Our granddaughters were in this past week, and I enjoyed doing some crafts with them. We got out the Mod Podge. We had a ball!
There’s always dogs present here at RiverCliff Cottage, but were there beagles?
Nope! Something much sweeter was here than a beagle…
And…
Hope you are having a wonderful day!
Since Mike’s son and his family have been visiting this week, I have not been on the blog too much. I’ve missed it. We’ve been pretty busy but I’ve squeezed in time to read a little bit of Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. I’ve actually been both listening to it on CD when in the car and reading it when I go to bed.
Barbara (I’m throwing her name around as if she and I are pals…I’ve never met her) lives in Meadowview, Virginia. We are almost next door neighbors! When it comes to rural life in the south, she gets it.
However, this book is so much more. It’s about climate change, monarch butterflies, the amazing Dellarobia and the “Lord’s business” in the lives of the fictional Feathertown set in rural East Tennessee. It also celebrates the “forever” friendship of two women.
If you like to read, you’ll love it, and you’ll be smarter for the time you invest.
One day, I don’t know when…I will have the much-talked about Yard Sale. I’m still finding the things that will go in this sale. There were a few things above the refrigerator that I never use, so I got up on a chair and peeked in. Here’s what I saw…YIKES!!!
Since this cabinet is taller than me, I have been..tossing the wax, plastic and foil wraps up there. Shame. I decided to fix this mess following the basic principle of my home organization process…”what do I already have that will make this better?” I explained what I needed to Mike…”a way to keep the wraps so that I know where they are and they are all kept together.” He said “well, what would Sam’s Club do?” Sam’s Club makes sure their boxes work for both neat display and easy identification. Me and Sam’s Club! We have the same goals!! From now on, when it comes to organization, it’s WWSCD!!
So off to Sam’s Club, and we found the perfect box. We casually walked the aisles with a cart picking out the best box. We even used a tape measure. So bold! (There were a lot of boxes that we brought home for other projects..more about that later.) Here she is…a beauty! She has a front for me to label and nice sloping sides to keep my wraps neatly arranged.
We celebrated our successful hunt with a fine meal…Sam’s Club pizza and a soda!
Back home at the real RiverCliff Cottage, the box had to have a little of the chalkboard spray paint on it…
I made labels so I’d know exactly where my wraps can be found…
Put them on the box….
And then I slipped the wax paper, plastic wrap and foil into the box. It’s ready to go back in the cabinet which will now be organized! I’m so happy with this!
And Chrissy had some other recommendations for the wonderful Sam’s Club boxes.
I have a whole stack of boxes out in the garage. The possibilities! What would Sam’s Club do?
They are alive! Gerald opened up my two hives for a peek last week and to add a super. He said they looked healthy. Busy as bees. I am afraid to hope…but maybe these are the bees that we’ve been waiting for.
In the early morning, before they leave the hive, I stand behind them and they sound like electric wires buzzing. They are getting ready for their day.
Our house has a front porch, and people often comment about the view when they visit. Words like “I’ll bet you sit out here and really enjoy the view, don’t you? ” We do. Sort of. Actually, we are usually working so hard that when we do take notice, it’s a brief moment of appreciation while we’re outside doing something.
Just one week ago, we had raised beds full of potatoes and onions. This week, all that remains is cucumbers, some peppers and my volunteer pumpkin plant. We’ve got all the potatoes out and all of the onions out. I’m going to plant something else in those five empty beds next week.
The potatoes are all safely housed in the garage refrigerator or our neighbor’s root celler. Part of the onions(the white ones) are in the frig and the others (the yellow ones) are lying on the steps and picnic table drying a bit. I’ll tie them and hang them on the back porch.
We’ve also had lots of weeds! Fortunately, young Oth helped me with the weeding on Saturday.
His brother, Neth, has been working one day per week helping this year, and Oth likes to tag along. Neth and EJ, the other brother who is younger than Neth but older than Oth, delegated the weeding job to Oth because “he’s lower to the ground.” He doesn’t mind. He earns extra money and then he and Mike go down to the river to fish.
