Some of our Summer

Can you believe summer is almost over?

Well, we've had quite a busy summer despite all the rain.

There's been several trips to Indiana and Kentucky, canoe trips, new chicks, a graduation, and much more.

So come along and see

'some of our summer'.

We  started our summer off with a canoe trip on the Swatara.

We see an eagle every time we go!

We got bantam chickens this year.

On one of our trips to Indiana,

 we took Faith to see Sis. Hope's grave.

Waiting in line for church at the YF building.

We did some sight seeing at the Ohio River....

we are sitting on the porch of George Rogers Clark's cabin.

This is where Lewis and Clark started their journey of the west.

That's where the town of Clarkesville got its name.

I need a piano in my flower garden.....

Faith got to camp out with her younger cousins in Jeff.

At Grandpa Riley's trying out his 3 wheeler....

My last student graduated this year.....

So much rain this year!

We got to take Faith to Still Waters camp this year.

What a blessing!

Hannah and Owen came to Faith's graduation party

and a quick visit.

On one of our trips to Indiana,

we took a tour of the Branham tabernacle.

This is in Bro. Branham's office that he would be in before

stepping out on the platform.

Faith got her driver's license at the beginning of the summer.

Do you see what I see?

I caught a fish on free fishing day.  Yay for me!

( It was the only fish we got)

I've been practicing my biscuit making skills....

A good ol' southern meal....

A summer visit with friends from Jeff.

We entered a few things in the local fair.

Here is my still life photo.

My brother's banjo.

Faith's lemon bars.....

I hung my ferns on an old single tree horse yoke

on our patio.

Tried my hand at planting succulents.... 

Tried a new plant for my garden this year.

Anybody want to guess at what this is?

;o)

While we were away...

the squirrels were at play.

They were trying to get into our birds' sunflower seeds

that we keep in this garbage can.

We had to saw off this branch along the driveway,

so I decided to write on it. :o)

Do you know what Jehovah Shammah means?

A cute little wren made a nest in my gourd birdhouse

that I have hanging on the patio.

I rescued this guy when he tried to cross the road

at our mailbox.

Here's a picture from many summers ago....

Enjoy each summer....they fade away quickly.

Let's Smile Awhile

  “My, so what—what we got to worry about? Why are you walking along with a long face, like you eat oats, or the bottom of a churn. Why, my, smile. We’re happy. We’re Christians, and God has ordained us so and has given Christ for us.”

   53-1205 -  Bro. Branham  

Here are some pictures from the past couple of months
 that have made us 'smile awhile'!

Faith is happy that she got a job at Ace Hardware!

 I found this old recipe in a box in my attic.

It's from my mom.

What made me smile was the directions..

Bake 350 til done. haha

Laurisa always smiles when she's with her chickens.

Faith always has a smile!

Did you ever see a chicken smile?

I imagine the farmer didn't smile when he sat on his tractor seat!

My mom fried us up some catfish, corncakes, mashed potatoes, and peas.....boy did we ever smile!

I didn't even notice that the paper towel said smile! ;o)

I put this here 4 and 1/2 years ago....the bark is starting to grow over it.....

 Even the rocks are smiling....

 We had a green heron in our backyard the other evening!

 Last fall I transplanted this sassafras tree from Kentucky and planted it in my yard.  

I was smiling this spring when I seen it had survived!

 

What can you do with a sassafras tree?

Make tea of course!

We hosted a Kentucky Kitchen class for the PA Creations  and David and Benjamin were

smiling big when I presented them with real coon skins!

These two eagles were in a big tree behind our property one evening.  We were so happy to see them!

(sorry the lighting was bad)

In another PA creations class, we did the everlasting peaks project. We had cherry pie to celebrate

Bro. Branham's birthday.

My very first bed when I was born.

Another visit to Granny Smith's. 

 That brought a big smile to her face!

See the old water dippers hanging there?

Grandma used to have them at the water bucket to get a drink. 

This is her door latch that's on the door to her living room.

SMILE!

An old abandoned house in KY.

 This is a woodstove that we had in our kitchen when I was young.

It brought lots of smiles as we got warm

and when mom would pop popcorn on it.

Dad smiling big in this huge field of daffodils.

He likes to plant his hotbed early in the spring

 so he can have plants for the garden.

I had to smile when I seen this little ruby throated hummingbird

sneaking in my azalea bush for a quick drink.

This red bellied woodpecker has his home in our front yard.

The female is in there on the nest.

 Faith had a big smile on her face when she spotted this

big pileated woodpecker in our backyard yesterday.

Smile!  It's an indigo bunting!

On our patio!

I was smiling as I thought of all the wood to keep me warm this winter as Karl was sawing.

He wasn't smiling.......

Grandma's backyard brings smiles to lots of us!

It's filled with Virginia Bluebells!

 This brought a smile to my friend's face (who lives in Kentucky) when I gave her this lamp.

I had engraved the Bible verse on the oil lamp globe:

 "Let your light so shine"

I engraved an owl on this one.

The oil lamp is actually from my 

great grandma Smith so it's really old.  

 Sorry for such a long post.....

hopefully it helped to put a smile on your face today!