Summer, Fall and updates

 It's August already!  This Summer is going by very fast.  West Virginia is currently in a drought.  I suppose our yard gets enough dew in the morning because so far our grass is still green.  It's been so hot outside that you could almost bake a cake in the garage.  I'm not even sure if we had a swimming pool if we would even go in it because of the humidity.  As I'm writing this it is 10 a.m.  It is already 72 outside with 91% humidity.  

I'm ready for Fall!  I don't think we will have a beautiful fall this year because many of the trees in my area have already turned red.  Some have already fallen off.  I was really hoping for a beautiful Fall this year.  I have been wanting to go back to Canaan Valley in the Fall to see all of the beautiful colors.  If we go it will just be a day trip.  I miss going there.  It's been several years since we have vacationed there.  Mostly because the prices got way too high on the vacation homes we were staying at.  It is cheaper to stay in a house at the beach....  We went to the Outer Banks this year for our vacation.  Stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom home next to the sound.  We had a wonderful time.  

A lot has happened since I last posted!  I'm officially a Granny, Gramma, Grammy, Gran.  My beautiful young lady and handsome son in love welcomed a handsome blue eyed baby boy with lots of hair a few months ago.  I am absolutely in love with him!  I would see him every day if I could!  

My young man is now in college!  He completed his first year and is getting ready to start his second soon.  He made the National Honor Society with his grades.  

Angela

Some Fun in the Woods

 Twenty some years ago we bought some land with an old house on it.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  The previous owner had selectively cut logged a few of the older trees on the property.  There was a few logging roads on our land back then.  We used to ride through the woods in my husband's Bronco II.  I remember a few times when my Mom came over with my Granny and we would all load up in the Bronco and my husband drove us through the woods to show them our property.  They loved it!  Granny loved it most.  Mom was a little scared at how steep it was in some places, but she enjoyed spending time at my house.  

A year and a half after we moved here we started building our dream home.  My husbands Bronco broke when he was pulling trees with it in our yard to clear the area to build our house so we weren't able to drive around on our property like we did before.  It was a few years after that before we bought something that we could ride back in the woods but by that time a lot of trees had fallen over or were growing on the road we had once drove on. 

It was always my desire to have a tree house with picnic tables and just fun stuff to do in the woods.  It's finally starting to happen!  I couldn't be more excited!  Our Young Man is now 16 and big enough to help his Daddy clear the path so we can go back up there again.  He is having so much fun exploring in his backyard.  Because of this virus he is doing the virtual school.  I hate it that he isn't getting to spend time with friends at school, but all of his friends are staying home and doing virtual school as well.  He started showing interest in seeing what was back up in the woods of our property again so I told him to go and explore it.  He came back and was so excited telling me all about finding some big rocks.  He couldn't believe what he saw.  He could only go so far back because there were a lot of big trees that had fallen back in 2012 when we had a really big storm that came through West Virginia.  

 My Young Man started cleaning up the road and clearing the path so we could go back up there.  My husband has been helping by cutting the big trees that are down across the path with his chainsaw.  Today we made it further back to an area that I probably haven't been to since we bought the farm.  It's not really that far back, but it is up a really steep hill.  Once you get to the top it's completely flat.  

Before my Mom went to Heaven my husband and son were trying to clean up one area not far from the house to build a tree house.  Things got in the way of them building it back then.  Today when my son seen this new area he decided this was the area that he wanted to build his tree house.  

 I'm excited to see what they will build.  Hopefully the weather will stay warm long enough for us to get things started and finished.  I'll put up pictures once we get it built. 

 

Angela

 

 

Summer is Winding Down

 It won't be long before the butterflies will be heading south or where ever it is that they go.  I have enjoyed seeing them around my house this year.  I don't know what this flowering vine is that is growing around this Sycamore Tree.  The butterflies were enjoying a feast of sweet nectar from it.  I am not ready for summer to end.  I am ready for the high temps and humidity to end though.  We are currently in a dry spell with hot days and cool nights.  The day is getting shorter and the night is getting longer.  I prefer the long days with the sun being out. 

Fall is right around the corner.  The leaves are turning their fall colors.  It's been really dry the past few weeks so I'm worried that the leaves will not be at a beautiful peak color this year.  Getting to see all four seasons change is one of the many benefits of living in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.  

Angela

Almost Heaven West Virginia!

 I absolutely love this time of year.  I really do think that Fall is my favorite time of the year because of all of the different colors on the trees.  Right now God is giving us a glimpse of what Heaven might look like! 

 We had tried to drive through this area earlier this summer, but didn't make it that far down the road to see this.  What a wonderful surprise to see this beautiful waterfall in the picture below!  I have no idea what it is called or if it even has a name.  I hope to go back in the Spring and explore this area some more.  Maybe even get our feet wet and try our hand at some fishing.