Looks nice after Oth weeded, doesn’t it? I really like the mandevilla. By June, the perennials are not putting on quite as good of show, and the annuals have to work harder. This mandevilla does the trick, and the cats haven’t been able to kill it. Speaking of cats…did you know that the Elk Knob employees who are working on the Barnrock Road project in Mendota saw two black mountain lions? A friend of mine, Dreama Dean, saw a large mountain lion across the river from us but that was 20 years ago. I feel fortunate to live in a ecosystem that is supporting not only our bald eagles but a diverse animal population. In my yard, however, we mostly support a LARGE and HAPPY skunk population with an occasional possum. If you try to break in a house in our area, there are all the normal dogs, guns, security systems etc….but the real deterrent is that you will probably get skunked! We don’t step outside at night. Too risky!
Back to the garden and my mandevilla….
And speaking of working…I have been working so hard on dragging stuff out for my future yard sale. I’ve postponed my yard sale twice. It’s going to happen in mid-July now. I’ve been removing things from the attic above the garage, the guesthouse, and the attic above the house. Too many hiding spots. Gerald, my brother-in-law, was shocked at the amount of stuff. “Where did all that stuff come from?” …that was his question. Here’s a couple of pictures just to give you an idea of the magnitude of junk.
And another…
My garage sale is household items, so I’m grouping them by use such as kitchen, linens, fabric, living room, etc. I’ve spent most of this weekend going through boxes looking to see what was in them, washing what was in the box and determining if it goes in the garage sale, goes in the trash, or is something I want to keep.
I am pooped!
Tonight we had some visitors in Mendota — the Bristol, Virginia Show Choir made up of senior citizens from 55 years of age upward. I went to their show at the Mendota Community Center, and I promised I’d include them on RiverCliff Cottage. Warning…there are LOTS of pictures here. They were inspiring and talented. (Note — if you’re a member of the Show Choir and want to see all of the pictures, please visit me on Facebook and send a friend request. https://www.facebook.com/eva.beaule I’ve got the album posted).
It was a fun evening. I forgot my camera so I had to leave and go get it, so the first four songs or so are not included here. Sorry! As I entered, this fella was finishing and, unfortunately, I didn’t know the song!!
A colorful Dixieland group came on next…
Complete with a instrumental section…
Another picture…
Danny Hill is the ringleader of the group. Danny has ties to Mendota via the late Jewel and George Osborne. He also was my nephews’ youth director when they were at North Bristol Baptist. We really appreciate Danny working with the Mendota Community Association and setting this up.
Remember the song “Your Mama Don’t Dance And Your Daddy Don’t Rock ‘N Roll? This twosome danced to it. Really fun. I have three pictures of them.
Another…
Third one…
This lady did a great Patsy Cline. Strong voice!
June couldn’t be there with Johnny, so Patsy Cline joined him. They were “hotter than a pepper sprout!”
And is any rural show complete without Minnie Pearl?
Three Dog Night was represented in “Never Been To Spain”
This lady sang…
And this “chick” really put the steps to the music. Very fun.
Nice gospel song was next..
The gospel group was followed by a contemporary Christian song. Very nice, and it was accompanied by sign language. I think this one was my favorite…
And a salute to those who serve..
With a real salute…my friend Joann and I saluted back!!
That about wrapped up the evening. We thought about asking for an encore, but it was hot on the stage and everyone probably needed a rest. Whew! I did and I was just watching!! There was about 75-100 people in the audience. We made a lot of noise!! I hope they come back.
These chickadees gave us a little wave before they dashed off to the big city of Bristol.
There may be snow on the rooftop but there’s some fire in the furnace with these folks!! I loved them!
We had a fast but BIG rain yesterday and everything starting growing again. Here’s some before and after pictures of things photographed last week compared to how they look today.
