September Red Hats

Had lunch with my Red Hat sisters today at El Rancherito in Salem. What a fun bunch today! I sure do miss my mom when it's Red Hat day,(I miss her EVERY day) she always loved going and visiting with these ladies so much..

R.I.P. aunt Barbie................ :(

We laid my sweet sister-in-law to rest this afternoon. It was a nice visitation, graveside ceremony and dinner afterwards. i will sure miss you, my sis in law, I will miss your hearty laugh and your fun view of the world...I will buy something in your honor every time I hit a resale shop, because I know you would want me to...love you...R.I.P. Barb Knight. :( Please continue to keep my brother, Milo Knight, in your prayers, he is really having a hard time with this sudden change in his life..

Thompson Mill covered bridge and other adventures

We usually go to our Kinmundy Labor Day festival and parade, but decided to do something different this time. We visited one of the twelve covered bridges in Illinois, near Cowden, IL. Thompson Mill Bridge. Then onto Hidden Springs state park where we had a picnic under a nice cool shade tree.From there we went to Shelbyville Lake. We sat by the lake for a while, and then checked out some of the 229 camping spots on the Lake, for future reference and had a bite to eat, just got home about an hour ago. It was a VERY hot day, but we enjoyed getting away for a while.

Beautiful sunset...everything ablaze!

Ballard's Nature Center, the highlight of my day.

We have had a busy and fun day! First, as always the Farmer's market in Effingham, the Hodgson Mill, again, for Barley bread mix for the breadmaker..99 cent sale and it's awesome! Then breakfast at Hardee's, a trip to the week end flea market at Altamont, and finally walking some nature trails at Ballard's Nature Center, where the Illinois prairie has been replenished with it's natural grasses, flowers and wetlands...just beautiful. Wish I had had my camera, but I used my phone to take a few pix..I hope you have all had a great day.

R.I.P Aunt Barbie...you will be missed.

My sister-in-law, Barbara Knight passed away this morning. Please keep my brother, Milo Knight in your prayers. I will really miss her, we had some really good times. She was always so funny and full of life...so very sad. She was too young, but had been very ill for a long time....God bless her....she just said to me the other day, that she couldn't wait to see mom again....I'm sure she's chatting away with her right now...

Basil-pecan pesto...!

I made some Basil-pecan pesto this morning...yum...tonight: Chicken Basil Parmesan!

From this........

To this.............

Just for photography purposes only....   :)

My new favorite smoothie

Pear-ginger smoothie

Yet another new monarch...this time in the sweet potatoes... :)

Sunday morning with my monarch :)

Just emerged monarch butterfly...they will climb onto your hand and you can enjoy them until their wings are dry, which is about an hour. So that's how I spent my Sunday morning so far. Bill just brought home a 5 gallon bucket of ripe pears...guess I know what I'm doing with the rest of my day!

Another busy Saturday!

Been to the farmer's market, the meat market, Hogston Mills, and finally back home...so hot and humid, pretty miserable out there. I did get to see one of the monarch butterflies on it's first flight today. I had been watching the chrysalis for several days, this morning it was clear and I knew I would miss it's emergence, but it was still hanging by the empty chrysalis when we drove up and when I got out of the car it flew away into the trees..such a beautiful sight. Hope you all have a great day!

August lunch with the class of '67

I had a nice lunch with the class of '67. Always such a great time! We are off to a Friday night auction in a bit. It's been a stormy afternoon, but it cooled it down a bit. Hope you all have had a good Friday...

He was so blue...who knew?

Here are just a couple of pix from camping Sunday...Bill has the eyes of a hawk, :) ..and spotted this brilliant blue dragonfly, very tiny, but the blue was very bright in the morning sun. I am always interested in the other critters that inhabit our planet, as you all know, especially insects...how perfectly beautiful! The full length probably was only an inch and a half at the most..also, it looked like someone buried their. precious pet out there by Forbes lake, Maggie must have loved running out there in the woods. I thought this was very sweet with the little paw prints on there.  Oh, and Bill roasting marshmallows.

August camping at Forbes State Park

The last few days have been very cool, and dry. We went camping at Forbes Sunday evening, and what a beautiful night it was! We made some new friends who camped down the road from us, and were fascinated by our little motorhome. Then BIll's mom and brother, Steve came to visit for a couple of hours, a pleasant surprise! The food tasted awesome, and I invented a new dessert: Toasted marshmallows on top of a chocolate chip cookie..I could only eat one though, so much sugar! I hope you all have a good day! The heat is returning tomorrow here in Illinois...but Fall is on it's way...my favorite time of year!

A few late summer butterflies in my garden..

More butterflies on the way!

I planted some fennel in my garden, so that I would have a place for the black and yellow swallowtail butterflies to lay their eggs, I have watched all summer, and finally tonight I found 10 tiny caterpillars on my fennel plant. There have already been a number of swallow tails in my flowers, so now I am excited to see that there will be more..Yes, it doesn't take much to excite me...I live a simple life.

A foggy morning in Kinmundy town..

A foggy morning.....but the horses don't seem to mind..We have had lots of rain here the last few days...the rain gauge shows 6-1/4"..