Upstairs Painting

When I moved into the house the painting mission was to get the entire main floor done, and it was.  That left painting the upstairs part of the house to be done and I've been thinking about it for well over a year.  I thought I'd get to it last winter but never lifted a brush.  Well, now it was time.  Of course, painting this part of the house required painting the stairway going up and of course it had a 2-story ceiling over it.  I wasn't sure exactly how to get at this but after a few minutes of cogitating, the plan came together.

Piece of cake :)

Hi mom !!

This is what I call the upstairs bedroom.  I took this just to show the 'before' and 'after' colors.  Same as the rest of the house.

The finished sewing area of the big room. 

And the finished workbench 'craft' area of the big room.

Now the entire house has been painted... yippee :)

Late October Roses

You've seen the Knockout Rose bushes before if you've followed this blog but I just had to send a few more pictures.  Last fall or early this spring we really, really cut these bushes down.  They were quite gnarly and twisted and all that and we hacked the hell out of them.  This summer they grew big and full.  Anyway, they're beautiful and even though it's overcast and there's no sun beaming brightly on the flowers, I took these shots anyway.

The bushes I shot are at the bottom of the driveway on either side, 3 per side.  You have to take my word for it that there are 3 per side because you can't see the ones being blocked out by the crepe myrtles.

Are these beautiful?!?!?  A close up of one of the bushes.  Too bad they have no scent at all.

I took this shot just to try to show how bright these suckers are.  No sunshine on them in these shots!

And another blossom.  They almost have a luminescence about them.  I love these things!  There's another large bush up near the front entryway... just as lush and full.  OK... that's it... enjoy :)

October Ride

Due to stuff, all kinds of stuff, most all of it very good, I am not getting out on the motorcycle like I used to but today was a wonderful exception.  Anyway, it was a bright, cool morning and after a bit of waking up I took off headed for the Talladega National Forest over in Alabama.  I wanted to get there straight away so I jumped on the interstate and just had at it.  It's a great ride because once in the area, and on the entire way back, the scenery is just beautiful.  Mountains... trees... little towns... great roads... and almost no traffic at all.  It was kind of interesting riding in the forest today.  The last time I made a ride over there I was on the ST and as was my habit, I rode pretty quick and pretty hard.  Today, on the cruiser, it seemed to be a more enjoyable ride just loping along and enjoying myself greatly.  There are some difficult roads but I had no problem at all and I do think I actually enjoyed the ride more.  Go figure :)  A good day all around and definitely a route I would take my Chicago friends on.

Somewhere pretty soon after getting into the park on Hwy 281.  I had nothing to rest the camera on else I'd be in the picture!  Of course, cameras just don't capture the expanse of a view like this.

I made a point of stopping at every scenic overlook provided.  This is a bit further into the park.  I was headed to those peaks in the background, and I made it.  I forget the name of the place at the top but according to the sign, it's the highest elevation in Alabama.  Whatever... pretty it is.

Can you tell it was a clear day.  If not for that one stinkin' bird... looks like a dirt spec on your monitor... there would be a whole lot of nothing in the warm and incredibly blue sky today.

Little Birds

One of the delightful pleasures I discovered when I came down to GA was the presence of hummingbirds.  I had first put out my finch feeders and was really disappointed that no finch ever showed up because I really liked seeing those things up in CT.  Up there I had a lot of goldfinches during the summer months.  Here, as said, not a one.  When I noticed the hummingbirds flying around last year I got myself a feeder and hung it up on the porch and really liked watching them.  This year we've had them around as well and I get a kick out of watching them.  One thing that really got my attention was how fast these little suckers fly.  I mean we all know that they're small and they hover and can fly backwards but I never knew how fast they were.  We've got a couple this year that seem to be chasing each other around constantly... darting here and there right in front of us at times.  I grabbed the camera and was able to snap some pictures.  It is NOT easy!!  They come in fast and the leave fast!!  Anyway... here's what I got:

This is the view when sitting in a chair on the covered part of the porch.  The windchime is on the left of the brick column, the hummingbird feeder is on the right.  There's actually one feeding now but it's a bit tough to see.  Now don't forget, you can enlarge the photo by just clicking on it.

So here's one of the little suckers coming in to refuel.

It puts on the brakes and takes aim.  This is probably the best shot.  Pretty good I think :)

Closing in...

Closing in... almost there...

Contact!  Sometimes they just grab a drink from one of the petals... sometimes they take a drink from each of them... whatever the mood suits them, I guess.  Of course our presence makes them a bit skittish.

