Last post of the year...

Dearest friends,

Hope all of you had the most wonderful Christmas.

Now, I wish you a very Happy New Year! 

I'm telling you, your nice comments and Christmas wishes on my last post made Christmas for me, seriously! Thank you so much. 

I must say, this was the strangest Christmas Holiday ever!  

And I am not complaining. Just thought I would tell you about Christmas Day down here on Henny Penny Lane.

Oh, but first, if you don't mind, look at these pictures...

this was last Friday afternoon as that big cold front, the Bomb Cyclone, I believe they called it, moved through. It's odd how the tree tops looked white...there were wind gusts 40 to 50 mph as the temperature dropped. Strange stuff everywhere!

Folks were warned to stay inside if possible and around here with all the trees...well you should see the yard! Tree limbs, chairs and large pieces of tin blown around...

plus, my big Santa picture blew out of the frame and the swag of greenery, off the door...small stuff, really

So we can forget all that. I decided to make a pot of fudge for Christmas! I started the fudge in the same pot I always use for fudge, but this time it boiled over...I grabbed a bigger pot and transferred the boiling liquid. Along about this same time Poppy yelled something about two charges on the bank statement...grrrrrr

Anyhow, I marched back to the bedroom and jerked open a file drawer, twisting my back...the pain was excruiating. Hobbled back to the kitchen, pulled the boiling fudge off the burner, added butter and vanilla and tried to stir the fudge. Here's how it turned out...

Ruined! Hard as a rock! Anyhow, with an ice pick I got out what I could, put the pot in the sink to soak and went to bed. I didn't sleep much though...had chills...just couldn't get warm. Woke up Saturday, Christmas Eve, sick! 

We cancelled all Christmas plans. By Sunday afternoon, Poppy was running a fever and sick too...so we've been home all week, taking cold medicine and eating chicken soup. Today, Friday, we both are feeling much better. In fact, I've raked leaves most of the day. It felt wonderful!! The yard is looking better too!!

Poppy stayed inside most of the day. He did climb the tree, late afternoon to deer hunt a little. Monday, will end this deer hunting season and I am so thankful!

Smokey found a warm spot in the middle of my sewing...

That old apron in the picture came from an antique shop and is the only comfortable apron I've ever worn. I was tellling that to my friend Carla and she offered to make a pattern from the old apron...which she did. I'm tickled to death and hope to get a few made. Will sure keep you posted. 

Anyhow friends, I wish you all much happiness and good health in the new year...

                            HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

love, Henny

I need to hurry! Christmas is almost here...

and wouldn't I feel awful waking up Christmas morning knowing I didn't even say Merry Christmas...

                             

My decorating this holiday season is a little haphazard, but I'll post a picture or two anyhow to show you I did try...

Whatever would I do without the old cupboard? The thrift store dishes that worked so well for fall, look okay for Christmas too.

and a roaring fire in the fireplace would really help here. We'll  do that Christmas Day for sure.

Oh my gosh, have you heard how cold and blustery Christmas Day is supposed to be? Of course, I'm sure it's not just here!  35 degrees for Christmas Day, wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph! I'm telling you, moving to Florida sounds mighty good to me! Have I mentioned that summer is my favorite season? Well, it is!

Another thing I'm not good at is making a wreath. I did, however, tie a handful of greenery together with a few bells and hang it on our little front entryway. 

So, my main reason for being here tonight is to say, "have a wonderful Christmas",  and friends, thank you for putting up with me for another whole year even though my posts are now few and far between. You're the best friends ever!

Eli and Ellie hearing me talk about Christmas, hurried off to bed, thinking Santa was coming tonight...

Well, it won't be long now. 

Love you friends!           MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Henny

Blogger is messing with me again. Sometimes I think they are trying to get rid of me. :)

Maybe I will do a little blog post...

not that I have anything important to say. I did look out the little kitchen window a few mornings ago and saw the prettiest blue and orange colors in the sky...

Amazing how fast the colors change. Sometimes it's hard to get the camera and catch the beauty of your first look.

