Monthly Archives: August 2012

Daily Mendota August 31

It’s going to be hard to do this post.  Mike swapped Dish Network for Direct-TVand they gave us a movie package for a few months.   Dirty Dancing is on and Baby is grabbing Patrick Swayze’s cheeks…not the ones attached to his neck.  It’s hard to concentrate!

We got up this morning all energetic.  I scrubbed the shower and showered myself, did my hair and then, we went to town! My lovely friend, Sheri, gave me a gift card yesterday as a going away present…how sweet!   It was from Lowe’s as she knows that is my  True Love, and keeping it in my pocket for 24 hours was very difficult.   It’s always been this way….when I first went to work, I was paid weekly, and on each Friday for the first few years,  I deposited my paycheck, went shopping and bought a new outfit. This was done on my lunch hour and then …I wore the outfit back to work!!

Back to my story…off we went to Lowe’s. We are always so happy as we go to Lowe’s. Mike and I have Lowe’s in common because it’s really the one he truly loves, too. He had a “nailer” for the hardwood floor in the guesthouse in mind, and I had fall mums gleaming in my eyes.

So..between slobbering around Lowe’s, going to PetSmart, a $230 trip to Walmart followed by a drive-thru at Pal’s, we wasted half the day. We arrived back home so tired that we took a nap.   Later, Mike went out to mow and I pretended to be cleaning.  I didn’t clean, however. I’m far too engaged in social media to want to clean.

Do you recall yesterday’s fiasco with the “B” or how about the valance fiasco on Saturday? I’m linking them so you can enjoy my humiliation in case you missed reading about them earlier in the week. I have a new fiasco today. Honestly…what is it this week? Is anyone else having these issues?

Mike washed the house down yesterday. It’s something we have to do regularly here on the river else our house siding gets all creepy and moldy looking. He also washed our backporch and the windows are now a mess. I started cleaning them last night but it grew dark and I did a terrible job. I decided that in spite of the fact that I have over 12 different window cleaners…see the post that mentions that here…I would make my own. You know the deal…homemade is always better. Here’s what happened…the recipe called for alcohol, white vinegar, warm water, and cornstarch. I mixed up the required amounts and put them in my squirt bottle. Something seemed wrong. It was terrible. Only then did I realize that the recipe called for cornstarch and I was using corn syrup. What was I thinking???

So….I tabled cleaning windows with my botched brew, and I started thinking about something I could handle..making a tomato sandwich. But I didn’t have any tomatoes!  I called the Kisers at Rivermyst Farm which is very close and asked them to set a bag of tomatoes out by their barn and I’d come get them.

I’m taking you along for my visit to get the tomatoes…

Here we go…we’re at the end of Swinging Bridge Road…and the cows are preoccupied with grazing…

Looking toward the right is Gorden Barker Junior’s farm…that corn will be coming down soon!

I arrive at the Kiser’s farm…I love the CSA boxes they use for produce.   Stylin’ veggie boxes!

Here’s some pretty peppers….

 

Ahhh…here’s some roma tomatoes. Yum…all of the produce grown here is certified organic.

Here’s some okra…

Here’s some squash…

The Kisers were there in the barn but they are totally camera shy. This is one hard working family. Mike and I owe them dinner but they are currently too busy to go anywhere.   About 14 days, and the worst will be over.  You can meet the Kisers at the Bristol Farmer’s Market and/or the Abingdon Farmer’s Market.

Have a great weekend.

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Thinking About Fall

On October 10, 2005, I began working at AGC in the Abingdon, Virginia  plant– at that time called AFG Glass, and today that ended.   I was very certain this is what I wanted to do in March…not as certain in May…but today as I pulled out of the Kingsport Corporate Services Office parking lot, I was happy.  Starting my new life!

Fall is my favorite season of the year, and there are lots of opportunities among the family of bloggers to share fall decor ideas.  I can’t wait to get started.  I have some inspiration in these beautiful sunflowers my young and precious neighbor, Sarah Kiser, gave me.

So…I got home and following a celebratory nap, I continued thinking about fall.   I decided there was no better time than today to start introducing autumn into my house.   It was also more fun than cleaning windows.   Since you enter my house from the foyer, I started there.

Here’s how my foyer has looked all summer…

So, to transition to fall here’s the minor changes I made today.   I decided to use the P. Buckley Moss picture commemorating Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots festival as the festival occurs in September.    The “B” was to also undergo a transformation.  It is not exactly as I want it but it will work for a day or two until I fix it.   Of course, I added gourds since I’m covered up in them.

