Scenes From the Past Week

This Christmas Flower was in the
window at church Tuesday.

Lots of rain today.

More rain today.

Loved the glowing bushes at the entrance to our cul-de-sac.

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Mouse in the House!

The only thing missing is a witch in the sky!

Last night I stayed up a little later since we had decided we were not attending church this morning.  I decided to relax a little before bed, "later" for me was about 8:30 PM.  I sat on the sofa in the spot Clint usually occupies and did some drawing.  I then checked the night sky and it looked quite fitting for Halloween week, the only thing missing was a witch silhouette flying across the sky on her broom.
I went out on the deck and made the photo above.

Back to sitting on the sofa and watching some kind of true crime story on tv,  a movement caught my eye near our fern plant in the living room.  I then reasoned I had just imagined it, that it was nothing.  A few seconds later I could have sworn I saw a small dark shadow streak by the base board from the fern plant to under the tv stand which is a piece of wooden furniture.  At this point I was troubled and wondered if I was hallucinating, I knew I was exhausted.  Maybe it was one of my eye floaters that had made me think I had seen a movement.  Perhaps it had been caused by a reflection on the glass top coffee table.  I finally told myself it was caused by the tv images being reflected on the glass table top.

Flash forward to about 6:30 am when Clint and I hear some different kinds of noises in the kitchen.  Our ice maker makes all kinds of strange sounds, the most common one is of a frog croaking. (I kid you not, found this out by Googling Amana refrigerator frog sounds)  Clint and I agreed the sounds were different for sure this particular time.  A few minutes later we heard the tell-tale crinkling sounds coming from the kitchen.  I confess at this point I had not shared with Clint me seeing movement in the living room the night before.  Clint then said what I had feared, "It sounds almost like there is a rodent in the house."  At this point I am thinking that sure enough, it was a MOUSE!  A RAT!  I had seen a rat in the house!  I told Clint what I had seen the night before, somehow I thought if I did not share it with him earlier, it would have gone away.  I know, totally illogical.

This morning we bought some traps and hope they work tonight.  Just a few minutes ago Clint found "signs" of the mouse near the fire place.  I know this blog is much about nothing but I am petrified of mice and I have warned Clint that if he hears me scream, it will mean I have run across the mouse.

Dear readers, please don't get me wrong, it's not all mice that I detest.  We even have a special mouse in our home, he now graces our mantle.  I just snapped his photo to prove my point.  He sat on Clint's mother's grandfather clock for years and has great sentimental value.

How gross!  Hopefully by tomorrow this will no longer be your home!

The ONLY mouse who is welcomed in our home.

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Looking Up

Thursday evening Clint called my attention to some unusual cloud formations

in the western sky.  Naturally I grabbed my camera and headed outside.

While I was admiring the clouds, a vertical cloud rainbow appeared very 

briefly.

Today I am just posting some recent images that I've encountered

in the past ten days.  It also appears things are "looking up" in our 

lives.  It has been a rough year.

On this bright Tuesday morning I zoomed in on the spire at the church.                                                         I was able to accompany Clint to the church while he played guitar and sang for a group of seniors.

When I get my new camera, I will look forward to having some special

lens for photographing the night sky.  I also might add some photography

lessons would be nice, too!  ;~D

Last Tuesday morning I stopped by Hardee's on my way to an 

 early appointment in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  This breath taking scene

greeting me as I walked out the door.

Our Years a Passing Hour

Today I am adding more "life" photos from the past two weeks.  On one of my days off my sister and I visited my mom and drove through some old scenic areas.  The above photo was made on Reservoir Road in Norris, Tennessee.

We have fond memories, our cousins lived at the end of this road, this 

area is on TVA property.

Our cousins' grandparents house which was next door to their home.  I was pleased at the quaint appearance

of the house and to know it is still standing.  I remember red brick.  I also 

remember chickens and a pond but most importantly ... lots of FUN!

My sister drove her new Toyota Rav 4 and I loved her new car.  She bought it a few months ago. It was interesting to see on the navigational system that we were right beside the river and Norris Lake.

Taking a detour on the way back to her house, we drove

by the old familiar view from our grandparent's house.  In years past

there were no buildings in the background.

A recent sunrise from our porch.

