Outdoor Wednesday

I am eager to spend more time up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For us in the Deep South, it is summertime in June, but there, it is still spring. Hey, this Deep South gal packs long johns for that trip. LOL!

I love it because...

The Daises pose...

The cows pose....

The moths...

and butterflies (or maybe this is a moth as well) pose for photographs....

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. To see more Outdoor Wednesday posts or to participate in Outdoor Wednesday, stop by Susan's blog, A Southern Daydreamer. Thank you Susan for hosting another fun Wednesday!

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Melissa

Pillow Parade

Today I am also joining Kari & Kijsa's Pillow Parade!

To see more of the Pillow Parade or to participate, be sure to stop by there site! Thank you Kari & Kijsa for hosting.

I only found out about this late last night and did not have time to take photos. I had this photo in the archives. And it has to be one of my favorite decorative pillows. I bought it at Civil La Tea in Gettysburg, PA about 13 or 14 years ago. Someone made it to sell in their gift shop/boutique section. I fell in love with the pillow as soon as I saw it. I know it would be easy to make. I have made tons of pillows, but a girl can treat herself to something special can't she? :-) My mom mad the pillow that is underneath. I have a runner around here somewhere that matches.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment.

I hope that you go byKari & Kijsa's to see the rest of the Pillow Parade!

Hugs,
Melissa

2nd Time Around Tuesday

Today I am joining Diane's @ A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words blog party, 2nd Time Around Tuesday. Today I want to share with you my Grandpa and Grandma's China Cabinet. It is the first piece of large furniture that my Grandpa made. He made it from cherry wood left over from a job. Grandma wanted a pie safe style china cabinet with Hepplewhite legs. The cherry was wood for cabinets and moulding in a house. When the job was finished, Grandpa asked his customer what she would like done with the left over wood. She asked him to ..."haul it off..." He asked her if he could have it, "I can make something nice for my wife out of it." She told him to take it. He made it in 1931.

Grandpa had a hard life. Orphaned and abanded at age 8 with a 2 1/2 yo half brother to raise. After nearly starving to death, he began whittling wood into little things he could sell. A carpenter saw his work, took him under his wing,gave him a job, apprenticed and journeyed him.

As an adult, my Grandpa became one of the most sought after Carpenters/Designers/Construction Formans around. In winter months, people with 'means' would bring him photos of furniture and he would custom build it for them. If Grandma really liked it, guess what? She got one too! But this china cabinet was always a prized piece b/c it was his first large furniture. If you look close you can tell it is scrap wood. But that is OK. Does not decrease the value in my eyes a bit. :-D

A 3rd grade education, my Grandpa read everything and anything he could get his hands on. Encyclopedia books, dictionarys, practiced spelling, etc. One of the smartest men I knew.

My Grandma died when I was young so I did not know her very well. But I was very close to my Grandpa. I still miss him. This is one of the pieces I received from his estate. I used to love hearing all the stories he would tell me about his furniture. Almost every piece had a story with it.

To see more 2nd Time Around Pieces or to participate in Diane's 2nd Time Around, please go to Diane's Blog.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
Melissa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Addendum~~~~~~~~~~~~
I need to get that 3 in a row linky thing everyone else is getting. If you like this post, read this one. You will love it. It is one of my first posts.... Grandpa's Chair

Sunday Video

We are having a beautiful weekend. I hope that you are as well!

To enjoy the video, please turn off the music on my playlist that is on the right.

Have a Blessed Sunday!



Love,
Melissa

Outdoor Wednesday-Snow in the South!

Today is Outdoor Wednesday hosted by our sweet Southern Day Dreamer~Susan. Thank you Susan for another fun Wednesday!

We do not get much snow in the South. When we do, or if it is even predicted, the weather men/women are on 24 hours in advanced trying to predict where it will land. A lady at church winters down here from Michigan. She thought this was the funniest thing! "James Spann our weather man was serious b/c he had his suspenders on!" 24 hour coverage for snow melted by 2 pm. LOL! Well it did last a little longer than that. But I did explain to her and I will explain to you Yankees, our kids have never seen much more than flurries or dustings. This is the first time DD has ever made a snowman. She is 10 1/2. It was so much fun for her. People around here want to know where the snow band will land b/c they will even drive their kids to the outer edges of it, pull over and play in it for a while. And this was a good kind of snow. We had electricity, it did not stick to the roads (well, interstate bridges did freeze...), and was mostly melted by sundown. It was GREAT!!!

Now for photos! (I did not get many b/c we teach 8:10 4th grade Sunday School at church and we had a room full on Sunday!) The snow was already melting by the time we got home.

My Camelia in full bloom and melting snow falling off as I was snapping....

More photos of my Camelia, it is beautiful with the snow...

DD and I have started on a gnome fairy garden. It is in the shade and I had to knock the snow off this little gnome so that you could tell what he was... None of this had melted.

This was covered in white snow as we left for church, but still looked nice when we got home.

For more snow photos, check out my Sunday's Post. For more posts on Outdoor Wednesday or to particiapte in Outdoor Wednesday go to Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer.

A New Pot!

Welcome to my Blue Monday post! Thank you Sally (Smiling Sally's Blog) for hosting.

My FIL and MIL took our family out to dinner Friday night. They also presented me with my birthday present (I know it was in Jan, but they have been sick, we get sick, travel, etc... just got around to celebrating....) FIL said he got it from the Smithsonian. I think it is lovely and will make a fine addition to my collection of pots.

To see more Blue Monday Posts or to participate, go by Smiling Sally's blog!

Have a great day and God bless you all!
Hugs,
Melissa

Snow In Alabama!

And here are just a few photos....


DD made her first 'real' snowman. Since she has been born (10 1/2 years old) we have not had enough snow to make a decent snowman.


Some of my yard art thawing out.


Yellow forsythia.


I think birdies taking a bath is this birdbath will find it a little cold....

We teach 8:10 AM 4th grade Sunday School and did not get to take photos early this morning. At first, I could not understand why church was not being canceled.... but Hunter Street is hosting a big Missions Conference this weekend. What a big blessing we would have missed out on if we had not gone to church. There was an International Missionary speaking in the services (Adults, Children and Tweens) and delivering the message to all venues. The church halls were full of missionaries here on furloughs and Journeyman who have just finished their first 2 year assignment, praying for God's leadership.

By the time we returned home, we still had some snow and DD was able to make a lovely snowman, DH and I were able to make some lovely photos. I hope that you enjoyed them!