Somewhere over the Rainbow, Bluebirds fly...

Occasionally, we're fortunate enough to catch their journey. We were lucky enough to have several nesting pairs this spring/summer, some with multiple broods. A while back, Lynne posted that the front yard birdbath was overtaken with one small flock of them. Since that post, the bluebirds are still around almost daily. These pictures show them investigating 3 of the houses we have, and the birdbath conference that took place back in September.


Oh, the rainbow? It was a picture captured from my old hometown back at the beach on October 10, in the middle of a stormy spell, all related to the recent hurricanes. We're still waiting to hear from friends that were in WILMA'S path down in Florida last week. Some have finally gotten power back a week later, so hopefully, things for these friends will be looking brighter soon, as well. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to all those who have been affected by this fall's onslaught of storms and flooding. †

Morning scenes

Now that the growing season is over for the farmers, the blackbirds take to the sky shortly after sunrise to feed on the recently harvested cornfields; shortly after, one of the resident red-tailed hawks follows, probably looking for an errant field mouse or other unfortunate animal for a meal. The blackbirds, well you can almost set your watch by them. out to feed at 6:45, back to roost at 4:45. Apparently they do better with the time change than most of us do ;)

Back at the feeder, the small downy woodpecker is usually one of the first visitors of the morning, once the cardinals and chickadees have settled down.

There is a saying that

time flies when you are having fun - guess that is true - can't believe that it has been 3 weeks since I last wrote here. When we started this I wanted to try and write every week - lol - those of you who know me well can quit laughing now *wink*. Well we have been having fun so there. The baby is gorgeous of course and growing 'like a weed" as her Daddy says. They are getting setteled into a routine and the proud Daddy has gone back to work full-time. Tom and I get to babysit her next Saturday am while mommy and daddy go to a class that they were suppose to go to the day Celeste arrived. Somehow I think we will do OK. The grandsons have one more week of football and then a break and then they start basketball - keeps their mommy busy. Andrew was named 'student of the month' for the month of October for his class - Congrats Andrew *thumbs-up*

Work, well actually play, here at the 'heartland' continues. I am getting the brick walkway done in Glenn's garden and am really pleased with how it looks. The fall veggie garden is yielding plenty of salad greens, first of the beets are almost ready to harvest, snap peas are about 2" high. We are looking at how to construct a sort of cold frame over the snap peas to protect them from heavy frost. Our weather continues to be beautiful - highs in the 70's and very pleasant evenings. We have had a couple of fires in the firepit and really enjoy sitting back relaxing and watching the stars and just talking. Temps this week are suppose to be in the 60's daytime and 40's at night and thats OK - makes for good cuddling weather with a fire. Life is wonderful here in the 'heartland'.

thank you for visiting our site and until the next time..............

~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

Football ~ Grandson Style

We spent part of last Saturday watching the grandsons play in their weekly football games. I think it goes something like this, but I'm not sure. There's 3 divisions that the kids play in in the Civitan sponsored Youth League. There's the Mini-Mites, the Mighty Mites, and Pee-Wee divisions. And there's the Blue teams and the White teams. Andrew plays in the Mini-mites, and Brad is in the Mighty-mites. They're both on a Blue team. It could make for a busy weekend if they weren't both on Blue teams, I think. John, the youngest, still has a couple years to go before he can play, if he wants to.
We got to the field in time to catch the 2nd half of Andrew's game, and stayed for the first half of Brad's. Before we got there, Dawn, the boy's mom, had won a raffle, a plate of cupcakes with icing piled high. during a break between the games, the little cheerleaders came around for another raffle to be held during the 2nd game. We bought a couple tickets for the cause, and then got busy watching the game. Then the rains came. First a light shower, that we fended off with a shared/borrowed umbrella (ours wasn't doing much good in the car on the far side of the parking lot). Then the rain got heavire, and I went for cover inter the trees. Then the lightning came, tha game was delayed, we were starting to drip, and it was halftime, so we decided to head back home. As we're walking in the door, the phone is ringing. It was Dawn, laughing at us for leaving early, because Lynne and I had won the raffle, and now she and the boys had ownership of OUR plate of cupcakes as well. Oh well...there's this weekend, and the weather's supposed to be clear and mild... a perfect day for football and cupcakes in the Fall.
From top to bottom --- Andrew lines up on defense, then is taking a break on the bench after being on the field for the 3rd quarter. Brad's team gets ready to take the field for their game, and Brad throws a block. and in the last picture, Mom watches on while Andrew enjoys one of the cupcakes, and John is busy winning a game on his gameboy.

