Catching Up Again

BEAUTIFUL bounty! We are eating like a king & queen! Even though it has rained and mildewed most of the vines and all of the ground, we are able to harvest some mighty tasty veggies. The corn is AWESOME this year. I only wish you could all see my Englishman trying to eat corn on the cob. SUCH A HOOT!

Zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet pepper and lettuce. SOOOO good. As the temps are beginning to fall now, and the ground is getting soggier and soggier, the tomatoes have slimmed out, and we are running out of most things squash. The bell peppers are still going gang busters and the beans are just beginning to arrive. IT's been a VERY interesting growing year. I'm glad we don't try to do this for a living! It will be interesting to see the potatoes and what shape they're in. Seems like a slimmy year with a lot of reports so far.

The lady in the blue blouse is our good friend Janine. Paul met Janine at Christa's Country Store when he worked at Garden Metal Works. We became fast friends. She is celebrating her 30th anniversary of her 21st birthday this Sunday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANINE!!!

The guy in the salmon colored shirt is Janine's beau, Mark. The 4 legged guy in the front of the picture is Brown Dog, who has another name as well, I just don't remember it. Mark just celebrated his 50th birthday about a month ago. It was a great bash. Mark is an X-ray tech at the hospital where Paul was a patient and was significantly comforting to us in the emergency room. Thanks, Mark! I won't go in to the whole story here, but it was a great help. Also Mark has a wonderful talent for cooking food and drinking special beer! Janine and Mark were kind enough to invite us over for dinner last weekend as Paul was still "poorly". They had freshly seared Tuna w/ rice and lovely veggies. Paul even got to try edamame for the first time. A great evening, thanks, guys!

This picture does not do this view justice. The dimensions don't show off on screen like they do in real time. This is Janine's view from her front yard. It is, simply put, breath taking.

Remember the baby goats??? They came to visit last weekend. OMG! They are SO cute!

The red collars belong to the girls (2 of them). The blue collar is the one and only male of the batch. He acts like a boy, too! STUBBORN! Mr. Boone is trying to lead train them so they'll walk on the leash. Success rate on that is still pending. Not a great percentage to date.

They've decided that a bit of follow the leader would be fun ....

They also decided the tarp over the woodpile is not as tasty as the briers ...

soooooo, off they go to find a greener pasture! SO FUN!!!

Here's a shot of the little boy, just couldn't leave him out!

Mr. Boone came and picked them up in his gator (similar to a 4 wheeler but with a wagon on the back). Mrs. Boone was trying her best to lead on of the girls down the road. Nothing like the simple life to make you grin from ear to ear!

We have all kinds of things going on, and with all the visiting to the hospital I've not been very good at documenting it all. I'm sorry for that.

As Paul was released from hospital, my sweet boss was admitted with pneumonia. He's still in there and trying his best to get well enough to be discharged. But they're holding on to him with determination that he needs to be stronger still. Please send good thoughts out to Hugh for a full and speedy recovery.

Jennifer heads back to Japan next week so again, please send good thoughts for a safe and successful trip. She is (believe it or not!) teaching fitness over there. She has some great stories about the cultural differences and such. Be safe, Honey.

Shannon and I are trying our best to get our art stuff together as we have a show in October up here. I have a very pitiful inventory today. I'm hoping in 2 weeks to remedy that and have a bunch more to display. If only I could clone myself ... I'd send the clone to work so I could have fun at home being creative! HA!

Paul is back at it (thank goodness). I don't think he's back to 100%, but he's a LOT closer than he was this time last week! He's been carving away at the "handy man" type jobs he has. I think he's put his name in the "Christmas Tree work" pot, so hopefully that will keep him busy for a couple of months. Fingers are crossed! It's getting very creative now, on a financial note! Always makes for an adventure in many aspects. Whoo hoo!

The dance program will start back at Crossnore in a couple of weeks. I'm SO glad. I've never been this docile for this long. Good grief!

Our friend Caroline seems to be doing much better and getting stronger every day. We are truly happy for that.

Blessings to all,

Paul & Cheri

Room 222 - our newest adventure

Paul, day 4

Room 222, Cannon Memorial Hospital, Linville, NC

View from Room 222
There is a fairy ring in the back, see it?

View from Parking Lot (Grandfather Mountain) ... if you have to be inside the hospital, it's not a bad view! But when you walk out of the hospital to get in your car, it is a magnificent feeling to look up and see this!

All hooked up!

The life saver of the week --- vancomyacin (spelling?)

The antibiotic that can still combat the horrible infections that are being found in people these days.

The info board in Room 222

Paul's note to self

Paul's BFF - Charles in for a visit.

We are lucky, blessed and grateful. We are home and looking forward to a complete healing.

Life is Good!

Paul & Cheri

Our Most recent Visitor ...

Nina arrived last Sunday, and left this Sunday. She FINALLY got up to the mountains to hang out for a little while before beginning a very grueling school year for nursing. It was GREAT to see her and have her here.

She and her dad are very similar.

