On A Cold Winter's Day

**I actually started this post on Sunday, and today is Tuesday.  We never got the snow I was hoping for when I started writing this, but there is still hope.  They are now forecasting snow for this coming Saturday.**     It's Sunday afternoon, and we are having a bit of snow here, off and on (mostly off).  In the part of town where my mom, sister, and niece live, they have a few inches covering the ground already.  Hal and I have really hoped for a pretty snow this year, so we shall see.  It has been bitterly cold here for the last few days, for sure.  Is it cold where you are?     Our son gave us a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas (750 pieces) and we started on it Friday night.  It's challenging!  We've got sections put together, but we've got a long way to go.  I thought I would share some of the things I've been reading lately.     

Home and Travel

Hello all!  Are you having a good summer so far?  Ours has been a mix of good, not so good, and chaotic.  The good part is that our flowers, trees, and shrubs are blooming prolifically.  I'm guessing all the rain we got in the spring must have really helped out.  The not so good is that the weeds are also flourishing (as usual) and I just can't seem to get on top of them.  Also, we had to have repair work done on our practically-new refrigerator, and I've decided that things really aren't being made to last these days.  We're hoping the fridge truly is fixed because I love everything about it -- looks, layout, design, convenience.  In addition, we've just replaced a coffee maker which was just a little over a year old; it started leaking out onto our countertop.  Roseanne Roseannadanna is right, folks, "It just goes to show you, it's always something -- if it's not one thing, it's another." 😏   

Former U.S. Coast Guard Station on St. Simon's Island  

2024 Winter Products

Hi folks.  On occasion, I have shared some fun finds here that bring us pleasure in our home.  I'm not affiliated with any of these products, nor do I receive any compensation for talking about them on my blog.  These are just things I'm enjoying at the moment and thought you might be interested in them, too.     First thing I wanted to share is this new-to-us milk we purchased this week at our local grocery store.     

2024 So Far

Hello Friends, how has your week been?  Mine has been quiet -- and cold.  I wanted to share a few miscellaneous things with you all.     

   

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. 

   
  

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.     

      

November -- Dried Flowers, Photography, and Calligraphy

Hello dear readers.  Are you having a good week and a good November?  It has been a beautiful month so far, and I just cannot believe how gorgeous the foliage has been this fall.  I shared with you last week some photos from our drive in the mountains, but really, that didn't begin to touch on all the beauty we've seen the past few weeks.  The colors this year are so vibrant, and they're everywhere.  When we go somewhere (and if Hal is doing the driving) I find myself looking along both sides of the road constantly because that colorful foliage is a sight to behold.           

Our maple tree last Wednesday   
      

Book Review of "Towers In The Mist"

"No, there is no death, thought Philip, only a perpetual readjustment of the garment of life....And how lovely, and how endlessly various, is this garment." ~Elizabeth Goudge
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was reading Towers In The Mist, by Elizabeth Goudge.  I finished this around the end of March, and wanted to share my thoughts here.  This book is part of a series, The Cathedral Trilogy, and I've previously read the other two books.  Towers In the Mist and The Dean's Watch were my favorites.     

    

A Quiet Monday (President's Day)

Hello everyone; how was your weekend?  Such an exciting time of year, no?  😴😴😴  I'm feeling waterlogged with all this rain, rain, rain.  Mr. Forest Manor actually has today off work, which is a first for him.  They were recently bought out, and the new company takes President's Day as a holiday.  We would love to go somewhere just for the day, but we'll be staying here.  Normally, we'd just take a drive into the countryside or maybe up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but who wants to drive in this weather?  Sigh.      I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day.  💘  Hubby brought me a pretty bouquet of flowers from the grocery store, and I'll take a picture later in the week to share.  I didn't do a Valentine's table this year, but here is last year's tablescape, if you're interested.   

     

Christmas Reading

In mid-November here in the northern hemisphere, the shadows lengthen and the darkness falls early.  Last night we were doing errands, and there was a beautiful sliver of a new moon -- an eyelash moon.  When I took Duncan out at bedtime, the stars were twinkling and were a beautiful sight to behold.  I love this time of year.  When we're out, I like to see lamplight in people's windows; it projects warmth and coziness to the outside world.  If you're lucky, you might catch glimpses of bookshelves filled with books, pictures on the wall, or family gathered around the table for dinner.  Perhaps the curtains are drawn and you'll only see the warm glow behind them.  Nevertheless, it speaks of home and hearth.     I know some of you have already begun decorating for Christmas.  We have not, but we'll probably need to start soon.  As part of the season's rituals, I like to start my Christmas reading around the end of November or first of December.  I usually read the same books every year, but they always seem to make me happy.  I am thinking of finding some new things to add to the list though.   

