August has arrived and so have the blackberries!

It has been a wonderful 2 weeks at the Roost - hot, but not nearly as hot as here at home!

You could see the humidity even at sunrise

The butterflies were everywhere!

We had 2 different flocks of turkeys to visit....a group of adults that frequented the backyard

And a set of babies in the front - with a bonus of a beautiful pileated woodpecker!

The zucchini that we stock in the ground as an afterthought has flourished!

And my dahlias are growing like weeds!

And I finally got a chance to pick some blackberries.
They went from this....

to this.....

to this!

And I forgot last time to take a picture of the great new napkins that my neighbor Donna brought last visit

And just as an aside...can you tell how traumatized Suzie is about having the house to herself now??????

Spring...maybe????

OK...maybe, just maybe, spring is right around the corner! We finally got back up to the Roost for the first time since just after Christmas. The pipes made it through the winter, and everything else survived!

The weather was so beautiful....I had daffodils that I had dug up at home that needed to be planted....so I planted,

and planted....

and planted 120 bulbs!
(Can you tell how thrilled I am to be photographed!)

The Parkway Foundation got some new glasses, so we took a pair up to the Roost and christened them

And we finally brought our NC map back up and hung it in the twin room.

Suzie is having a really hard time settling in up there.

No really....

Can't you tell how distraught she is?

Lucy's birthday

Sunday was Lucy's birthday, so we all went up to spend the weekend at the Roost (her choice!). We did a lot of porch sitting, since the weather was cool and windy.

Tom and his loyal minion....Last weekend, we picked up my new china cabinet for the kitchen - what do you think?
I love it!

And I forgot to take a picture last time of our housewarming gift from John and Patty - it's a large trivet that we plan to hang on the porch near the table.

Sunday morning was cool and foggy and I went out for an early walk to see a beautiful sunrise. I saw 5 deer (2 adults and 3 babies), and a beautiful red fox.

I found a few new wildflowers - Viper's Blugloss.....

and Boneset.

There are lots of others blooming, but that's all I took pictures of!

Her highness - the grandbaby...

We had a visit from Her Highness, Savannah, this past weekend. Even though we weren't at the Roost, I had to post a few pictures!

PawPaw helped her decorate the door...

Auntie Anne watched cartoons with her...

And PawPaw also helped her with her new puzzle...

And I couldn't resist. Suzie had a couple of skin tags taken off. She looks really traumatized by the cone, doesn't she?

The girls will be happy.....

Well, the girls will be really happy when we go up this weekend.....they now have a dog lot and won't have to be chained anymore!

We came up last Friday just for the day to mow and take some things back and forth. As we drove up - lo and behold - our neighbors (Donald and John) were installing the hook and chain on the gate. John says we'll have the happiest dogs in the neighborhood - they have their own yard, their own porch and their own deck! And a beautiful view to boot!

The lot comes off the side porch, so we can let them in and out the den door. And they'll have plenty of shelter below the stairs and porch. or on the porch if we don't put up a gate. Boy do we love our dogs!!!!!

And just for fun - here's a beautiful rainbow outside our "real house"....I guess there are some reasons to like all the rain besides having plenty of water to drink!

Savannah meets the Roost!

This is long overdue. Brandon, Melody and Savannah all came up to the Roost the first weekend in February, and we had a blast. We went to town on Saturday morning, had breakfast at The Pines, and then headed over to Farmer's Hardware to buy her a wagon. .....
We also read books.....
and watched cartoons.....

She met the girls.....


and learned to drive Moo Moo in the wagon!

Thankful at Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at the Roost - and are so thankful for being able to spend the holiday there with our mothers and our girls. Thanksgiving day was beautiful, and Mom and I spent it cleaning, cooking and doing odds and ends. Tom worked outside cleaning up the fields. We cooked our Thanksgiving meal on Friday so our cousins, Lee and Danny, could join us. Lucy also drove up on Friday. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take a picture of us at the table!

Suzie is still afraid of the floor, but managed to get just a little braver as the weekend went on. She actually walked straight across the floor to the door one time!

Saturday before we left, Tom helped Danny and Lee decorate their barn for Christmas - they really look forward to seeing a pile of snow this year!

Snow, snow, snow!!!!

Yes, we actually woke up to snow on Sunday morning! Not a lot, but we had a good solid snow shower at 7:30, then off and on tiny flurries for the rest of the morning. But it was so windy that you couldn't get outside to enjoy it - the wind was howling at 20-30 miles an hour.

We took the dogs this weekend for the first time. Sister settle right in, but Suzie was terrified of the linoleum and laminate floors. Here she is cowering on the mat by the door where she stayed for almost a half an hour. We finally coaxed her into the den into her bed, but she wouldn't budge from there. We had to use a treat to get her back out the door to pee. By the end of the weekend, she was walking across the floor without a problem, but she still didn't like it!!!!