It's been raining in Southeast Tennessee for a week! The ground is soggy and squishy, creeks are overflowing and tree limbs are so heavy they bow low or snap into.

The tiny garden is flooded......

....and my sitting place is lonely.  

The leaves glisten.......

My neighbor's old pine tree snapped into.

 The creek is rolling.....

rolling.....rolling....rolling down the river....

No picnics.......

Sometimes a blue sky peeks out from behind the rainclouds....

But it doesn't last long. 

Who'll stop the rain?



Is it raining where you are?

Shelia 

There is Beauty in Winter

We never know what to expect from Winter here in Southeast Tennessee.

Last year we saw a lot of snow and very cold weather; but this year has been a normal

rainy and dreary winter, with an occasional sunny day.

Every winter I watch the sun make its journey along the mountaintop close to my home, heading north. The further north it gets, the more excited I get; it means spring is on its way! 

This past Sunday was cold, but the sunshine was bright and called me outside for a walk. I moseyed about  my yard and then to a tiny field behind my house. I carried my camera with me because you never know what you're going to see, even in the dead of winter.

Who would have ever thought of seeing a dandelion in January? But there it was, just as bright as the sun above.  In a few days it will have changed into it's "puffball" stage.

The woodpeckers have been busy drilling holes in my Sugar Maple tree.

I am so happy to see Tulips and Daffodils popping up from the earth!  

This is my favorite clump of buttercups. I call it Mrs. Brumlow after the dear friend who gave it to me many years ago.

I looked, but I didn't touch! This vine is probably still very itchy even in its dormant stage!

The pine trees are loaded with pine cones....

and the birds are lovin' all the winter berries.

There was something living inside this little "treehouse". Seriously, I saw a couple of bright eyes peering at me from the darkness and heard the slightest scamper inside. My imagination ran away with me and I saw a tiny little kitchen, a cozy fireplace, a couple of bedrooms...and a family of little furry woods critters.

Last fall this Joe Pye weed was a beautiful shade of royal purple. I like this version too.

I hollered a 'hello', but no one answered. I could hear the Squirrel family playing in the leaves and every so often I'd catch a glimpse of a soft gray tail scurrying up a tree or squirrel chatterings behind a tree stump.

Little owls or woodpeckers? Something has excavated some really spectacular  and perfectly round holes in this tree.

Two summers ago I kept hearing something on my roof late at night, after I went to bed. It would land, BLAM! and scratch, scratch, scratch.  Then silence. My curiousity got the best of me one night so I got my flashlight, slipped out the back door and very quietly tiptoed to the side of the house. I shone the flashlight towards my roof  and a huge barn owl looked down at me. He was very dignified and didn't let on that I had disturbed him. He resumed his stance on the roof, looking out into the night for a mouse or a small possum.

It's quite a distance from my house the the back of the tiny field behind my house.  The further I walked, I noticed there were no songbirds. They are neighborly little birds and like houses and people. However, I did hear a great many crows and bluejays in the woods surrounding the tiny field.  They sounded angry, as if they were telling me to leave. 

I looked down and found a tiny patch of bluets on the ground. These early spring wildflowers are also called Quaker Ladies. They are tinier than your baby fingernail.

A narrow stream of water runs alongside the tiny field. The sound of running water has always had a soothing affect on me.  

There's an old fencerow beside the stream. It looked so inviting that I sat down in front of the tree, leaned my head back against it and closed my eyes. I felt the sun on my face and I  heard the sound of the little stream behind me, the droning of an airplane in the sky above me, the caw of the crows and jays and the scampering of little woods creatures in the fallen leaves.

This is the sort of thing that helps me get through the dreary winter days here in Appalachia. When the rain begins to fall and the color of the sky stays gray for days and days, I will remember this day and its sunshine.

Listen to the sound of  the tiny winter waterfalls in the stream ..the gurgling low notes and the tinkling high notes... the caw of the crows and imagine the bright sunshine on your face.  

 

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope, wherever you are, you have enjoyed my sunny winter day here in my corner of Appalachia.

Shelia

Saying Goodbye

I spent a portion of this weekend saying goodbye.

Goodbye Knockout Roses. You've become more beautiful since autumn arrived, but in a few weeks you will want to rest. I will see you next spring!

