Today we enjoyed a Sunday drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This year is not a spectacular year for leaf peeping but we still saw some pretty color. Here you see the James River with the town of Big Island in the distance. The Blue Ridge Parkway is just beyond Big Island. A drive on…
This coming weekend is supposed to be the peak of foliage in the mountains surrounding our home. The trees in our area are starting to show some color, and as always, the show is a pretty one. Last Sunday we headed to the lake for one last boat ride and to take the boat out…
Fall is not my favorite season, but I do enjoy the decorations. I’m late in decorating this year and thought that winter just might arrive before I finally got around to decorating. Last Sunday I had a bit of time to pull out my boxes and look through my things. It’s always fun to unwrap…
An annual Smith Mountain Lake event is an October charity home tour. I’ve never had the opportunity to go on the tour until this year. The great thing about this tour is you can travel from house to house by either car or boat. It was a beautiful day, so we traveled by boat. I…
I needed a treat to take to school on Monday and read about an easy muffin that could be made with just two ingredients. Two ingredients? I really wondered if this “recipe” would work and had to try it for myself. I’m happy to report that it does indeed work and it’s quite good! The…
Growing garlic is super easy and it’s now time to plant. Back in June, I did a post on harvesting garlic and had requests for a “how to” post when garlic planting time arrived. Get out your shovels because planting time is now! The first step in planting garlic is to pick a spot where…
Last Friday I went to the State Fair of Virginia to help chaperone an 8th grade field trip. Our group participated in an FFA forestry competition in the morning and then enjoyed the exhibits and rides the rest of the day. My job for the day was to photograph our students while competing. It wasn’t…
It’s football season, the perfect time to flaunt your school colors, and one of my school colors just happens to be orange. In the middle school where I teach 7th grade, there are many special days where teachers and students dress to support their favorite school. I love an opportunity to show my Virginia Tech…
Early this summer, Kevin and Amanda posted a recipe for Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treat Pralines that I thought looked to good not to try. I bought the ingredients the next day, printed the recipe, and almost three months later finally tried this yummy treat for myself. Traditional Pralines contain nuts and don’t contain either…
I am having trouble getting motivated to decorate for fall this year. A bit of it has to do with laziness as I have zero motivation to pull out my many fall boxes, unpack them, and then try to figure out where I want to put what. Maybe the motivation will hit me next weekend. …
Our local historical foundation hosts a house tour each fall. Usually my mom, aunt, and cousin tour the homes with me, but this year I was on my own. I started the tour at this Queen Anne/Colonial Revival, circa 1911, which has been extensively remodeled over the past two years. I pass this home by…
This spring I crafted a fabric wreath that I enjoyed very much but by fall it was badly faded. I really like the design of the wreath and wondered if I could paint it with fall colors. My experiment worked! I started by spray painting the entire wreath with a tan paint that I had…