What Is It?

One of my dad's breakfast friends gave him a bunch of pepper plants & three of these unknown plants.  Dad passed them off to hubby & I.  

 The pepper plants went in the garden.  The three unknown plants stayed in pots on the patio.  That is they stayed in pots until we went to TN for the summer.

Hubby planted them in the ground before we left.

When we returned one of the plants had grown into a tree! 

Hubby trimmed it back, but it did not look right so he dug it up & threw it away.

I didn't even think of taking a picture before he dug it up.

I have been watching the remaining two plants.

Now they look like this!

 I had an idea of what they might be called, so of course I googled it.

What did we do before google??

The plants are Ballerina Purple Angel Trumpet Flowers!!

Here is what Park Seed had to say about the flower:

Marvelously fragrant and exotic in both color and size, this eye-popping Angel's Trumpet looks like something from a hot-house instead of an easy-to-grow, sun-loving tropical you can start from seed! Unlike single-flowered Angel's Trumpet blooms, which dangle, Ballerina Purple looks upward, the immense 6- to 8-inch flowers exquisitely whorled and twisted to show off their beauty! In the container or the sun-soaked garden, this summer-blooming show-off is a scene-stealer!

The plant is quite compact in containers, reaching only about a 2- to 3-feet high and 3 feet wide. In the garden, it forms a dense, well-branched shrub 3- to 4-feet tall and slightly wider. Beginning in early summer and continuing until the fall weather sets in, the plant is covered with magnificent blooms, so fragrant that a single plant perfumes the garden! Large, very attractive fruits follow the blooms, and should be cut for splendid accents to fresh and dried arrangements.

Tis the Crafty Season

I have been in the crafty mood lately.  

Here are some of my projects.

I went to a sewing class & learned how to make "wristlets."

I would call it a clutch purse.

I liked it so well I decided to make a couple more.

I gave the two "pink" ones to my sister for two of her granddaughters.

I will use the other one myself!

I started working on my granddaughters Christmas stocking.

We are going to visit her in November, so I have to have it completed by then.

I have made Christmas stockings for all of my family.

Most of them have been kits, but I freelanced 

my grandson's stocking & my granddaughter's stocking.

Here are the other stockings I have made in the past.

I resumed making yo-yos.  

 My mom showed me how to sew my first yo-yo 

while she was undergoing one of her chemo treatments.

My sister & I spent many hours sewing yo-yos while we waited for mom

during chemo treatments.  

My mom had started making yo-yos for a quilt many years ago.  It takes thousands of yo-yos to make the quilt.  It is a project that you work on in between other projects.  It is also a very portable project & it was easy to carry with us when we went to appointments.

We have all the yo-yos done & one of my sisters is sewing them all together to make the quilt.  Both of my sisters & I have contributed to the quilt so we decided we would pass it around between the three of us when it is completed.

I am sewing two different size yo-yos to make a cover for my cast iron skillet.

It has taken me a couple of years to be able to sew any yo-yos.

It brings back so many memories of my mom.

I attended a Dichroic Glass Fused Jewelry Class recently.

It sounded interesting & it required no previous experience.

I was a little disappointed in the class because there really was no instruction.

It turned into an "on your own free for all." 

Despite my disappointment in the class, I did end up with a beautiful necklace & earrings.

I picked up another old project that I had put aside months ago.

Two years ago when we were cleaning out my parents house that they had lived in for almost 50 years, I came home with hand sewn quilt blocks.  

My grandmother (my mom's mother) had sewn the blocks.

It was the type of thing that you couldn't donate or trash.

I told my mom I would figure out something to do with them.

I decided on a sampler quilt.

I would applique the various blocks to solid color background squares.

My first block attempt did not turn out well, so I put it aside.

After some research I discovered Heat N Bond Lite.

It was perfect for holding (no pucker or shift) the quilt block to the background block while I sewed.  I am really pleased with the results!

Here are the first four blocks that I am working on.

The last project I have worked on has been a bulletin board/chalk board made from an old painting.  I got the painting from my youngest son when we were cleaning out his house getting ready to sell it last summer.  He also supplied me with the bulletin board & the chalkboard paint.  I had to wait for it to cool off a little bit in FL, because I would be painting in the garage & I didn't want to be dripping sweat while I painted.

