Look What I Found

I've been so busy around here. We are doing a deep clean of the garage. It would be nice just to be able to walk through it without stubbing your toe on something. We have taken 3 loads to the thrift store.

For those of you who don't know, I also write. It is very time consuming, too, just ask my husband.

I finally took a break and went outside. In addition to the weeds that have taken control in a few places, I also found a few other things that seem to have popped up over night.

This is in my blackberry patch:


Filled with these beautiful blue eggs:


My pear tree has little pears, hope a frost doesn't kill them this year:


The ferns are pushing their way up among the rocks and weeds: I love ferns!


These little plants are popping up everywhere. I have to go and pull these up before they get any bigger or they will take over. Their very long roots makes them hard to pull up when they grow larger. They grow fast! Know what they are? Answer at bottom of page.



These purple and pink flowers are everywhere! They spread like crazy! Their name escapes me at the moment.


These peonies will be gorgeous in a few weeks. . . or sooner!


Plants seem to be blooming earlier this year. If we blink an eye, we will miss its beauty.

Answer from question above: Rose of Sharon

What's coming up around your house?

What You Been Up To?

What have you been up to lately? We've been doing a little bit of everything.

While my husband tilled the garden. . .


I put together this shelf thingie. I love these types of shelves. They are very easy to put together. I have two larger ones in my laundry room. I put it together and placed it in the middle of my bedroom closet. We have one of those long and narrow closets that used to have sliding doors on it. I took the doors off and hung up a curtain. We had two shelves across the top (my son had installed a higher one so we would have more storage room). I took the bottom shelf out and took the rod out. Then I re-installed the rod up under the top shelf. This thing I put together then fit underneath and in the middle of my closet. I bought a little rod and attached it below the upper rod on one side so I could hang two rows of clothes, one on top of the other. It's a lot better now. Don't you just hate small closets!


My son climbed up on a long ladder and hung a star on the side of our house.



We planted a blueberry bush.


We hung out under the apple tree and took pictures of the blossoms.


While looking for something in the junk drawer of my son's dresser, I took the time to clean it out.


You would not believe the things I found. . . pkgs of pictures from long ago, fake teeth, a set of valentine cards my son got when he was in grade school, various types of old trading cards, yoyos, yellow diaper pins, money and lots and lots of stuff. Just don't ever store shoe strings in the same drawer as the long curly metal thing you see below. . . I probably don't have to tell you why. I wasted a lot of time in that junk drawer the other day!


But it was worth it, because I found this!


It says Charleston Area Medical Center on the back of it. It is so tiny! It was worn by my now 30 year old, 6 ft tall son. Isn't it just precious!

So what have you been doing lately?

The Molly Moochers I Promised You

Yesterday we went hunting for molly moochers! We went to our favorite place to find them, but I'll never tell where it is. That is our secret.

I found one of these while I sifted through the dead leaves:



and I found many delicate ferns pushing through the ground:


But, no matter how hard I looked, I never found any of the molly moochers. What is a molly moocher? It is another name for morel mushrooms. They are easily identified. Here is a picture or one hiding in the leaves.

They are hard to find. They blend in with the surrounding leaves. Here is a picture my son took with his cell phone. He says there are three of them in this picture. Can you find them?


My two sons found around 18 between the two of them. I never found any.



There are many places on line to find out about these delicious mushrooms. This site is a good one. There are many ways to fix them and many ways to prepare them. You will find many different opinions. So, just take your pick on how you want to do them. We cut them in half lengthwise and soaked them in salt water. We only soaked them for about an hour or so. This kills the pesky, tiny bugs that inhabit them. Some people soak them overnight.


We took ours out of the salt water and rinsed them thoroughly. We laid them out on a wet paper towel and covered them with another wet paper towel and kept them in the fridge overnight.


We cooked them for supper today. I did it the easy way of just coating them with flour and frying them in oil for a few minutes.



