Mountain Musings

Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 2

Part 2 ~ Grandchildren, Birthdays, and Birdhouses

Can you think of a better birthday gift than having this crew show up on my doorstep? The holiday/birthday weekend was wonderful! Aren't they growing up?!

Sarah, Eric, and the five children drove in from Georgia; and Hannah and Christopher drove in from Michigan! Fun times!

When I was growing up, my parents worked at a company that gave their employees the week of July 4th off every year, so we celebrated my birthday all vacation week in the Smoky Mountains and Gatlingburg, TN...every year!

Little did Tom know when we got married that I was accustomed to celebrating my birthday for a whole week! LOL! He does a great job of stretching out all the fun....

 

Sarah was in the kitchen making a mini 6-inch birthday cake...aaah so special to have her in the kitchen again!

Just perfect having both girls working together. I miss scenes like this!

 Here's the cake all finished and decorated and ready for me to blow out the candles!

While everyone was here visiting, Jonathan wanted to have us all over to his house for a meal. So we all loaded up and made the trek 25 minutes south of us. There's his house in the distance:

Here's Chef Jonathan performing his magic!

What he fixed for us:

Seated around his table for a nice meal!

The red/white/blue S'more trifle! Oh my goodness!

 

Christopher and Hannah relaxing after the wonderful meal. So good to see them together:

One of the special activities Tom/Grampa planned for the kids was building a birdhouse in Grampa's Workshop (lots of pre-visit prep!). All the kids were super excited!

Here's the master woodworker with the newest member of the family looking on:

Grampa had plenty of helpers directing the little ones...much needed! It was a hubbub of activity!

Hannah watched little Miss L play with her birdhouse pieces:

The kids loved using the drill:

Almost done! Her dad helping her drill:

Everyone lined up with their finished birdhouse projects, complete with their favorite color and their initial. Even the littlest munchkin got his own birdhouse! 

Thank you, Grampa, for an exciting productive activity...now Daddy will have to find spots in their yard for 5 birdhouses!!! LOL!

 
What July 4th visit would be complete without some slip and slide water fun:

Or a trip to the ice cream shop for some birthday ice cream:

Or some fireworks:

And sparklers:

The weekend came to an end sooo quickly!  We loved it all! Here we are saying goodbye to Sarah...until next time!

~ Deb

Next up: Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 3

Summer Visit from my Sister

Hosting Family Friends!

Our Labor Day cookout was a very special time spent with friends stopping by on their way from New York to Atlanta to Oklahoma to Texas and to who knows where next!

Long time readers of the blog will remember our friend Erich who worked with Jonathan at the airport for a few years, attended our home church, took mountain hikes with us, ate meals around our table, and sort of became an honorary member of the family.

See the post where his family in Texas came to visit us here in Virginia back in 2009. And then part of his family visited again earlier this summer.

Well, this was extra special because Erich visited with his wife and now seven children!

One of our excursions while they were here was stopping by Natural Chimneys close by. Here are the Chimneys from a distance! Impressive.

Tom posing with Erich. It had been at least a decade since we'd visited here:

I think the kids enjoyed exploring inside the walls of the chimneys:

Then we proceeded to our main destination, Reddish Knob, located on the border of Virginia and West Virginia state lines. Great views!

Here I am with Tom enjoying the top of the mountain at Reddish Knob:

Erich, Beth, and their newest baby:

Exploring on his own!

Playing at the top of the mountain:

After we drove down the narrow road to get back to civilization, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at Wildwood Park, and Jonathan was able to join us on his lunch break from work:

Afterwards Erich treated us all to Smiley's Ice Cream!

The temperatures were extremely hot in our area these days they visited, so the kids enjoyed some cooling off time on the Slip 'N Slide:

Very excited children:

Then the day arrived that they needed to continue on their journey. We sure enjoyed hosting them in our home!

Sunset the day they left:

~Deb

Killing 5 Birds With One Trip!

  
This idea started hatching back in the spring....

I kept thinking of a gentleman from back in my hometown of South Boston, Virginia, whom I knew had just turned 94 years old this year. I kept thinking and thinking that I really needed to go see him this summer.

