This week and last down Henny Penny Lane

 Well, this week has started off wrong. I have a doctor's appointment at 3:00 today so it's hard to get into anything. That comes from my dear mama...

"I just despise to have to go anywhere on Monday", she would say, "it ruins the whole week. "How Monday starts off is how the whole week will be".

No doubt, mama had been cleaning here, or maybe she had rolled her hair and tied a scarf around the bobby pins.  This was taken back in the 1940s in Summerville, SC.  I can see the moss hanging from the trees in the background. 

Anyhow, last week I went into a cleaning frenzy starting in the living room which lasted three days...

Oh my gosh! It's the bottles and deer heads and turkey tails and the ruffled valences, so many things to collect dust...

Couldn't help but remember the old Country Living Magazines and Jo Northrup who wrote "Simple Country Pleasures", a one page feature each month. 

In one issue she wrote about spring cleaning where she carried all the baskets down to the pond for a washing then putting them in the sun to dry...

I carried my baskets in the wheelbarrow to the water facet, gave them a good washing then into the sun to dry...

So, here it is Tuesday morning already. Didn't get to finish this post yesterday. A 3:00 appointment in Wake Forest is too late in the day. I was dark getting home...thanks to the time change it gets dark right after lunch now!

One of our neighbors, over the river and through the woods, actually, across the path and through the woods, stopped by with her two granddaughters, Abbie, and Evie, to see the bunnies...

They are such sweet girls. Abbie is holding the white bunny, Daisy, and Evie is holding the gray bunny, Sage. 

Poppy and I got busy and finally put a new top on the rabbit lot...it has a new 10' x 10' tight fitting top covered with the new green tarp on top. It's a warm, safe, and cozy home...

It's amazing how many places won't let you adopt a rabbit now unless you agree to keep it inside. Rabbits love being outside! Daisy and Sage seem so happy running and playing. Randall Rabbit, Daisy, and Sage all have cozy houses inside the lot. The wire and shadows make the 10' x 10' lot look crowded but actually they have lots of room to move around. 

and this time of the year it's so pretty around the bunny lot. Like this tree in front of their lot. I was looking up...

Poppy has a chair next to the bunny lot where he sits with his gun waiting for a trophy buck to walk past. Don't worry, he won't shoot a deer there. :) but he did get this good shot of the house from down there...

I get started on a post and don't know when to quit so I will hush now. Thank you for visiting, if you're still here. 

Love, Henny 

Black Walnut Trees along Crabtree Creek

Poppy fills his pockets with black walnuts as he leaves the deer  stand and walks along the creek coming home...

Gosh, it's been 30 years since I picked up black walnuts there. Poppy has permission to deer hunt that property. Here's a smaller black walnut tree growing there too...

I want to shell some of these walnuts, and the hickory nuts too but talk about a job!! Wouldn't a taste of these wild nuts be delicious?

 And the tall hickory nut tree that grows along the path on our property...

I'm the one who gathers the hickory nuts...

Add a few ears of dried corn from the garden and...

it makes for a pretty, old fashioned picture. Do any of you love "old fashioned" as much as I do? Sometimes I think I should have lived back in the 1800. (didn't miss it by much, did I) :)

Look, I finally got around to putting up a few fall decorations and got to use some of the dried corn stalks from the teeny tiny garden...

The corn stalks were almost too tall. The dark red mum...

isn't it pretty! Andee brought it to me in September, and the buds have just opened up! I love how mums smell, do you?

I want to show you this tree root I found in the path. It must have fallen off a logging truck. To me, it looks just like a giant spider...

Can't you just see this thing on the side of an old barn or house...

Gives me goosebumps. What do you think, Willie??

So far this fall I haven't decorated the old cupboard, but I did find at Goodwill, the most perfect pitcher, it matches the big heavy dishes...

Hope you will pardon the dust. It is so dry here and when a car or truck goes up the path well, it's like a small dust storm settling over everything. Dust, dust, dust!!

Okay, I've gone on and on about stuff...everything is so pretty in the fall, even covered with dust, so here's few pictures from around the pond...

Guess I should have waited for the leaves to turn more, but I'll be back. :) 

Thank you friends. 

Love, Henny

August 24th, my last post! And I was doing so well!

Anyhow, I've so much to tell you and show you! Oh, but don't get excited. It's just simple little things that make me happy. :)

Like Fall being here and all the pretty pine straw that fell on my path behind the playhouse...

only leaves here but this reminds me of an old outhouse. :)

and down behind the house...I love the Fall shadows...

Gosh, since this picture was taken, it really does look like Fall. Leaves have covered the brick path.  

Anyhow, moving on with some extra special news. Okay, I've been searching everywhere for a spayed female rabbit. A companion for Randall Rabbit. 

So, a few days ago I did the usual checking at Orange County Animal Services and there they were...two little female bunnies needing a loving home. I called my daughter Lynn! "Lynn", I asked. "If I brave the traffic on I-85 and drive to your house, will you go with me to adopt two bunnies from Orange County Animal Services"? You see, Lynn lives in Durham, about an hour's drive from me, and Orange County Animal Services is about a fifteen minute drive from Lynn's. "Sure I will Mom". She said...

This is Princess, and here's Princess's mother, Star...