They may not look very good, but they are mmmmm, mmmmm delicious. The best mushrooms you will ever eat.


This is the time to look for them. They grow in the woods. Look in damp areas around old fallen trees. You may want to get a stick and push the leaves around a little. My sons found them sticking up out of the leaves. Take your time and keep looking, as you saw in the picture above they are hard to find. Don't pull them up. Pinch or cut them off.

Good luck. Have fun mushroom hunting!

Sunday Sightings

Thought I'd post a few pictures of my Sunday sightings:

an old barn and tractor

chickens crossing the road

rooster strutting behind them

hay in the field

Jackson County Courthouse

The local Flea Market.
My husband informs me that years ago this was the Kroger's Building

I love large old trees.
They have their own personality.
This one hasn't yet been told that it is spring.

Blurry redbuds taken while whirring past them on Interstate 77.
I love the redbud trees and there are many, many of them along the stretch of I-77 between Ripley and Fairplain.

Come back tomorrow and I will show you what else my camera shot today.
We went hunting for Molly Moochers!

Remember When?

My children aren't young any more, but I remember when they used to pick wild flowers and bring me bunches of them in their little hands.

Their smiles were as bright as the yellow dandelions they carried to me.

I miss those days and I miss those little bouquets of flowers they thrust towards me with smiles on their faces.

My youngest son is out cutting the grass. I noticed the many violets that dotted our yard and he was cutting them down! I just had to pick some before they were all gone.

I added a few yellow dandelions to my violets and put them in this little cow creamer. Isn't she pretty with her flower hat. I think she could be one of those California Cows they talk about on TV.



Everything is growing now. We're cutting our grass for the second time. The hostas, the iris's, the tiger lillies and the peonies are all popping out of the dirt.

My Bleeding Hearts are already in bloom.



My pear tree is in bloom. This is a pear tree that has pears on it, not just the flowering ones. I sure hope the frost doesn't kill them this year.


It seems like when winter quit, it really quit!

But, I know the frosts will still come and my flowers will get bit. So I am going to enjoy them while I can.

Home Rules

I have a plaque that has a list of home rules on it. I kinda like the rules. Here they are:

If you sleep on it.....make it up
If you wear it......hang it up
If you drop it......pick it up
If you eat out of it.....put it in the sink
If you step on it....wipe it off
If you open it.....close it
If you empty it.....fill it up
If it rings.....answer it
If it howls.....feed it
If it cries.....love it

What do you think? I like the last one best. Do you have one you want to add to the list?

Another question.

How long does it take a person to remember that they moved the wastebasket in the kitchen to another place?

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Wash Bowls and Pitchers

I'm participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday hosted by Colorado Lady. Go visit and see who else is posting their vintage thingies.


Do you remember using wash bowls and pitchers?

I don't, but they are beautiful and I've always wanted one.

I recently acquired two of them.

This large blue and white one has no markings on it, but I believe it to be old. The bowl has crazing on it. I love the flowers on the pitcher.




This smaller white one is old. I don't think the bowl and pitcher are a match, though. But, I don't care, I love it anyway. I like the small size of it, because I don't have a lot of extra room in my house. I also love old scarves and I placed this pitcher on a pretty embroidered one.



I'm thinking the next time our water is turned off because there is a leak in the neighborhood's lines (which used to happen a lot), I just might fill up the pitchers and use them for what they were meant to be used for.

Do any of you have memories of using these? If so, I'd love to hear them.

We're In The Top 5!

I signed up for a weekly newsletter from Reader's Digest.
They always send very good articles my way.
The latest one was about the deadliest roads in America. And, to be fair it also listed the best roads in America.

Well, guess which list West Virginia ranked highest on. . . you are right! It wasn't the best roads list.

However, I was surprised to see that the WV Turnpike wasn't on the worst 7 roads in the nation.


