October 31st

Happy Halloween

I love fall.

The weather has been 

absolutely beautiful this past week.

No, there's no typical change in

the leaf colors, but the crispness

in the morning air was 

greatly appreciated.

It makes me want to make 

some nice thick soup

or a gumbo to warm up with.

The grandkids are all too old for

trick or treating anymore,

so we hope for a few

kiddies at our door each year,

but even those are getting

to be less and less.

😞

****************

The backyard crops are still

producing peppers and some herbs.

English Thyme

Rosemary

Greek Oregano

Thai Basil

Sweet Banana Pepper

Harvests from a couple of weeks.

These are all sweet pepper varieties.

I dehydrate the peppers and make 

a homemade paprika.

Very tasty!

There's no more Chicken girls,

but this was too cute not to include.

Milkweed.

There's been quite a bit of Monarch

butterflies around lately.

Mary's Garden

Fall decorated front door

The Chrysanthemums are so beautiful!

A dear friend gave me 

this monstera.

It's appropriate for 

Halloween when you 

mispronounce it as,

Monster!

Ha!

More orchid blooms.

The Paperwhite Lilies are sprouting.

They didn't do well last year.

Here's hoping they do better.

**************

My sister sent this quote to me...

"I am the daughter of a woman who,

even when broken,

kept walking.

And every time I doubt my strength,

I remember I come from her.

That's where my resilience,

my courage, and my magic

were born."

💖

*******************

This is a sad attempt

at a pumpkin face on my

homemade apple pie.

😄😕

***************

We have our family's graves

all set up for All Saints Day

*******************

************************

Remember,

life is like a camera.

Focus on what's important.

Capture the good times

and

if things don't come out so well,

just take another shot.

Thanks to all who take the time

to check out my blog,

Love y'all!

💙💚💗

 

September 30th

I love this simple little poem.

Yes, it's Indian Summer,

or as its known in these here

parts, 

Summer.

September is simply another month

to endure the sweltering heat.

Remember the old rhyme,

30 days hath September,

April, June and November?

At least it's only 30 days long.

It's our usual weather, a bit less

humid but still hot!

With no particular temperature changes

to get me ramped up for cooler 

weather, I just keep hoping next week gets cooler.

Silly me!

************************

The gardenias bloomed until last week.

That's quite possibly a first.

Sunning my Dendrobium orchid

for an hour to give it some 

humidity.

The Phalaenopsis orchid blooms finally died.

😞

Morning sunlight on some of my 

succulents.

The hanging pea sized one is called,

Baby's Tears.

********************

Banana Peppers.

They'll turn a bright orange.

Red Bell Peppers

Yellow Onion

Sunflowers

Not sure of the names of these 

pretty flowers, but they were

rescues, like a lot of our

plants.

They were half dead in a trash bin at 

Lowes, so the CEO asked for them.

Now they are thriving in Mary's garden!

My Mason jar of 

dried bay leaves.

I just cut off a new branch from our Bay Laurel tree,

wash it well and then hang upside down in our 

garage to dry for a couple days.

(This picture looks like it's levitating!)

I found a fern growing near our shed.

I tried to take a piece to 

replant elsewhere but it died.

I'll leave it to prosper in that spot.

*******************************

I'm trying to eat whole type foods

and no gluten so I can 

 help my Thyroid condition.

This is kale, hummus, bell peppers,

tomatoes and carrots.

I made a dressing by mixing the

hummus with balsamic vinegar.

It was very good!

This is a can of garbanzo beans,

drained and rinsed.

Then I dried them and added a teaspoon

of olive oil and my herbal blend.

This is also very tasty.

An interesting side effect is that

I wasn't hungry for quite a while

after I ate those for lunch.

Great!

I hope my clean food eating will become

a habit that I can maintain.

After a week, I can say that I 

haven't experienced the

reflux or bloat that I always felt before, 

and I lost 5 pounds!

Win, win!

************************

This is a song that

Frank Sinatra sung.

It's beautiful.

It says a lot about getting older

and getting the most out of life.

***********************

💚💙💗

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Means a lot to me!

Always remember,

it takes only a little effort 

to be kind.

😊

 

August 29th

Today certainly is an infamous anniversary.

Hurricane Katrina.

It's hard to not reflect on that day,

when every newspaper and news show

is posting pictures.

20 years ago, when that storm was 

barreling down on us, I had no idea

the devastation it would cause.

I was at the hospital expecting

to be there only 3 days.

The morning after proved us all wrong.

Then in 2021, we had another

brush with a Cat 4 storm.

Hurricane Ida.

This time the west side came closer

to our house.

Again, we were lucky.

There was minimal damage.

The anxiety sitting in a darkened

house, hearing the wind and rain

whip around the tree branches

causing them to break, was

something I didn't expect.

I guess it's like a type of PTSD.

But,

with prayers and preparations,

we made it through.

Here's hoping this season 

we all make it through

with no issues.

🙏

************************

It's late summer and the weather

has taken a toll on our crops.

The peppers are thriving,

but little else is.

We let all the peppers fully ripen

to their beautiful red colors.

My goal was to make my own

paprika.

I dehydrated almost all of

the red peppers and then

blended them into a powder.

This is 2 of the containers

and there's another smaller jar not pictured.

It tastes amazing!

I love it!

I also dehydrated some of the other veggies

to make my yearly herbal blend.

This is our cucumbers.

The bush has died off, but it produced

better this year than last year.

Basil

The oregano, thyme, green onions.

and mint are still doing good.

A few of the other herbs died in the heat.

************************

Sunflowers

Coleus

Ajuga

Surprisingly, the Gardenias are still blooming!

Rescue orchids.

Both are blooming.

Phalaenopsis

This one has been blooming since June!

Dendrobium

The CEO saw them in the trash bin 

at Home Depot and asked if he could 

take them.

We knew next to nothing about

orchids, so off to Google I went.

I must be doing something right

because they are thriving.

😁

****************************

We have recently had to replace a few 

items in the house.

A washing machine and a toilet.

I guess its expected in a 40+ year old home.

The thing is, I didn't expect that

a washer would be "smart" and a toilet

would have "enhanced flushing".

Wow!

Makes me think that my 

IQ is below the speed limit!

I need help with technology often and employ

the skills of my kids and 

grandkids.

I'm living in 2025, but my brain 

hasn't caught up.

I told my son that I'm an

analog person in a 

digital world.

Funny how that learning curve

wasn't really a thing for my Mom.

By the time she passed away,

the "tech world" hadn't 

really blown up as it has now.

I wonder how my parents would've

handled all this.

***********************

I read this online...

Time passes

differently in heaven.

By the time they turn around to look for you, 

you'll be right behind them.

I surely hope that is true.

My Mom and Dad.

*******************

💚💙💗