October 30th, This and That

Can you believe tomorrow is the last day of October?  2020?  What a year, right?  I hope you're enjoying a beautiful autumn wherever you may be.  We have some pretty colors here in our town, but we've seen prettier.  Weekend before last, we drove up to the mountains for the day, and the colors were so dull; it was as if the leaves were seriously considering just skipping the whole show this year.  It was a disappointment, for sure.  Chalk another one up to 2020.  I am thankful for mostly blue skies and puffy white clouds today.  Yesterday, we suffered the leftover wind and rain of  Hurricane Zeta, and I realize that what we had was mild indeed compared to what the people of Louisiana have been hit with.  There were several large trees down in our neighborhood and the surrounding town; this morning we heard that about 100,000 residents in North Carolina are still without power.  In looking at pictures of the Gulf Coast, we were very fortunate.   

   

Watching "Dunkirk," Reading Ken Follett, and Spending Time With Family

Happy Columbus Day everyone.  Before I get to the rest of my post, I want to say that I've really had a challenging time lately with blogging, and especially visiting other blogs.  At first I thought it was Blogger, but now Mr. Forest Manor and I have determined the problem is with my browser, Google Chrome.  Certain blogs would open and load immediately for me, and others refused to load.  I was not able to visit my friend Betsy at Estelle's, and I wanted to leave some comments for her.  I also tried to visit Michele at Finch Rest and Martha at Lines From Linderhof.  I've now switched to using Microsoft Edge as my browser, and that is working well (for now).  Is anyone else out there having these kinds of problems?     

   

Untitled

Hello Dear Friends.  Once again, I've been absent for a bit, but right now, I imagine everyone is so shell-shocked they haven't even noticed.  At the moment, I'm dealing with a case of Bell's Palsy for the third time in 26 years.  If you're not familiar with it, the short explanation is the doctors aren't sure what causes it, although a virus (not CoVid 19) is one of the possibilities.  At any rate, there is pressure on one of my cranial nerves, which causes a temporary (I sincerely hope) paralysis in the right side of my face.  It's difficult to blink my right eye, to eat and drink, and to talk.  Today makes a week since it first started, and I finished my round of steroids yesterday.  We're seeing a very slight improvement, so I hope it will heal completely, as it did the first two times.             

Bits and Bobs

Hi everyone!  How was your weekend?  We just returned home yesterday from two and a half days in the mountains of North Carolina at Nantahala Lake.  It was so nice to have a little getaway.  I didn't take a single picture while we were there, just too much going on.     

Dry Falls near Highlands, NC  

The Beauty of Books

"Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house."~Henry Ward Beecher       I love this quote and couldn't agree more.  I'm taken aback when I see a house with no books; it just doesn't feel like a home to me.    

January Days

Happy Friday everyone!  I trust you all had a good Christmas and New Year.  This is one of my favorite times of the year -- after the Christmas holidays are over and we can catch our breath again.  I love putting out my new calendars, which are like lovely, clean slates, and knowing that I have a new, promising year ahead.  Amazingly, the temperatures here in North Carolina stayed below freezing from New Year's Day until Monday, January 8th.  It made being inside the house really cozy.  The sky was blue most of that time, and I loved seeing the long shadows of the leafless tree branches.  There is beauty to be found in every season, isn't there?   I have some catching up to do for sure.  First of all, I was saddened to read about the death of Sue Grafton, author of the alphabet mystery series.  I thought it was somewhat poignant that she made it all the way through the letter "Y", but didn't make it to the end of the alphabet.    

Updates and A Wedding

Hi friends!  Are you ready for summer to wind down and move into autumn?  Do you have school-age children, or perhaps college students, heading back to school?  I still can't believe our son is grown; we celebrated his 27th birthday last Sunday!  How time flies, and how I wish I could make it slow down sometimes.

Happy Friday!

Hello everyone and I hope you've had a good week.  As much as I would like to post more often, I just can't seem to accomplish that this year.  If it's not one thing, it's another -- or as Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, "It's always something." ;)

Anywho, we just had an update/improvement made to our home today, and we are quite excited about it.  I don't have pictures to show you here yet; we have another related exterior project to be done, and then I can show you the before and after pictures.

Some of This and That

Hello and how is your week going?  Ours has started off well.  I got some things accomplished in the house yesterday, and we've gotten some rain here -- nice rain that falls rather softly as opposed to the gully washers that summer often brings.  I'm so sorry for the terrible flooding and deaths the people of West Virginia are dealing with right now.

What Are You Reading?

Hello all!  I hope you're having a good week so far -- we're almost halfway through.