Clint and I decided to go car shopping.  It was fun to sit in this sports car.  We knew the day was
coming.  We bought a new Toyota Rav4.

Admired the swirling effect of these clouds.

A unique, at least to me, water tower on Resevoir Road.

More fun with shadows in our living room created by the evening sun.

This creature was on our glass door on the deck.  I posted it on FB

and was told it was a stink bug.  Luckily he/she was on the outside.

                       Thursday evening we had some unusual cloud formations from our back deck.

I walked out front and this was taking place, different moving

layers with the different shades.

This post has been a progress over a couple of weeks.  It started out with the title, "My Day Off",  and then I added this current title.  I have been looking through old family photo albums. Looking at them actually makes me sad.  I am thinking of how their lives seem to have been over in a flash.  The line "Our years a passing hour" was in a hymn we sang at church on Sunday.  How true.



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Our Weekend



Two of my favorite things that I had yesterday,
"Country Living" magazine and this cookie
from Panera Bread.  This cookie is out of
this world.  I could not resist and it had
been a year since I had one.  (The honest truth!) :-)





One would never imagine that there was lush green
foliage right under these birds high atop a tree.

I cropped it and turned it into black and white.  Just
a scene from our backyard deck.



This photo does not do justice to these emerging clouds
I saw recently after leaving the Asia Cafe one afternoon.
The clouds were such a brilliant white by the way
the sun was striking them.



Once again, playing around with the camera.



Once again we barely escaped some violent weather.  This
was made from our front porch about three days ago.



My computer has some problems, it has become very slow.  I did not think after posting these photos that I was going to be able to add any more words or sentences to the post.  This morning we were up around 4:30 am.  Clint was teaching and singing in the Sunday school class.  We were going to leave thirty minutes earlier this morning.  I was having trouble putting on a sleeveless top, I could not find the arm hole!  The reason was my head was in the arm hole ... duh!  A few minutes later I was  straightening my name tag on my jacket and my name tag read, "Clint Ellison".  We are on the interstate and Clint comes out with a loud OMGosh ... we are in the wrong car.  He had placed his guitar and music stand in the other car.  We had to turn around and come back home and exchange cars.  Since we left early, we still got to church thirty minutes early and all was well.

P.S. Please excuse the spacing error above, my cursor is not working.  :-(


We have fallen in love with humming birds.




Catching My Breath!

If you hear a voice within you say, "you cannot paint,"  then by all means paint, and the voice will be silenced.
                           ~ Vincent Van Gogh


It has been a busy week and I am trying to catch my breath but it is not easy when you rise at 5 AM and on your one day off you continue to stay busy! Whew!  Yes, I know I just typed a run-on-sentence just as I live through these run-on-days.

This morning we arrived at church a little after eight and was pleased to see more attendance today.  It is getting a little cooler.

A little lost for words today, I thought I would post a few pictures and try to remember how to do a blog post! 

Signs

Clint's leaf.

This morning Clint said to me, "You need to come look at something on the deck, it is a sign." There was a yellow leaf on the deck which made Clint happy, he is looking forward to fall and winter. My response to Clint's sign comment was for him to please step over to the counter and see my "sign". Just yesterday when I was leaving work, there was a sign for me right beside my car door. I had picked it up and brought it home with me. We both were rejoicing that we'd seen evidence that fall can't be far behind.

Cindy's leaf.

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A Month of Sundays

This scene was beside me two weeks ago at a traffic light as
we were about to get onto Interstate 75 south near our house.

We were on our way to church.

It seems it has been forever since I have done a blog.  "Forever" has been since Mother's Day back in May.  It has been so long that for some reason I was having problems even getting started.  For me it was the same old story, I could not get my photos to come up or even type into the "compose" space.  Frustrated, I took a nap and came back to try it again.  This may be premature boasting, it appears to be working now.  I should say that after I actually see it posted.  :~D  It has been a while since Clint had posted a blog.  At least I did not get a message that my blog had never existed!  After a little Googling, Clint's blog was reborn and he was back in action.                                                                                                                                                              Forgive me if I am repeating myself on here, one reason I have not been blogging is because I am now working six days a week.  I will write later about the job on here and will share some things about it.  It feels good to just be sitting down now and typing away with no rhyme or reason. This may appear I am talking to myself and perhaps I am.  That could be said of keeping a diary, Clint has been faithful about keeping a daily diary for at least two years now. (Now what happened yesterday?)  If he forgets something to add, I usually can jog his memory.

