Early November

Early November foliage is beautiful here in SC. Spending time outside has been glorious. We had our first rain Sunday, since Hurricane Matthew came through in early October. The air is cool and crisp. 

I went exploring this morning. There's a trail about 20 miles from our house that I've been wanting to check out. 

The main trail is a gravel road....you can bike, hike, run or horse back ride there.

It was gorgeous! I'm definitely going back with my mountain bike. 

I came upon this horse farm that bordered the trail and just had to sit there for a minute or two to swoon over the pasture and barn in the distance.....the horse was cute, too.

Early November, back at home..... 

The sauerkraut is ready, or so I thought. The first few bites were so delicious, but then when I jarred it, I noticed that the kraut wasn't as soft as it should be. I must have eaten the part that had fermented quicker than the other. It is still delicious, but just not as soft as it should be and I may have used a little too much salt. I can remedy that part by rinsing it. After jarring the sauerkraut and putting it in the refrigerator, I decided to sit one of the pints out for a few more days to see if it will continue to ferment.  This was my first try and I've learned a lot. I will make it again and again, until I get it perfect. I ordered a sauerkraut crock with a lid and weights to hold the cabbage down. I'm so excited to try another batch soon....

I'm loving the colors of my new cushions and pillows for the chaise lounges on the upper deck. The fire pit is to the left of this picture. We were planning to have a fire there the other night, but got busy raking and burning leaves. By the time we finished and I made dinner, I was too tired to go back outside.  There will be plenty of time for a fire.  

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Mama will be spending it with us again this year. Emily, Matt and the children will be with us, too. I'll be cooking up a storm. I have so many things to be thankful for this year....I hope I can always feel this sense of gratitude for the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me and my family.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, also, spending it with the ones you love.

Laurie

Our Sweet Girl

 Lidia as Cleopatra..............Sawyer as a Greaser

Let me just tell you that Cliff and I have been blessed beyond measure with the sweetest grandchildren. Lidia and Sawyer are the best natured children you'll ever see and they are best friends. They look out for each other and want to spend their time with each other. That's rare and it really warms my heart.  I love them!

A Lidia Selfie

But, in this season of Thanksgiving, I have to brag on Lidia just a little bit. It dawned on me this morning as I was serving them breakfast. She NEVER fails to thank me for food that I make for her, whether I've cooked a full five-course meal or just a piece of toast. And, she NEVER fails to say Grace. I love her!

We are a blessed LaLa and Papi!

Mercies and Grace

Let Your Light Shine
Thanksgiving 2015

This will be my last post about Thanksgiving. The big day is here....my favorite! I'm so thankful that mama and Mrs. Wanda were able to come spend Thanksgiving with Cliff and me this year. It has been a year of changes for us and it just feels so good to have something familiar around us for the holidays.

As I sit here and reflect back on this past year, I am amazed at how much I have to be thankful for.  I am thankful, always, for my family and friends and for good health. I am so thankful for my husband and children and thank God for allowing me to be a part of their lives. They are so very special to me! But today, I am even more mindful of what the Thanksgiving Holiday truly means to me.

I wrote something similar a few years ago and I feel that it deserves repeating.....

I am so very thankful for the multitudes of answered prayers, blessings and miracles that have been bestowed on me and my family and for His sweet mercy and grace. To God, I give all the glory, honor and praise.

The words of the following hymn rings so true in my heart....

Some thank the Lord for friends and home, For mercies sure and sweet; 

But I would praise Him for His grace - In prayer I would repeat: 

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul, 

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole; 

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Laurie

This Time Of Year

 

Eeeek....I'm getting so excited. It's almost time for my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving! 

It's the beginning of the holiday seasons, y'all.

The most gorgeous colors are on display. 

There are leaves everywhere, the weather is cool, it's time for fires and sweaters and knitting and Russian Tea. I'm so thankful for this time of year. 

Even though Thanksgiving is so near and I want my house to be all perfect, let's face it....it's a project. I've unpacked all the boxes and now I'm faced with finding space for all the things I've unpacked. I've found that what worked at my house in Andrews will not work here at the lake. I need bookshelves and built-ins and I need a few more cabinets. The painters are coming week after next. It can get overwhelming and I need to keep reminding myself to take it one step at a time. 

