A Really Cool Sports Car

Poppy and I were sitting on the front porch when this really cool sports car pulled into the driveway...

Why, it's our neighbors...Fred and Ann!

Let me tell you a little about this sports car, this 1958 MG Roadster, and our neighbors...

In 1988 when our log cabin was being built, Fred was busy building their log home just down from us at the end of the path. He built their house!

That was also along about the time Fred bought this 1958 MG, which looked nothing like it does now.

Wow! Over 30 years ago! Fred and Ann raised two children during that time and now have two grandchildren.

What a neat surprise after all these years to see this really cool sports car on the road, and Fred did the restoration himself. Gosh, what an accomplishment! He must be so proud. 

Okay, Poppy's truck. I've just got to tell you this...

Poppy went to the hardware store in town to pick up ten bags of mulch. Pine bark mulch, I reminded him!

So he got home with 10 bags, thrown haphazardly into the bed of the truck causing some of the bags to lose a nugget or two.. 

"This is not pine bark mulch", I said. "These are nuggets. I don't like nuggets"!

The following day we carried the bags back to the hardware store where a sweet nice young employee said he would go replace the bags of nuggets with pine bark mulch. 

When we got home Poppy got out first and opened the tailgate on the truck. He laughed and said, "come here, you've got to see this. That young guy has got to be a Virgo! 

The bags were all stacked right side up, lined up and perfectly straight.

Boy, time flies! Here it is bedtime. Thank you for visiting. Oh, it's thundering...and we've got rain. Yay!!

Love,
Henny   

A day in the yard

Dear friends,

I fully expected to pull up my blog and find that all of you had left me. Sure hope you're still there.

I've been in the playhouse today...why, I've been all over the place today!

We've had a couple of cooler days and of course, I went crazy...cleaning the garden, moving plants around, raking leaves, cleaning out the teeny tiny greenhouse, stacking pots...

Why stacking pots took a while and I'm still not happy with the look. Sometimes I think being a Virgo will drive me crazy! :)

and leaf raking! It's way too early for that! But did you see all the leaves inside the playhouse? Our entire yard looks that way. It's this dry weather! We need rain!

Mama used to say, "oh it will rain again. It always does". Well I sure hope mama was right. It is dry as a bone here. 

The guineas kept me company inside the garden today. In fact, they got a dust bath just inside the garden gate.

Oh, that one strange looking plant left in the garden is "Horseradish". It has been growing all summer so now I need to read how to harvest the root, and then grow another. Whew!

Here's another thing! There's always something needing to be rescued...

I went to get a bucket of compost from the bin, which is dry as a bone too, and pulled up this tall skinny pitiful looking weed. But wait, that outer shell looks like an English walnut! and look at the long root, reaching from under my thumb all the way to the fig leaf...

This was the top of the plant. Did I mention pitiful? Oh, this little nut tree just has to live. I will keep you posted.

Look what I found while cleaning up the garden....

Remember the beautiful Leek that grew and grew then burst into a ball of tiny flowers? Her remains. :( Hopefully one of these tiny seeds will product another beautiful lady.

One more thing to show you...

Poppy was deer hunting and found this unusual mushroom in the woods.

and this is how it looked the next day...

sorry for the poor quality. The picture was taken with Poppy's little flip phone.

Okay, this is it. Thank you for stopping by. My plan is to do better at posting and visiting, and I mean it! 

Thank you, new followers. I do love my blogging friends.

Love,
Henny

Old Timey

My sister Shelby and I met in Wake Forest on Friday...First, she had three heaping grocery bags of freshly cut okra to give me...three heaping grocery bags!! My friend Nellie was tickled to death to get two of the bags. 

Secondly, Cousin Patty had sent more boxes of stuff for Shelby to go through, keep what she wanted, then deliver the rest to lucky me. :)

Think I've mentioned before that Cousin Patty and her husband Mike sold their beautiful home on the lake and have down-sized since moving into a smaller place. That's why Patty gave me the beautiful old pie safe and the old cupboard.

This time items were smaller, but special...

This is not just an old worn out apron with a hole in the center; probably from drying her hands, this apron was worn by our Aunt Berlie. 

Some of my first blogging posts were written about Aunt Berlie. I adored her.  I looked forward to the weekends that mama could drive me to her house to spend a couple of nights. (This was in the early 1950's)

Aunt Berlie would say to me, "Melby, I bought us a new puzzle to put together". Oh, we would get to working on a puzzle and stay up way too late. Why, I remember it being 11:00 one Saturday night when Aunt Berlie looked up at the clock. We had to hurry and get to bed. We were going to Sunday School the next morning. 

Mama had packed my Sunday dress, my Gigi Perreau hat with the ribbon in the back, my black patent leather shoes, and little white gloves even. I can just see Aunt Berlie smiling as we walked in the the church door. She was glad to show me off, and I loved every minute of it. Of course, Aunt Berlie didn't drive, so she called on a neighbor to take us to the church.

