Hello Porch, Goodbye Quail

Things come and go; it's true! 

Our porch is coming along, but I think the sawing and hammering drove away our quail.

Primed and ready for the final coat.

Pale blue ceiling.

 

I found a Pinterest article that listed "porch blue" paint colors. I love their names; they're as fun as lipstick and polish names.

Watery 

Atmospheric

Soar 

Bubble

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. ~e.e. cummings

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.

 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone,

 but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars. 

~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Martin Luther

Well, I Give Up!

They're back, but I still have no idea what they are!!

These beautiful delicate lilies are popping up in all the flower beds. Their dark orange petals sit atop tall, impossibly slender scapes that originate in a clump of narrow, lily blades.

I have searched numerous lily identification sites and can't find hide nor hair of them.

Any ideas, Dear Friend?

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. 
~Iris Murdoch

Proverbs 31

My sister, Carole, enjoys daily devotionals from this website.

 I thought you might want to investigate.

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

The discipline of daily devotion to God undergirds decisions. 
-Edwin Louis Cole

Pre-training

Our porch is coming right along! The construction phase is complete and all that's left is paint.

This weekend we started pre-training Fred and Ethel to use their new doggie door. We bought a regular five post screen door from Lowes and had the carpenters modify the posts so that we could use it as a doggie door.

Fred has always had a fear of doors or tight passages, so we were a bit concerned about him busting through our new screen rather than using the doggie door. Our pre-training consisted of using scrap lumber to block off every side of the porch except the doggie door.

So far, it has worked like a charm. The real test will come when Fred is sleeping on the new screened porch and sees a raccoon in the yard. Will he go through the doggie door or bust through the nearest panel of screen?

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

A dog is so often the answer —

 when you're lonely and need company, or when you're tired of company and need lonely.

 ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Mike the Tiger

This is especially for you, Dear Friend!!!

Olive enjoyed her visit to Mike the Tiger and left roaring down the steps!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Sunday Schoolism #29: The Only Road

...faith is the only road between my soul and heaven.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Big Night!

Last night was a big night at our house!!

It was the opening night of season five of The Great British Baking Show on PBS. (Now for all we know there may have already been fourteen seasons of this show, but we've only seen the three seasons available on Netflix streaming, so for us this was a big deal.)

To celebrate, we used Paul Hollywood's cookbook to bake scones. James and I are not bakers. (A truer statement has never been written.) We are, however, huge fans of the show and we had such a good time baking and tasting.

First up, plain British scones.

I know, they look like biscuits and honestly if I ever have the choice of a plain scone or a southern biscuit, I'm choosing the biscuit. My dad makes a biscuit that would shame a scone.

James acted as our baking show judge critiquing our efforts, and finally declaring them 'Pac Man biscuits'.

Next up, savory cheese scones.

Much more flavor and the reassuring triangular shape.

We remembered from a trip to England years ago that British cooking sets a pretty low bar. That triggered a trip down memory lane causing us to get out our passports to check the year of our English visit- 1991!! The math let us know we were then Katherine's current age, 31!!!

 That realization instantly caused our arthritis to flair up, so we hobbled over to our old-folks recliners to enjoy a scone, a glass of milk, and The Best British Baking Show!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. 

~Bob Hope

Years ago we discovered the exact point, the dead center of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush to the net. 

~Franklin Adams

There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.

 ~Author Unknown

Youth is a disease from which we all recover. 

~Dorothy Fulheim

There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age — I missed it coming and going.

 ~J.B. Priestly

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? 

~Satchel Paige

Lazy, Crazy, Hazy

Today is the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. Nat King Cole's words come to mind...

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

And it's definitely summer here. We have our own brand of

lazy,

hazy,

and crazy

going on here!!

Happy Summer Solstice!!

Shelli

Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; 

to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.

 ~Henry James

So Strange!

Something so strange happened last weekend!!

My sister, Carole, had spent the night with us on her trip back to Mobile. The following morning, we opened the door to walk down to her car, and we were confronted by two bob whites strolling on the front lawn.

Bob whites are a type of quail whose signature "Bob White" call is often heard, but the bird itself is rarely seen.

But there they were, a male and female, sauntering around the yard. But the 'so strange' part of this story is what they did next. Since seeing is believing.....

They weren't scared at all, just interested! Wild birds just don't act that way!!!  

 They've been hanging out with us for about five days now. One of the carpenters, who is also a big hunter, believes this pair of bob whites is nesting someplace close by. I hope that's true because there is nothing I'd enjoy more than watching a covey of baby quail!!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

O, money can't buy the delights of the glen,
Nor Poetry sing all its charms:
There's a solace and calm ne'er described by the pen
When we're folded within Nature's arms!
~James Rigg, "Nutting Time," Wild Flower Lyrics and Other Poems, 1897

Forest Bathing

Pine Cone Lane is the best of both worlds- it is both forest and open field. We love the forest, especially in summer when a trip to town and its concrete parking lots can run the temperatures up to 100 degrees. But turn down our lane and you can watch the temperature in the car drop 10 degrees before you reach the house. The leaves of the trees ripple gently in the breeze, shards of sunlight barely penetrate the protective canopy, and splotches of shade create a soothing, cool oasis.

So although I had never heard of  forest bathing, I totally get the concept.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/17/536676954/forest-bathing-a-retreat-to-nature-can-boost-immunity-and-mood

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. 
-John Muir

Looking Up!!