Background: his family and my family growing up used to go on vacations to the Smoky Mountains together in the '60s. He and his wife lived up the street from us for years, attended our church, and has remained a very dear friend after his wife passed away.

Now he lives with his daughter and son-in-law in the Tidewater area of Virginia. I remembered how much my mom "Granny" always wanted folks to come see her and visit. I think she would like the fact that I made this trip to see him.

Tom and I enjoyed catching up with Nathaniel...lots of memories! In fact, he drove the getaway car for us after our wedding reception!

Donna, his daughter, prepared a delicious meal for us to enjoy while there, and I brought home a new recipe--Pineapple Pretzel Salad! Here's Donna and her husband Allen:

I like to picture where folks live when I think of them and pray for them...so it was especially good to visit their home. We are saying goodbye to them here and were so thankful it worked out for us to visit!

Well, once we planned an actual date for this trip, Tom and I started brainstorming and wondered who else could we visit while on our jaunt and schedule them in.

He wanted to get together with a former co-worker in Williamsburg who is also now retired. And I wanted to get together with former neighbors who lived in our subdivision when we were there in the '90s.

Amazingly, the details for these visits came together!

Here we are with Dale (former co-worker) and his wife Kristin. It was quite an enjoyable lunch time at New York Deli! Hey guys, our place next time!

And listen to this very fun unexpected surprise!! A long time friend, whom we knew from years of homeschooling together, happened to be eating in the same restaurant and spotted us...she came over to say hello and found out about our two-day excursion to the area and invited us over to her house on our way back home after we'd visited everyone else.

She ended up being the 5th bird we killed! So to speak...LOL!

Here are our former neighbors....Harry and Anne, whom we visited next. Harry just turned 95 this year and needs some prayer for recovery from some health issues.

Harry and Anne were in our neighborhood bible study and took over leading the study when we moved away. We have kept in touch these last 22 years since we've been away from Williamsburg!

It was good to see them in person again and catch up on each other's lives.

 

Next on the docket for an impromptu meetup were our dear and long time friends, Fred and Chris. We met at Scoot's BBQ over in Gloucester and, of course, loved every minute of our time together!  Sorry no photos yet of this get together!

Okay...5th and final meetup. Christine and her husband, Darryl, whom we met at our first home school meeting in 1992 when we first moved to Williamsburg. In fact, Christine came over when we moved in and brought us a Welcome to Williamsburg cake! So very thoughtful!

On this visit she furnished snacks to tide us over for our journey back home, and of course, there was a pound cake--her specialty!

And here we are on the swing before saying goodbye and wrapping up our trip:

What a whirlwind fun time! I absolutely loved it all! Thank you to all our friends for spending time with us!

I think that was a very good idea indeed!

~ Deb

 

Next up:  Spending our 43rd Anniversary at the Beach!

Teas, Brunches, and Overnights!

I've enjoyed lots of getting together with friends this summer...celebrating a birthday, reconnecting after many years apart, and hosting missionary friends overnight.

My friend Jean celebrated a birthday last month, and I was invited to her surprise tea given by her daughter. The table looked very inviting and exquisite when I arrived:

All the ladies seemed to enjoy this special occasion. Here's a quick photo of me with Jean after the party:

My friend Adrienne and I decided it had been waaayy too long since we caught up with each other. I knew her back in 1988 and 1989 when we were in the same homeschool group together when we lived in Charlottesville.

We moved away to Williamsburg soon after....and we never kept in touch. Just recently we connected again and met up at Stella, Bella, and Lucy's for brunch.

Here I am with my friend after enjoying 3 hours of catching up! It was a good time!

Kim and Annie are friends that we knew before we got married 43 years ago!  They have been missionaries in Papua New Guinea for years, working on translating the Bible into the Tami language. They are back in the States for a few months before returning to Ukarumpa and recently stopped by for an overnight.

Kim and Annie serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators, and it's always a joy to see them again and hear an up-to-the minute update on their work there:

More adventures with friends are on the docket for later this week! Stay tuned.

~Deb

Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 3

Part 3 ~ Summer Visits!

Long years ago we visited friends in Tennessee who welcomed us to their home with a hand-written chalkboard on their porch, "Welcome Girotti Family."  I'll always remember that thoughtful touch.

