Mountain Musings

3 Men and a Plane ~ Part 1

Adventures never cease around here!

Remember last month when our Texas pilot friend, Erich, dropped in unexpectedly? Well, yesterday he dropped in again...this time flying in from Ohio for a plane repair and bringing his co-pilot, Kyle, with him. They fly the planes, and Jonathan works on them.

Erich and Kyle arrived early in the afternoon and hung out with us...doing some computer work to pass the time and watching the goings-on around the house while they waited for work to be done on their plane.

Erich is my long-time Scrabble buddy. Ooh, I wish we had taken a picture of us sitting around the table playing on my ancient Scrabble board...Erich from Texas, Kyle originally from Kansas but now living in Ohio, playing Scrabble with Deb in Virginia...when does this ever happen on a Wednesday afternoon?  So out of the blue...it was so much fun!

Meanwhile, Hannah was in the kitchen making a double batch of ambrosia soap and put Erich to work after our game! Here's Erich pouring in the goat's milk and Hannah blending the mixture:And here's Hannah finishing up and pouring the liquid into the molds:

Having a stocked hospitality pantry sure worked out for our supper tonight! We thawed some frozen meatballs for hoagies that we had put in the freezer this summer, and Sarah thawed an apple pie that was leftover from market...add some veggies and dip and chips, and we were all set to serve our friends.

Towards the end of the evening, Erich received word that their plane wouldn't be ready for another day. So plans were made that he and Kyle would return the next morning and help Granny make some basket handles and Granny in turn would teach Erich how to make a basket...

Stay tuned for Part 2.

~Deb

A Welcoming Garden Bouquet

The girls welcomed Granny and me back home from SC in style last evening...not only a sparkling house awaited us but a great meal and this welcoming garden bouquet. Flowers include goldenrod, cockscomb, zinnia, Russian sage, ageratum, and scabiosa. It was just beautiful! Granny is doing well and settling in nicely to the routine around here already. She was in the garden shed today with Hannah making tags for the baskets she'll be selling at some fall craft shows coming up in October and November.

Here she is with a couple of market baskets stained and ready for customers:

Today was baking day for Sarah, and Granny enjoyed watching all the goings on preparing for market! I'm sure she wanted to cut the pumpkin and apple pies cooling on the table! We're hoping for great sales tomorrow!

Have a good weekend everyone! It's good to be home!

~Deb

It Was A Dark and Stormy SC Afternoon...

Well, my time here at my sister's house is nearing a close. This afternoon she didn't have any classes to teach and stayed home keeping Granny company. [Granny is doing very well, by the way, and we are thankful for two good doctors' appointments this week with one more to go tomorrow.]

So a free afternoon stretched before me...what to do...what to do?

My sister suggested two local antique stores I might like to peruse. My thought was to check out a new quilt store, Beginnings Quilt Shop, which my blogging friend, Becka, recommended on a recent blog post.

Like I said, it was dark, stormy, and very foggy headed north toward the mountains...and I began to wonder why in the world I picked to travel to North Carolina today! Yes...the quilt shop is located not in South Carolina but North Carolina! That's not far though...only 45 minutes away to cross over into North Carolina and arrive at the Flat Rock/Hendersonville area. And, oh boy, it was worth the drive!

Here's the store front of Beginnings Quilt Shop. You can't even tell it's raining in this photo! I managed to snap this shot juggling my umbrella to keep me and the camera dry:And here's the fabric display inside the door that caught my eye--Kaffe Fassett's newest line of 6-inch design rolls: These rolls were beautiful and came in colors such as Ocean, Fire, and Earth. I loved them all!

Here's another view of the shop...there were so many bolts of brightly colorful fabrics and very inspiring wall samples: I was really interested in this wall hanging pattern because I love stars and flying geese in quilts: The ladies who worked in the store were so very nice. Thank you to Lynn and Debbie for making me feel at home.

So when I returned back to my sister's house (they had no clue where I'd been!), I set out my new purchases...and drooled over them. Aren't they beautiful? What a wonderful rainy afternoon!

~Deb

Sunday Scripture

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  ~ Micah 6:8

Saturday Morning at the SC Farmer's Market

Hello again from South Carolina! It's been a good week here with my sister and helping take care of Granny...but I miss my family back in Virginia and being involved in all that they're up to!

An update on Granny: she's doing much better and gaining more strength each day. All her doctors' checkups are next week, so we'll be out and about getting those taken care of before we return to the Valley. Thank you all again for your continued prayers for her as she gets back into her daily routine!

And speaking of daily routine...making a basket is part of it! She's made five little baskets in the last couple of days. We think baskets must be good medicine for her!

Here's the corner of my sister's back porch where Granny dips her baskets in walnut stain--she's holding a small candy basket--one of many different kinds--that she'll be taking to Dayton Days in October. Come meet Granny in Dayton!