So, the first order of business was to replace my old dining chairs. Heck, this is not even the dining table that I used in Andrews. I used this table somewhere else, but now that we've downsized, I think it works well here. The old ladder backs I used for this table had seen better days. So, I bought some new ones. I love them! And I'm starting to play around with the decorations. I'm sure this table decor will change probably a couple of times before I'm satisfied with it. Anyway, just thought I would give you a little peek at the progress. Yes, I know. I'm late getting the fall decor out, but I've been busy. Hopefully, the Christmas decorations won't take so long.

Til Soon,

Laurie

It's Nearly Over....

2014, that is. It's been a crazy busy year. I've found myself putting things on the backburner and this blog caught the brunt of it. I was even asked the other day if I had quit blogging.

No way!

So.....to avoid making this novel length, I'm going to sort of bullet the last month's or so memorable events with pictures. And it will be picture heavy, I promise.

Remainder of October 2014:
 

Sawyer turned 8! Here he is in his Korean Tae Kwon Do Dobak (uniform)

eating birthday cake in a sombrero at a Mexican restaurant. He's multi-cultural!

 

 

One week after my last half marathon, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe.....so I haven't run since then. Bummer! I'm actually going in the morning. I think it has healed pretty well. Could have been because of the great care I took of it with the cast and all...

 

Lidia was Cat Woman for Halloween and Sawyer was some sort of Action Figure. I couldn't tell you which one, even if you tried to beat it out of me. And from the looks of that thing behind him, he may have to do some....well, you know....action.

 

Lidia's class went on a three day field trip to Seabrook Island near Charleston, SC 

concentrating on environmental education. She's a smart girl!



Lidia and Sawyer's last fishing adventure at the lake. It looks wicked cold, doesn't it.

 

Sawyer has been practicing with his bow and arrow. He's pretty good, too. Bless it, he's still sort of snaggletoothed. I love him!

 

In case you don't know where I've been......Sawyer wanted you to know.

 

 

November 2014:

  

It snowed at the lake on November 1st.

 

It was gorgeous! But only lasted a few hours.

 

 

Sawyer's artwork was chosen as one of twenty from hundreds of students at his school to be displayed in the Chapman Cultural Center. It's of a superhero, of course. He's very talented!

 

Lidia and Sawyer took away some major trophy's from their Tae Kwon Do event. I wouldn't cross them, if I were you!

 

Lidia and Sawyer earned their Green Belt with Blue Stripe. Black belt, here they come!

 

Remember this picture from this post? The cotton popped! Isn't it beautiful? I just love living in the "land of cotton"!

 

 

December 2014:

 

Alas, we are in December. I love December for many reasons......

1) It turns cold.  2) It's my birthday month.  3) It's Christmas, and 4) It's family time.

I'm so excited because all of my children will be home for Christmas this year. And then, there is Ms. Bones. You remember her, don't you? Please don't get the wrong idea....I am not macabre! 

She's just been a part of our family, since I was in x-ray school.

Her outfit changes seasonally. Ha! Here she is.....dressed for the holidays.

Isn't she elegant?

 

 

Unfortunately, we did have some sadness just before Thanksgiving. Cliff's step-father passed away. The family, though sad, is celebrating his life and memories. And we know he is in a better place.

 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, Mama spent it with us at the lake. I really wanted her to just rest and take it easy. Y'all, the woman wouldn't sit still. She has helped me cook, washed every dish in the house, swept and taken out the trash. I had to make her go sit down and rest. Hope I'm that active in my 70's.

 

And finally, Lidia was baptized the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are so proud of her and her decision to follow Jesus. She is so sweet. I can't wait to see how the Lord will use her. She was a little nervous that morning. On the way to church, she asked us if the water in the Baptistry will be warm. We assured her that it is heated and she said, "Alright then, I'm good to go". I love her!

 

 

Merry Christmas,

Laurie

 

 

 

 

Highlights of a Colorado Thanksgiving

Deep in the backwoods of Colorado, somewhere.

Whitney took this....isn't it beautiful?