That is now our practice...it says "Welcome Bet and Sonia."

My sister is now retired and can travel to see me any time. On this visit she and her teacher friend, Sonia, traveled to spend a few days with us here in Virginia. So fun! Sonia was last here in 2011. I had no clue it had been 12 years!

I planned some outings for us in downtown Staunton because I knew they would enjoy walking a small town street and browsing some shops:

It was definitely a fun morning as some of us found treasures at The Sparrow's Nest:

Tom joined us for lunch at The Pampered Palate, but we failed to take pictures inside. It was delish as always!

The next day was spent antiquing at one of the largest antique malls in America located only 10 minutes from us (at least they advertise that it's the largest!)...Factory Antique Mall in Verona.

This is one of the signs I saw and really loved! It's a 2-sided Amish Grass Clippings Sign.

Mainly I liked it because I collect grass clippings for the garden. Plus love the color! I would have mounted it down by the compost bin near the garden:

 However, on further inspection of the price tag...$15 maybe, $69 nope.

And since I love geraniums, I loved this geranium sign!  Same deal....price prohibitive at $75!

But it was a productive morning! We all came home with a little something in our bags!

That evening Jonathan had invited us down to his house for a meal and a tour! Jonathan, always hard at work:

I think Bet and Sonia enjoyed seeing his house, and definitely we all enjoyed the meal. Here's his menu:

All too soon it was time for our guests to travel back to their homes in South Carolina. Come again y'all!!

A few days later, long time friends from Texas arrived! They had been visiting family members in New York and had wanted to stop by here on their way back home:

It was just a quick overnight and breakfast the next morning, but we so enjoyed their visit and getting to see them again. They traveled here for Hannah's wedding in September...but, it's hard to truly catch up with everyone at a wedding:

Thanks E family for the visit! Y'all come back!

Now we're gearing up for missionary friends from Papua New Guinea to arrive next weekend! Will post when that happens.

~Deb

Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 1

Hello everyone! If you happened to stop by the blog recently and read the post just before this one, you'll see there's a new way to sign up for email notifications whenever there's been a new post. Hopefully if you did just that, you were notified that this new post is now up and live! Would you be so kind as to let me know it worked?
June found us on the busy roads headed to Massachusetts to visit friends for the first time in their new home. We have enjoyed many visits with T & D here in Virginia over the years, so we were looking forward to traveling to a new place to visit them.

While we were in the area, they took us to Plymouth...and we saw the Mayflower 2 in the harbor. It was a beautiful day, as you can see:

Here are our friends, T & D, with the Plymouth Rock structural canopy in the background:

This next photo shows what's under that canopy...Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims first landed!

It actually doesn't look very impressive, does it?  Have you ever been to see the Rock?  You can read more about the story here:

Our friends took us on a very informative historical tour of the area, and we enjoyed it all! I could post so many more pictures!

We also loved spending time at their home and seeing T's flower gardens and being with D. in her kitchen. She planned some great meals while we were there! Thank you both so much for the wonderful visit!

We also were in Massachusetts for the wedding of our nephew...so after leaving T & D's we headed to the weekend wedding festivities. Our son Micah flew in to attend, so that was a treat to see him there:

The happy couple...

I'll post just one reception photo which shows Tom with both of his sisters and brother-in-law enjoying the table conversation after the wedding. Always a fun time seeing family members:

While we were away, the garden was growing! And we came home to some wonderful veggies!

We've had a bumper crop of cucumbers and yellow zucchini, and the tomatoes are just coming in. Yay for gardens!

I've also been harvesting and drying rosemary, oregano, and basil and jarring it for using and/or gifting. I'm trying my best to do the exact same things that Hannah would do if she were still here managing the garden. :)

Who wouldn't enjoy cooking with a jar of fresh aromatic oregano?! My kitchen is smelling like an Italian restaurant!

Here's a treat for you....if you've made it this far reading our blog...leave me a comment telling me where you're reading from and share something encouraging or an answered prayer request that will make my day.  I'll draw a commenter's name on August 1st and send you a jar of oregano or rosemary (your choice) from the Mountain Musings 2023 garden!

