There and Back Again, As They Say ...

 Adam and I took a trip to West Virginia last week to see my mother (at last! after 16 months!) and my brothers and two sisters-in-law and one nephew. It was lovely. It was chilly. It had been way too long, not only since visiting dear family but since seeing the state I love.

(As an aside, the greatest obstacle to my blogging these days is the difficulty uploading photos. Google's storage limit keeps me from connecting my phone photos directly to Google Photos now, so it's a pain to get photos all the way over here to blogland!)

Here's the view from my mother's front porch:

We did go out to eat once, but otherwise we mostly enjoyed the beauty of my mother's home and my brother's farm. He has baby lambs!

Those are bottle-fed lambs from sets of triples or quads, whose mothers could not manage them all.

I've been saving my figs from last summer in my freezer, having promised my dear mother that I'd make her LOTS of fig preserves (with many, many lemon slices) to last her at least a couple of months.

I've never been much of a fig fan, but I think she's converted me. It's delicious on morning toast. When my figs ripen this summer, perhaps I'll make a few pints for myself.

Mother's doing pretty well for her age. Beau gave her a brief moment of affection.

It was hard to say good-bye!

Now we're back to our usual routine. My little "side business" of soaps/lotions/watercolor cards has grown slowly over the past year, and now I find that it takes much of my time each day. I am constantly making something. I paint for 2 -3 hours each morning, make skin care products after that, and try to film for my youtube channel along the way. 

Oh! Let me share my latest weaving project -- 2 little baby blankets for my two precious grandsons, woven on one warp. It was challenging because I don't weave often and make lots of mistakes. 

There will be youtube videos of both the WVa trip and the baby blanket weave, but they're not quite ready yet ... almost!

Sorry I've been so absent, and thank you for dropping by.

Returned from Places Far and Beautiful

I traveled to West Virginia this past week for a quick visit with my mother. It was nice to see family. In past years visits like this would've been filled with children - lots of nieces, nephews, and our own kids. Not any more! Just us old folks, but it was wonderful to see my mother, and so soothing to see the exquisite beauty that is West Virginia.

We visited Tamarack, a center (with restaurant) displaying the best of West Virginia's crafters. 

My sister-in-law's display of her gorgeous candles -- at Tamarack!

Mother, Anne, and I ate at Food and Friends in Lewisburg, and then Anne's mother dropped in and joined us, which was just delightful.

Mother and I also enjoyed early evening sitting on her front porch. West Virginia is perfect in late August - cool, peaceful, green.

Sorry I didn't take more photos of humans, but I don't want to be obnoxious.

Max and Anne sent me home with beautiful produce from their garden. I had a scrumptious tomato sandwich today.

Here's an egg from their hens - I've never seen such a big one!

Adam and I were back at the farmer's market in Oriental this morning.

All the talk in this little coastal town was of Hurricane Dorian, barreling for Florida's coast but looking more and more likely to prefer our coast instead. If it comes our way, I may be traveling again later this week -- for evacuation!

I did some knitting while in WVa, another pair of fingerless gloves.

These are just as decorative as they are practical. I finished them with a little red ribbon woven through above the wrist.

I'll end with a few photos of new watercolor cards. I need to restock my inventory!

If you'd like to purchase any, check out my album at this link to see which ones are in my sale basket right now. I'm happy to mail them to you.

I'll keep you posted about the hurricane and what we decide to do. Prayers are appreciated :)

Catch-Up Time

I've been home in North Carolina for five days, and I still feel like I'm catching up from my time away with my mother. Here are a few more pics from last Friday. My brother, sister-in-law, and a friend invited me to go on a brisk walk along the river trail in Renick, WVa. Only patches of snow remained, and it wasn't cold.

 A large tree had fallen in the path. They continued with their exercise, but I took this as my sign to rest a bit and turn back for a slow stroll toward the car.

 Here's a quick video of the spot:

Another brother came Friday night with his family for dinner. We're not the houseful that we used to be before so many of the children went off to school.

 The delight of the week for all of us was surely having my niece Kayren there. She's below, smiling in the middle -- what a lovely girl! We had interesting conversations together. 

 She didn't want me to take a close-up, I think, so I got a photo of her hair. Kayren has the most gorgeous, curly, thick hair.

 My nephew is among the younger of the crowd of 25+ cousins in my extended family. Anne enjoyed playing Battleship with him, but I think he was missing his cousins.

 Anne sets a lovely table always. February flowers:

 And she makes a fabulous blueberry pie.

 The drive home was very long, and in rain the whole way. I left at 4:30 a.m. and stopped often to check GPS/Google Maps. I was quite glad to pull into my own driveway and find very friendly faces like this one:

See that rope? She's saying, "Play rope, please. Rope says, 'I love you.'"

More in the next post of the watercolor cards I'm still doing -- so if you are mightily tired of seeing them, that's a hint to avoid the next post, haha. 

We've had two fairly warm, dry days and have worked hard in the garden. I have onions and peas up, and basil seeds started in the greenhouse. Spring is coming!

The Relatives Came

JoAnn, Ann, Lois
two wives of two brothers,
sitting on either side of those brothers' only sister

Erin, JoAnn
niece and aunt

Marshall and DeVona with
Clark and Abraham

Aunt Ann and her 3 children,
Robin, Erin, and Ford

Cousins: Mercy, Patience, Nathan, Katie, Aleya

Cousins: Robin, Erin (who are sisters), and Steve, Andy, Lisa (who are siblings)

Mother with cousins Robin and Lisa

Max with great-niece Leisa

Me with my dear 2nd cousin and childhood buddy Tammy

Mark with his daughter Liberty, talking with cousin Erin

Buddies Tom and Adam

Buddies Abraham and Courage

First cousins and various siblings:
Andy, Erin, Marshall, Mark, Robin, Max, Me, Ford, Lisa

I asked these four teen cousins to give me their best stud-muffin look:
Honor, Nathan, Justice, Clark

Our extended family took up one whole side of the sanctuary for the funeral service.

My niece, Grace

My niece, Liberty

My mother talks with her granddaughter Kyrie,
while holding Kyrie's baby Ilana

I asked Philip and Kara to pose, and this is what I got ....

Nieces (and sisters) Patience and Mercy

Shani and Peter

Mother with my brother Mark

Babies bring happiness:
DeVona with Leisa, Katie with Ilana

Michael and Hannah

Kesse holds onto Katie

Visiting at White Oak Farm:
Philip, Kara, Adam, Michael, Hannah

Ford and Marshall, the businessmen,
talking busines

Daddy's casket, draped in the flag.
He served in the Korean War, in the army.
He transported ammunition to the front lines.

Six of my daddy's grandsons served as his pall bearers.

The honor guard folded the flag and presented it to my mother in a beautiful ceremony,
as Philip played Taps on his trumpet.

Mother and Beau

Philip playing Taps at the graveside: