It’s been a pretty laid-back day. In fact, it started off that way…you could feel it in the air. Even Sassafras sensed it.

Matilda and I went to Tractor Supply for more feed. Then I cleaned out rabbit cages and installed a new feed trough for the goats.

Laura and the boys dropped by to show me a caterpillar that they had found. They visited for a little while and then went on their way.

A little later I loaded up my bike and went to Indian Creek. I parked at the headquarters and rode through the park. The campground was almost full. It’s a beautiful weekend to enjoy being outside. There were people sitting around fires, and kids playing football . This guy had taken his golden retriever for an outing.

 

I had a good time peddling through the Louisiana landscape. I also made an important geographical discovery……

Evidently, the Louisiana coastline was at one time close to Woodworth.

Sing a song of seasons! Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, fires in the fall! Robert Louis Stevenson

I love to sit by a fire outside and it finally cooled off enough to have one. Last night Josh and Nikki brought the boys over and made a fire in our copper fire bowl. Then they proceeded to cook supper… and desert.

 
 

Denton and Hudson had a blast and would have eaten their weight in wieners had they not run out.

 
 

 
 

Josh was in charge of toasting the marshmallows while Nikki prepared the crackers and chocolate.

 
 

 
 

A delicious ending to a fun evening. At least it would have been…had they liked the s’mores.

The mosquito army is still conducting war games on our property, so taking the twins outside was out of the question. We tried going outside…but quickly realized that we were in enemy territory.

They both agreed on scrambled cackle berries for breakfast, but after a few bites

Hudson said, “I don’t like eggs.” This made Matilda very happy. She wants everything that they have, and had been standing there reminding me that I had not fixed her plate.

She was very happy with Hudson’s announcement.

 

 

We needed to get out of the house, so after an extensive search for my car keys, we went to Tractor Supply. Matilda went with us of course. The fact that I was out of goat feed justified our trip.

We bought the feed and some bedding for the goats…………

and a couple of smaller items.

When we go on a vacation this is what we call eating out. We carry a lunch with us and when we get hungry we pull up a rock and eat. You never know what neat things you might happen upon when you wander off the beaten path.

 

About thirty feet behind where Joel was eating there was cemetery. All but two of the graves were marked by small stones. The names on them had been worn away by time. Two of the graves had modern markers.

One marked the grave of a fallen Civil War soldier.

Had we stayed on the path we never would have discovered this quiet resting place. That day the road less traveled made all the difference.

“Memorize places. Settle your eyes on a place and learn it. See it under the snow, and when first grass is growing, and as rain falls upon it. Feel it and smell it, walk on it, touch the stones, and it will be with you forever. When you are far away, you can call it back. When you need it, it is there in your mind.” Tony Hillerman

Above is the John Oliver cabin in Cades Cove. Cades cove is one of my favorite places in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. I took this picture when Joel and I were there in January.

On November third, we’re going back and taking Josh, Nikki, Hudson, Denton and Adam. The twins are excited about going to the big, big mountains and we are excited about taking them. We can’t wait to watch them play on the mountains

and walk on the boulders in the streams. But before we go I have a few things to do to get my little zoo ready for Joel’s sister, Dona, to take over for me while we’re away. Chickens, turkeys, rabbits, a dog and a cat…I’m sure all will be fine. Dona likes animals and loves doing things outside – thank goodness.

The boys were here bright and early this morning. Well, it was early, but not bright. As a matter of fact it wasn’t even light. As usual, they announced their presence with a morning anthem.

It rained most of the night, so playing outside did not seem to be an option. (Not good.) It’s always better if you let them run and follow them on the golf cart.

Play-Doh is always an option when outside doesn’t seem to be. They are the great mixers of Play-Doh, so I’m afraid that by the time winter is over, we will have twenty four tubs of the same color.

They kept after us until we did take them out for a few minutes – and only a few minutes. An army of mosquitoes was performing maneuvers today on our property, so we left them to finish their mission.

 

My dear friend, Linda Long, went to be with the Lord early Tuesday morning. Today, I spoke at her funeral. Today’s blog contains pretty much what I said. It is my tribute to a special friend.

 

I’ve always known Linda. We started first grade together. We played together as children. We sat together on the bus and graduated from high school together. We had stuff in common. We had common interests and common talents and abilities.

One of the talents that we shared was artistic ability. Linda was an artist and she was one of the most creative people I have ever known. The thing about Linda was that she was not selfish with her creative abilities. She always used them to bless others.

Another thing that we shared was a love of nature. We both loved the outdoors. Right after high school Linda had a job helping to build the Wild Azalea Trail. I don’t know how many times that we sat and talked about the beautiful world that God created for us. We talked about how enjoying his creation is an act of worship, and how it must sadden God when we are too busy to stop and look at all that He has made for us.