If a bird is already at the feeder, or if it just feels like sitting a spell I guess, they have taken to sitting on this support for the windchime.  Very cool :)

Still waiting... or resting... doesn't really matter.

The Hawk and Passion Flower

Once again there's not a whole lot of news to report but I do have some photos to share of stuff going on around the house and such.  We'll start with the bird... a beautiful hawk that sits in the trees in the yard and swoops around the place as though he/she owns it.  I think the closest it ever came to anyone was a time last year when the thing swooped maybe 3 feet behind David when he was visiting, standing on the deck at the time.  He didn't even see it happen :)  Anyway... a few photos of our hawk:

Go ahead... click on the photos... you can see it well.  I really wanted to get a photo of it eating something but no such luck.  I did see it swoop down and grab at a snake but it missed it... guess it was still learning how to grab snakes.



The Passion Flower vine (or whatever) is growing rather splendidly on the trellis attached to the garage.  They're magnificent!  So, for those of you who don't have their own Passion Flower vine, here are some pictures.

OK... here's what it looks like against the garage.

Now, stay with me... this is what the buds look like just as they are about to open in the morning.  At night and when they've growing they are closed tightly. But when they mature, and the sun comes out, the petals open, and then actually reverse themselves, so to speak.

See how the petals opened and reversed to point down?  I told ya!  When they pull back they expose the most intricate inside.

Is that the most incredibly beautiful thing or what?!?!?!!  Remember now, click on the photo to make it bigger -- hit your browser's back button, or just hit the backspace key, to return.  Go ahead... do it.

A little closer.  Loving my new camera :)

And 2 more blossoms pretty much in the center of the trellis.  I really am amazed by the intricate design of these flowers... I really am. 

Grandpa's Girls

I headed over to Hope Mills, NC over the long Labor Day weekend to see my new granddaughter, Riley!  Visiting with the little ones was very, very nice as was the whole visit.  The one thing that turned out to be a big disappointment was that when I put the pictures on the computer the majority of them were very blurred and unusable.  That perturbed me, greatly!  Regardless, I did get some shots that I'll share here.

Hannah had her school to go to on Friday morning.  She was just the cutest thing what with her sun hat and overloaded backback and all.  I took a shot of her in the house but that was one of the crud ones so this is the best I can do.  Here she's headed to the truck... happy as a lark to be going to school and the swimming pool to have some fun with her classmates.  Take my word for it... she looked cute!

I'd heard that Hannah was just a wonderful 'Big Sister' to Riley and what we saw proved all that to be true.  She's kind and loving to her and displayed it just about every time Riley was awake, which was more than it has been, or so Samantha and David say.  Again, look past the blurry aspects of these photos and just take them for what they are... Hannah and Riley getting along rather well together :)

See?  I told you they got along fabulously! 

While we were visiting I asked Samantha if she could make arrangements for us all to go out and visit with her father, and she did.  I really like Garry and hadn't been to his house and property since a couple of months before David and Samantha were married so it's been almost 10 years or so now.  Aside from the brick house that he built himself there are many other structures that he built himself, including a pond with plenty of fish in it and a waterfall kind of structure that just makes for a wonderful place to sit and think about nothing.  Hannah wanted to fish a bit so using some of the leftover hotdogs that we had for lunch for bait, she proceeded to haul them in.  I'm pretty sure she caught 3 or 4; daddy caught zip.  Here's some photos from the pond area.

She no sooner had the hook in the water when she landed her first one.  Pretty nice size!

Love that smile!  Love those boots!!

If this isn't the greatest way to fish I sure don't know what would be.  This place is incredible and every single thing was built and put where it is by Samantha's father.  Figures... I don't have a photo of him!  Right above Hannah's head in this photo is the water 'thing' that Garry built.  He pumps water up to this little flume-like thing and then it pours over back into the pond.  It is just so peaceful.

 

David and Hannah wanted to walk down to the creek to try their luck there.  They didn't even catch a sunburn but this picture just seems to nice to me I had to include it.

And now what you've all been waiting for, I know.  Grandpa and Riley.  Regardless of what David said about it being gas, Riley was smiley when I was with her.  Look... you can see for yourself!

 

Too bad you can't see it in this picture... Riley was not only smiling, she was laughing and sort of talking to me, too.  Really!

She may be tiny but she packs a lot of happiness in that little body.

Oh yeah...  Life is good.

