Traveling West Virginia - Pt Pleasant

A few weeks ago we went to Pt. Pleasant for business and ended up sight seeing.

It's a beautiful little town to visit. Find you a place to park and take a little stroll.

You will find Mothman!

Chief Cornstalk and Gen. Andrew Lewis.

Don't forget to visit the southside of the flood wall. There is a painted mural 150' long and 15-18' high. The scenes depict the Battle of Pt. Pleasant fought on October 10, 1774.

the Silver Bridge collapsed here on December 15, 1967.

We went to Tu-Endie-Wei State Park. It is only 4 acres in size.

There is a Mansion House Museum in the park. It is the oldest log hewn structure in the Kanawha Valley.

This obelisk was erected in honor of the Battle of Pt. Pleasant. It was the first battle of the American Revolution.

Here is a plaque on the side of the obelisk. It is in memory of Revolutionary soldiers buried in Mason County, WV. See any of your ancestors listed here?

And this was erected in honor of Chief Cornstalk. His remains are buried inside.

Here is the story of the famous chief.

For more of the sad story of Chief Cornstalk go here.

Pt. Pleasant is located on the Ohio River. It is a quaint little town. If you are ever in the area, slow down and visit for a while. You won't be sorry.

I love barns. On the way there I took a picture of this one:

Yard Sale Relapse

Help! I was going to stop going to yard sales, but I've had a relapse.

Somebody should have slapped my hand before I picked up these 4 beautiful strawberry metal trays for $1 and the McCoy strawberry pitcher and container. (I'm not even sure what the one on the left is, it looks like a canister without the lid. But not knowing what it was, didn't keep me from getting it) They were only 50 cents each, would you have passed them up?

My kitchen is red and yellow, I thought I could use the one on the left to put my larger spoons, egg turners and the such in. And I'm sure I could find a use for the other one, too. Maybe put flowers in it. . . what do you think? Or, hey, I could use it for what it was intended to be used for and put some water or other beverage in it.


And, even though there are no babies in my family, I couldn't pass up this beautiful hand quilted and embroidered baby quilt. It was only $2 and I love it. Did you notice in the upper left hand corner the dog is turned a different way? I've heard somewhere that the Amish would put a mistake in their quilt on purpose. I wonder if this was done on purpose or if it was a mistake?


I love cloth tablecloths. This is not an old one, but I liked the fruit pattern on it. It was only 75 cents.


And, last but not least, I got these for a quarter at the thrift store today. Fire King custard cups with a wheat pattern on them. I love the wheat pattern dishes. I will put these in my kitchen cabinet and use them.


Well, what do you think? Do I need to go to rehab? I put back a lot more than I bought. I think I did good and bought some useful items for what little I spent.

It is a hard habit to break, but I'm working on it.

Pitting Cherries

It's cherry pickin' time at my. . .

neighbor's cherry tree.

Everyone who hates pitting cherries, raise your hands.

I used to hate doing it. It was time consuming and I hated the juice running down my arms. And I hated getting all sticky.

Last year my sweet neighbor, Reba, told me an easy way to pit cherries.

Use a hairpin!

Reba gave me a few hairpins last year to use, but for the life of me I can not find them, so I had to buy a new package at the store. They don't make them like they used to, they aren't as strong as the ones I used last year and they bend easier. So if you have the flimsy ones, you can hold two of them together and it works fine.

Just insert the rounded end of the hair pin into the top of the cherry.

Twist just a little and pull it out, the pit comes out easy as pie.
Cherry Pie, that is!

If you have lots of cherries, give it a try.
You can make cherry jam, cherry cobblers and cherry pies.
Mmmmm! Mmmmmm!

Country Roads

Over the weekend my husband and I walked up a country road.


Up and up . . .

and up. . .


and finally down. . .


to a place nestled underneath the tall shade trees.



A peaceful and secluded place that was selected long, long ago to be the resting place of my ancestors. All in a row are my grandparents James and Lucy McMillion and four of their children.


My gr grandparents Elijah and Emily McMillion are also laid to rest up on top of this hill. A broken pine tree limb hangs close to the ground over their graves.


Another uncle and cousins are also there on top of the hill.

Many, many more of my ancestors are there. But, the only signs of their presence are sunken places and old rocks at the head and foot of their graves.

I wish they had left their names on those rocks. Now I can only guess and wonder who they were, while I walk on the ground where my ancestors once stood and said their good-byes to their family and loved ones.

When I'm up there, I don't want to leave. I want to linger and reminisce.

I remember the times I climbed that hill when I was a child. There was no road then and we climbed up a winding path through the woods. Grandma would put together bunches of live flowers cut from the bushes in her yard and we climbed to the old family cemetery and placed them on the graves.

That Time of Year

We did a little running around today. Before I left, the field in front of our house looked like this:


Yes, it's that time of year. . . May. That's when the farmers do their first cutting of hay in our area. It was all cut and fluffed up when we left. When we returned, it looked like this:



and this:


I think a hayfield looks so pretty, but I have been sniffling a little today. I wonder why?

Also before we left, the mommy robin was standing guard over her nest. She decided to lay her eggs in the bird feeder at the end of the grapevines. The babies are very big now and ready to fly out.


When we returned, they had left the nest, but were still looking for their mama to feed them.
.




This is the second family of robins we have watched grow up and leave their nest. There is another one in the blackberry patch where the eggs haven't hatched yet. I'm starting to feel like our yard is a robin motel. . . with no vacancies!

Bird Housekeeping 101

I think the birds have been around me too much this spring and I am rubbing off on them.

They are terrible housekeepers!

But, they are also wonderful mothers, and when it gets down to it, that is what counts!


Their houses may be messy, but the mothers are always close by watching over the youngins! The mother of these baby robins flits around in the pine tree nearby whenever anyone gets close to her babies. She doesn't bother you or swoop down on your like some of the other mother birds, but she just makes sure you know she is around!

And as a side note. . . I keep looking where I walk in our yard. My eyes are always on the look out for these little blue people called the Smurfs! With so many little mushrooms popping up, there's sure to be a few of them around. Don't your think? If so, I have my camera ready!

"Rainbow of Colors"

Iris comes with a lot of history. The flower dates back to Greek mythology. The Greek goddess Iris was the messenger of the gods who was believed to be the link between heaven and earth.

Iris is Greek for "rainbow."

Iris stands for faith. . .




hope. . .




wisdom. . .




courage. . .




and admiration. . .




I love irises and I am glad they are a strong, sturdy flower. Otherwise, they might not have stood up against the wind and hail storm we had Friday night.

>

Sons, Garden, Baby Birds

I thought I'd play a little catch up with what's been going on around our house.

Here is a picture of me and my three boys taken on Mother's Day. I think someone should have told Andrew to smile.


Here's me and my hubby working in the garden before the rains came. We finally got the potatoes and tomatoes planted.



And, I've been watching my baby robins grow. I have a robin nest at the back door where the drain comes down and one in a bird feeder at the end of the grape vines. This nest is in my blackberry patch.

Tiny

Still Tiny

I Want Food!

Three growing babies all in a row

And this morning, they are out exploring the yard and. . .


playing hide and seek in the berry patch!
Click on it to see a close up.

Yes!

I just posted an announcement on my writing blog.

Go here and check it out.

It is official.

I have signed a contract with 4RV Publishing for my middle grade manuscript titled, Family Secret.

I am so excited. It will be a long time before it is actually in the book stores, but I have started on the path toward publication.

Yes!

Smell-a-Vision

I wish my blog had Smell-a-Vision!


If you ever get a Peony, get the deep red ones. . .



their smell is just plain H E A V E N L Y!