Angela

Canaan Valley Fall Color ~ Part 2

A few more pictures from our drive up to Canaan Valley, West Virginia to see the fall colors on the trees.

This view is breathtakingly beautiful in person.  I would love to have a house overlooking that view.

The clouds were wispy that entire day.  I loved this one in particular.  What do you think it looks like to you?  I will have to say that usually when you see a cloud like this it quickly disappears or moves on.  This particular cloud followed us for a good hour or so.  Every time I looked up there it was.  Beautiful!

I really wanted to go back this weekend to see more, but my husband had to work so we couldn't go.  No worries though, we will see more fall colors in the coming weeks as not all of West Virginia has turned to fall completely.  I'm watching the peak maps and the pictures others put up to gauge when we need to go back to Babcock State Park.  I really want to go back there to see the fall colors also.  I love living in a 4 season state! 

Angela

Canaan Valley Fall Color ~ Part 1

Last weekend we took a road trip to Canaan Valley, West Virginia to see the fall colors.  I have been wanting to see the fall colors there for a few years now and this year was the year to do just that.
 

My camera just didn't do it justice to just how beautiful it actually was when we were there. 
 

It was such a beautiful day.  The weather was perfect.  We had a great time.

Angela

Blackwater Falls Fall Colors ~ Part 1

Last Saturday we drove up to Canaan Valley to see the Fall colors.  I have been wanting to do this for a few years now and this year was supposed to be full of color so we took a trip up to see them.

We went to the Blackwater Falls State Park.  The leaves were not at peak yet, but you could see some splashes of color.  It was beautiful.  The above picture is the Resort at Blackwater Falls State Park.
 

I love this picture!  It was so beautiful to see in person.  It reminded me of a wedding with the rose petals on the floor. 
 

My Little Man in front of a gorgeous red tree.  
 

We were surprised to see just how low the water was at the Blackwater Falls.  I don't think I have ever seen the water this low.  I really hope that they trim some of these trees so we can see the falls better from this handicap access area.  Simply because it is really the only way anyone who is in a wheel chair can see the waterfall.  It is a long hike to someone with health issues to walk down all of those steps to see it from the platform you can see in the picture above. 

Angela

It's Fall Ya'll!!!

I'm back!  It has been way too long since I've had a camera in my hands that I don't know what to do with myself!  When we went to Canaan Valley back in August I realized that I had lost my camera's battery charger right before we left.  I have looked high and low for it.  I'm thinking I must have accidently left it in North Carolina when we were on vacation there in June.  Anyway, I now have a new charger for my camera's battery.

 I love the color of this tree!  It never disappoints me as it is always beautiful like this every single year.

 I loved the reflection of this sun catcher on the side of our house. 

My foot is feeling a whole lot better so I decided to get the bird feeders down to fill them up for the birds.  It's supposed to get cold here tomorrow and be cold for a good week or two.  Our Indian Summer may be over....  I was surprised to find a wasp nest in my bird feeder.  I actually carried it a long way without realizing there were several of them inside there.  Luckily I didn't get stung by any when I opened it up.  I just left it there for tonight.  I did fill up my other feeder and my Little Man hung it up for me.

UPDATE:  I thought I'd update everyone on my foot problem.  We now believe that the problem with my foot could have came from the fenofibrate medication I was taking.  It also takes a month to get it out of your system.  I am right at that one month point.  I also have started taking another brand of the tamoxifen for the cancer.  I never really stopped it all together but I did take a few breaks here and there the past month. I can feel a big improvement over the past 2 days and hope that it will continue to get better. 

Angela

Leaves for Leontien

 I took these pictures today on my way home from the big city just for Leontien.  I tried to capture God's beauty that was all around me on my way home.  It is my hope that when she sees my pictures she will feel God's love for her and have that sweet peace that I had when I had breast cancer.  Leontien is battling melanoma for the second time.  Please join in to show your support and love for their dear sweet blogging friend.  You can link up at A Rural Journal.  

I'ts Fall Y'all!

Angela

Trick-or-Treat Night

I thought I'd share a few pictures from our Trick-or-Treating fun we had Monday night! The first few pictures are from a church near my sister's house that had a truck or treat. Trunk or treats are so much fun.



Oh, yes they did! They dressed up their pup as Dino! lol


This next guy was just a random teenager we seen when we were Trick-or-Treating on my sister's road. This guy was just hilarious! He made his costume. He had a small boom box around his neck playing music. My sister and I were dancing in the street with him! We danced with him every time we seen him! So much fun!



My little man is a blurr in every picture I took of him. He was so fast running from house to house. If you look you can see that both his feet are off the ground in this picture! Or so it looks that way to me.

This is my nephew. He was a Ninja.

This is my other nephew. He was a sock monkey! How cute is that!

He knows what the good stuff is! lol

He wanted to taste everything they would hand him!

Angela