Then late one afternoon recently, looking out across the cut-over, there was a rainbow...

that quickly faded away underneath stormy looking clouds...

and you probably know how afraid I am of storms. Nothing cheers me up as much as seeing a storm pass and the sun come out.

Speaking of weather...I've simply got to rake these five acres of brown leaves that cover every inch of ground...

Yep, I changed my mind about joining them. The leaves are now driving me crazy. :) That black dot you see there is Smokey!  

I had been busy busy busy in the teeny tiny sewing room...

up until Saturday. Shelby and I were vendors at Santa's Christmas Bazaar in the little town of Franklinton. 

I carried a sack of my silly little Santa dolls and a few other little people...

plus a few of my larger dolls, made from maple twigs. Fun stuff.  Also had lots of new calico bonnets made and ready to sell...

Certainly didn't get wealthy but it was a fun day spent with Shelby and I came home with a little pocket money, all my own. To make the day even more enjoyable, my daughter Andee stopped by and also my friends, Karen and Norm.

So I've now unpacked and stored my goods away...

here and there...the old pie safe from Cousin Pat is the perfect spot, and while I'm in the sewing room, I want to show you the sweetest long legged bunny rabbit...

found him in a thrift store, in a box, for free. He was dirty and looked at me, well, I had to bring him home.

Guess I had better get up from this computer. Got line dancing at 2:00 and an eye appointment at 3:30...plus Blogger is moving my pictures and changing the print size and that drives me crazy even more than the leaves!! :) Thank you for visiting.

Love, Henny

Didn't quite make it to five years...

That's right. It was February 2018 when the girls at the goat farm gave me little Heidi. I went to buy another goat, but the girls said, you can "have" Heidi, just give her a good home.

My little Heidi passed away last Monday. The vet knew right off that Heidi was very sick

She had deformed jaw bones and deformed horns and probably, the vet said, some internal deformities. He said, you've done good if you have cared for her for five years. 

Heidi was a sweetie pie and I am sure missing her. Monday was a sad day.

Isn't it unbelievable how the days fly? It seems like I get nothing done any more. I've cleaned up a little around the garden and moved some plants inside...

We've had record low temperatures lately. Normally, by early November the front yard leaves are raked up and spread over the teeny tiny garden...a warm blanket for the winter, but not this November. 

Most of the leaves are off the trees now and I can't resist picking up pretty ones here and there, and aren't these huge Popular leaves neat. I kinda like this picture...

Anyhow, you know the old saying, "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em", well, that's exactly what I am doing with the leaves. 

In fact, I had raked one small spot in the front yard just before we had a big wind storm.   Then the guineas decided to wallow holes in the one little raked spot...it looked awful! 

Earlier today, I carried my rake and wheelbarrow down to the dam and raked up four loads of pine straw mixed with leaves. I then marched myself back up to the front yard and spread them all! "There you go", I proudly announced. Felt good too. :)

I'm thinking maybe Randall Rabbit and I are best friends now....

Would you look at the size of those back feet...

He's a big lovable sweetie pie rabbit...

and loves old cardboard boxes to push around...

Well friends, I mostly wanted to finish a little post today to wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Guess it will be just Poppy and me  here...He will hunt while I cook us a little Thanksgiving meal. 

Will leave you with a couple of  pictures taken from across the pond that I like.

      

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Love, Henny

Still out with the camera...

taking pictures of things you've seen a hundred times...

I'm sorry. It's just that this is the prettiest fall we've had in several years and I can't get over it! :)

We've had a week or more of cool cloudy days so when the sun came up early one morning last week and lit up the trees to the west well..."hold Ellie's leash", I said to Poppy, "I'm going back for the camera".

There was just so much color that morning...

There are lots of dogwood berries this fall, oh, and let me show you this one...

a dogwood tree this size growing in a flower pot! There's a story here. I saved this tiny sprig of a dogwood many years ago. It was growing wild, and in an "L" shape, out the side of a clay bank. Watching it and feeling sorry for it, I finally pulled it up and put it in a little pot. It must have been so happy to be able to straighten up and spread it's roots in dark rich soil. So I sat my little dogwood near the garden and left it way too long. 