Goodbye Morning Glories! Remember how I planted you with the cucumbers? The cucumbers didn't do worth a toot, but you have thrived and given me so much joy for the past two months.

 Goodbye lace cap hydrangea! I am looking forward to your lacy and dreamy blue-violet blooms again next spring!

 Goodbye jalepeno peppers! You and I never got along, but Hub loves you. When Hub is happy, I am happy! We'll plant you again next year!

Goodbye Sugar Maple! Thank you for giving shade to all the porch breakfasts and suppers we had underneath your canopy this year. It seems as if I wait on you for so long to bud out in the spring. All the other trees are leafy and green and you take your own sweet time about it. You are so worth it though; I'll wait on you again next spring.

 Goodbye Encore Azaleas! I love it that in less than six months I'll be seeing your pretty salmon colored blooms again, and then again in October of next year. Encore!

 Goodbye my lovely Old Maids. You have given me many bouquets this summer and I've enjoyed every bright bloom.

 I wouldn't want my other flowers to know, but you're my favorite. Goodbye! I've saved your little seeds, so I'll be planting your offspring next year.

Goodbye vinca! Even throughout the drought and incredible heat, you continued to bloom, and bloom and bloom. I ignored you, most of the time, but it didn't seem to bother you. You just did your own thing and filled the flower beds. Thank you. I do appreciate you.

 Goodbye lawnmower! Thanks for all the work you did this past spring. Summer was dry and you didn't see much action, but we will hope that next year brings more rain, so get some rest this winter!

Goodbye Rose of Sharon!  In the middle of summer, when you are full of purple blooms and every hummingbird in the area is humming around you, I watch from the sink when I'm washing dishes.

All of that hummingbird activity makes it a pleasant task.

Goodbye little rosebud. Your timing isn't very good, I'm afraid. I hope you make it to a bloom before a frost gets you.

Oh, this is a difficult goodbye. The angle of the sun is so low that I can't use you very much in the winter. I will miss you terribly.  I will miss the fresh smelling sheets and blankets and the softness of my clothes when the wind blows them all day.   I will miss carrying my laundry basket out on Saturday mornings and sitting it on the stump, fetching my clothes pins from my laundry apron and singing every gospel song I know so loudly that they bounce off the mountain. And do you know you are my 'thinking place'?  The electric clothes dryer doesn't care about me the way you do. Goodbye.  Goodbye. Goodbye.

Goodbye little Garden Spot! We had a tough time of it this year, didn't we? You almost got washed out by the big rains in April. But you still provided us with tomatoes, peppers, beans, sunflowers, squash and a few cucumbers until the morning glory vine took over.  Then the drought began and the squash gave up first. Seems like they just melted one day when the heat index was one hundred fifteen.   Then the corn blew over during a freak windstorm in the middle of summer. 

We'll be out there to see you in February of next year, tilling and planting. The thrill of seeing little plants popping up from your tilled rows never gets old to me. I will visit you often this winter and throw coffee grounds and buckets of chicken poop on you.   

Goodbye last remnants of Summer 2011!  I've loved every second I've spent with you!

~Shelia~

A Visit to Old MacDonald's Farm

A few days ago I mentioned to Hub that I'd never been on a hayride. I think we were watching The Waltons at the time. They go on hayrides all the time and it looks like so much fun.

Hub is thoughtful. He always has been. He found a hayride. Not only did he find a hayride, but a hayride to a pumpkin patch and a barn full of farm animals and I even got to pet baby goats! I love baby goats!

We had so much fun at MacDonald's Farm. It's not too far from home, just a 15 minute ride to Sale Creek. It's a beautiful farm and you can read about it here:

http://www.oldmcdonaldsfarm.net/index-1.html

Here are a few pictures of Old MacDonald's Farm. Thanks for a very memorable afternoon Hub.

Fall Break Camping Trip, Part 3: Let's Take a Drive

Fall Creek Falls Camping Trip Part Two: October Gave a Party

Oh, how I love my mountains! Fall Creek Falls State Park is located on the Cumberland Plateau, a southeastern portion of the ancient Appalachians. The fall color hasn't reached its peak on the plateau yet; can you imagine what it will look like in a a few days?