However, as I looked at the picture, it just looked flat…a little blah.   I like a live plant here and there — even though this topiary is not as healthy as it used to be–so I added the plant and removed a few of the gourds.  Here’s what my foyer looks like tonight as I go to bed.

Back to these gourds…they are everywhere in my house.  When I stumble on come up with a good idea, I get all the mileage I can out of it.   I picked 200 from my garden, and when they are not rotting I really enjoy seeing them in my house.    However, I have to “cull” them weekly.    Here’s what happens if I forget to look through them…..

Gag…I should have warned you.  This little monster was rotting in a bowl in our dining room.   Does it make you hungry…want to eat at my house?

Earlier today I was completely chapped thinking I smelled cat pee in the dining room.  We keep gates up to keep the cats out of most of our house, and I was immediately mad at Mike for possibly letting Sweetie Pi (she’s a mathmetician in the cat world) in the dining room.   However, I could not find the cat pee.  I looked…and sniffed…and looked and sniffed some more.   I know…nasty.

Then, I spotted the gourds, and started pulling them out of the bowl.  It was bad.   There were about five that were starting to rot, and the bowl had moisture in the bottom.  Guess what it smelled like?

Not to get too far off the subject, but the stinkin’ rotten gourd thing reminded me of when I was in my 20’s and worked at United Telephone in Bristol.  I made a huge ordeal about an odor at my desk and had everyone looking for a dead mouse.  As it turned out, it was my feet.   Just thinking about it makes my face turn red.

And…I am all thumbs today.   That little “B” was going to be such a smashing idea.  You would have been very impressed with me…heck..I was very impressed with me!  A little bit of fall themed scrapbook paper, slap the “B” on and immediate results.

I got my “B” at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon so it was a little over $1.00.    I had such high hopes for my “B”.

It didn’t work out.  I didn’t read the instructions.   I’m getting a new “B”.  I’m following the instructions after I ruined this one.   Although it does look a little scary…maybe a Halloween “B”?

If you see a completed project on this blog, you will know that it was EASY with a very good success rate. Follow me…I’ll find the most mindless projects that give good results and share them!!

Thank you for reading my blog.  Please leave a comment so that I will know you’ve been here!   If you like what I’ve written, please share the Facebook post with your FB friends and ask  them to follow RiverCliff Cottage.    I would appreciate it.

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Kitchen Light – SOLD!

Happy Wednesday!

In June, I spent much of the month cleaning my house, and as I cleaned, I shared rooms with you.  I actually never finished cleaning the house, but I did make it to the kitchen.     I have been feeling pretty good about my cheerful little kitchen, except for the light fixture hanging above my kitchen table.   Here’s the light…I took the picture standing behind the sink facing the kitchen table.  

Note to self:  Retake this picture when you’ve wiped the countertop a little better and positioned the vase in the center of the table!!

Here it is…

 That light fixture is not right.    When I first put it up, the kitchen was a different color, had different window treatments and a different table.   I am so passed this light fixture.

The great news is that I won’t have to look at this light much longer. Mike and I were headed to the movies last night, and just as we pulled in to get out and go to purchase the ticket, I told him I’d been looking at Home Depot in Kingsport at a potential new light for the kitchen.  We decided to skip the movies and go look at Lowe’s (my love) and Home Depot (my next-in-line love) in Bristol.

Forget Home Depot in Kingsport, I found a light I really liked in the Bristol Home Depot.    I had my phone with me so I took a picture. Here it is:

It was not expensive.  It was $129.  We almost brought it home with us, but we had not visited Lowe’s at that time.   I wanted to compare because Lowe’s is my first love.      Unfortunately, there was not one at Lowe’s I liked.  The one that I considered..sort of… but didn’t like…looked like a woman’s wrought iron and glass breast hanging down from a chain.   Pass.

It was getting late so we went on home deciding to return to Home Depot in a day or so.   However, when I got home, I went to www.homedepot.com and looked up the light to see if the online price was the same as the store price.  You just never know.   It was on sale…$77.40 with free shipping.   SOLD!     It will arrive in about three days.  Can’t wait to put it up!

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Curtains, Traffic Jam & Oh What Nice Neighbors

Hope your week is starting off good.  Mine is!   Three more work days and I’m off for a bit until I start my next job.

