Tis the Season for....

~CAMELLIAS~

We have the most amazing camellias surrounding our home! We went around one year & collected 1 bloom from each & found out we have 13 different varieties of camellias! The woman who built this house in 1917 was a great gardener. People tell us about her all the time even though she passed away, I believe in the 60's. She was very beloved around here. A true southern lady. We also have beautiful azaleas, dogwood trees & various bulbs that pop up at different times of the year. These pictures are the first of the camellias to start blooming. It was a nice surprise to find while Georgia & I took our walk. I think it's so wonderful that we have flowers blooming in our yard with every season of the year. Even in Winter!

Fall Clean Up.....

It was a beautiful weekend! Georgia & I worked outside this weekend, starting to rake leaves & sweep the patio. Most of the leaves have finally fallen so I guess it's time. We always wait until ALL the leaves have fallen to start raking! But I really was half heartedly raking mainly looking for pecans to gather. I plan on making spiced pecans for some Christmas presents from the pecans in our yard. I've gathered quite a lot of pecans now the hard part is going to be the shelling! I have a good recipe for spiced nuts but I also want to try the crispy nuts in ~Nourishing Traditions~ by Sally Fallon.

*maybe I shouldn't have posted those pics~What a mess! It doesn't look much better today~haha~

Mama's Night Out...

I did want to talk about the wonderful evening I had this past Monday. I have a playgroup Georgia & I meet with every once in a while. I wish we could go more often but living in this town makes us a little isolated. Which is hard but hopefully in the next year or so we will be moving to our new home on our land. Then I will be close to all these wonderful women! The core group for me are the 3 other women that I went through my pregnancy with. We did what was called ~Centering~ at our midwives office & met in a group. We were all within a month or so of the same due date. It was a great experience. Well from there they started going to the La Leche League meetings which unfortunately I did not attend. About a year ago they started a playgroup separate from LLL. The group has grown & I have met some other wonderful mamas.

Anyways starting this past Monday we are going to start doing the occasional Ladies night. I can not tell you how much I need this! I was so happy I was able to go. It was worth the long drive & late night! I didn't get home til 1:30am!! (then up at 5am~Ugh!) I wish I had a picture from that night to post. But try to picture in your mind a group of 7 women sitting around a table in a cosy dining room. Each having either cups of tea or coffee or a nice glass of wine. Half of the women keeping their hands busy knitting special projects while chatting. Then our hostess suggested going around the table & each of us sharing our life story. In any other setting this would have been something I would really have disliked but it was really wonderful hearing everyone's story, sharing our joys & hardships. It was this safe place of love & support & you felt you could reveal more of your soul. It was a really special night....Can't wait for the next one! I am so incredibly Thankful for this group of women. They are so good for my soul. It's just nice to know there are women out there that I can relate to & have something in common with. Because in this town I have not been able to find that yet...