(And if you grow your own and have no need for oregano or rosemary, still comment and let me know you're out there and share a story.)

~ Deb

Next up: Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 2 ~ Grandchildren, Birthdays, and Birdhouses

Attending The Chief End of Man Conference ~ Ridgecrest, NC

We left Georgia last week reluctantly, knowing that it would be awhile before seeing the grandchildren again.

But we weren't headed home! More adventures ahead!

We traveled to Asheville where the annual family bible conference is held that we attend. This year's theme was The Chief End of Man.

Here's a view of the main meeting room where all the keynotes and singing took place. This photo was taken during one of the breaks between sessions (credit: C F). The attendance this year was almost double that of last year's, and there were lots of first-time attendees: 
One major highlight of the conference was getting to see our daughter, Hannah! She and her husband Christopher traveled to the conference from their home in Michigan. It was wonderful to catch up! So this momma was able to see both daughters in the same week!

Here's Hannah reuniting with two ladies from our church who were at the conference:

In the dining room there are lots of chances to connect with other folks attending--you can take your chances on who you'll sit with or make a date to meet them there.

Here are friends from SC whom we always see at the conference. It was great to eat with them and enjoy their company!

The Michigan contingent below:

We met this newly married couple for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation! We invited them to come visit us in Virginia this summer...won't that be fun if they can come?!

This Oklahoma couple has been coming a few years, and we usually see them each conference...we enjoyed a brief hello with them between sessions and loved seeing their granddaughters' pictures on their phone (we Grannies always have time for that!):

Another dining room shot...the meal we were able to grab with Hannah and Christopher!

Hymn sing in the amphitheater one evening (photo credit G F):

Our Spring 100 (family/extended family) walking group met for a short walk and a photo while we were all together at the conference (photo credit S S):

Hannah wanted a photo of "just us" while we were there also:

The conference was an excellent time for Hannah to see her friends from church here in Virginia. Here, she's enjoying some time spent with these three sisters:

Next year's conference will be held the end of April, 2024, with a theme of Making Disciples. Will we see you there?

(Credit: G F)

~ Deb

Relaxing Times Ahead!

Last week Tom and I traveled to South Carolina to visit my sister, Betty, and we attended her Retirement Dinner.

She has been at Bob Jones University since she went there as a student in 1974...and then employed there for 44 years! At the end of this school year in May, she will be officially retired!

We met at The Peddler Steak House for a delicious meal, speeches, gifts, and much honoring of Betty by her fellow teachers. It was a great evening!

Sisters Deb and Bet....everyone always asks, and yes, I'm 4 years older.

It was especially good to reconnect with some long time friends who attended...whom our kids, throughout their growing up years, affectionately called Uncle Jess and Aunt Rhonda:

Betty's main gift from her fellow teachers was an art piece done by the calligraphy teacher who taught her how to letter and get started many, many years ago. I know she will treasure this scripture lettering as a remembrance of this special evening and of her years at BJU:

Well, the dinner only filled an evening of our time while we were visiting. We also shopped and helped her pick out a new living room rug and brainstormed on how to completely transform her living room. Switch-a-roo! It was exactly what she had envisioned.

Tom treated us to a well-deserved lunch outing after Bet's rug purchase success. I always enjoy trying new places!

And, of course, we visited with Oliver...her miniature schnauzer:

Home again! It was a great trip! We enjoyed it a lot and look forward to going back and visiting again...now that my sister is retired with all the free time in the world! :)

~Deb

Empty Nester's DayBook

Well, several blog readers have contacted me--February, March, and April--wondering if we're okay, since the last time I posted was in January!

Yes, we are still kicking and doing as well as two old empty nesters can do! Not a lot of exciting activity around here to post about, to be honest. Things change and activities quiet down once the kids are gone.

So I thought I would start with current events and work my way back to get you up to date.

I've been slowly heading out to the garden since it won't be long before our last frost date of May 15th is here, and it's up to me to plant our garden this year.

Most of the garden veggies, in years past, Hannah and I either ate fresh, or she froze and canned. I will plant less variety and much less quantity, mostly for immediate consumption. The guys around here aren't big veggie eaters to help use it up.

