I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I was reading “Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver. The author enjoys pulling readers into the relationships in the book…to allow us (the readers) to see things from other folks’ perspectives. However, the final pages are the ones that have lingered with me. In this book, which I hope I don’t spoil for anyone, the monarch butterflies…the King Billies...are wintering in East Tennessee vs. Mexico. There are many factors as to why…the changing climate, availability of milkweed, etc., but it’s not a good thing. It seems to be an impossible situation.
However, there is an inkling of hope as a few of the monarchs survive the winter in spite of all of the perils. We don’t know their final outcome, but we are given hope that they may be evolving and adapting to the new “now.”
And even though it’s not “time” to put out fall decor if you’re a person who follows that type of thing (I am), these guys are tired of lying around on the ground. They are “done” and I’m adapting.
Not just one…but a bunch! A “gang” or a “gaggle”!
If you follow Pinterest, Southern Living and all the other places that feature pretty autumn pictures NEXT month, you know that I’m early in placing these pretty gourds in my foyer. What else is there to do???
This continues to be a year of change for us…our family is changing, my transition to not working is occurring, and our “dear girls” Gracie and Luckie are getting so old that they will not be with us much longer. Not all these changes are welcome or wanted, but we’re like the King Billies, we’ll adapt.
Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. I hope all your changes are good ones!!
On October 10, 2005, I began working at AGC in the Abingdon, Virginia plant– at that time called AFG Glass, and today that ended. I was very certain this is what I wanted to do in March…not as certain in May…but today as I pulled out of the Kingsport Corporate Services Office parking lot, I was happy. Starting my new life!
Fall is my favorite season of the year, and there are lots of opportunities among the family of bloggers to share fall decor ideas. I can’t wait to get started. I have some inspiration in these beautiful sunflowers my young and precious neighbor, Sarah Kiser, gave me.
So…I got home and following a celebratory nap, I continued thinking about fall. I decided there was no better time than today to start introducing autumn into my house. It was also more fun than cleaning windows. Since you enter my house from the foyer, I started there.
Here’s how my foyer has looked all summer…
So, to transition to fall here’s the minor changes I made today. I decided to use the P. Buckley Moss picture commemorating Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots festival as the festival occurs in September. The “B” was to also undergo a transformation. It is not exactly as I want it but it will work for a day or two until I fix it. Of course, I added gourds since I’m covered up in them.
However, as I looked at the picture, it just looked flat…a little blah. I like a live plant here and there — even though this topiary is not as healthy as it used to be–so I added the plant and removed a few of the gourds. Here’s what my foyer looks like tonight as I go to bed.
Back to these gourds…they are everywhere in my house. When I stumble on come up with a good idea, I get all the mileage I can out of it. I picked 200 from my garden, and when they are not rotting I really enjoy seeing them in my house. However, I have to “cull” them weekly. Here’s what happens if I forget to look through them…..
Gag…I should have warned you. This little monster was rotting in a bowl in our dining room. Does it make you hungry…want to eat at my house?
Earlier today I was completely chapped thinking I smelled cat pee in the dining room. We keep gates up to keep the cats out of most of our house, and I was immediately mad at Mike for possibly letting Sweetie Pi (she’s a mathmetician in the cat world) in the dining room. However, I could not find the cat pee. I looked…and sniffed…and looked and sniffed some more. I know…nasty.
Then, I spotted the gourds, and started pulling them out of the bowl. It was bad. There were about five that were starting to rot, and the bowl had moisture in the bottom. Guess what it smelled like?
Not to get too far off the subject, but the stinkin’ rotten gourd thing reminded me of when I was in my 20’s and worked at United Telephone in Bristol. I made a huge ordeal about an odor at my desk and had everyone looking for a dead mouse. As it turned out, it was my feet. Just thinking about it makes my face turn red.
And…I am all thumbs today. That little “B” was going to be such a smashing idea. You would have been very impressed with me…heck..I was very impressed with me! A little bit of fall themed scrapbook paper, slap the “B” on and immediate results.
I got my “B” at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon so it was a little over $1.00. I had such high hopes for my “B”.
It didn’t work out. I didn’t read the instructions. I’m getting a new “B”. I’m following the instructions after I ruined this one. Although it does look a little scary…maybe a Halloween “B”?
If you see a completed project on this blog, you will know that it was EASY with a very good success rate. Follow me…I’ll find the most mindless projects that give good results and share them!!
Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment so that I will know you’ve been here! If you like what I’ve written, please share the Facebook post with your FB friends and ask them to follow RiverCliff Cottage. I would appreciate it.
I cleaned the living room Saturday. I actually did it late Friday night because I’ve read from other bloggers that morning light is the best for taking pictures. So much learning!! So…I got up Saturday morning and took pictures.
Come in!! You’ll never visit where my living room will be this clean again. I’m not a dirty person but I’m happiest in a small mess.
But to refresh you..it’s been evolving…in this picture, which was taken with my old photo editing software before I changed to the very cool one I’m using now…I knew I wanted a “B” on the wall and I’d asked Mike to help me move the old entertainment center back in from hiding. I knew I had to make this work, at least for a while, else there would be a minor revolt on my getting any more furniture moving help. And there’s my trusted friend, the vacuum hose.
Now, here we are today. Furniture is in place. Not everything is perfect, but at least the cleaning supplies are put away and I didn’t get them in the picture.
