible time for her. She has truly been through it. She is such an incredibly strong person.
Of course after the doctor visit we decided to do a little shopping. I have to be honest with you. I just wasn’t feeling the shopping vibe today. Hubs and I are going to the beach in a couple of weeks and I was thinking I probably could use a few things. But you know what? I need nothing. I have actually been going through my closet and I am getting ready to purge about half of it. I’m talking about clothes I don’t wear and keep pushing around in the closet until I am sick of it!!!! They are going!!!!! So with all of the clothes I have, and many that I don’t even realize I have because of all the closet clutter, why would I go and buy more? It just doesn’t make sense and I am going to stop it. I am going to shop my closet first. I started doing this several years ago and then went back to the mindless buying of things I really didn’t need. So I am going to make a conscious effort to use the things I already have. Clothes, purses and shoes are plentiful in my closets. I do not need to bring in more. And to be honest with you sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I have that I am not using. Do you ever feel that way?
Here are a few other Favorite Things I am loving:
I had lunch with my friend Lorie last week and she gave me a beautiful orchid. I named her Clementine. She fits in perfectly with my other orchids. Lorie always knows exactly what I love and we have the best time together. We have made a pact to try and have lunch at least once a week. Even if it means her coming to my work with lunch or me going to her house with lunch. I think the important thing is just being together and sharing much needed time together. I fully believe in cultivating your friendships.
Meet Clementine. Isn’t she beautiful?
Have you tried the new Blue Bunny Soft Serve? I had been seeing it all over FB and TikTok so I finally found some in town at Walmart. Our Walmart only had the vanilla. It’s pretty good. I do want to try the chocolate I think it would be really good. I’ll keep you posted on some different flavors.
I was at CVS earlier in the week and a few impulse items were near the counter I saw this Dove cream. I know it says body cream but I like putting it on my hands throughout the day. It was only $1.19 and I got one to put on my desk at work. It’s a fairly good size tin of cream. Check it out if you are at CVS. My hands get so dry sometimes from working in flowers and dirt and washing them all the time. I just love some of those little impulse buys. I am a true sucker for them.
I just had to show you these oven mitts I got today at T.J. Maxx Only because they are so cute and yellow and yellow is one of my favorite colors right now.
I got my kitties some of these flavored lickable cat treats. I got the tuna flavor. I was hoping to lure my outside kitties a little closer to me. They were more curious than willing to lick it. But I can report that my big boy Gus who stays inside the house absolutely loved it.
So how was your week? Any favorites that you want to share? Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!
Southern Patches 