Here's the picket fence garden in early spring....with cardboard covering the beds to prevent weeds. It's overwhelming all the cleanup that needs doing just to get going. But whenever Hannah comes to visit, I want it to look as good as when she was here taking care of it! Big task!

Also this month Jonathan recently hosted his first guests, other than immediate family, in his new home.

He is enjoying his home tremendously and hopes to have more guests come to visit in the coming weeks:

Tom is continuing to help furnish Jonathan's home by building a laundry room cabinet. It's now almost ready for staining and then installing. Then next on the list....a queen-sized bed:

I brought these award-winning cream cheese cupcakes to church last week. It's an old time recipe that my Aunt Bunny used to make and bring for Christmas every year. Let me know if you'd like the recipe:

 

 

Moving backward to the month of March...it was an exciting month!!  Our 8th grandchild (and 7th grandson!) was born. We haven't seen him in person yet but hope to in May! Congratulations to Sarah, Eric, and the excited brothers and sister!

Here they are, eagerly awaiting their new baby brother's appearance!

I stayed busy making a green quilt to send to Sarah as a special gift for her before she had the baby. Her favorite color is green, and she loves to decorate for all seasons. I focused on green clovers for this quilt.

Snowbird Quilts over in West Virginia quilted this for me...you can see more up-close photos of the process on her instagram here. Here it is shown thrown over my bed before mailing:

Being spring....as in past years...the Spring 100 Walking Challenge began for our family on the first day of spring. However, the main organizer of the annual online event is taking a year off for 2023 as it was becoming quite the task with organization and expense with over 3,000 walkers across the country and world participating.

So our daughter Sarah's mother-in-law organized a Spring 100 just for their family, our family, and the extended married in-laws. 

I hope others across the country will take it upon themselves to challenge their families and friends for their own Spring 100.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Tom participating on the treadmill while he has his morning quiet time:

And below is Hannah, in faraway cold Michigan, walking around her property there:

National Quilting Day also took place in March, so I celebrated by making a small wall hanging for my friend, Chris. 

She had commissioned Tom to make her a small quilt hanger, so I thought she needed a small surprise quilt to go on it when we gave it to her.

 

 

Here's the wall hanging that I made ..a new pattern called Flower Shoppe by Sherri McConnell. Tom has it attached inside the just finished quilt hanger he made.

Snowbird Quilts did a fabulous Rush Job of quilting it so I could get it to Chris when we met up in Richmond as she was passing through on a trip. Scroll through all Snowbird's photos on Instagram of this quilt, and you can see the quilting pattern Nectar up close.

We were so excited about the chance to meet up unexpectedly that we totally forgot to get a picture of her opening the quilt!  But here's a photo she sent me after she returned home and the perfect spot on her sun room wall she had picked out for it. Nice!

And here I am in my sewing room resting from my sewing labors:

  So we've made our way back to February....I worked on a couple of quilting projects this month but I can't post until they're gifted.

Newlyweds Hannah and Christopher are well...a lot of you have asked me how they are doing. I think married life suits them both! Just a quick picture of them celebrating six months of marriage in February. We are looking forward to seeing them in person again:

The last subject on this very long post is to document a visit from our long-time friends from Massachusetts who stopped by on their way to Florida in February.

We took them to Lexington and toured Washington & Lee University and also VMI Museum. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and it was a perfectly beautiful warm day for our excursion:

The campus:

Leaving Virginia and on their way to Florida:

I think that should catch you up on all the happenings, or lack thereof, around Mountain Musings since January. Let us know if you're still out there, faithful ones!

We wanted to wish you all a very Happy Resurrection weekend! He Arose!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  ~ John 11:25-26

 

~Deb

 

Christmas Memories Part 4 ~ The Quilts!

Is this not the sweetest picture??  This is the puppy quilt I made for my grandson for Christmas.We were not with them at Christmas this year, so I especially loved seeing this photo!

He's pointing to the one puppy who has blue glasses just like he wears! Sarah told me that the kids were pretending that the puppies had stolen Andrew's glasses! So creative! I think he likes it!

Pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman and called The Puppies. Quilting is by Snowbird Quilts. Quilting pattern is called Puppy Love with hearts and paw prints. So adorable!

