A Saturday walk by the Congaree River

 Saturday Scott and I went for a lovely walk along the river and it was so lovely. I took my Lumix camera and captured as much fungi and blue tailed five lined skinks as I could spy along the way. So many people just walk or run along that walkway not seeing all the beauty around them. Beauty comes in small packages a lot of the time and it only takes a moment to see them if you just slow down and observe. 

Fungi first...

I just so love all the different types of fungi you can see along this city Riverwalk. 

 

Now for some flowers and leaves: 

Autumn is coming

Grapevines, Kudzu and Privet.... all obnoxious! At least with grapes you can make jam or wine.

The only tropical fruit in South Carolina... Paw Paw's - Fruit

Paw Paw tree/leaves

Paw Paw before Scott cut it open. These have ZERO shelf life/

"Monkey Grass" - Liriope

Another glimpse of Autumn

Why you NEVER want to plant Kudzu - it grows 1 FOOT a day!!!!

Kudzu Leaf

Bark from a Sycamore tree... Doesn't it look happy?

All the lovely "Critters". We saw Canadian Geese, 5 lined Sinks and a snail as well as so many illusive dragon flies and other shy bugs. 

SO much beauty in such a small package.

And before we knew it was time to get back to the car to head home. T little hut is a Community board and the larger building is the restrooms. There is also a lovely picnic area right there near the restrooms and it is a covered area. 

Pain and Rain

 Nearly all  of June has been under clouds and giving us plenty of rain. I'm ready for a sunshine break! Everything is lush and green but I can barely keep the grass cut let alone do any of the yard projects I have had in mind. I want to turn our front yard into a Woodland wonderland with some edibles dotted amongst the flowering bushes and shade trees. It will have just some pathways of grass to mow and I want to mulch heavy to conserve water and deter weeds.  I have to wonder what the City will say to that as they go around handing out notices about the grass needing cut at the first sight of sunshine but the grass is still too wet to mow. VERY infuriating..... so I want to do away with most of the grass. 

Sunday we decided to drive over to the boat ramp to see how high the river is at the moment and Scott spotted this fellow walking along in the ditch along the road by the wastewater treatment facility. It was 3 to 4 foot long. Quite an interesting thing to see.

We took some photos and came on back to the house and started painting on the brick wall in our bonus room. We are planning to re-arrange Scott's hobby space out there and set Greg up out there as he needs a new space of his own as we don't like him vaping in his current bedroom so my plan is to relocate him out there... we will see how it works out. His cats stay out there most of the time as they don't get along very well with our three in the house. Things are improving between them but they still get sassy with one another from time to time. 

Back to that brick wall. We scrubbed it good with wire brushes, vacuumed it down with the Shop Vac and then I applied a masonry bonding primer. Let that set 4 hours then we double teamed the painting; we used the same "smoked tan" that's in the kitchen and den. We really like how it has turned out and plan to do the second half of wall once we get things re-arranged out there. It was quite a workout and we are both hurting in our shoulders pretty bad. It was worth it though; here are the befores and afters.

Getting that area where a window used to be painted over has made a world of a difference in that walls appearance. I am usually dead set against painting brick but in this case I think it was just what we needed to do. I AM THANKFUL the remaining half of that side wall is MUCH smaller than this section was. Next I need to get the ceiling painted in this corner but I need a few days for my shoulder to recover before I brutalize it again.

Once I get the ceiling painted I will be ripping the carpet out of there and start moving things around. This room needs replacement windows and new flooring but they will wait until the economy has recovered a bit more so we aren't paying twice or three times the cost . We are also planning to install a wooden step over the concrete step that goes into the kitchen. And it would be nice to get more light in there. So many ideas floating around in my head.

I made this tote as part of the #apgstitchingtogether monthly stitch along challenge. I will use it for toting crochet projects when we start traveling again. The challenge is still open until June 30th . Here is a link that tells all about it...

https://www.allpeoplequilt.com/magazines-more/stitching-together

I am hoping to get back into sewing more again.It definitely makes my heart happy and I end up with useful items and new clothes. I hate the clothes in the stores these days. So watch for more sewing to show up here.

The Start of 2021

 Well so far 2021 has really sucked! I have lost two Uncles.... first Uncle George to a brain hematoma and then Uncle Ray due to gangrene in one of his legs. My Step-dad has been in the hospital with Covid with complications due to his COPD and my Mom being unsettled by it all. So yeah... CRAP! I am putting it out to the Universe to KNOCK IT OFF!!! Some good times better be in the very near future!

Two cats, some soup and a dog

Tippy

Howie

Vegetable beef soup and cornbread

My very first toy... a dog

 On November 8th I decided to do surgery on the little dog that came home from the hospital with me in 1964. He now sits up on his own again. My stitches joined those of my Grandma where she had taken the stuffing out to wash him many times... to save his barker... yes he used to bark but not anymore

The Catio and the truck

The three cottage kitties had a rough 2 hour drive from Greenville and a scary night out on the porch/Catio. But have settled into a new routine and are starting to get along with Greg's kitties; which I am thrilled about. Of course Piper the Princess still grumbles about them being here and Coal and Tippy are always hissing at each other and trying to start fights... but even that is becoming less.Sally and Callie just try to avoid them all and spend a lot of time looking for places to hide. 

October 22, 2020 - We rented a 26 foot U-haul

Loading the U-haul together was quite the job for two middle aged persons but we got it loaded... I'm still not sure how we did it. Thankfully Greg was able to help us some with the unloading.  But still we were so exhausted by the time we turned the truck in  the next day. 

A lot has happened since the pictures below and I have an area mostly set up but there are still boxes to go through and probably more things will go to Goodwill before it's over with but I have no sense of urgency anymore and am taking each day and working a little at a time and trying not to overwhelm myself again. Life has taken on a much different role for me now. I want to take each day, appreciate it and create beautiful things for myself and others. I want to have time out in Nature everyday as it rejuvenates my Spirit and brings me joy. It really is the little things in life that makes it beautiful.

 

Back in Cayce

 It has been several weeks now and we are slowly getting resettled into our home. I have been so involved in going through things and purging so much STUFF. It's really ridiculous the amount of things we have burdened our lives with... it happens so easily. I am glad we had this move to and fro as it has really opened my eyes to how much we hold onto for no real reason.  Things aren't the memories they are just things that weigh us down.  

October 12th, 2020

We moved so many things to storage in Greenville... then brought them back and sorted more out to go to Goodwill. It really was ridiculous... but alas I fear it was the way it HAD to be for me to let go. Let go of the STUFF... it's only holding you back. 

October 18th - Setting up my new creative space

Because our bedroom is still not complete and we are sleeping in the middle bedroom at the moment; the room that was my hobby space I am having to locate in the front living room area for now. I NEED a space to be creative to help me cope with life... especially now in these uncertain times. So once we got all our stuff back down here I began organizing and sorting and have been working toward getting an area that I can let my creativity out.

October 21, 2020 we said a final farewell to the little cottage. We had a love nearly 5 years there and we learned a lot about what we can and can't live with and without. We are thankful to Adele, Scott's sister for allowing us to stay there. Now we will wait and see what  the future holds for us.