"And To All a Good Night"

   

Advent

'Tis the season -- Peace be with you.        

    

Thanksgiving 2023

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Ones!  Wishing you a day filled with good food and loved ones!      

   

   

Mayberry, North Carolina

Were you a fan of the "Andy Griffith Show?"  The "Andy Griffith Show" is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from 1960 to 1968.  I guess what our family watched when I was in junior high school must have been the syndicated episodes, since I was only eight years old when the original show ended.  

An Apple Orchard and Apple Fritter Bread

The month of October is off to a beautiful start, wouldn't you agree?  In my previous post, I wrote about our little getaway to Hendersonville, in the North Carolina mountains.  On the day we headed home, we got an early start after breakfast and made our way to Grandad's Apples.  This was the first time we had ever visited an apple orchard; we've always just stopped at produce stands along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall to get our fresh apples.     

A Fun Trip to Hendersonville

Hello Friends!  Are you having a good week?  We left last Wednesday driving to Hendersonville, North Carolina, for a two-day visit.  My mom and I started this annual tradition in 2020, and this year, Hal went with us.  We all had such a good time.  The weather was perfect, and it was a real treat to get away for a change of scenery.       

      

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

Hi everyone!  Are you ready for the weekend?  Week before last, I made some homemade chocolate ice cream.  We purchased a Cuisinart ice cream maker about six years ago, but we haven't used it a lot.  We used it the first summer we had it, but after that we kind of forgot about it.  We probably wouldn't have bought one at all, except that my mom got one, and she really liked it.  She used it a lot before my dad passed away, but she hasn't used it much since.  He really loved homemade ice cream, and he was the official ice cream churner (before the electric ones came along).  However, he got too weak to use the ice cream maker before he died, so my mom got the Cuisinart.        

   

The Transition

Hello September and Happy Labor Day everyone!  I hope you're all doing well.  I guess today is the unofficial last day of summer.  

     Time to take down the summer mantel decor.        

Hello August!

Hello Dear Friends and Happy August!  Perhaps in colder climates, by the first of August, summer is starting to wane?  Here in North Carolina, it is still quite hot.  My mom's air conditioner has been out for over two weeks, but thankfully, she has a separate air-conditioned room where she can sit during the day and a place to sleep at night.  I've heard about other folks who are not so lucky.  I hope you are comfortable wherever you are during this current heat wave. 

   
  

The Summer Porch

Hi everyone!  It's been a minute, hasn't it?  I can't believe I went almost two months without writing a post.  I have truly been getting some things accomplished around here, so I finally feel like I can take a little break.  In addition, we went to the beach again in the third week of May and spent some time there with our son.  The weather wasn't good, but we still had fun.      This summer, I've been planting flowers in much of my free time.  I'm slowly adding perennials in our natural area, and I'm starting to see such a difference in that section of our yard.  We have a mature maple tree there, and we planted two limelight hydrangeas about three years ago.  They bloomed nicely last summer, and they're full of blooms starting to open this year.  We also have azaleas and Lenten roses there.  This year I've planted several more things, and I'll tell you all about them in another post.  Right now, I'm going to share the flowers on our front porch and in front of our house.     

Easter Tablescape

Hello all!  Today I'm sharing some images of my Easter table from April.  Yes, this post is a little late.  😏  I had the table set up before Easter, but since we left town the day after, I just got the pictures made this week.  Last week, it was cloudy and overcast here all week, which doesn't make for good pictures.  With the lighting in our dining room, I struggle to get good pictures even on sunny days.

   

April Days

Hello everyone -- I hope you had a good weekend!  It's been a few weeks since I've posted because we have been busy.  We had a nice Easter, and I hope you did, too.  We enjoyed Easter lunch at my in-laws' house, and Hal's maternal uncle was there with us, too.  It was so nice to see everyone.  We had a Honeybaked Ham, creamed corn, green beans, a gelatin salad, rolls, and deviled eggs.  I made a lemon loaf pound cake for dessert, and it seemed to be a big hit.     

   

What I've Been Reading

Hi everyone!  I meant to do a book post long before now, but better late than never.  These are some recent reads, as well as a few that I read last year.     

      

Paul Ciener Botanical Gardens

Happy Friday all!  What a quick week this has been.  This past Sunday afternoon, we paid a visit to Paul Ciener Botanical Gardens in Kernersville, North Carolina.  This small town is about a 20-minute drive from where we live, so not a lot of our outrageously expensive gas was wasted on this drive.  This was our first time to visit these gardens; they're small, but very pretty.           We passed under this arch to get to the main flower beds,   

   

Hello Spring and a Recipe

Our first few days of spring have been cold ones -- 26° F yesterday morning and only in the 40's throughout the day.  Brrrr!  Things are looking green and flowers are blooming, but it's still cold.  However, if our weather forecast is to be believed, the temps. will reach 80° on Friday.  Seriously?!  Yesterday, while talking with my mom, I reminded her it was the first day of spring, and "Friday is the first day of summer," I said.  😁  Welcome to North Carolina.   
Did you have a fun St. Patrick's Day?  We ate at Hal's parents' house on Friday evening; we had corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots, rye bread, and an Irish apple cake I made for dessert.  Have you seen this recipe?  It's all over the internet, and I finally decided to try it.  I'm sharing the recipe with you, and if you like apples, it would be good any time of the year, not just for St. Patrick's Day.   

The Shortest Month

Hello Friends!!  Happy Valentine's Day to you all; I hope you've had a good day.  I like what my friend Lorrie, at Fabric Paper Thread, says in her post today -- that she is of the firm belief love should be celebrated every day.  What a great sentiment.   I try to say, "I love you" to the people I love as often as possible.  Our family is pretty good about that, on the whole.  I don't treat Valentine's Day as a day exclusively about romantic love, but it's still nice to celebrate romance now and then.   

Valentine's Tablescape 2020   

Happy 2023

A new year has begun -- ready or not.  I remember how glad we all were to usher 2020 out the door, and then 2021 was not a whole lot better, as I recall.  Turns out that 2022 was not the best of years, either.  Yet, we're still here, and I'm thankful for that.     I hope you all had a good Christmas holiday; we did here at Forest Manor.  I'll share a few pictures from our Christmas decorations (for posterity).  😉  I'll try to show a few touches that were different this Christmas, since I mostly decorate the same way every year.  When reviewing Christmas 2022, there were a lot of small things that made me happy, and the small things are sometimes the best.