If you scroll Snowbird Quilts Instagram link, you can find photos of various stages of the puppy long-arm quilting on her site (scroll through), and you can better see the Puppy Love pattern.

Special thanks also to my friend Cindy who appliqued the blue glasses on the puppy for me...her skills are far better than mine when it comes to applique!

The backing is flannel from JoAnn Fabrics, and this is the personalized label I sewed on:

And this is how I packaged the quilt in the box before wrapping it up. Here's looking at you, Andrew!

This is the flower quilt I made for Hannah for her new home in Michigan. Maybe all the spring flowers will help her forget about all the snow she'll be seeing this winter!

I think this is the first quilt I've made with a colored background, and this charcoal fabric really does make the flowers pop!

I think she was surprised when she opened this quilt because I amazingly kept it a secret that I was working on it. Plus she knew I was busy making the puppy quilt. Great surprise!

This pattern is called Walk in the Park by V and Company:

The fabric is Ombre, also by V and Company. The quilting pattern is called Bloom and Plume. It was quilted by Snowbird Quilts.

If you go to her Instagram link, you can scroll through and see the quilt in various stages of long-arm quilting and also pictured on a queen bed. Quality quilting!

 

Well, I think my sewing room needs some January clean slate cleaning before I decide what my next project might be. But I'm looking forward to starting something new and fresh later this month.

~Deb

Christmas Memories Part 3 ~ Jonathan's First Christmas Goose!

Our second wave of Christmas guests came in after Christmas to celebrate with us.

Our son Micah and his family spent a couple of days here. Sooo glad they could come!

It was great seeing our 14-year-old grandson, whose birthday we celebrated during their visit. Grampa played guitar and led in singing Happy Birthday:

The newlyweds, Christopher and Hannah, were also back home at the same time! It was great having their visits overlap! They especially enjoyed Virginia temps in the 60's on their walks around the property!

We got the distinct impression that they are enjoying married life!

One of the highlights of the visit was a special meal prepared for us by our daughter-in-law while they were here...excellent beef tenderloin with Apple and Cheddar Crisp Kale Salad, which was absolutely delicious! She also baked the birthday cake we all enjoyed! Thank you, thank you, Kerri!

Jonathan invited everyone over to his house for a meal again! He is becoming quite the exotic chef! And this time he served...Christmas goose!

On the menu: Roasted Goose with Five Spice and Honey, Pink Peppercorn Lemon Thyme Spiced Potatoes, Spiced Pears, Tossed Green Salad, and Chocolate Coffee Babka Wreath.

Hannah helped with the potatoes, which were cooked with some of the goose fat instead of olive oil:

Waiting for the meal to be ready...I am in the far background...just relaxing and enjoying all this special treatment of other folks fixing three of the meals for me! Amazing!

Exploring Uncle Jonathan's property before time to eat:

After the successful meal...we played Five Crowns card game and took photos again for Jonathan's guest book, although the younger ones needed to get back early for bedtime and missed the guest book photo:

All too soon it was time to take the traditional grandparents-and-grandchildren-on-the-sofa photo before Micah and family left headed back to their home! These times don't come often...so we enjoy them when we can:

Then we got down to the business of celebrating Tom's birthday. We were thankful for the warmer weather since his birthday meal request is usually Grilled Pizzas with Diavolo sauce. (To simplify, we use Greek pitas for the personal size pizzas which are sturdy and hold up great on the grill.)

The next day everyone wanted to do an outside activity before the rain began, so these four hiked the Blue Ridge Tunnel and sang the Doxology in the darkness before finishing up the hike.

I stayed home--using the much needed extra time with no one in the house--to finish working on the quilt label and sewing it on before I gifted it later on New Year's Eve. Whew! Washed and dried and finished in the nick of time!

New Year's Eve I received more help in the kitchen for chopping Sunday's veggies. I am grateful for everyone pitching in!  I thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas visitors....we just missed those munchkins in Georgia being here this year!

This post almost wraps up this blog series of our Christmas guests and the fun times we had together.

I do have a few more photos to post about the two quilts I made for gifts....stay tuned for a final Christmas Memories Part 4 ~ the Quilts!

 

~Deb