If you wish to leave a comment and tell me about your week…or anything… there is a section at the end of the post. It would be GREAT to hear from you. Someone told me that they wanted to leave a comment but they were unsure what to say. Just say hi!!  I so appreciate it.  You may also have RiverCliff Cottage delivered to your email address by subscribing.

Back to the post….this was the post that I meant to include on Sunday, but I was totally taken with the Mendota Cemetery Quilt giveaway.  See here if you haven’t read.

I have a thing for linens…and it’s most intense for quilts. I haven’t even made a full-size quilt. I’m too impatient. I buy them from people who have more patience than me. I have helped make some, but I’ve never done one by myself. Maybe some day…

So here’s the weekend recap…

It all started with a traffic jam on the North Fork which runs in front of my house. Can you believe this? Six of ’em!

They are off and paddling in the photo above.

However, this took a few minutes.   Had to get the feel of it while sitting in the grass.

Just a beautiful Saturday morning…

After putting in at our house, they paddled underneath two swinging bridges, a tressel, floated past Abrams Creek and looped off the road quite a ways before they pulled out at the Mendota Bridge.

They passed by Hosses’ Farm, Big Loop Farm and Rohoboth Farm.   Don’t you love farms with names?

So..then…guess what? I started making my curtain. I mean…it’s just a valance, right? Anyone can do it, rght?  I didn’t want to line it and I wasn’t planning to line it, but my sister’s voice nagged me telling me I should line it and that I was being tacky for shortcutting. Tacky? I was totally irked at her. In the end, it didn’t matter, as I made the rod pocket too small. It doesn’t fit. She annoyed and distracted me so much that I didn’t measure properly. I hope she’s reading this so that she knows how upset I am. Sister…STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!!!I also think because I knew I had to go to work on Monday, I hurried.

But there is an alternative theory…I am such a sewing loser.

Check this out…when I went to match up my fabric…I didn’t make a big enough seam.   Oh well.

Defeated, I’ve decided that I hate the whole process, and I called the amazing, wonderful, talented–and appreciated–lady who has made window treatments for me many times and asked her if she’d make me a stationary roman shade for my back door. Yes, I’m sure I could do it, but I’m not going to. For $20, I can have it done, and I’ll be there promptly a week from Friday.

Besides… I want to clean up the house and decorate for fall. Those bloggy linky parties are calling me.

So you might ask? Did she put her sewing machine away and clean up her mess?

Chrissy:  “Are you kidding?  “

 Hmmm..nah…I didn’t get things put away.   No, instead, I had cross words with my husband who inquired if I was ever going to clean up the mess, and I stalked off with my ipad to look up other projects that are more attuned with my talents. Like spray paint and picking out fabric for my stash.

Another fun thing…our neighbor, Molly Kiser at Rivermyst Farm, called about the peppers they had to share and did we know someone who wanted some? “Yes,” I answered, and then she offered me some, too! Some red ones. I don’t grow get red ones because I eat them before they turn red.

Look at her sweet note on the box…I love my neighbors!

Little insert here…I had to take those peppers…Molly had that certain pitch in her voice…a bit of desperation that made me think what she REALLY WAS SAYING was something like…”if you don’t take these peppers, I don’t know what I’m going to do with them…I’m really tired of seeing them.”

I understand this! People who grow food don’t want to waste a thing…but we get really, really tired of the garden producing so much in such a short period of time. Do you recall my summer squash? I didn’t think they’d every stop multiplying. It makes one…well, generous.

We delivered most of the peppers to the folks who needed them and then I got up early on Sunday and while doing a few other things, I chopped mine up and placed them in freezer.

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Here they are.  I had already chopped and froze quite a few green peppers, and Molly’s generosity enabled me to add about 12 more packs of chopped red peppers.  They look funny.  Ha!  I’ll be laughing all the way to my plate when I’m eating fahitas with these yummy peppers in them this winter.   Thanks to the sweetness of my neighbors.

How are your neighbors treating you?  When I lived in a subdivision of 1,000 homes,  I knew about two families well enough to call them friends and about ten well enough to know their last names.    We are blessed to live in southwest Virginia.

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The Winner of the Mendota Quilt

After months of planning, buying fabric, cutting, sewing and coordinating the work of others,  the 2012 Mendota Cemetery Quilt “Common Ground” came to life.  More months followed of selling tickets, and then  it came to a climatic end at the Mendota Homecoming today when the winner was drawn.

