A Patchwork of Love

Grandma's heart is a Patchwork of Love.
~Author Unknown

This post is linked with Wordless Wednesday

Hummer Feeding Fenzy

This post is linked with Wild Bird Wednesday

Genie’s Disaster Hike

If you don’t feel like reading the story I am telling here, just flip thru the pictures. You will be able to figure it out. It wasn’t a good day for Genie :-) I used larger type so it would be easier should you desire.

Sunday was our day to take our grandson, Henry...a freshman at James Madison University...and two of his friends on a hike. We’d been planning this for weeks, and then the yucky weather hit us with a vengeance. This is a picture of our destination borrowed from the internet...High Knob Fire Tower located at 4,050 feet at the WV-VA line. There were two ways to go...the RECOMMENDED and easy 1.3 mile way along the nice fire road, or the other treacherous 3.5 miler straight up hill all the way. Due to all the fog, we could not find the point of entry for the fire road (we drove 50 miles or so back and forth up and down the mountain looking for it)  so ended up opting for the toughie. Stupid me, I did not want to be an "old granny, Baga" for my grandson, so I decided to make the “Forced March" much to the horror and concern of my husband who knew what was ahead and that I was going to be in for big time trouble. Rain, fog, slippery wet leaves, and trees down did not help. Bud says I made it 3/4 of a mile before my disaster, but to me it felt like five miles of horror.

O.K., Genie...just follow the "Yellow Marked Road”, and you will reach the Emerald City aka Fire Tower.

Bud was just puttering along waiting patiently for me to huff and puff it up the mountain.

I had given my Leike hiking poles to the boys, so I was left using my pink flowered cane..hehehe. Well, that was definitely not doing the job, so Buddy gave me his real hiking stick leaving him stickless.  I was moving very slowly, and you could probably hear me huffing and puffing a mile away.

The further I hoofed, the more exhausted I got...plus my back was starting to yell at me...”Stop, woman, or you are going to pay the penalty for not listening to me." That would mean nerve spasms and lying out in the middle of the wet woods with out a heating pad or a bed. I was heading for this broken off tree knowing it would provide me a place to lean that was not sopping wet.

 Selfie Time 

Well, as you can see, I ALMOST made it to the tree but not quite. My feet went out from under me and plunk...down I went. Luckily I missed a huge broken branch and fell into the wet leaves and dirt. My rule for falls is to not move, access the damage, and then slowly come up knees first and the rest of me afterwards...very slowly.

Selfie Retatke  

After I saw that grim look on my face, I decided to look at the hilarity and stupidity of my situation and just laugh at myself thinking...When are you going to learn, Genie, that you can no longer do the things you used to do?  Grow up you silly lady, and face the music of life. Still, as my mother used to say...it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

I did try to play a bit with my iPhone while lying there in the yuck.

I got a real bang out of this one of my super duper hot pink hiking sneakers with the heavy duty treads on them.  Well, hey sure did not do the job I paid the big bucks for them to do. I definitely needed my heavy old hiking boots this day.

 I finally pulled myself up and headed back to the car with Buddy. I know he wanted to say...I told you so...but he was nice and said nothing other than cheer me on while helping to get me down that steep mountain.  I managed to get this close up with a reflection in the rain droplet which made me happy. I have a hard time doing that.

Then I spotted this leaf that reminded me Halloween is coming before long. If only it had turned orange. 

When the boys send me the pictures they took up at the fire tower - IF they ever send them... hehehe - I will post them. As it turned out, Bud and I sat in the car for about THREE hours waiting for them to make the trek up and back, and it was almost dark when they reappeared. Needless-to-say, I was frantic. No reception on the XM radio, so iPhone music on his and the books on mine saved the day. The guys had a great time...Me, not so great...and Bud, well, he can handle it all. He’s always having fun when he is in the woods. He's just an old mountain man. Still it was beautiful and peaceful out there where we would rather be than anywhere.

Luckily, today I am hurting bit, but I did not do any serious damage to the old back...just to the old grandma ego. Bud and I are hanging out with me on my heating pad watching ClinkEastwood in “Any Which Way You Can.” In retrospect, that could have been my motto for yesterday...Genie, just get out of this mess any which way you can.