I was reminded of a poem I read many years ago while taking these pictures. It's rather...corny... but it does give you the feel of the colorful leaves, the crisp breeze and change in the air. I especially love it when the wind blows and the leaves swirl about, drifting to the ground, like streamers at a party. 

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came-

The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand;

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind, the band.

"October's Party"--written by George Cooper

pictures taken by me.

God is so good to give us such beauty. I thank Him for it.

~Shelia~

It's Jelly Makin' Time in Tennessee!!

It's one of the first foods you learn how to make by yourself when you're a kid. A biscuit and jelly! Say you're just four years old and you feel like you are old enough, mature enough and responsible enough to learn to prepare your own food. But you're too little to fry an egg, you have no idea what a cup or a teaspoon is so you can't bake your own cake, and you don't know a bad pinto bean from a good pinto bean..... 

But you can do biscuits and jelly by yourself! Tear open the biscuit with your little hands and spoon in some jelly and you're good to go! And what's your favorite kind of jelly?

Grape!!!   

My aunt and uncle gave me a big box of concord grapes last week. The grapes came from their farm in Gruetli-Laager.

You can read about their old historic farm here: 

http://appalachiangirlintennessee.blogspot.com/2011/01/gruetli-laager-tennessee.html

So the grapes I'm going to make jelly with have a little history to them. The original grapevines, planted over one hundred years ago by Swiss settlers, are still bearing fruit today.

 

Concord grapes are not good eating grapes! They are very sour and they'll make your mouth pucker!

First thing you need to do is pick the stems off your grapes (your husband will love doing this for you! He will also tell you of the tiny little spiders hiding in the grapes and grape leaves), then you wash them really, really good in cold water. Put them in a big pot, add a little bit of water, take your 'tater masher and mash the 'far' (as we say here in East Tennessee) out of them. 

Ohhhhhhh....your house is going to smell so good! Like a winery! Look at all the different colors...they are in different stages of ripe-ination (I just made that word up), so you have dark purple, light purple and green. 

Okay, even though I am truly an Appalachian woman and I try to be all organic and natural ....

I use my dishwasher to wash my canning jars. 

There. I was honest. I'm not trying to hide anything. 

After you strain the juice out of the grapes and everything in your house is stained purple, you let the juice sit in the refrigerator all night. The theory behind this is that the refrigeration keeps it from crystallizing. Well, I don't know if that's true or not. My theory is that extracting juice is the hardest part of making jelly and by the time you've finished with it you're so worn out you need a break and a good night's rest before actually making the jelly.

The next morning you get up really early, say 6:15, and you head right for the kitchen and get the grape juice from the fridge. Might as well get the butter too, while you're in there. And go to the pantry and pull out a bag, or two, or three, of sugar. Remember! Concord grapes are sour! It'll take a lot of sugar to pull this off!

Take your clean jars out of the dishwasher :-) and put them in a pan (put a little bit of water in the pan). Turn your oven on and put the pan of jars in the oven.

Do you know what would happen if you put hot jelly into cold jars?????

You'd better be organized at this point and have all your jelly-makin' utensils, towels, jar lids and everything else you need ready because once this stuff starts cooking things start happening pretty fast!

By the time 11:30a.m. rolls around you have 28 half-pints of homemade grape jelly!!!

And to celebrate you make a tiny pan of biscuits. By the way, I love my old biscuit pan. Hub's grandmother gave it to me when we were married. She'd cleaned out her cabinets and thought I might like it. And I did and I still do. That was 35 years ago and there's no telling how old it was when she gave it to me. This pan has baked many years of biscuits!

Break open your biscuit (just like you did when you were a little kid), add a little pat of butter and a spoon of fresh warm jelly. 



Oh, now doesn't that look good? See, by the time you're fifty-three, you've perfected biscuit and jelly making and you know the proper ratio of biscuit to jelly to butter.

Share the biscuits and jelly with someone you love. I shared with Hub, since he pulled out the stems and killed the little spiders that were hiding in the grapes.)

And then you write a blog about your entire jelly making experience because....well, because it's satisfying to your taste buds and to your spirit and you don't want to keep that sort of thing to yourself!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Shelia

Please pray for the United States of America.

..and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14