Chris was the ring leader of the Mendota Cemetery quilt.  Without her, there would be no quilt.   She’s been out of town all summer helping a family member.   She’s back–and just in time to draw the ticket.

Over 1600 tickets were sold.

I had about 1/16 chance in winning. It didn’t matter. Today was not my day. It was Libby’s day!

Libby bought a $1 chance from my neighbor Margie. Next week, she’ll be enjoying the Mendota Cemetery Quilt called “Common Ground.” I would like to be a fly on the wall when Margie calls her and tells her!!

This was not my original post for today but I was so excited I had to share it. Living in a rural community means many things…and today, these things are all good.

We’re already whispering about next year’s Mendota Cemetery Quilt.  I’ll take you along when we get the fabric.   We’ll be working hard to top this one.

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Mendota Daily August 25

I returned home from Georgia yesterday. I was so glad to get home. It was my last trip for work as next week is my last week at work. I was anxious to get home but I ran into Bristol race traffic. Yuck. I think I ran a redlight on Volunteer Parkway in Bristol, Tennessee. I also saw a police officer turn around…like he or she saw me. Yikes. Maybe the police car was just turning around, but I’ll never know, because I zipped off and hid at Tennessee High School!   Yeah..that’s me…just sitting at THS…like I was really going there.

I have sat in the “lane of shame” with the flashing blue lights earlier this year and it cost me over $500. I did not realize that going 86 in a 65 would be such a bad mistake.    I don’t normally speed..I was going downhill…in a rental car that was much more powerful than my Prius.    Think what I could have bought with that $500!! I hated myself.    

It’s fun to blog and work on projects, but today, I got up and worked on a spreadsheet for work for a few hours–I am not a numbers person so…well, I don’t want to say.   Following that, I didn’t do anything. Nothing.  Mike and I  meant to go see the local high school football team open their season, but we didn’t do that either. It was a pajama day.

It’s the simple things that make my life wonderful, and here in Mendota, we are surrounded by simple things. 

Lots of wonderful.    When I’m in a larger town, I get easily distracted by the volume of stuff and people and traffic.  It’s like a bad circus.

My brother-in law brought my niece’s daughter (my grandniece) by this afternoon.  She’s a little bit of wonderful.

They drove up on the golf cart (now that is my kind of traffic). Look at it rain!!  Uncle Gerald said “Arianna…tell Eva about the mama deer and her baby.”   I asked “how big was the baby?”    Arianna held up her fingers and said “this big.”

I asked Arianna…”do you like the rain.”    She replied “yes,” but this picture shows a little girl who doesn’t like being wet–at least not out of the pool.  It was sunny but still raining.  You know the kind of feeling…the asphalt has puddles of warm water…maybe bubbles of tar…feels good on your feet. 

I said…”turn around and shake it off.”  She did.

Had to spin around and wind up a little bit…

Full spins….

Turning and turning…

Ahhh….and having fun…

And to just top off a great moment…He sent a rainbow.  So pretty.

See that ugly little brown thing?  That is our woodboiler.  It heats our water and the two houses in the winter.  The heat is so warm we usually don’t use it until December.     Behind the woodboiler is a grapevine…I got it from the Washington County 4H Club two years ago.  Hope I have grapes next year.

It’s good to be home. Tomorrow is a Stay.At.Home.Day. I’m making my curtain for the kitchen foyer. I’ve said this about a million times, but it will happen tomorrow.

Time for bed…please leave me a comment and say hello!  It’s more fun when I hear from you!

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Uneasy

Hi…I’m in Alpharetta, Georgia and I do not have my camera with me!! I take it everywhere, but I didn’t bring it as I was afraid I’d leave it somewhere or even worse.  Now…I’m missing it.

So..I started looking at pictures on my computer, and I realized, it’s my work laptop and there are only a few pictures on it (ok…more like a few hundred but I’ve already shown you all of them.) 

I wanted to show you a picture of the fainting goats, Mason and Dixon, that live on Swinging Bridge Road.    Mason is a gentleman, but Dixon should be called Humpy.  He is not neutered and is in love with just about everything that he comes across.   There are big plans for Dixon as he will be fathering baby fainting goats when his Momma finds just the right little lady for him.   However, I’m going to have to wait until this weekend to let you see these two cuties. 