Back to the apron. Patty had attached this note...

which I plan to keep on the apron. I want to make a pattern from this old apron and make some like it. The old aprons looked comfortable, didn't they?

This old oblong tablecloth didn't fit our new round table, so I cut it down and made a square cloth, with enough left over for a dish towel. And just look at this old tablecloth...

it doesn't fit our table either but I would never cut it.

and this picture is perfect for the small space over the ironing board in the teeny tiny sewing room...

this too from Patty......

There used to be kittens around the old barn and outhouses at Aunt Berlie's. She would say, "you can have them all if you can catch them, but be careful, they will scratch you".

Back when I was collecting old granite ware...never mind the dust on the pantry shelves...

I could not resist bringing home old 'slop jars' (top shelf far left), also a reminder of nights with Aunt Berlie. 

Aunt Berlie lived alone in a big house. There was an outside toilet, but we dared not go out after dark. A slop jar was kept just under the bed, in case we had to go during the night. 

Why, folks had been known to disappear going to the toilet late at night. There was an old tale back then in that part of the country of a woman who's husband went to the outhouse during the night and never returned. Scary stuff. 

No doubt, my love of old fashioned things came from Aunt Berlie. Things like a little fenced-in garden with a gate that hooked. Aunt Berlie had one. I remember going inside with her, to pick a few green beans, and closing the gate behind me. 

Aunt Berlie reminds me of the English Fairy Tale, "The Teeny Tiny Woman".

I've surely talked your ears off, but posting this has made me want to get back in the sewing room. It's been  months now since I finished the new sewing table skirt and chair seat cover...have I even shown you?

Green is not a favorite color of mine but there was enough pink in this that I kinda like it.

Thank you friends, well if you're still around. :) Hope I haven't frightened you away.

Love,
Henny

Catching up

Didn't plan to be away so long. Where do the days go anyhow, and how will I ever catch up?

Maybe I should begin with the fish wagon. Seems like in my last post, I mentioned waiting for Poppy to get home so we could go meet the Fish Wagon in Spring Hope...

Well we did, and was waiting there when the big truck pulled in and stopped.

Poppy there on the left waiting to pick up our one hundred baby catfish.

A handsome dog was at the wheel! and a cutie in the back seat.

All these little catfish are now swimming in the pond. Well, except for three or four that we lost.

Back in 1996 when the pond was stocked, 50 catfish were included. 

Now when we feed them only three or four big catfish show up to eat.

Hopefully, all the little catfish will fit in and grow big and healthy.

 Also going on here...after setting out roses around the birdbath and adding mulch...

it made the adjoining beds in front look awful...

So I have been busy for three days now, digging up all this Liriope that has taken over the front yard, leaving just the variegated you can barely see over on the far right. Also pulled up all the old pine straw and replaced it with pine bark mulch. 

By the way, I have gone crazy over Chives! These have been so pretty this summer, but see all the ugly Liriope!

All three beds in front are cleaned out, redone, and pretty. and I am worn out! I will take pictures for next time. 

Oh, guess who made a bed in the new mulch...

while Poppy wasn't looking..

Eli says, "I don't care. It felt good".

Guess that's about it for now. Thank you friends, if you've managed to read this far. :)

Thank you new followers. I appreciate your friendship.

Love,

Henny

A little fall cleaning

Would you believe I finally got around to cleaning the front porch and putting out a little fall decor...

Something I've been talking about doing for weeks now but just couldn't get started.

so, beginning with the bottom of the old cupboard...

I pulled out all the canning jars and washed them. An old plastic tablecloth cut in half was perfect for lining the shelves.

It was Poppy with the brilliant idea this time. :) He said, "Why don't you just put the jars in your pink wheelbarrow and clean them with the hose. It's not like you're washing them to can in right away". So I did.

Then moved a couple of chairs around in the living room and bed room and decided to move this one out...

Oh my gosh, having this rocking chair on the front porch is wonderful! I just might sit more!

Okay, Poppy has his own chair and so does Eli. This needs to be labeled "Henny's"!

Had to move all the rusty items from off the table, you know, Poppy's collection of old metal pieces dug from the dirt road. These are now in the old wash pan under the table. That wooden bird cage looks a little off balance...need to change that.

By the way...wandered out on the porch and caught Poppy rocking and dozing, in my chair!

I've had this big poster size wooden frame, made from old barn wood, for years. In fact, had listed it for sale on Craigslist. 

Then the idea of framing a sunflower print for the porch popped into my head...and I love it, except for the glare...

Walking Eli and Weetie early this morning, we rescued these wild flowers. I love them growing along side the dirt road, but there were so many, some had spilled over into the dry dusty road. We need rain!

Guess that's about it. Need to get busy. Got a list of things to do before Poppy gets home at 1:00. The fish truck is coming to Spring Hope this afternoon and we have ordered 50 baby catfish for the pond. 

Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny
Tried once more to get a picture of the sunflower and the bee, without the glare...