Now the roots go deep and I dare not try moving it. Several people have asked if I would sell them the potted dogwood.  I'm afraid my heart strings go pretty deep there too.

and while we're up near the garden and greenhouse there is another plant to show you...

this is Cooper's ice plant (Delosperma) a succulent. My friend Karen and her husband Norm stopped by for a short visit. Karen brought this plant to me. Oh, there is a story here too. 

For 12 years Norm and I worked together at the same business in Raleigh. I retired in 1999 and had not seen or heard anything about Norm or his wife since then, until! You may remember the farm show and swap meet (maybe it was called the tractor show) that was held in 2020, just down the road, maybe 6 or 8 miles. I was a vendor there. Well who should walk up to my table but Norm and Karen. Wait, you may remember this...

That's Karen and me sitting in the Model T, taken at the tractor show. The shocker is, we are practically neighbors and have been for a long long time and had no idea. They live just down the road...6 or 8 miles. I'm so happy to get to know Karen better. They both are super nice people. 

and, on the subject of plants, Poppy brought me a flower today...

Seriously! You know, deer hunting season is in and he has been sitting in the tree across the road, overlooking the cut-over. He told me there were several beautiful bunches of white flowers growing there. Today he climbed down and picked one for me.  

The tiny flowers, close up look like little brushes...

after much searching, found out this is a Baccharis halimifolia

Common names: Consumption Weed, Coyote Bush, Eastern Baccharis, Groundsel Tree, High Tide Bush, Salt Bush, Salt Marsh  Elder, Sea Myrtle, and Silvering. Have you ever!! 

I think it is really pretty and would like one growing in the yard. Now to find a large vase.

Anyhow, back to my "loving fall" pictures...the teeny tiny pond...

and you know what makes our colored trees so unusual? Well, they're so darn tall you have to stand and look straight up to get a picture...

Anyhow, I could go on and on, after all, when I came in to load my pictures, there were 78 and that was from just one walk outside. Guess I had better say goodnight.  Poppy will be asking, "are we eating ice cream tonight"? 

Thank you for stopping by. Just one more. The color was a little better in this one. :) I've got to get over this!

Love, Henny

I apologize...

I really do, for not replying to your nice comments on my last post. Lately, my posts have been few and far between and hardly worth reading. So, I'm giving myself one more chance...either blog with your heart into it or say goodbye. 

and I don't want to say goodbye. You've all been so kind to me and my silly blog, mistakes and all...best friends I've ever had, and I mean that, so it would be hard to say goodbye. I would miss you...

like Eli and Ellie miss us when we're away...

all I said was, "it's time for Dan"

Would you believe, I haven't raked up the first leaf! The fallen leave are so so pretty...

but I know the longer I wait, the deeper the leaves.

It was around this same time in October 1989 that I sat on these very steps, dreaming about moving into the cabin. The steps were newly built then.  Mama used to say, "Melba, please don't go out there by yourself".

The cabin was in the woods, no other homes around. I was off work on Saturdays so would come out and help finish staining inside. But that Saturday in October was the most beautiful one ever, with the leaves falling and the sun shining through the trees, warming those back steps. Didn't get much staining done that day.

Speaking of getting things done! How long has it been now since I climbed the ladder and washed that hard to reach bottle collection...three, four years? Look at the dust...

I know, I should be ashamed of myself for showing this, and I am!

It took me three day, climbing up and down that tall wooden ladder, carrying two bottle at the time, washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing, drying, and putting them back. Plus, the shelf and wall had to be washed.

Poppy gets out of all this work by saying, "I like the dust and cobwebs. That makes them look old". Well, Henny likes them sparkling clean and shiny...

What a job! Just got to show off my hard work...

Clean! from one end to the other. But, that shelf continues on, into the kitchen and the antique canning jar collection. I'm bound and determined to finish up before the holidays. 

Thank you for stopping by, and for putting up with me. Planning on being back here real soon!

Love, Henny