Memories of 2018 Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving of 2018 found our family just getting home from attending Basic Training Graduation for our son Sam at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

 After graduation we were able to spend three fantastic days in Augusta, Georgia, before Sam had to report for duty at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

 As we planned our trip back to Wisconsin we took our time and visited the Tallulah Gorge, located in the Northeast Mountains of Georgia.

Yikes.. I still need to do a post about our stops on our way back home.

Our last Cracker Barrel that we stopped at was in Northern Kentucky. Stopping at Cracker Barrel is a big deal for us when traveling, because we do not have any near to us in the Northland of Wisconsin.

Our waitress shared that they were baking pies for Thanksgiving. My husband looked at me with puppy dog eyes. We just can't celebrate Thanksgiving with out pecan pie. No worries about the turkey, mashed potato or squash. He needs pie.

 We did just that. We bought a pie and celebrated Thanksgiving safe and sound back home in Wisconsin. Our Sam enjoyed Thanksgiving at Fort Gordon, Georgia and was able to call home. He shared that he had a great dinner and what really made the dinner special was who served them.

Some of the high command came to Fort Gordon to thank the men and women for their service and served them Thanksgiving dinner.

 Thanksgiving day will be here soon and we are so excited to host Thanksgiving this year. We have a small family, it is just six of us. I am excited as this is my first hosting Thanksgiving. 

November

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."

Louisa May Alcott

Happy Thanksgiving

 I will be taking a break for the rest of the week to celebrate Thanksgiving and after Thanksgiving.. start decorating for Christmas!

 Enjoy your family and friends.

 ♥

Carla

 

Keeping Fish

 Hello Friends,

Do you remember my post from this summer? 

Whiskey Barrel

Click above if you want to read the post. I will give you a refresher here.

This summer I created a water feature using a whiskey barrel. 

I purchased 10 simple gold fish that cost .14 cents each. I also purchased a pond plant.

 The above bug was a frequent visitor to the whiskey barrel.

When September rolled around I had 4 fish left out of the original 10. I told my husband, "we might be keeping fish." 

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I can not leave these fish to freeze, we will have to clean the whiskey barrel and put it away for the winter, and well, those 4 fish are just going to have to come on inside."

"Where are you going to put them?"

"I will find a spot."

Our bathroom has a nautical themed decor. I knew my fish would fit right in. 

I added a small table to the one empty corner of our bathroom. And they seemed very happy.

Well, here comes the sad part of this story.

I did not know how much they would want to eat. They seemed to eat mosquitoes or something in the whisky barrel, because when I fed them flakes or the shrimp pellets, they never seemed to eat them. 

I got very excited that when I brought the 4 fish inside, they all got excited when I came to feed them. I sure did like to feed them. In fact I think I over fed the one. Because he ate and ate and the next time I visited the bathroom he was belly up dead!

I now have 3 fish.

I do hope I can winter them over. 

And who knew .14 cent fish could cause so much heartache. Because yes, I was very sad about that one that went belly up.

What are you wintering over?

Geraniums?

Begonias?

Basil?

Rosemary?

Thyme?

Fish?

 

What to do with big pots?

 When preparing the garden for winter I always struggle on what to do about my big pots that I plant flowers in. Big pots can get heavy. Where do I put all the soil? And do I really have to buy new soil in the spring for all my big pots?

 While listening to a Joe Gardener pod cast about composting. I learned a fantastic tip for how to care for you soil in big pots. I do not have to dump all that soil each autumn during garden clean up. I can leave it in the pots and add compost.

This is a helpful tip for those who garden from an apartment balcony. No one wants to toss out the soil each and every season. It gets costly and difficult. 

Here is the good news.

Clean out your plants, turn the soil in the pot add leaves, kitchen compost ( potato peels, egg shells, carrot peels, coffee grounds .. ) during the autumn, winter and early spring the pot soil will break down all that making a new fresh soil for you to plant in spring.

Do you keep your soil in your big pot over winter and reuse in spring?

Are you an apartment balcony gardener? 

Please share any tips or tricks.

Well, for the love of Pete!

Well, for the love of Pete!

Oh Goodnight!

What in Sam's Hill?

A little update about how our weather in Wisconsin has gone wacko and I mean wacko!

We woke to negative temperatures November 12! Oh my it was cold on Monday and very, very cold on Tuesday. Do you want to guess what the temperature was when we woke up Tuesday morning?

Wisconsin moss, autumn leaves and snow.

-2 degrees!

Have a blessed weekend my friends. 

 ♥

Carla

We got the garden to bed, spring bulbs planted and everything summer put away snug as a bug  for the big Wisconsin winter by the skin of our teeth.
 Winter kicked autumn right out and said  "I am here!" in a big way!
 

Joy List Monday

 Joy List Monday

♥ a weekly ritual ♥

a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties 

and graces that make life magical and to set

aside time for gratitude each day

 

 ♥ late autumn hikes with my family

 ♥ finding tracks in the sand along the banks of the creek

 ♥ winter birds returning to the feeder

♥ homemade chili simmering on the stove

♥ left over trick or treat candy

 

Apple Cider Donuts

We enjoy making homemade baked donuts. When we visit the local apple orchards many of them have Apple Cider Donuts for sale. Susan Branch click here to find the recipe

recently posted an Apple Cider Donut recipe. 

It did not disappoint. Yummy!

If you do decided to click on the recipe you will see that she mentions cooking down the apple cider. After our pumpkin party we had about a quart left of mulled cider in the crock pot. As the cider sits and cooks during the day it does cook down and can get a little syrupy. When I read Susan's recipe, I knew I found the perfect way to use the last of the mulled cider from the party.

Apple Cider Donuts

and 

a great cup of coffee.. a perfect way to start off November.

November brings good skating weather, Thanksgiving gathers us together.

Tasha Tudor