As you can see ... except Paul had refereed soccer off of the mountain all day Saturday while Nina and I went arts and craft show shopping .. and to Boone for a little walk down King Street. Paul got too much sun, as you can see by his crispy fried face. Nina and I didn't have any battle scars and for an entire day of shopping, we didn't really have any collateral damage to speak of. All in all, we had a great day and I was very inspired to get going on the inventory for the art show I'll be doing in October. YEAH!

Here is Mr. Glover, the North Carolina High School Athletics Association referee! Isn't he cute?

These little guys were at the craft show. A barn owl on the right, and a baby ground hog in the carrier on the left.

Most of you know how totally infatuated I am with red tailed hawks. This one was magnificent! They are so BIG ... amazing! Check out those talons ... yikes!

Check out these red tail feathers! Hence, red tailed hawk, of course. What a cool gift for the day. You usually can't see these quite this comfortably. So GORGEOUS!! These guys were from a rescue and rehab center ... Genesis Wildlife refuge. There was also a brilliant screech owl which I unfortunately did not get in this shot. He was also magnificent and LOUD!

Unveiled before you, the new wood floor in the upstairs bathroom!!! For those of you who have stayed with us previously, this has made a huge improvement in the "camp" bathroom! Com back and enjoy the updates!

Going around the room ... when you walk in the door and look left, this is what you see ... although I have painted the trim at floor level now (thank goodness!)

Straight back to the back of the room. The shower is on the right ... it's the funniest feature in the house. We think it came out of an RV or something. Seriously only big enough for one to stand in and maybe turn around a little if you're not too tall. It just makes you giggle when you're in there! :-)

This wall is straight ahead when you walk in the door .... the fun wall. Doesn't the floor look fabulous? Paul did a GREAT job.

More fun wall ... and our still needing to be replaced counter top and sink. We have a beautiful mexican hand painted sink that goes into this bathroom. But we have to get a new countertop first. (you think?) Anyway, we're a lot closer than we were!!!!

A straight on shot of the sink wall. Now the door jam is also painted "sweet potato pie". Can you imagine naming your paint "sweet potato pie"? Anyway, it looks AWESOME ... the colors are so warm and fun.

And here is how great the floor looks. We have the toe kick board for under the vanity, but have to wait for something (some tool that makes the floor locked together tighter ?) and then we can put the kick board on. YEAH!
I hope to post one of our rooms (before and after ) each week. It gives perspective in how far we've come ... and sometimes how far we've yet to go! But it'll maybe give some of you some confidence to come and visit and know it'll be safe!

'til next time,

Happy trails!

Paul & Cheri

A Beautiful Thing!

Look at this GLORIOUS bounty! It is so great to walk down to the garden and pick dinner, and lunch ...
Beautiful bell peppers, gorgeous onions, bright & crisp radishes

White & green cucumbers and

HUGE zucchini with which to make zucchini bread! YUM!

Cucumbers on the vine (pickles in the making ;-)

Enough GREEN tomatoes for the whole of Whistle Stop!!

Gorgeous and HUMONGOUS red cabbage.

Banana peppers, some as long as bananas for real!

Bell peppers after the rain ... full of sand

Beautiful green leaf and romaine lettuce heads ... such a light and delightful salad ingredient

The most forward square is Christian's planted square. Corn, strawberry, sunflowers and beets!

Austin's square has radishes .... lots & lots of radishes and 2 zucchini plants

Cade's square has lettuce, carrots and beets. It is finally starting to take off

The boys each planted a row of green beans and Paul strung runners so they can grow up instead of all over the place

Corn has begun to tassel ... and the little ears have begun to grow

left to right ... sunflowers, corn, potatoes and beans

Dalias, black eyed Susans, begonias, petunias, basil, cilantro, sunflowers, even a corn plant in the left corner! I LOVE this time of year ... there is color ... REAL color (not just white!)

More color --- my favorite Dalias ... HUGE ... the Shelby's basket has taken over the front of the porch

Zucchini ...

As you can see, the rain has been plenty and the mold has begun to grow all over the beautiful plants. If we could just have a few straight days of sun, we'd probably have red tomatoes and some beautiful corn. We'll see how it goes. The sun came out a little today. I was beautiful and warm! 80 degrees even. It's almost unimaginable!

Stayed tuned .... these pictures were from last weekend. I can barely keep up with the pictures!!

Meanwhile, life is good. We are healthy, busy and happy. The pnuemonia seems to be clearing up and my energy is returning thanks to B-12 injections. The kids are all good. Christian turns 6 years old tomorrow! Can barely believe that! (More on that later!)My friend Donna's birthday was today ... as well as Ms. Shara's who teaches at The Dancer's Pointe (among many other places). Happy happy Birthday to you two! Nina is due here on Sunday so we're busy trying to clean up the place! Paul has almost finished the upstairs bathroom new floor and it is BEAUTIFUL! Last weekend Paul attended referee school ... he is now a registered and real soccer referee for 2009 -2010. YEAH! I slept on and off until 2pm on Sunday ... first time in ages! I highly recommend it!

Gotta go to bed now. Hope you've enjoyed the walk through the Avant Garden!

Blessings to all,

Paul & Cheri