What a beautiful Saturday morning in this neck of the woods! So my sister and I decided to head to the local farmer's market.What I liked about this farmer's market: it was under a roof that provides for any kind of weather! No setting up a tent every week!There were pumpkins and beautiful mums and pansies for sale! I loved the bunches of bittersweet, too. Here are some photos that tell the story:And what about this pumpkin?  Warts and all!And below you see the big boys! They were $45 each!

And big bins of peanuts, too!And buckets of dried beans: 

It was so interesting to visit a different farmer's market and see what other vendors sell. I'll have to tell Hannah and Sarah I didn't see any soaps or baked goods...they wouldn't have any competitors here at this market!

That's what's going on in my neck of the woods this Saturday. What about you? Are you out and about on this beautiful day?

~Deb

Blogging from SC...

Yesterday I made an unexpected trip to my sister's house in South Carolina to be with Granny after she was released from the hospital earlier in the day. She is recovering well, and the pacemaker is doing what it's supposed to do! We're so thankful she's feeling better.

I'll be here for a week or more to help care for her and will take her to several follow-up appointments that are scheduled while my sister is teaching.

Thank you all so much for the comments, emails, and phone calls we've received asking about her--she appreciates your love and concern. Thank you for all the well wishes!

While I'm here...look who will be a bit underfoot...Mr. Barney!

Barney just celebrated his 7th birthday on Friday while Granny was in the hospital! Happy Birthday, Barney!

I think he likes me--at least he follows me everywhere! Looks like I'm in for some good times while I'm here.

~Deb

**Another Update** Granny's Keeping Busy!

For all those who have been wondering about my mom...Granny has been in South Carolina with my sister for the past two months. There are only three more weeks before I go visit and bring her back to Virginia. (We're all excited about that here, but I'm not sure my sister is too thrilled!)

While she's been there, she's been out and about just a bit...traveling recently to Pickens to a barn quilt presentation by Suzi Parron. Here she is with Lisa, a blogging friend from Shady Grove Adventures, who also attended and wrote about her interest in barn quilts and their time together in this blog post.

Lisa was so very kind to pick up one of Suzi's books for me, Barn Quilts and the American Trail Movement. I can't wait to read it! You can also find out more about her book here.

And, of course, Granny has been making baskets while she's been away! It's a bit harder to coordinate sales and shipping when we are here and she is there...but somehow it will get done.

This week she's been busy working on ten baskets that are being shipped to a customer overseas. Here are a few of them that are awaiting dipping in walnut stain before being packed:

(Thanks to my sister, Betty, for emailing the photos.)

The main reason for this post is to ask all of you to pray for Granny. She has to be at the hospital early Friday morning for surgery to have a pacemaker put in around 10 a.m. We are all hoping and praying that this will improve her stamina and heart condition...something that would definitely help her quality of life.

Thank you so much for your prayers and always for your interest in her. I'll try and update this post after the surgery when I find out how she's doing.

Edited to add: Granny made it through surgery just fine! PTL! The doctors are regulating some extra high blood pressure and pain which is either at the incision site or her heart--not sure. For the next 12 hours she'll need to stay in bed, and they will release her on Saturday if all continues to go well. Thank you all for your prayers.

2nd Edit...Back into surgery! Granny had a very rough afternoon with much pain. It was finally decided that leads from the pacemaker were stimulating a nerve causing the diaphragm to spasm resulting in the pain. So...they called the surgery team back in around 5 this evening, and she will be going back into surgery to adjust those leads.

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." ~ Ephesians 6:18

~Deb

Chalk it up!

Recently, while thinking of ways to try to up my sales at market, I was musing how it would be nice to have some sort of sign out front. That way people walking by wouldn't have to come into my booth to see some of what I offer, and I could catch their eye and entice them in. :) A white board or chalkboard would have been nice...but we didn't have any that I could use, and I didn't want to buy one. So why not make one?

Dad was kind enough to donate a piece of plywood, and I started off by sanding it slightly and putting on a coat of plain black spray paint just to help prime it a bit. The board was a little bit large to make the whole thing a chalkboard, so I measured and decided to have a 3 inch border around the edges.

Once the black paint was dry, I used painter's tape to mark that off. In our stash of spray paint in the garage, this yellow color was the best option, so I applied a coat around the edges. When that dried, the tape came up easily and left a nice, sharp edge between the black and yellow.

   

 

 

Mom bought this chalkboard paint for me at the store, and it had to have at least 2 coats, with a hour between each coat to dry. It was easy to brush on, and since I had the black spray paint as a base coat, I could stay comfortably away from the border without it showing.

After about 3-4 coats, it was all done! It just had to cure for 24 hours, and it was ready to write on. This past Saturday, I made a few items that I don't regularly bring, so those were highlighted. I don't know if it was because of the Labor Day weekend, or if the chalkboard really brought more attention to my booth, but it was a wonderful day of sales!
It just took some scrap wood, leftover spray paint, a small bottle of chalkboard paint, and some time! We'll see how it works in the weeks ahead. :)

~Sarah