Both Bunnies are living on the back porch for the time being since both had been spayed the day before I adopted them. They needed extra care and be given pain medication for two days. The funny part is, my intentions were to adopt one bunny. "Bring home only one rabbit", Poppy said loud and clear before I left that day. So, while at OC Animal Services and Lynn and I were locked inside the little visiting cell enjoying the bunnies, one of the workers popped her head in and said, "we will make you a deal if you adopt both bunnies", two for the price of one", she said. The bunnies are mother and daughter. Awww, I couldn't adopt one and leave the other. :(

Here's me holding mama rabbit...

Arriving back at Lynn's she asked if I could stay long enough to see her little garden and workshop. Of course I could! Friends, Lynn can take nothing and turn it into something fantastic. If you will, take a look inside Lynn's workshop...

and this last picture reminds me of a page from the "I Spy" books. Can you find Lynn?

To learn more about Lynn, go to "abitofbirdsong . Her junk journals are amazing! A recent picture of my lovely blue-eyed Lynn...

I will end all this madness with Smokey and the dogs! It was sprinkling rain...says Smokey...

not to be outdone, Eli and Ellie teamed up for this shot...

Well, friends, hope we are still friends after putting you through all this. I use way too many words. :) Thank you. I will be catching up with you all. Thanks again.

Love, Henny

Occasionally, when I sit down

 in the living room and sit for any length of time, say five or ten minutes, instead of resting, my eyes focus on the dusty old bottle collection, the deer mounts with cobwebs linking them together, maybe a tuft of white dog hair under the coffee table, or the dusty tail feathers of a turkey. But a day or so ago while in the living room, something beautiful caught my eye...

The Bobcat! I haven't told you about the Bobcat! It was over a year ago, our "soon to be new neighbor" Steve was on his way out and got just a few feet from turning into our dirt path and saw this Bobcat that had been hit and killed by a car...

Of course, Steve stopped to tell Poppy about it and the two of them went back to move the cat out of the road. The cat was just too beautiful to leave lying there so Poppy decided to have it mounted. We waited a full year for the taxidermist to finish. He said it was the largest Bobcat he has seen in this area, and it's a female!

This is the day Poppy brought it home in the truck...

We were curious to see what Eli and Ellie would think of a big, strange cat in the living room...

Eli went right up; Ellie growled a little but then the cat is looking straight at her. :) 

I was just so sad and heartbroken that such a beautiful animal had to die this way but glad she is here with us now and not left on the side of the road. 

Who knew we had cats this size in our woods!! I mean, I've been all in these woods around our house, by myself!! They say Bobcats are rarely seen but driving home from town a few days ago, one that looked a lot like this one ran across the road in front of my car, and in the same place this one was hit! Scared me to death! 

Sorry to have gone on and on. Want to show you this vine, growing on the garden fence...

So as mama used to say, it volunteered and came up. All this time waiting for pink or blue morning glories to open and what?? We have a mass of tiny red blooms...

Anyone know what this is?

One more thing and I will hush and go away...it's the beauty berry bushes I planted a few years ago. Look how they've grown!!

I wanted a hedge along the side road to block the view. Now I can work in the garden and not be seen. :)

Never in a million years did I think these bushes would grow this big and be so pretty. Don't know how I got one white mixed in. 

Okay, I have certainly overstayed my welcome. Thank you for visiting. Hope my posting about the Bobcat is acceptable and doesn't make anyone feel bad. 

Love, Henny

 

Not much of a post...

walking past the garden again and Poppy asks, didn't you just take a picture yesterday...

well, I did and will probably take another one tomorrow.  :)

Hey friends. I am starting a post with absolutely nothing interesting to talk about except maybe the weather. According to our weatherman, we have just been through the hottest June, and hottest July on record.

Then August, normally out hottest most humid month, comes in followed by a cold front and we have enjoyed almost a week of wonderful cooler weather with temps in the 60s and 70s. 

Smokey has been stretched out on our raggedy old back steps...

Gosh, I didn't realize how badly these steps and screen door need painting. Another job added to my list...the list that keeps growing with very little getting checked off. When I think of all the work, I used to get done around here...

Anyhow, a few weeks ago Poppy said, wonder if there is a recipe for "raspberry pie"?? Well, I found a recipe, tried it...

and we have eaten a raspberry pie a week ever since. It is absolutely delicious, (got to have whipped cream), and wouldn't you think, good for you?? Best of all, easy to make. Here's the recipe...

1 c. sugar, 3 T. cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 c. water, 4 c. raspberries, 1 T. butter

Over medium heat stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add butter. Cool then pour into baked pie crust. Refrigerate.

I am ashamed to say that I cannot make my own piecrusts. and at my age!! The one in the picture was a little Pillsbury frozen crust. My favorite though is this one...

to unroll and place in my glass pie dish. Looks much better, kind of like a homemade. :(  One more thing, Food Lion puts their store brand frozen raspberries on sale 2 for $6.00. One bag makes this pie. 

Poppy came in the other day saying I brought you a flower...

awww, well actually, it was stuck to my boot, he said. Have you ever seen such a tiny flower?

Hope you will visit again, if you've made it this far. I do appreciate you all.  

I will end this mess with little Miss Violet, trying on a new dress...

Love, Henny

Special note to Darlene...I am so sorry for not seeing your comment sooner. Please see my reply. :)