Forward - From the Heartland of Carolina

This is a continuing story of the journey Forward shared by 2 people, Lynne and Tom. Both love to LIVE life to it's fullest, which currently means spending lots of time outdoors, working on various projects from gardens to patios, flowers to vegetables, sunrises and sunsets, birds and woodland critters, and spending time with family. Don't forget to check the monthly archives, and please feel free to leave us a comment so we know you stopped by.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

September, Part 1

Welcome back! Yep, this is part 1 of our September picture blog, mainly because we took a ton of pictures last month, and need to break them down into 2 seperate blogs.

The first part of the month had Lynne's nephew Alex, Amy, and their baby Amaris, down for a few days checking out the area and doing some house-hunting. Of course, that lead to another family get-together and cookout here. Mom had been up and out of her room a good part of the day, watching over her great-grandchildren...




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... but she got tired and went back to her room before we could get everyone together for a group picture.

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Of course, that didn't stop the kids from continuing their visit with her ;-)

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Celeste, Jenn and Dawn playing in the yard...

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Celeste and Jenn coming out of the cottage garden

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Amaris stopped playing long enough for a pose

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It was really nice to have most of the family over again, and we'd be seeing them all again soon.
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On to some garden shots -- the third picture in this set, the Rusty Amaranth eventually grew to be as tall as the 11' arbor behind it, before the weight of some raindrops bowed it partially down to the ground!!!

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Moonflower blossom, Mandevilla vines on the arbor, and Black-eyed Susan vine blossoms.



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And our favorite flowers for this blog...



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The cats were trying to hunt down a lizard, then Skittles took a break :-)



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Of course, it's fall decorating time, and Skittles had to see what all the commotion was about :-)

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We'll be back again soon to catch up on the rest of the month. Thanks for stopping by! Please leave us a note so we know you were here :-)

Peace and Love from the Heartland of NC!

Tom and Lynne

Sunday, October 12, 2008

We're catching up -- August pics ;-)

Hi everyone --- and thanks for your patience. It's nice to know some of you anticipate our updates and pictures. This picture post will be shorter than some previous ones, mainly because, well, there wasn't much during the month that was photo-worthy in the yard. The drought continued, as did the heat, and the yard wasn't at it's best. But once again, it survived.

What August lacked, however will be made up in the September photoblog - which will be up towards the end of the week. It'll be worth the wait.... honest :) With all that said, off to the pictures...
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Despite the hot and dry conditions, we still managed an assortment of veggies from the gardens. Here's some of what August blessed us with.


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We spent a good part of the summer watching the grandsons, on days when they didn't have summer camp or weren't with friends. Here's John, enjoying an early morning breakfast :)

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All three grandsons obviously aren't morning people, and this setting was observed more than once


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One plant we tried this year was an ornamental pepper called 'Medussa'. We had a couple in pots, and the extras ended up in the raised beds. Something different that added a little color.




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Lynne was able to get away and watch over Celeste while her Mom and Dad had some business to attend to, and she took these pics while they were together. What a cute little princess she's becoming!!!




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Just a little moth on a Morning Glory leaf... because it was there, and I had the camera handy.

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Backyard shots from the roof... it sure looks different from up there. The 2nd picture, that shows the Tulip Poplar tree, that was just a little seedling the spring before we got married 3+ years ago. It's now almost 20' tall!!!






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My sister insisted I take some pictures of our hummingbirds, so - these are for you, Marge :-)





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Everyone here is doing well. Mom still has her good days and her so-so days, but all things considered, we consider every day with her a Wonderful blessing. She's getting ready for bed now, and we're not too far behind, so I'll finish this for now.

Skittles, the shy cat, took time out to say HI and bye to everyone.


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'Til next time, Take care, and God Bless. Thanks for taking time to check in here. Please leave us a note so we know you were here...

From the Heartland of NC.... Tom and Lynne.