Things are looking up in the She-shed. In fact, if you look up this is what you see.....

The sun is setting in the West,

and rising in the East.

The tree outside the window is now visible through the rafters.

I'm learning that it takes time to paint a tree. First you have to paint the trunk, then each layer of leaves one at a time. 

The highest layer of leaves are the most yellow because they receive the most sunlight. These leaves have no details as they are so high up that the detail can't really be seen from the ground.

The second layer of leaves are darker green because they are a bit shaded by the upper leaves, but being closer to the ground, these leaves have a visible central vein.

That's as far as I've gotten. There will be a final, darkest green layer of detailed leaves before all is said and done. Then on even the most dreary January day, I will be able to sit under a soothing summer sky in the shade of a happy tree!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.

 ~Martin Luther

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means waste of time. 

~John Lubbock, “Recreation,” The Use of Life, 1894

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~Joyce Kilmer, “Trees,” 1914

Sunday Schoolism #28: There Is A God

Father Cavanaugh, in the 1993 movie Rudy, made a statement that deserves repetition: "Son, in thirty-five years of religious study, I've come up with only two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I'm not Him" (Pizzo 1993). The reason I think this bears repeating is that it seems to me as I read the Bible that the great crime of humanity from the garden until today is that we always find some way to move ourselves into the center of our own universe. We make ourselves the ultimate judges of moral "good", the great lovers of our own souls, the beings to whom all resources should come. Indeed, the very heartbeat of fallen humanity is to remake God into our image, rather than to allow him to remake us into his.

                                                                                    Sandra Ritcher
                                                                                    The Epic of Eden: Isaiah

Wal Mart to the Rescue!

Recently my sister came through Pine Cone Lane on her way to the beach with her daughter and several of her daughter's friends. I planned on sleeping all the girls together on the sleeper sofas in the den, but there was a problem. Out in the back yard is a security light that shines right into the den doors keeping the den fairly lit up during the night. I needed a solution...

I planned on sewing a blackout panel for the window on each door.  This panel would have to be held onto the metal doors with magnets that I would sew into the panel. These panels could be folded and stored until needed, and then easily plopped up when extra sleeping space was required.

Off to Wal Mart for fabric, blackout lining, and magnets.  But as I walked toward the fabric department, I passed down the curtain row where I spied a ready-made curtain with blackout backing in a color that almost matched the real curtain in my den! What!! But, I thought, they will be too heavy to be held up by magnets, so I better stick to my original plan.

But as I turned around to continue on to fabric.....
                                                                  what to my wondering eyes should appear
                                                                  but a magnetic curtain rod
                                                                  filling my heart with cheer!!!!!

So I can go from this

to this, with the flick of a wrist!!

And the best part is that I have been keeping these curtains up while the carpenters are right outside working on the porch, giving me privacy during the day!! 

Yay!!

Thank you, Wal Mart!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Necessity....the mother of invention.

-Plato

The digital camera is a great invention because it allows us to reminisce. Instantly. 

-Demetri Martin

I Know....

We're adding on a screened porch!

I know, I have complained about remodeling and thanked my lucky stars that all that is behind us, but you can't enjoy fried squash and cold beer while batting at horse flies and mosquitoes.

Before...

During...

and the "after" should be ready in a couple of weeks!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

I'm an old-fashioned guy...

 I want to be an old man with a beer belly sitting on a porch, looking at a lake or something. 

-Johnny Depp

True luxury is being able to own your time - to be able to take a walk, sit on your porch, read the paper, not take the call, not be compelled by obligation. 

-Ashton Kutcher

I live in New York and it's the greatest city, 

but sometimes I want to move to the place with the porch and the lemonade and the farm. 

-Leelee Sobieski

The night I announced I was getting married, Daddy paced for hours on the porch. 

-Loretta Lynn

In my college years, I would retreat to our summer house for two weeks in June to read a novel a day. How exciting it was, after pouring my coffee and making myself comfortable on the porch, to open the next book on the roster, read the first sentences, and find myself on the platform of a train station. 

-Amor Towles

Fried Squash and Cold Beer

This time last year, James and I had left behind our home in Ruston, and were up to our necks in the remodel of this house. Months of hammering, painting, and moving in rolled by without me realizing that we were missing our seasonal milestones- those events in our lives that subconsciously give each of us our bearings on the calendar.

We all have them, landmarks of the year. Football games. Family gatherings. Religious observances. Events that lead us through time like blue marks on a hiking trail.

For us, one such event just happens to be squash. We stalk the garden for the first slender sighting and rush out to buy a box of seasoned fish fry and bottle of canola oil. Then it's time to get out the Fry Daddy, bought and used for this purpose only. Beer is pushed to the back of the fridge to get really cold, while constantly checking on the squash's progress until the day arrives and it is time to mark the beginning of summer.

This year, as we passed our one year anniversary here at Pine Cone Lane, I noticed my soul slowly being restored, the wobbly needle of my inner compass slowly settling down.  January's pruning and transplanting tasks, February's daffodils, March's azaleas, Easter's draped cross and egg hunt, May's day lilies, and finally June's fried squash and cold beer have brought me back to a season and time I recognize. Comforting familiarity!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Every day a thread makes a skein in the year. 

~Dutch Proverb