I did find one picture I  know I haven’t shared.    Booby Hill…look in the horizon…when I was  a teenager, those two hills were grazed completely smooth…they looked like…well..boobies!   We actually called them something similar but not quite the same. 

Boobies are now leading my conversation thread.   Since I’ve been in Georgia, I’ve seen a cement mixer and a trash truck that were totally pink with the breast cancer awareness logo. 

But speaking of trucks, I haven’t seen many pickup trucks and the cars are not dirty.   How do these people stay so skinny?

Why do I feel uneasy when I’m here?

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Organizing and Believe It Or Not…With More Chalk Paint!!

Hi…did you have a good weekend?   Mine went by way too fast.  I was at work Monday thru Thursday and I remembered how much I like everyone I work with and how much I dislike driving to Kingsport and how much I love being home a bit more during the week.   Just a few more days and I’m officially through with this part of my work life.  

Soon I may start another part-time work adventure which, if it all works out, I’m very excited about. I can’t wait to share it with you. However, I’m no longer on my leave of absence and am currently working at my old job for a few more days.   Now..about this weekend.

Do you remember this?  It was at the end of one of my posts and was on my “to do” list?

The pantry is in the den.  The room is cool and  a great place for canned goods…and cleaning supplies…and just junk. Do you see any place for 72 pints of my prized pasta sauce and about 8 quarts of tomatoes? Right. I don’t either.

I’d thought I’d wait for Mike to do a few things toward completing this project, but he has been mowing like crazy because of all of the rain in southwest Virginia. It’s mow and then mow and then weed eat.

Here’s my reveal…I haven’t got it finished 100% but it’s close.   Mike has to put the light changing thingies and the Shark floor cleaning thingy, etc. in place and I’ve got additional labeling to do top the plastic bins, but in the interim…here’s what I’ve done…

This was so simple.   I took box tops from Sam’s Club and sprayed chalk paint on the boxes. I then used chalk markers to label the boxes of canned goods.   Easy Brilliant and cheap inexpensive.    And sooo….effective.  

If you home can, you know there is a problem with finding green beans in your basement, closet, pantry etc.  that date way back to the Mayflower and wondering what on earth you should do with them. Our nature in southwest Virginia is to NOT TO LET ANYTHING GO TO WASTE!!! I wrote the names of what was in the box tops and then noted in small letters the year they were preserved. While working on the pantry, contrary to the philosophy of not wasting anything, I discarded some peach preserves that I made five or six years ago, some pickled beets no one was eating, and some green beans and tomatoes that had a lot of rust on their lids. Seriously, I needed the space, and canning jars are too expensive to let set on the shelves and not be eaten.

Also, take a look at that glass cleaner box on the first shelf. Perhaps if I’d done this sooner, I would have realized that I did not need 12 containers of products for cleaning glass.

 
Meanwhile, I received compensation for this. I FOUND two jars of our PRIZED wild raspberry jam from 2011. They are the two little jars in between the BBQ sauce (it’s from Trader Joe’s and Mike loves it so I buy it whenever I’m near a Trader Joe’s store) and the green bean box (which I didn’t change the writing because it was almost sort of appropriate). I didn’t make any raspberry jam this year as it was 100 degrees when they were ripe and the turkeys were aggressively planning on what they were going to do with the raspberries…and they didn’t care to walk on the hill behind the house in 100 degree temperatures. The turkeys won.

I feel a sense of security in looking at this pantry. Home canning is part of our rural life. It’s not a dying art but a growing art in southwest Virginia.    I hope you find this idea on how to organize home canned goods helpful.

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I Cleaned My Living Room!

I cleaned the living room Saturday. I actually did it late Friday night because I’ve read from other bloggers that morning light is the best for taking pictures.  So much learning!!    So…I got up Saturday morning and took pictures.

Come in!!   You’ll never visit where my living room will be this clean again. I’m not a dirty person but I’m happiest in a small mess.

But to refresh you..it’s been evolving…in this picture, which was taken with my old photo editing software before I changed to the very cool one I’m using now…I knew I wanted a “B” on the wall and I’d asked Mike to help me move the old entertainment center back in from hiding. I knew I had to make this work, at least for a while, else there would be a minor revolt on my getting any more furniture moving help.   And there’s my trusted friend, the vacuum hose.

Now, here we are today.  Furniture is in place.    Not everything is perfect, but at least the cleaning supplies are put away and I didn’t get them in the picture.

