Autumn in East Tennessee

Hey, Y'all,

Autumn is about to go into really cool wet weather here in East Tennessee. I wanted to post some pictures of the area before all the leaves fall from the deciduous trees all around us. The leaves have been so very colorful and many of them look like they are aflame! The scarlet oaks, the sugar maples, and the dogwoods have been absolutely breathtaking this autumn.

When we had the bridal shower for Rachael on Saturday, I took a couple of pictures of the landscape around Karen's home, where we had the shower. Karen lives on Cherokee Lake in Jefferson County. One picture is the one I took of the lake behind her home. The other pictures are what I see when I go out into my front yard and then in the back yard. The scenery changes with the seasons, and is always beautiful. Even in the winter time when the trees are barren of leaves and the grass has turned brown, there is quite often sedge grass that has a golden color to it.

I have already emptied the garden hose of water, and will be carrying it to the basement soon. A couple of weeks ago, when a freeze was threatened, I wrapped the faucet that comes out of the ground and is connected to our well. So, it is now protected from freezing when the weather turns really cold.

The older I become, the more I dread the cold winter days. I guess that is normal, since no one really enjoys being uncomfortably cold. I dread it for Gramps because the cold really bothers him more than it does me. He is a diabetic and is normally colder than I am because his blood seems to be thinner than mine.

I have been pressing quilt squares today, getting them ready to stitch together. I didn't get through pressing the strips for the back of the quilt today, and will finish them tomorrow.

Gramps absolutely loves sugar cured country ham, so I fixed him some this morning for breakfast with biscuits and fried eggs. I promised him that he could go back for a nap later today if he would get up around 9 a.m. So, he did get up and enjoyed breakfast. I knew his occupational therapist, Sarah, was supposed to come this morning. When Sarah came, she signed off his treatment, because she said it was time and also said that I can do what she had been doing, working on his neck and shoulder muscles. Besides that, they had determined that his treatment would conclude on this week.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, and was pressing quilt squares again in the living room, Gramps disappeared into the bedroom. I went in a little later, and there he was, back in bed for his promised nap. HA. So I continued on with my pressing matters.

I decided I would clean up the coffee maker, and went into the kitchen, and put vinegar into the coffee maker to clean it. Went back into the living room to do some more pressing and then after awhileI went to finish cleaning the coffee maker. So I turned it on its back and set the carafe to one side and was industriously cleaning the yukky out of the upper part of the coffee maker. All at once my left hand accidentally slipped and I knocked the glass carafe off the kitchen counter. OOPS.

The glass carafe didn't break, but the handle on it did, rendering it useless. Fortunately, I didn't spend a lot on buying the coffee maker to begin with (over a year ago), so when I had to go later today to pick up prescriptions at the drug store, I went on to Walmart and bought a new coffee maker (another inexpensive one) whose only feature was an off/on switch.

Gramps and I had the last of our macaroni casserole for supper tonight. Gramps was still napping when I got home from my running around shopping. I had taken Mark out to take his truck to be worked on and he and I had gone to Walmart, Lowe's and the drug store. We invited Mark to come over and share supper with us, which he did.

Well, I have had a busy day, and now it is time to close off and end my posting. More tomorrow. This is Blabbin' Grammy wishing you a good night's rest and may you feel God's love and blessings in your heart. Bye for now!