I forgot to take a picture of the painting before I started the project.

Here it is in process with the frame & background painted.

The completed project!!

That's all for now.  

I'm tired!!

Guard on Duty

Some people have guard dogs.  

We have guard birds!

My sister took this picture one day when she was checking on the house while I was in TN.

I discovered the new neighbors on each side of us are feeding these birds.

One day six of them were gathered on the driveway.

The neighbors across the court think that they are Wood Storks.

If so, they are an endangered species.

I don't have anything personal against the birds, 

but I really don't want them hanging around & on top of my house.
 If we still had Thor he would chase them off!

I have seen them on top of the neighbor's car.
Imagine the damage those claws could do.

This is how the neighbors try to keep the birds off the top of their car.

 

Trails of TN

Our last weekend in TN we decided to go to Clarksville & 

explore some trails at nearby Dunbar Cave State Park.

 

Luckily we never saw any snakes!

We walked the Recovery Trail first.  

At one end of the trail is Swan Lake.

The lake is fed by the cold, clear stream that flows from the mouth of a cave.

The cave was used by ancient Indians.

Artifacts have been found dating back to10,000 B.C.  

Pictographs showing religious symbols of the Native American Indians have also been found inside the cave.

The entrance to the cave is 58 degrees year round.

It made for a refreshing stop on our walk!

In the 1930s the area hosted many events such as dances, concerts & fairs.

Roy Acuff purchased the land where the cave was situated in 1948. 

It became the site of musical festivities & entertainment shows hosting big bands.  

Acuff added a golf course adjacent  to the lake.  Popularity declined & the property was purchased by another individual who operated the property until it was eventually purchased by the state of TN in the early 1970s.

The cave is now closed due to the outbreak of White Nose Bat Syndrome. 

 After the Recovery Trail we did the Short Loop trail.
A lot of the trails looked like this.
We spent a lot of time stepping over tree roots!

  Since the trals weren't very long or difficult at Dunbar Cave State Park we decided to stop at another park we had seen while driving to Dunbar Cave.

 We chose the Overlook Trail along the top of the bluff of the Red River.

Luckily hubby was leading on this trail!  

No one had traveled this trail for awhile because there were a million cobwebs.  

He eventually got tired of brushing the cobwebs out of his hair & started waving a stick in front of him as we walked down the trail.

We also walked the short trail down Old Main Street to the Pratt Truss design steel bridge built in 1890.  We then walked a side trail not marked on the map.

That was a mistake!

I can see why it wasn't marked on the map.  It was one big loop through mud!

I had worn my new walking shoes & they were caked with mud.

I had to scrape them off before I could get back in the car.

Then I had to let them dry out until the next day.  I had to use a knife to scrape the dried mud out of all the cracks in the bottom of my shoes. 

We had started down the road to the next trail on the map & decided we had had enough for the day.  Later while reading the trail brochure I discovered that trail was part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.  This was the forced march that the Cherokee Indians endured from their homelands in the southeast to the reservations in the west.

It would have been interesting to see the trail, but we were done with the mud by then.

I enjoyed the side trips we took while I was in TN.

We tried to explore new places each weekend, usually on foot.

I'm thinking I need to invest in some hiking shoes!

Back Home Again in Indiana. ooops! I mean Florida

I enjoyed spending the summer in TN, but I am glad to be back home in FL.

It was nice being closer to the kids & grandchildren.

They were only a car drive away instead of a plane ride away.

The hubby thought I should document our journey home, so here it is .  .  .  .

First pit stop . . .

(Somebody needed a bathroom break!)

We thought about taking a temp position.

Maybe these guys & their dog applied.

The beautiful mountainous scenery in southern TN.

It had been awhile since we had driven through the mountains in the daylight.

Luckily we didn't need to use the runaway vehicle ramp.

Another pit stop for me & the car!

The Atlanta skyline

Dinner stop south of Macon, GA

We realized we had eaten at the Zaxby's across the street on a previous trip.
I am NOT a fan!

Last pit stop!

The infamous King Frog is almost defunct.
There used to be so many billboards advertising for King Frog.
We had never stopped there & I was surprised that it was so small now.

I miss my kids & especially the grandchildren, but I am glad to back in the Sunshine State.
I missed the sunshine!