 













Long Overdue Visit

Well for this reason and that reason it has been a long time between seeing one another but this past weekend I had the absolute delight in having long-time friends Bill and Jane stop by the house for a wonderful overnight visit and catch up time.  We're thinking it's been the better part of more than 15 years since we last spent time together so there was great conversation all around.  Once Bill got the mighty Navigator up the driveway it was time to just show them the house and then sit down to tell old stories and a few new ones of what's going on with ourselves and our families.  Along the way we managed to have a few wine cooler type things, nibble on a few veggies, and munch a few peanuts.  We didn't eat much because the reason they really stopped by was to eat some ribs!  Yeah, baby!  Jane was a stitch in that she took pictures of the entire process just for her own memory book.  First, the players:

Bob and Bill wandering the back a bit.  Bill did pass on a number of tips regarding projects yet to be done around the house.  When my list calls for new entries, I'll start on Bill's!

Same players... Bob and Bill deciding it was better to sit and talk about projects to be done than do them.  This was an excellent decision as it was a normal hot, sunny day in Georgia.

 

Susan, Jane and Bob.  Jane was the primary picture taker for a lot of these so she's not in front of the camera very much.  This time, front and center.

Jane stood close by as I got the ribs out, skinned them, and split them and now it's time to start the cooking.

It was a very fun afternoon and my smile is quite real.  I had a constant flare-up in one corner of the grill that was giving me gas and that got the ribs in that area a bit more crisp than I would have chosen but otherwise the process went rather well.

OK... time to take the slabs off and cut the ribs through so make them individual.  Why?  So they could be tossed into the pot which right now is at my feet and then doused with a bit of sauce and then shaken to cover nicely.  Then they're dumped back on the grill to let the sauce soak in a bit, then back into the pot for a bit more sauce and a bit more shaking and that's it.  Next stop for the pot... the table.

And here we are, less Jane taking the photo, ready to begin.  Not yet on the table but brought out pretty quickly was a nice warm, wet rag for cleaning our fingers, once licked.  After all the talking and laughing that had gone on for the previous 4 hours or so it got absolutely quiet :)

After dinner we relaxed a bit, had some dessert, and then took a ride around the neighborhood on the golf cart.  The ladies were in back, facing backwards, and told us guys up front that it was all they could do not to fall off the back when we went up one of the somewhat steep hills in the area.  Coming back in Jane and Bill got out the maps to check their destinations for the next day and it became pretty funny.  Nothing worked for any of them because the one thing they seemed to agree on was that their destination town, Helen, wasn't on any of the maps they were holding.  Of course it was but they couldn't see it because the nice AAA lady had highlighted them and who looks at the highlighting?  Notice Jane's look as she watches the two of them pretend they know where they're going.

Sunday morning began quietly with Bill and Jane at their end of the house and Susan and me at our end and we all met in the middle for coffee, or at least the guys did.  The plan was for Bill and Jane to take us out for a bit of breakfast and then they would take off for north Georgia where they will be adventuring for a few days.  I decided to go with them in my own car because 1) I had not been to the state park they were headed for and 2) I really, really didn't want to plant any more flowers and bushes.  So, after a rather wonderful breakfast we got in our cars and headed for Amicalola Falls State Park.

This is a great shot of the backs of Jane and Bill.  We're standing on a walkway that spans the top of the falls.  It's a cascading waterfall but a waterfall nonetheless.  Impossible to capture the view looking forward but take my word for it, it was rather nice.

And this is what they were looking at.  Looking down at the top of the falls, or at least a part of it.

Near the walkway where we started was a sign indicating that there was a set of stairs that led to the base of the falls.  The sign also said "Strenuous" and "Caution" and "453 steps."  Well, what's a few steps.  Jane made it down a few landing where the view opened up a bit and I stopped with her.  After a bit I decided to keep on going to make it to the bottom, knowing full well that would mean having to come back UP!  This was the view about 2/3 of the way down.

And this is the view at the bottom looking up.  It was quite beautiful and quite noisy with the sound of the falling water and the water rushing under the boardwalk I was standing on.  It's a good drop... you can kind of get perspective by looking at the tree in the top left of this photo.  All in all, everyone was very glad to have made the trip to this beautiful spot.  We also looked at the neat cabins, lodge, and other amenities available.  

Leaving the state park we drove toward Dahlonega which was on the way to Helen, the ultimate destination for Jane and Bill.  Bill needed to pump some petrol into the 'beast' as he calls his vehicle so near to Dahlonega we pulled into a gas station.  At this point I decided to head for home and let Jane and Bill continue on.  I'm sure they made it, after all Jane had her trusty AAA book and as long as they got on RT 115 the 2nd time, not the 1st time, they'd be fine.  We hugged and parted and went our separate ways.  It was a wonderful, happy, fun time and I don't want to wait another 15 years to repeat it!

Just before we parted... love 'em :)