"You’re lucky if you have someone who always tries to understand you, your mistakes, your anger, stupid decisions and never gets tired of it.”

~Tinku Razoria

This post is linked with Our World Tuesday

The Old Ford F6

I have no idea what year this Ford might be, but I was totally fascinated by it.  I love anything OLD. Luckily I had my 50mm lens with me, so I gave it a try. Looking at these shots makes me think of John from "Sinbad and I on the Loose" and his pictures from Bodie... old but refusing to leave us.

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl

 is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."

~Albert Einstein

I can’t help but wonder if there was any smooching going on in this old Ford in its day. What do y ou think?

   

This post is linked to Macro Monday 2.

(I have never understood how to get the link to be contained in the thumbnail for the blog, so I have to link it all up in this old fashioned way. Maybe one day I will figure it out.)

Special Shadows with My Family

 My boys riding the bicycle built for two. Two brothers in a beard competition.

 Ridge lives in WA, so he and Gene do not get together very often.

.

 This was “war” waiting to happen. I was a wreck as they would push 

each other until they would almost flip over.  Too much for a mom. 

This has been going on for 40 years. They are so cute together. 

Their love for each other warms my heart even if sometimes they scare me.

 Eloise learning to fish out at Douthat State Park. A first time for Eloise and the WA cousins.

Eloise and Ben

 They kept getting the hook stuck in the rocks,

 but my fearless Eloise was the designated finder.

Of course, Buddy was the teacher. Thomas with his red hair can be seen in the background.

I know these are not shadow shots, but I could not end this post without including pictures of Ben and Thomas. Thomas and Eloise are two peas in a pod (just like Ridge and Gene) 

and are both 10. Ben  is 12. 

Bud and the Cousins

Thomas

 Ben

This post is linked with  Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

“What greater blessing to give thanks for at a family gathering
 than the family and the gathering.”
~ Robert Brault

It’s a Black and White Weekend

Gene and Patti on the Bicycle Built for Two.

 Macro shot of the bike chain.

And, of course, I had to add a picture of Eloise.

The three of them make up the cutest family ever and have the best times together.

“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!”

~Albert Einstein

                  This post is linked with Weekend in Black and White and Macro Monday 2.

   (Just click on the name of the meme and you will fly right there to enjoy lots of great pictures.)

My Husband the iPhone Photographer

This is Buddy nursing wicked blisters mid-marathon.
This is a Genie shot :-)

All of these pictures Buddy took on his runs in our rural “neighborhood”. He’s never made the change over to blogging from Facebook, so I thought I would share with all of you some of my recent favorites. I really like his capture of our Bridge to Somewhere with the fallen leaves. My son came over and put the three boards going down the center so I could walk out to the mailbox. The boards had spread so much over the 35 years I was afraid to cross it on foot. I still take my cane just in case I lose my balance for some reason.

The road in front of the house.

And last but not least...some shots of the beauty of Nature in our neck of the woods.

I am SO proud of him and all the beauty he can capture with his trusty iPhone 6.

This post is linked with Good Fences andSkywatch Friday, 

Fall Is Knocking at the Homeplace Door

Our Bridge to Somewhere is still standing...35 years.

There is almost no water in the creek right now.

 It is almost time to start using our fire pit down by the creek.

We all bundle up with quilts on us and sit out there at night for hours.

 And this is the greatest time of the year temperature wise to sit on the front porch.

Chicken and Bunny with his Apple computer are ready.
Note the carrot on the computer top.

 Our tomatoes are heirlooms this year and the yummiest ever. 

We ate this one tonight with din-din.
Such a variety of color.

A few more days are needed for this one,

but all of the greenery was so pretty
I just had to take a photo of it.

“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.
~Faith Baldwin

Nature’s Dentures & Working with Depth of Field

 I found these fungi - I think that’s what you would call them - during one of my quiet walks through the woods. They were attached to the trunk of an old tree. The first one makes me think of a denture and the second a mouth full of popcorn with one shiny, loosened filling. Would someone please tell me what these are so I can add it to my book of findings on my walks?

 I continue to work with my 50mm lens trying to learn more about depth of field. As you can see in these two shots, I have successfully gotten blur and that bit of sharpness for which I was searching. 

“If a man walks in the woods for half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.”
~Henry David Thoreau