Before I get to the highlights of our Colorado Thanksgiving, can anyone guess what today is? It is my one year Blog-a-versary. That's right, one year ago today I posted my first blog. You can read it here, if you like. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year of blogging. I've made new friends that I otherwise would have never met. It's truly amazing how small our world is and it's evident by the scores of different countries that read my blog. In one short year, I have had nearly 13,000 people to view it. That blows me away. Thank you doesn't seem appropriate for all the readers of my blog, but I do thank you so much for following. I hope you continue to enjoy reading about what's happening down on LaLa Lane as much as I love bringing it to you.  Again, Thank You times infinity plus one!

Now on to the highlights of our Colorado Thanksgiving. It was amazing!

We've been planning this trip for some time. Whitney and Jason can't come home for Christmas this year and Whitney and I both were having separation anxiety issues so she asked if we could come to Colorado for Thanksgiving. Well, yeah! What did you expect? I have to get a Whitney fix every few months. Although, I beg her to move home all the time. It just ain't happening....at least right now. So, if Whitney can't come home, then let's go see Whitney.

Wednesday:
We've been talking this up for some time. Planning our days, packing, coordinating airlines and flight times. Lidia and Sawyer have been all ears. Oh yeah, Emily, Lidia and Sawyer went with us. So, anyway, after listening to all the planning, Sawyer started to get concerned. It was raining when we left for the airport and Sawyer was worried that we might not make it to the airport on time. Then he was worried about going through security and the metal detector. He was afraid that the metal buttons on his coat would set off the alarms. LOL!

As Murphy would have it, our plane was late taking off. Apparently, all the rain the Southeast was experiencing had a direct impact on flights coming in to and leaving from Atlanta. Arriving late to Atlanta, we had only minutes to catch our connecting flight to Denver.....as in, they were already boarding. We had to go from Terminal A to Terminal B via train, but we made it. Phew! We have the "find a friend" app on our phones and Whitney was able to track us. She saw us as we passed over Oklahoma. How cool is that? We finally arrived to Denver...Whitney waiting on us at the gate.....and that beautiful blue sky of the mile high city. We were so excited that we had packed as lightly as possible....each of us had only a backpack full of clothes to last us 5 days. We would be using Whitney's washer and dryer, a lot. But, we didn't have to go through baggage claims....we went straight to the parking lot. Now, since living in Denver, Whitney has acquired some mad driving skills. She was doing 80 on the freeway. Yikes!!! We arrived safely to Whitney's apartment and since she had to go back to work for a couple of hours, we decided to get out and walk to Chili's just down the street. We started out in coats and ended up peeling everything off and pushing up sleeves, by the time we got there. I was OK. I run, so the mile walk, albeit hilly, was no biggie....except for the fact that we were a mile high and the oxygen was just not as plentiful up there. My breathing lulled. Cliff was OK too, but Emily and the kids struggled just a little bit. Enough that we requested a pick-up by Jason on his way home from work. LOL!

Thursday:
Thanksgiving! My favorite time of year. And, I love to cook for my family. Whitney and I came up with a menu, I sent her a grocery list and she went shopping. She had everything we needed to make a feast, when we got there. So, Thursday morning was spent cooking, for us girls. Cliff and Jason took the kids out to play in the left over snow that was hiding in the shadows. After Thanksgiving dinner, we rested for a bit and decided to go see a movie that evening. We saw "Catching Fire". It was really good, but a bit violent in parts. In retrospection, we should not have taken the kids. I feel bad about that. We talked to them about what was real and what was not and how movies are make believe. It was the best we could do at that point.

Friday:
Lidia and Sawyer's sole purpose was to play in the snow and rock climb. So we took off Friday in search of both. We didn't want to drive too far. We decided on the Arapaho National Forest near Mt. Evans. I started to feel bad on the way. I get car sick, but I don't know if it was that or a mild case of altitude sickness or both. So, we stopped at Starbucks and I just got water. What? Can you believe it? It helped! Next, we stopped at a place called "Echo Lake Park". It was a beautiful place.

Echo Lake Park

That's Cliff in the back. Front from left to right....

Lidia, Emily, Sawyer, Whitney and Jason.

It was very cold and there was plenty of snow for the kids to get their snow fix. Not many rocks, though. So, we needed to find another spot for them to do that.