 

Living Room

There has been almost no new purchases for this room in 12 years.  Primarily,  I moved the furniture around. I don’t have a before picture but the couch was in the center of the room. Ho hum. I was tired of it.

Here’s a picture of the current resting place for my “B”.  That gourd doesn’t really go there, but I haven’t figured out what to do with her.  She’s a pal of mine.  I grew her a long time ago and when I shake her, she rattes.   She’s like me…when I get shaken up, I get all rattled!

Here’s another angle…

The curio in the corner was a present from my husband about a gazillion years ago.   We were pretty lean at that time, so he bought it unfinished.

And here’s the mantle which I’m looking forward to decorating for fall….

I always keep a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on the mantle.   They remind me of my father, W. T. Barker.     The P. Buckley Moss print is part one of the Rhythm & Roots series she’s doing.  I haven’t bought the second one which depicts the Burger Bar in Bristol, Virginia.

The bowl with the gourds in it  was a gift from a local Mendota woodturner/craftsman, Curtis.  I can’t remember his last name!!   If someone local is reading this, please leave a comment with Curtis’ name and I’ll correct!!     The book is an old Bible that has my Uncle Johnny’s handwriting and notes in.   He was actually John Pershing Parker.   He’s long gone, and the Bible is almost falling apart.  The cover is like soft denim.   The Bible was found in an old garage Uncle Charlie (Charlie Litton) built that was being torn down by a contractor for VDOT during a road improvement project.    It was worthless to him but means everything to me.

 

I’m feeling a bit smug about this photography software.  I used a “vignette” feature on that picture which blurs the background so that the subject matter will capture the viewer’s full attention.

Here’s the coffee table with a bowl of gourds and some zinnias I picked.    Like my vase?

Here’s a view so you can see why the foyer and the living room paint colors have to “talk”.   It’s a little bit elongated.   Sorry.

And my last picture..

 

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Thank you for visiting me in my living room.      I like this room.  It’s best feature is the paint which makes a nice backdrop for everything else.  It is especially pretty when it’s snowing outside and the fireplace is burning.    I am looking forward to one of those days this winter.

 

 

 

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Daily Mendota August 17

Yikes…today is almost over and I have not been very productive.

I went to get my hair cut and highlighted this morning.   I was so happy when Louetta called and asked me to come in at 8:45 am instead of 11:00 am which was my original schedule. I thought…”wow…I’ll come home and get a lot done.” There are so many things that can go wrong with that kind of statement!

So…. I didn’t do any of the things I intended, and here is is 9:40 pm and I just put the jars of spaghetti sauce into the pressure canner. No worries..it’s only one batch of nine pints. It will put my spaghetti sauce stash right at 71 if they all seal.

I’m waiting for the comforting sound of the pressure canner jiggling.    I’ll listen to that for 40 minutes, turn the stove off and go to bed.  Tomorrow, I’ll get the jars out and they will still be quite warm.   Sigh. 

Back to my hair appointment…Louetta has been doing my hair since 1998 when we bought the land that this house sets on. She had her shop on the corner of Benhams and Reedy Creek Road in the Benhams community.  This was the closest hair salon to my house.    Later, she moved the shop into a house she owned on Reedy Creek Road.   Shortly thereafter, she moved the shop into the basement of the house that she lived in on Reedy Creek Road.   (These were two different houses.)   The interesting fact about this is that she sold that house while having a garage sale.  I am not kidding.   Following that,  she moved back to to the corner of Benhams and Reedy Creek Road and changed her salon’s name to Louetta’s Carribean Splash.   Following that, she moved her shop to Lee Highway beside Domino’s Pizza and called her salon “Louetta’s Hair Pottery and Color Works.” Now, she is near Exit 10 on Lee Highway, and I think she kept the same name.

Louetta is not afraid of change.

She is Louetta Canter but she was a Millard before she got married. This is important because my parents always said “the Millard girls are very handy and creative.” It’s true. For all of Lou’s customers to follow her around (and these are just a few of the moves…there were others before I ever showed up), she has to be pretty good. .

While I was there, I pulled out my camera. I wanted to show you Louetta’s Great Grandmother Jackson’s quilt.

It’s a beautiful quilt that has been used and loved. It’s hanging on a walking stick…there’s a story about that, too, but I’ll have to get Louetta to tell us about that.

Here’s Louetta.  She has so much more nerve and God-given talent than most…especially me…I love her moxy.

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