So I took a walk ...

... and kept stopping to take pictures! It makes me laugh at how much people miss.

This is one of my favorite plants: jewelweed. It's found in wet areas and the hummingbirds love it. The flowers are tubular and come in orange, as pictured here, or yellow. (I think orange is prettier.) Jewelweed is a great treatment for poison ivy. I make a slurry out of it - chop the leaves, stems and all with some water - and freeze it to have on hand just in case.

 

I wish I knew what kind of creepy crawling caterpillar this is. It was HUGE.

 

The goldenrod was prolific. Goldenrod is also called "farewell to summer" as it's the last to bloom. I've collected some already because it makes an excellent dried tea to alleviate cold symptoms.

 

This is milkweed, which is a great food and host plant for monarch butterflies. I read in a book just a few weeks ago about the "sweet smell of milkweed," but I tried it and thought it pretty much stank.

 

And then there was this box turtle - an "oo-shna-we" in Cherokee - probably on its way to find a hibernating place. Night, little box turtle.

Game on!

I was up near Yankeeville last month and spent the evening with the kids. We went to Dave & Buster's to play game, all of which I got promptly whupped in by the whipper-snappers!

And then the kids destroyed these ginormouse spiders in this game. I couldn't even watch.

This kid loves motorcycles ... I think I will be very afraid when he gets older!

A parting family shot. They are the greatest kids. I just adore them.

The last day

The last day the kids were in Atlanta, they'd gone to Lake Lanier Islands with my friend Anne and I could hardly tear them away! We played on this obstacle course because we love to watch the show,"Wipeout," and came away with new respect for the show's contestants!

We were worn out.

But we had to read the book that's Cort's favorite: "The Runaway Bunny." I don't know when I started this but I began to read the book that the bunny was an ungrateful brat for wanting to run away and the kids found it hysterical.

It evolved to the kids then reading it and adding their own diabolical solutions to this bad bunny! I was skeered. I love this picture because it shows just how much fun we all had together!

Starting a new hobby

When the kids first arrived for summer, I was playing in a ladies' golf league every week and asked if the kids wanted to go.

Of course, the big thing was going to be driving the cart (surreptitiously, of course)!

Both of them had a great time and ...

... I think if we'd had appropriately sized kids' clubs, things would have gone a lot better!

Still, we had an awesome time outdoors, seeing birds, turtles and ran up on my lady friends who had played way ahead of us. They were glad to meet the children since the ladies have been part of my nightly phone calls to the kids.

All by himself!

The Boo brought this to me and he'd written Spiderman all by himself! I was so proud!

Chattahoochee Nature Center in July

It was getting typical Atlanta, Georgia, hot near the end of the kids' time with me. We made a morning trip to the Chattahoochee Nature Center to see the birds of prey and some of the other animals, like this beaver. Funny thing was the beaver was making his way to hide in some overgrowth and we got to watch him.

All the birds were really active and these barred owls clacked their beaks at me. Now, this really offends me because I LOVE owls and this is a threat response. Awesome.

The Boo tries out a bat habitat.

This is a passionflower, but unlike it's name implies, it's actually used as a sedative tea when dried.

Columbia in July

I know, I know ... I'm months late writing about this.

Just prior to the kids leaving for summer, we went to Columbia to see my grandmother. It had to be the hottest weekend of summer so we didn't so much but stay inside to visit.

Grandpa Jerry brought his dogs over so the kids could help walk them. That seems to make everybody really happy: both the kids and Jerry.

My grandmother is not much of a dog person, really.

On our way out of town, we stopped to see my dad's best friend, Bill McLeod. I haven't seen Bill since I was about 12 and he found me on Facebook, after looking for my dad for the last 10 years. I hated to tell him of my dad's passing and it was serendipitous that we connected and talked.

We had a magnificent visit. The kids swam and were entranced with Bill's underwater camera!

Me with Bill's wife Kathy.