Well Friday was another work day but the evening after supper and the clean up found us on the golf cart on a ride out to the mail box and then a stop at the Hudson's cabin on top of their mountain until nearly 9 PM. I must say we saw the most beautiful sunset in years as we seldom if ever see one here at the cabin unless we are out an about on top of our mountain. What a beautiful view and it sort of reminded me of the sunsets found out west with the Rocky Mountains. We had a great visit with them as they are world travelers and are gone from here weeks at a time through out the summer. Carl keeps me supplied with fruit tree wood for my smoker as his yards are loaded with apple and plum trees.
Well the day started with my usual roll out at 6 'ish as Nancy slept in for another hour or so. I did my morning routines of a few quiet moments to honor my Creator and lift up those I know and love while having my now regular cup of hot turmeric drink. The taste is somewhat unusual but the benefits to my knee joints are spectacular. I would never have thought a spice could give that kind of relief to an achy knee joint and now Nancy is trying the same as she has a knee that is giving her some pain and discomfort. This spice or herb is found in mustard as well and in the Indian culture it is used in many of their dishes. I've really adjusted to the taste of the drink with just hot water and 5-7 shakes of the powdered herb from the container. Now I must warn you it will stain your cup.
After my morning absolutions I headed out to check on the gardens and it was once again very cold outside even with no wind blowing, yikes it was down into the low 50's once again. I don't think it got much over 70 during the hottest part of the day which made for great working conditions as well as just being outside with no humidity. The blue skies were such magnificent in color and I stopped several times just to gaze into the skies and pinch myself that we were here once again in this lovely part of GOD'S Creation. The gardens are doing fine with no deer or slug damage but the direct sunshine on one of the egg plant seedlings have it wilting in the late afternoon. It soon recovers after a watering but I have a tendency to over water this clay soil whereas I'm use to hand watering the Florida sandy soil twice a day. The green beans are up in two places with both bush and pole beans. I never planted the favorite half runners this year as they seem to get a blight each year. The lettuces sowed in the ground have put on another leaf so I do think we will get some despite the way it's sown here. I do have some individual lettuces started in 9 pack containers which is the way I'm successful growing lettuces in Florida.
Nancy's Zinnias in the circle drive bed are up and flourishing and we are so excited about their germination from last years seeds. They are very hardy and their beauty is unbelievable with several different colored heads on the same plant. We see large beds of them whenever we go down off the mountain along Rt. 421 towards Winston-Salem. So far the clover grass hasn't made a major come back from the rotor-tiller. The other flower beds are looking good and we should see some major flowers in bloom in the next week or so. The Morning Glories and Honeysuckle are going to add so much beauty to the arbor we can hardly wait to see and smell their maturity. I must say gardening here is quite different from the sandy soils of Florida but the clay soil produces some flowers here that are magnificent in beauty.
Well I managed to weed whack the the entire perimeter of the yards, trees and beds as well as the driveway from the bottom up and then trimmed the low hanging limbs with the whacker as well. I stopped and chatted with neighbor Gerald as he was getting ready to head back to Blacksburg. Hopefully we will see him and Karyl later this month for a visit. I repaired another fire circle bench then gave all three a new coat of paint. After a lunch of salad I headed down to the basement and changed out a new supple line for the commode. We now have three potties in operation as well as two showers. Nancy was cleaning and rearranging my man cave in the basement. I took apart the 20 year old gas grille that I had refurbished a couple years ago and despite it still working great the looks were not to Nancy's delight. It was getting up there in age with rust. I took it apart and have it ready for the scrape heap and then moved the new bright shinny grill into its place. This new grill is on casters and makes for great ease of movement which is perfect for on the deck and porch.
I grilled a couple Salmon fillets and we had new potatoes to accompany them. I of course slathered my 'taters in raw onions and a hot jalapeno peppers which awakens the taste buds. After supper we piddled around in the yard before deciding to head to the mail box on the golf cart. On the way out we saw the Hudson gate open and decided to give them an unannounced visit which was perfect timing. They were sitting on their deck after finishing supper gazing at the sun as it crept slowing down the mountains toward sunset. We caught up in a couple hours with all that had happened since we last saw them nearly a year ago and promised to get together again during the summer after friends and family visits were over, LATER