First, however, let’s start with the Five-Gallon Bucket Tomatoes..I took this picture about two weeks ago….
And here’s a photo taken today. The tomato on the left is the same as the one pictured above….they have filled out, and we’ve now staked them. They smell so good…”tomatoey!”
Susie Vines (Thumbergia) are one of my favorite plants. They grow easily from seed. This pot had four seedlings in it (started in the JSB Horticulture class) in May. This was taken on Sunday.
Susie Vines “After”…taken today…Thursday.
Impatiens on Sunday…(Before)
Impatiens on Thursday…(After)
I plant a lot of impatiens because they’ll grow together and crowd out the weeds. Lazy gardner!
This past weekend, I removed all of the potatoes from the raised bed garden. All of our Yukon Golds are safely tucked in the garage refrigerator or in my neighbor’s root cellar — about 120 pounds.
And here’s a small portion of the onions. Onions do not continue to grow after Summer’s Solstice, so I pulled a few up. I have a lot left in the garden. If you look to the right in the picture, you’ll see more potatoes, too!
And I’d better put my shoes on and get weeding…
Hope your garden is growing well!
I’m working on “refreshing” our guest bath. If I can ever get a decent picture, I’ll post it. The bathroom is small–tub, sink, potty and small linen closet and small window. There’s not room for a lot of decorative items, so anything in there is going to have to be decorative AND useful.
I thought this little Target basket would look nice holding wash cloths.
I’m using red in this room so I’m adding burlap ribbon trimmed in red-checked buttons to the basket. I like this ribbon as it already had the buttons on it.
I hot glued it on…it looks askew in this picture and that is because the basket is not symmetrical. I’m okay with that. I realized…after looking at this picture…that this looks more like a little man’s upside down hat with a bunch of washcloths in it!
Oh well! I still like it!!
Something that I’ve been working on here and there is selling tickets for “I’ll Fly Away” — the Mendota Cemetery Quilt. You can read about that here, and here’s a picture of her. She’s a beauty.
Have you heard the song the Carter Family made famous…Alison Krauss and others have kept it going…we sing it at church.
Some glad morning when this life is o’er,
I’ll fly away;
To a home on God’s celestial shore,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).
Chorus
I’ll fly away, fly away, Oh Glory
I’ll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).
Our goal is to sell a ticket to every state in the United States — this must be done by the 4th Sunday in August when we have the drawing. Here’s where we are….
A respectable start, don’t you think? But does anyone out there know anyone in Nevada….or Oregon??? And the countries? Who knew we’d sell tickets over the pond?
Want to help out? Email me!! The tickets are $1.00 each.
Now why would a group of women get together and make a quilt and get no monetary benefit from all this work? The answer to that question is rooted within rural life. We help each other out.
A few weeks ago, I made a sign that said Swinging Bridge Road and I thought I’d put it with the numbers “4457” which is my street address.
I still don’t know where the Swinging Bridge sign will go although I have a few ideas. I do know, however, that I’m not pairing it with the house numbers because they’ve headed down a different route. I found a board in Mike’s shop and spray painted it red. Actually, Mike, who is retired and has a habit of hijacking my projects yanked my spray paint from me and did it since I wasn’t doing it to his satisfaction. We then (okay, he did that, too!) attached the letters to the board. First thing this morning, before I went for a walk, ate, went to work, etc., I checked on this project to see how it looked. It took forever to dry. It wasn’t quite dry when I took this picture, but I ever-so-carefully took it out and sat it on the front porch so I could get a picture.
Here’s a close up…do you like it? I do!
This was going in my fancy garage that is all clean and organized (I’m so proud…read about this here!), but I like it so much I’m either going to put it in our home office or in the guest bathroom — right above the commode!! Really leaning toward hanging it above the commode. Just so whomever is doing his or her business knows exactly where that business is taking place.
Above the commode? Or in the home office?
I have to go out and pull weeds. Hope your week has started off well!!