We shared the love of animals. When we were growing up, her family had a big scruffy dog named Smut. I am telling the truth…when I would visit Linda, Smut would lick me and then belch. I wasn’t sure if he did it because I tasted good or I gave him indigestion. I can’t tell you how many times she paraded people around my property to see my animals. One time she called me and asked if I would bring my pair of Malaysian Serama chickens to her house when I came to visit. She loved my goats. Once I called and asked if she could come over and help me trim my goat’s hooves. She told me that she would, but wanted to know what she should wear to something like that. I told her that I didn’t know, I had never been to a goat hoof trimming before and that I was sure that what she had on would be just fine.

We even went to the same gym and had the same personal trainer. His name is Jeremy. She and Jeremy enjoyed each other. They picked, they fussed and there were some days that they entertained the other clients. Jeremy always wanted Linda at the gym thirty minutes early so she could do her cardio first. He would check the parking lot to make sure her car was there. She called him the Parking Lot Buzzard.

I don’t remember us ever being mad at each other having cross words. There were times when we weren’t in contact with each other, but there never was a time when we weren’t friends.

We had stuff in common, but the most important, the most special thing that we had in common, was a personal relationship with Jesus. A couple of years ago she called and said that she was told that I did one on one Bible studies, and would I do one with her. I told her yes and that I would love to do that. We set a time and a day and made a standing appointment every week to visit and talk about God. We both agreed that this was one of the best decisions that we had ever made. Friendships are good, but friendships with God at the center are even better.

One of the things that we did was to read The Purpose Driven Life together. As a matter of fact, we had started it a second time. She called her copy the traveling book because she took it with her to the many appointments that they had to go to. That’s mostly when she would read. She even took it with her to Shreveport last week. We would read a section of the book during the week and when we got together we would talk about what the Lord had taught us and share parts of the book that had ministered to us.

In her book Linda wrote some personal things. She also highlighted, underlined and circled things that were important to her. I went through her book and copied down some things that she had written and highlighted….things, that when put together, make up her testimony…things I believe that she would want us to know today. Here they are.

 

God is the center of my life. God and family are the driving forces of my life. I want to become the person that God wants me to be. I want to be able to stand in front of God on judgment day and be proud that I have become the person that God is proud of and says to me, “Enter my Kingdom-child of God!” I want to make God smile!

Christianity is not a religion or a Philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle. The core of that lifestyle is thinking of others as Jesus did instead of ourselves. It is impossible to do everything people want you to do, you have just enough time to do God’s will. What ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life but what God says. Every human being was created by God, but not everyone is a child of God. The only way you get into God’s family is by being born again into it. Baptism doesn’t make you a member of God’s family; only faith in Christ does. Whenever you feel unimportant, unloved or insecure, remember to whom you belong. Being included in God’s family is the highest honor and greatest privilege you will ever receive. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don’t need to fear death. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, but it won’t be the last of you. No mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has made ready for those who love the Lord.

The humidity lately has been terrible. It was even bad this morning before daylight when the boys showed up. I was hoping that they would be content to stay in the playroom…but they weren’t. They wanted to go outside, so Adam and I took them to the mayhaw orchard, turned them loose and let them run. We used to have to do something similar with Matilda when she was a puppy. Sometimes at night she would be so wired that I would run her down to the end of the driveway to chase crickets under the street light. Anyhow, God is good and He stirred up a breeze for Adam and me.

As soon as it cools off a little, I’ll start my next project which will be to place these boulders in the back of our property. They are beautiful pieces of stone with lichens and moss growing on them. They aren’t real big, although one or two of them weigh in at 800 pounds.

This little piece of woods is where I’m planning on putting them. Can’t wait to get them in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On one of our visits to the Azalia Trail, Joel and I met up with some of the residents as well as interesting wildflowers. We will probably make many more trips to the trail as the woods are beautiful in the fall. The flowers are not in full bloom yet, but at their peak they are a sight to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This plant is called eryngo and is part of the parsley family and blooms from August to October. It resembles the rattlesmake-master, also of the parsley family, which blooms from May to August.

 

The liatris that the moth is relaxing on has not fully opened, but before long the woods will be alive with their purple flowers.

 

 

I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): I shan’t be gone long.-You come too. I’m going out to fetch the little calf That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young It totters when she licks it with her tongue. I shan’t be gone long –You come too. Robert Frost

 

As soon as I walked out the front door this morning I was greeted by the fragrance of the sweet olive flowers. My Mamaw Simmons had a sweet olive tree, so I always associate that smell with her….that and Youth Dew dusting powder by Este Lauder. Anyway, the smell of the sweet olive flower is one of my favorites.

This is Sassafras, our new rabbit. She is very friendly and very sweet. This afternoon she joined me at my desk in the library. However, she was not alone.

She was joined by Cocoa Meow. They are beginning to make friends…I think.

 

Later on Josh was in the daylily garden trying to finish planting his 2010 seedlings. I’m not sure how much he actually got done because I see he had help.