Living Room
There has been almost no new purchases for this room in 12 years. Primarily, I moved the furniture around. I don’t have a before picture but the couch was in the center of the room. Ho hum. I was tired of it.
Here’s a picture of the current resting place for my “B”. That gourd doesn’t really go there, but I haven’t figured out what to do with her. She’s a pal of mine. I grew her a long time ago and when I shake her, she rattes. She’s like me…when I get shaken up, I get all rattled!
Here’s another angle…
The curio in the corner was a present from my husband about a gazillion years ago. We were pretty lean at that time, so he bought it unfinished.
And here’s the mantle which I’m looking forward to decorating for fall….
I always keep a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on the mantle. They remind me of my father, W. T. Barker. The P. Buckley Moss print is part one of the Rhythm & Roots series she’s doing. I haven’t bought the second one which depicts the Burger Bar in Bristol, Virginia.
The bowl with the gourds in it was a gift from a local Mendota woodturner/craftsman, Curtis. I can’t remember his last name!! If someone local is reading this, please leave a comment with Curtis’ name and I’ll correct!! The book is an old Bible that has my Uncle Johnny’s handwriting and notes in. He was actually John Pershing Parker. He’s long gone, and the Bible is almost falling apart. The cover is like soft denim. The Bible was found in an old garage Uncle Charlie (Charlie Litton) built that was being torn down by a contractor for VDOT during a road improvement project. It was worthless to him but means everything to me.
I’m feeling a bit smug about this photography software. I used a “vignette” feature on that picture which blurs the background so that the subject matter will capture the viewer’s full attention.
Here’s the coffee table with a bowl of gourds and some zinnias I picked. Like my vase?
Here’s a view so you can see why the foyer and the living room paint colors have to “talk”. It’s a little bit elongated. Sorry.
And my last picture..
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Thank you for visiting me in my living room. I like this room. It’s best feature is the paint which makes a nice backdrop for everything else. It is especially pretty when it’s snowing outside and the fireplace is burning. I am looking forward to one of those days this winter.
Good morning! I’m still reeling from singing Bible School songs…suffice it to say at this time, I know I am one of the sons of Abraham. It has been such a fun week, and we’re not quite finished, but tonight is an easy night. We have singing, refreshments and then Johnny Wolfe is taking us on a hayride. If you are reading from far away, it’s worth the flight to Bristol just to ride with us in the haywagon behind the tractor. We are going to have fun!!
Because of all the fun I’ve been having, I have not posted the winner of the dishtowel. In fact, I haven’t been on the blog to see who won the dishtowel myself. It is Brenda Dean of Hiltons, Virginia, and DRAT…I just saw her at the Rally Mart!!! I could have given her this had I got on this blog earlier today. Congratulations Brenda on your great dishtowel from Target. Here it is…you will be basking in loveliness as you dry your dishes. Oh wait…Brenda is married to Alan (Allen?)…maybe she’ll be one of the lucky ones and he will be the one basking in loveliness.
I haven’t done much around here this week. Good intentions but no results. I did, however, make a quick trip into the jungle that continues to call itself a garden…here it is…
There are about 500 little gourds that volunteered and survived because I didn’t bother to hoe the garden. I used to grow decorative pumpkins in this area–that was about five years ago–now each year these little guys come up. I went out yesterday and tossed a few to the side…here they are..
Washed them off…must have got a little soap in this baby’s eye…it’s crying…
Once they dry, I sometimes spray some poly (I will not even try to spell that word) on them. It makes them last longer. By the time I get these gathered, I usually have about 200 tucked in corners of every pot in the house. I’ll keep them and enjoy them until around Thanksgiving…or until the rot smell starts. At one time, I thought my cats were peeing everywhere because I had such a strange smell in the kitchen. Poor kitties…they took so much abuse, and it turns out, I had about ten rotten pumpkins tucked in above the plate rack that had went beyond looking bad to dripping yuck, gook and ugh. Nasty stuff.
But today, we are far away from the time of smelling rot. They are all nice and shiny….
I put a sheet that I use as a drop cloth underneath the gourds when I’m spraying them.
Now…this would be the time for me to show you these gourds in a pretty bowl in a clean room. However, I don’t have that. Yet. Instead, I’m going to show you what the den looks like…NOT CLEANED. Later today, you’ll see it all cleaned with my gourds on display.
It’s a mess…those ladders are where I’m cleaning the bookshelves and I accidentally discovered a book…I started looking at it…I started reading it. You get the picture.
Will update you later today!!
Update:
I’m not sure how many gourds I actually got but there was enough to put them here and there. They’ll really look good when fall arrives and I add some pumpkins, etc. Fall is my favorite time of the year for decorating the house.
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Picture above the mantle with little gourds below…
Hope you like the picture…chestnut genus. It’s framed in wormy chestnut. Mike made it. He and my brother-in-law, Gerald, also made the mantle which is also wormy chestnut. I love the story of the chestnut tree and what it meant to the people of Appalachia. I’m hopeful we’ll see the chestnut tree again. Lots of good work being done at the American Chestnut Foundation in Meadowview, Virginia.
Here’s a chestnut coffee table. I really like it as it’s so hard and durable. It takes a beating with feet, Wii games, etc. That’s tobacco barn siding on the “apron” of the table.