I absolutely hate driving the WV Turnpike! Well, I don't drive it, my husband does. So maybe I should say, "I hate being a passenger in a car on the WV Turnpike." We just drove down it last week and I posted on my writing site about that trip. It was the worst drive I had ever taken on it. The drivers were so reckless, it is no wonder there are so many accidents on that road.

There used to be a tunnel on the turnpike. It was named the Memorial Tunnel and it was kind of neat driving through it. My mother went on vacation with us sometimes and she hated going through that tunnel. They closed the tunnel down in 1987 and carved a road through the mountain beside of it. The bypass cost 35 million dollars, took 3 years to complete, 10 million cubic yards of earth were moved and in the process 300,000 tons of coal were taken from the mountain.

Here is how we did on the Readers Digest lists:

Most Dangerous: Montana, LA, SC, WV, Arkansas
Best: Kansas, Wisconsin, Montana, NM, Utah. . . #43 WV

You can go here to read the article and see how your state ranked in the listings.

How did your state do?

You can go here and read about the West Virginia Turnpike: "88 Miles of Miracle."

Now, if they did a list of the most beautiful highways to travel in the US, I think we would rank in the top 5 there, too!

Spring Chores

The weather is beautiful today! But, along with the nice weather comes the chores.

Charley pruned the grape vines.


I dealt with the berry vines. What a mess!


Plants are are popping their heads through the dirt!

If you look close, you can see the first white shoots of Hosta emerging through the earth. They aren't very colorful yet.


The red leaves of my Bleeding Hearts are pushing up.


My spreading Poppies!


I transplanted this flower today. I'm not sure what it is, though. Do you know? It grows from very large round bulbs.


I almost complained about the heat. I got hot working outside! But, I didn't.

I just wish the flowers would wait a little while before pushing up through the earth, because I'm sure we'll have many more frosts before the hot weather. I hate it when my flowers get bit by the cold.

How about you, are your plants popping through the dirt, yet?

Travel Souvenirs

When my husband was in the Navy, he bought souvenirs in most of the places he traveled. They were in his parent's house until recently. We brought them to our home this week.

He was stationed in Puerto Rico, and he sailed on the USS Leahy DLG16. When they weren't steaming out in the ocean, the Leahy was docked at Norfolk, VA.

Here is a souvenir pillow from Puerto Rico. Isn't it beautiful? It goes perfectly with our chair.



He bought beer steins made in West Germany. He believes he bought these in Greece. The one on the left winds up and plays music.


While he was in Greece, he also bought handmade Greek vases. The ones on the left are made of spun copper.



My favorite items he bought were alabaster items handmade in Italy. Here are candlestick holders and a small birdbath with tiny doves around the edge of it. He bought these when they stopped at Naples, Italy.


My very favorite alabaster items he bought were two lamps. Here is a picture of one lit up. See how the pattern of the alabaster shows when the light is turned on. I just love the lamps!



They docked at the piers of Barcelona, Spain, and like all the other sailors, he felt compelled to go to a bull fight. Now, before anyone says anything about the cruelty of bull fights, I totally agree. I feel sorry for the bulls, too. Here is a large tapestry he brought back from Barcelona. It is huge and covers the entire length of the couch.


I think these are what they called banderillas.


I will never get to go to these places, so I'm glad he brought back souvenirs of his travels home with him. Now, I just have to figure out where I'm going to put them all.

Our little house in the hills of West Virginia is getting a little crowded.

Pot Holes!

I hate pot holes. My husband hates pot holes.

We zigzag down the road trying to avoid the pot holes. It is impossible. You swerve to miss one and you hit another. We sometimes find ourselves driving down the middle of the road.

I attempted to take some pictures of pot holes. Aren't they pretty?


Pot holes are everywhere!


There are a lot worse ones. You are on top of them before you realize it. So I missed taking pictures of a few doozies.




Sometimes I wish the highway department would just roll up the road and start all over.



Don't you?