Celeste at home

Celeste and her parents got home from the hospital Monday afternoon, later in the day than they expected, because of the number of weekend babies born and all the blood tests and all that had to be done. It wasn't until Friday that we were able to make it over to visit again. Fortunately, we got there between feedings and naps, so we were able to see little Celeste for a while while she was sort of awake :) Even a week later she's still a tiny thing. There's a little fragile girl wrapped up in all that swaddling, and Lynne had a hard time giving Celeste back to her mommy for her feeding. At least this week, she was showing her face a little more :)

Kevin and Jenn have said it's been interesting, slowly allowing the pets in the house to adjust to the new arrival, and so far it's gone well. We had a really nice visit again, and left while Celeste was finishing her dinner and getting ready for another nap. I think Kevin and Jenn were about ready for one, as well.

Artists in the family

A few weeks before Celeste was born, we were over at Kevin and Jenn's house for a visit, and they were showing us some of the neat things they had gathered in anticipation of her arrival. We were pleasantly surprised with how busy they had been in their 'spare time'. Who knows where they found it, but find it, they did. Kevin had turned into a master painter during this time, and Jenn perfected her sewing skills. In these pictures, Kevin's 'Winnie the Pooh' mural occupies one wall of the baby's room, as does his painting on the closet door, another 'Pooh' masterpiece. All the bedding for the new crib was sewn by Jenn. There's lots more of that around, too. Lots of pillows and blankets and, well, baby stuff. Obviously, it is a very baby-friendly room. Good job, Kevin and Jenn!!

Meet our Brand New GRANDDAUGHTER!!!

Celeste Gwendolynne Smith, born October 1, 2005 at 6:54 in the morning.



Life is WONDERFULLY well here in the Heartland of NC tonight.

Sometime things happen for a reason

....all this past week I have been working on a blog but nothing was coming or didn't make sense - finally put a mish-mash together and then promptly lost it in the outer reach of cyber space. Now as Martha Stewart would say.... this is a good thing because the news from the "Heartland" couldn't have been better today and deserves its own space :):)

Around 7:30 this morning we got a call from our son announcing the arrival of Celeste Gwendolynne Smith - all 6lbs 3ozs. She made her entrance much to surprise of both parents and grandparents 3 weeks early and arrived at 6:54am. Even tho the frazzeled daddy called the wrong doctor originally who had absolutely no idea what he was refering to since he was Jenns orthepedic doctor - the correct doctor (an obstetrician - yep they deliver the babies) was notified and all turned out well. Somehow I think Kevin's daddy was up above laughing at the whole episode but when Celeste arrived smiled and said "Ya done good son".

We spent the afternoon up at the hospital taking turns holding her and 'bonding' with her. She spent quite a while looking me over when I was holding her and I am sure she was thinking "this Grammie is going to be a pushover and so is Grandaddy". Yeah - we are both a little excited.

The 3 grandsons are doing GREAT and getting setteled in school. John is in kindergarten and goes all day this year so this is a new experience for him. Both Brad and Andrew are in a local football league and doing really good in it and are having a fun time - keeps their mommy running. They still have the turtles they found at our place and John has even used pictures of them in a school project. We love the fact that they will always be able to remember the neat things they have done at Grammies and Mr Toms place. Thats what life is all about - the daily day-to-day living and the little surprises when you least expect it. Mom is doing great and all settled back in after her summer up with Lee and Danny.

As you can see - life remains good here in the "Heartland"

~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~