Iola Old Settlers Reunion and music show

I have had such a busy day, just now had time to get online! I had a great day at the Iola Old Settler's Day Reunion. It was a beautiful day, and of course, the same kids show up every year to get their faces painted...they always look for me and wow, some of them are growing up so fast. BLIND MAN DRIVING is an awesome band, but of course, they are from Kinmundy! So after all of the blue grass and country music we had some good old rock and roll to end the evening.

 This guy lost a bet...lol

Lunch with the Red Hat ladies at Forbes State park restaurant

 Our hostess made these butterflies for us, so pretty.

 Pauline could not believe the size of her salad, it was huge!

 I told them to stop chewing.....lol

 I don't know why this side of the table was looking so unhappy, we were having a great time chatting and enjoying our food...

Winkies, it is!

So on a more lighthearted note: We went to The Cakelady's bakery again and she had all of these beautiful cupcakes. So I asked her what kind they were and one of them was called a "winkie", 'cause it was a cupcake made like a twinkie. Then she told us the story of how the name came to be. She was talking to her daughter and said she thought she would call them Twinkles, and her husband only heard half of the conversation and thought she said "winkies", which is much funnier than "Twinkles", so Winkies it is. LOL. Anyway, they did, in fact, taste like a twinkie, with that fluffy stuff in the middle and had a swirl of frosting on top with some sprinkles as well. I would post a picture, but.....we ate 'em.

A surprise visit from Preston

I had a surprise visit from my youngest son, Preston, today! Well, it wasn't a total surprise since he called last night. He drove all night from North Carolina. He listens to comedians all night on the radio, what a great way to stay awake. Anyway, it was so awesome to see him. I fixed him a steak dinner, with blackberry slump for dessert. He thanked me more than once. What a wonderful time was had. I sure miss my boy, wish he and the family lived closer. He's at grandma's now. Mom was really surprised when he called her today. I hope you all have a great day!

A short story about a spider, a turtle and a helicopter

A short story about a spider, a turtle and a helicopter:

Yesterday I was driving Garret and Lucas to their destination. Lucas started screaming "THERE'S A SPIDER!"...(More screaming), I pulled the car over and removed the little tiny spider with one little string of web hanging on the back door. Everybody's happy now. Then I spied a turtle right in the middle of the right lane of traffic, so to save him from certain doom I moved him to the ditch along the road. So now we're driving again.
Garret: WHY DID YOU MOVE THE TURTLE OUT OF THE ROAD?
Me: BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT HIM TO GET SQUASHED.
Lucas: WHY WAS HE IN THE ROAD THEN, IF HE'S GONNA GET SQUASHED?
Me: BECAUSE HE THINKS IT'S A ROCK, HE DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT ROADS.

Then I went to great lengthS to explain to them that if they see a turtle in the road DO NOT pick it up and move it, it might be a snapping turtle and will bite off their hand. Go get an adult to move the turtle. I think they are hanging on my every word, because I'm the grandma, after all.

Garret: DO YOU THINK TURTLES LIKE TO EAT CHICKEN?
Me: (Laughing)I THINK TURTLES LIKE TO EAT PLANTS, OR MAYBE BUGS, I'M NO EXPERT ON TURTLES.

And I start explaining about turtles (the little that I know), and then nobody cared about what I was saying, or the spider or the turtle, because as we came around a curve there was a bright blue helicopter dusting a farmer's field. They were all excited, because it was really close...many exclamations were heard of :COOL and AWESOME!

Then As we drove away: Lucas (Sounding just like the kid in Close Encounters of the Third Kind : GOOD BYE, HELICOPTER....

Aren't kids just so awesome the way their brains work...what a joy they are. That's why I had to share this little conversation, that no one would ever know about, it was too COOL and AWESOME to keep to myself..

Summer fun with the grand boys

Lucas helping Bill pick blackberries.  He did a great job of not squishing them...

Garret playing his DS

Lucas and Garret playing "Operation" only with R2D2, instead of that creepy guy we had as the "patient" in our Operation games, back in the day.  The sound affects were really cool.

Playing at the Kinmundy Park

Garret likes to clime SOOOOO high!

Wheeee!

Climbing the rock wall.

The most fun was had at the volley ball court, though, as the boys tried to make a sand castle with no water, they tried really hard though....

We went to Linda Miselbrook's house and had a great time swimming in her pool.

The last day here, they were worn out,   A trip to grandma and grandpa's house was just too much for them.

Sunflower on a sunny day!

What a gorgeous day! The temp. is only in the low 70's, blue skies, sunshine and no humidity! It's so unusual to have such number of days like this at the end of July, which is usually the month from hell, along with August, of course. I've been outside all day working in the garden and made some more basil pesto. My sunflowers are all about 8 feet tall, and still growing. If they keep going like this, I will have to keep a look out for giants...oh, wait, that was a BEAN stalk.. Have a great day!

Happy 19th anniversary to us!

Happy Anniversary to my awesome husband, who makes each day an adventure and always makes me laugh at the most unexpected things... I love you more every day...Nineteen years..wow, seems just like yesterday we were sitting in this limo getting ready to start our new life together....hugs and kisses..

Good times

It has been a hot one today! I made some zucchini bread this morning, yum. Had a nice long lunch with a couple of my buds today, Linda and Carol, it was great seeing you ladies! Worked in the garden a bit, and made some chocolate ice cream syrup, that's about it for today. Waiting for another episode of Stephen King's UNDER THE DOME at 9:00...hope you all enjoyed your day!!

What a great shot, right!

I wast  just out in the garden and this beautiful butterfly landed on the zinnias.  It didn't seem to mind that I was so close...a beautiful creature.

Thunder Moon Festival and Outhouse races, 2013

I was EXTREMELY busy at the Thunder Moon Festival, I hardly had time to take any pictures. I took my new profile picture at home before the heat index got up to 105.4....yeppers...it was HOT HOT HOT! I had a good time though, made some little kids happy. I hope you enjoyed your day and was smarter than I was and stayed in da house where it was cool! Have a great evening.

A very few pictures from today.