We have been making an effort to have more regular church attendance.  On this post I plan on adding a few photos made at church today.  Last week Clint was added to the "official" Sunday school class list as a teacher.  He really enjoys teaching and made a great impression with his first teaching a few weeks ago.  He has already been working on the next lesson which is three weeks from now.  Thursday he helped with the lunch that is prepared at the church for the homeless.  Our church is located in downtown Knoxville, TN, and there is a need for feeding the many homeless.  When I "retire", I want to help in this mission, too.  I would also like to volunteer as a greeter or perhaps help with communion.  A few weeks ago I was asked to help fill in for communion when they were short a server. It was a very good experience and the pastor wrote me a nice thank you letter.

Getting used to new glasses is no easy feat.  I have been trying to spend time away from my contact lens and wearing my new glasses.  Clint says I look sexy in my new glasses and I am snickering as I type this sentence.  It is hard to make a decision for the frames, I ended up with black this time. 

We have become such avid bird watchers.  It all began with a little feeder my sister gave us as a gift.  Recently Clint bought a finch feeder and it is so good to see those brightly feathered birds fluttering around on our deck.  He also bought a new humming bird feeder and we have had good luck so far with them.  In a while I want to go sit out there and watch them come to the feeder which is only four or five feet from me.

Currently doing my homework and research, I want a new Nikon DSLR camera.  I have no idea where to start and want to make sure I buy the right camera for my needs.  It is important that I find a class, I want to know everything inside and out about the camera. While I am dreaming, I want to take an Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom 5.0 class. I would love to do some digital art and the classes would be essential.  While in this dream mode, Clint and I also want to take an Amtrak trip.  We have not traveled much in the California area.  I have never been to San Franciso or the north west area of the U.S.  Also, Clint wants to fish in the Superior but Michigan Lake would be good, too ... he says.  Might as well add the two other things we have discussed recently:  Plantation shutters and a chandelier for the dining room.  This is wearing me out just thinking about it all but it sure is fun to dream.  Now I have to put some effort into making these dreams happen and of course, if God wills.

We have done very little cooking out these days.  This evening we are cooking out and I am looking forward to it. We don't eat much steak but it is sounding very good to us right now.  It is going to be simple with a baked potato and steamed broccoli.

A couple of weeks ago from our front porch ... it missed us.

A red-winged blackbird.

Last Sunday we were paid a visit by a red-tailed hawk.  I made
this photo from inside the house.

Looks like these could do some damage!



Dawn's early light this morning, August 25, 2013,
from our front porch.



Couldn't pass up these beauties
used as a table display this morning at church.

On the church grounds this am.

This afternoon I played around with
this photo I made of the church spire and tower.  I took out
numerous power lines.

Thank you to anymore who made it this far reading my mindless typing and thinking.  Have a blessed week! 

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Monday Monday

Yesterday our wonderful son-in-law Tracy, daughter Lucinda and grandson Canyon took us out for a Mother's Day lunch.  We are quite fond of Pueleo's, Clint loves their shrimp and grits.  Oh, and the fried green tomatoes. I ended up with turkey and dressing and it was delicious.  I had enough left over for dinner last night.  The Mimosas were very good, they actually had some flavor.  The best!

We both were sleepy by the time we got home at 12:30 pm.  I fought it and worked on my boarding house painting.  I will be very happy to get this piece completed.

Just had to snap another photo of our irises, the ones my Texas neighbor gave me the day before we moved.  They have thrived and it was worth it for me to try to pamper them until I could get them in the ground.  If these irises could talk, they have a story to tell.  Life goes on.



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Happier Times

Strolling in the Park

Clint came upon this snake at a park near our house.
This sighting was yesterday.

While strolling in the park one day,

In the merry merry month of May.

I was taken by surprise ...



Last evening he said he wanted to go back to the park.
I suggested this one which is a little farther away.
(My motive was to not get near that snake
that was closer to home.)  ;-)

The weather last evening was perfect for walking.



Clint goes back to the closer park today and
his snake friend was snoozing right by the trail.

Not all of Clint's friends are friends of mine!



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