day after

 Black Friday. I won't be out in it.  Will wait til tomorrow.   Hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We celebrated with the children.  Later outside to put the little silver tree in childrens playhouse.  

Now to work off most of it today by up and down in attic and decorating the outside.

Pic will enlarge if clicked on 

Almost forgot mashed potatoes in crockpot

Happy Sunday

Getting yard stuff put away and planting tulip bulbs I ordered.  Hopefully today we can put the lights up outside.  I like to have them done before the weather gets really cold. 

I picked I thought the last of the roses before the frost to use in rose jelly.  Went out today and there are more buds all over the plant.

A few Lavender springs on lavender plant. 

Pineapple sage is blooming so pretty and I guess the boxwood has protected it from frost.

I had this in a pot originally in the summer but it got so large I had to put it somewhere and the only place ready was under the dogwood tree.  

The leaves are scented like pineapple but the flowers do not seem to have any. 

Hope this hollyhock comes back next year as I am not digging it up.  It didn't bloom and I don't know why.  It has some mighty huge leaves.  The flowers on this one are supposed to be almost black.

Rose jelly I canned on Friday.  I placed a few rose petals in some jars.  The top jar is basil I did a few months back.  

this is a little more jelled than I wanted it to be.  I like it a little less so, so I can pour over vanilla ice-cream.   Tastes really good as a topping.  This jelly is the real color and no food coloring. I have to put lemon juice over the leaves the night before with sugar and then mix in rest of sugar along with water to boil and then add sure gel .   Without the lemon juice it has no color.  So what you see below is the real color.  It tastes a little citrusy with a  floral note  along with a spice taste like cinnamon.  Husband loves it on buttered toast. 

Til next time 

Fall and other stuff

 A few fall pictures from around here.  The leaves were so pretty two days ago but after the breezy day we had on Sunday, most have fallen except for a few dogwoods that haven't. They have the prettiest red leaves.   

Out my window

 front door wreath that will be switched out soon for Christmas.

The Dahlias are just so pretty still and I pick from them to bring inside just about every other day. They seem to like this pot and this is the second year in it. 

Foliage ready to drop soon but still pretty coming into our road

My daughter was here for a visit about two weeks ago and helped me put up some curtains on the porch. It's jalousie and for the winter we thought maybe they would help keep some of the chilly air off the porch.   It's used more now because of the mini split.  One day maybe we will up date windows but meantime still getting estimates and ideas for patio.  Long process.  Here is breakfast of quiche, fruit and a cappacino.

I like them o.k. The top is PVC pipe I purchased and cut to fit. I hung the cup hooks from ceiling.

It is cheaper than buying regular rods and hardware.  I think I will just get  a Styrofoam ball, paint it and push on ends   Be o.k. for a while anyway.

In the town which is a railroad town.  A nine foot stump and a train conductor carved from it.  This is something to see in person. He is holding a lantern   Looks pretty neat when riding by and seeing it from the road next to tracks.    There is more about the gentleman who carved it. Click  here

til next time

Homestead

 Old homestead site and a walking trail to the Humpback rocks at Afton Mountain.  We didn't take the hike to the rocks this time but I have been there and it's a easy hike. 

Adalyn asked me to take a video with the camera she brought.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them

Beautiful stone chimney

Root cellar

I remember Mom telling me when she was very young how their meat was hung from rafters in the smoke house. 

Plenty of history here to be taught to the girls and how people used to live and the hard work it took to survive.  I can just imagine those cold hard winters 

So nice being out in the open at the base of the mountain. 

The kissing gate is to the left here but I didn't get a picture of it.  It is just the fence that zig zags as we walk around and they call it the kissing gate, 

short clip of spring running under the root cellar.  

A look back as we head to the car.

We stopped at the Afton overlook on way back home.  Because of overgrowth we cannot see the town of Afton below.   We can see out over the beautiful mountains.

The girls were very curious about how to get down the mountain.  Believe me, Genevieve would definitely do it with a rope tied around her and shimmy down.  I must say I think it would be kind of fun to do.

A shot of the pretty foliage heading to Afton Mountain at beginning of our trip

 

Always honor our Veterans Everyday

My Husband - Army, Brother - Army, Son in Law - Army, Stepson - Navy and many more.