Sawyer and Lidia - Echo Lake

Driving back down, we stopped at another spot with lots of snow, a stream and rocks. Score! This happened to be the same spot Whitney and Jason took me to last February for my snow fix. Jason had even carved my name in one of the trees. Lots of people had done it and it didn't seem to harm the tree. It was nice finding it again after nearly nine months. I collect rocks from streams or rivers from my travels....so, Jason fished out a few for me to choose from on this trip. He was so sweet to do that. His poor hands were red from fishing around in that severely cold stream.

Arapaho National Forest

Lunch Friday was at a place in the small, once mining town of Idaho Springs, called Beau Joe's. It was a neat place with mining paraphernalia everywhere. The talk was that Lidia and Sawyer didn't get enough rock climbing, so we decided to stop at a place called Red Rock. Major rocks here! And oh so breathtaking! Rock climbing done, left overs for dinner and I was in bed by 7:30.

Red Rock Park

Red Rock Park

Red Rock Park

Jason and Whitney....rock climbing is one of their favorite activities.

Sawyer and Lidia loves it, too.

Saturday:
Whitney, Emily and I went shopping for a bit, while Cliff and Jason took the kids in search of a park and more snow. Left over snow, but that's ok. All they needed was a handful. You know...for snowballs and such. Next, we were to meet downtown at a place called "Biker Jim's" for lunch.

Biker Jim's

I have never! This place had exotic hot dogs of all kinds. And Cliff wanted to try them all. So, he and Jason made a plan to order one of everything and divided them so that everyone could get a bite. I, of course, ordered the vegan dog and a side salad. Zoom in on the picture of the receipt. $93 dollars worth of hot dogs and accompaniments. This lunch will be talked about for ages!

$93 worth of hot dogs!

There were Alaskan Reindeer Coneys, Rattlesnake Pheasant Dogs, Wild Boar and Elk Jalapeno Cheddar Dogs. I was fully expecting for someone to get sick. They scarfed those things down like no body's business. Lidia, one of the most finicky eaters in the family, and Sawyer even loved the choices. Lidia liked the Alaskan Reindeer best. And, Cliff, who thinks cilantro takes like kerosene and wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, ate a little of them all. He was keen on trying the rattlesnake one, but I think his favorite was the Alaskan Reindeer, too. I have to say though, he will try anything once. And likes most, but will gag excessively over eating a nice green herb called cilantro. Go figure! 

The Family at Biker Jim's

After lunch, we did a little more shopping and then headed back to Whitney's so the kids could go swimming in the heated, outdoor pool. We spent Saturday evening watching Whitney's Alma Matter, the USC Gamecocks play the Clemson Tigers. What an exciting game, for us Gamecock fans, anyway. Five In A Row.....y'all! The final score was 31 to 17.

Sunday:
OMG!!!! We have to go home, today!!! I don't want to....well actually, I do. I just don't like the whole flying experience. Lines, security, taking off shoes, emptying bags, waiting, the rush to get on the plane, overhead baggage, CRAMPED quarters, 950 passengers trying to squeeze into one small aisle to exit, etc. Sawyer was adamant about sitting in the "right", assigned seat. We took up a whole row and if his ticket said Seat 16F, then by George, he wanted to sit in Seat 16F. LOL!!

In short order, we were back home in SC.  I miss Whitney and Jason already. What I really, really want is for Whitney and Jason to move home. And then I'm reminded....good things comes to those who wait...patience is a virtue. OK, OK I can wait a little longer. But Whitney, can you...like...hurry up?  Christmas won't be the same without them. This will be the first Christmas that I don't have both my children with me. It will be sad, but I guess it could be worse. Being with them this week was such a blessing. We had a fabulous Colorado Thanksgiving!

Talk soon,
Laurie

P.S. In case you were wondering.....Kitter is doing very well. She had her Kitter Shanty repaired and even has a Pent House now. She was amazed that her family came to visit. There was all sorts of extra attention. Although, when her grandaddy Cliff called her out in a loud, scratchy and gruff voice, "Kitty Kitty, come on Kitty", over and over again.....it scared the bejeebies out of her. She'll be fine. She'll recover. She'll only shook for a little while.