This blog is for my insights on life, the Bible, hiking adventures with my grandson and whatever is important to me
Author: Deb L Waters
I am an avid reader. I read mostly Amish fiction but also read other novels. I enjoy romance, mystery, and Christian devotionals. I enjoy hiking in the outdoors, especially in Greenways and State or National Parks. I love my grandson. He is my favorite subject, so I'll post about him and his antics.
Old US 421S Deep Gap, North Carolina Doc and Merle Watson Highway US – 421 Deep Gap, North Carolina Tractor Pull The Bethune Chicken Strut Bethune, South Carolina Spots and Stripes Railroad Riverbanks Zoo & Garden Columbia, South Carolina Bobcat smoothing a Trail Horse Road Entrance Anne Springs Close Greenway Fort Mill, South Carolina Coleman’s Railroad with his Railway & miscellaneous vehicles Rock Hill, South Carolina
Decorations on Doors can be interesting and insightful this time of the year. Some choose to keep it simple; others minimalistic, and still others go all out in their decorations for Halloween. Whether you choose to decorate for Autumn or for Halloween is entirely up to you. Not everyone chooses to decorate their doors or their yards to coincide with the holidays/seasons. That is perfectly okay. Me, myself, I choose not to decorate the outside of our apartment for Halloween. It is a holiday I celebrated as a child, but as an adult I no longer do. These are a few doors I seen lately displaying Autumn/Halloween decorations.
1. Do you prefer a duvet, quilt or sheets and blankets on your bed?
I prefer to use sheets, blankets, and Quilts on my bed. The Quilts I use were lovingly sewn and stitched together by the skilled and talented hands of my beloved maternal grandmother.
2. Do you sleep with one or two pillows?
The only time I ever used only one or two pillows was as a child in my parents home. Now I use at least four pillows on my bed. I currently have six pillows on my bed.
3. Do you prefer a single, double, or kingsize bed?
I have never had a king size bed, not even when my spouse & I shared a bed. I have slept in a twin as an adult ( my husband was an over-the-road truck driver and hardly ever home). So upon moving, I slept in a twin and saved money for a larger bed. I have also had full-size (double) beds and queen size beds. The Queen size was nice, but since it is only me now, a queen would be more room than I really need. Therefore, I currently sleep in a full-size bed with my six pillows, top & bottom sheets, four blankets and one quilt covering me each and every night.
4. In the winter, do you have a hot water bottle or an electric blanket?
Many a winter I have used an electric blanket to keep me warm at night. Even while living in campgrounds for six months out of a year, I had an electric blanket over me while I slept on an air mattress in a tent through 30° winter weather. I mostly used it to keep my feet warm throughout the cold winter nights.
5. Fun question: have you ever slept in a hammock?
I have never slept in a hammock. Slept on the ground or on an air mattress in a sleeping bag, but never in a hammock.
Remembering my first teacher at school is not something I can do at the present time. However, I can remember a few of my high school and college professors. I remember one of my high school English teachers being named Mr. Watson. I remember him more for his name than any of the lessons he taught. His last name, Watson, is my mother’s maiden name.
2. What was your best and worst subjects?
Best: My best subject in school was mathematics, at least while I was in high school. In college, the math classes were of a more advanced level and of greater difficulty than any I had ever taken previously so I struggled somewhat to the point of needing a tutor to help me better comprehend the principles being taught. Worst: I always had a harder time in my history classes than any other subject. Today, I enjoy history as it pertains to my ancestral heritage.
3. Were you encouraged in class or did you just muddle along?
I think some teachers were encouraging while others I just muddle through the classes. One of my junior high teachers encouraged me to do research as a means of improving my grade in my history class. I loved to do research and write reports on what I learned regarding the requested topic.
4. Would you like to be a student today?
Would I like to be a student today? Not in the formal sense of actually having to attend classes, take tests, or turn in assignments. However, I believe we are all students in life, ever learning and growing in wisdom and knowledge.
Here are this week’s questions (my apologies if I have used any before):
1. How well do you know your immediate neighbours?
I do not know the neighbors directly next door to us. The apartment to the left of us ( if you’re looking outside) is currently vacant and only see the ones on the left occasionally as the enter or leave. I have met a few of the other neighbors when Coleman and I go out walking.
2. Do you notice changes in your neighbourhood : ie. new car, new dog, home improvements, etc.
I really do not notice changes in the neighborhood, not dogs, cats, cars, or home improvements. I sometimes notice when yards are decorated for a season like several in the area are now decorated for Halloween.
3. Should new neighbours move in next door, do you introduce yourself once they are settled in?
We recently (just this week) had neighbours move in next door. The new neighbors are a single woman with three girls and one son. The youngest, a girl, is only a year older than Coleman, my grandson. They also have a very lively dog named Asha. Introductions have been made and they are still in the process of settling into their apartment.
4. Have you ever had to complain to your neighbours?
As of yet we have not had to complain about any of our neighbors. Hopefully, we won’t ever have a need to do so.
I’m fairly new to adding just a splash of colour to a photo, hence, I’m not too sure about the quality of these choices. I hope you enjoy them regardless.
Toy CAT truck A splash of Green on the trees Splash of PinkA Hint of Autumn Color Pop of Coleman
I’m a little late in posting this blog post due to dealing with the aftermath of our sewage catastrophe. Wake up at daylight as per my grandson’s habit and went downstairs. Upon entering the downstairs bathroom, we (my grandson and I) noticed the toilet was backed up and had overflowed onto the flow making it impossible to use that particular bathroom facilities. Upon our discovering I tried getting the water (sludge) to drain to no avail. We then proceeded to go back upstairs to try to use the main bathroom upstairs. Come to find out that in flushing the upstairs toilet the downstairs toilet backed up and overflowed even more. So, we were in a quandary of what to do considering we could not go all day without having working bathroom facilities. We were not sure if the problem was in our apartment alone or if it was a major complex issue. In the meantime, we decided to go to the store pick up a container of RID-X and we figured we might as well pick up a few groceries while we were out. The photos below depict a small portion of our aftermath issues. I did not think you would actually want to look at the gross sewage backup catastrophe.
Aftermath of Sewage Backup
Upon arriving home from the store, we happened to see the complex maintenance workers and proceeded to inquire about the problematic situation. They informed us that the complex water would be turned off for approximately one hour and that they were waiting on a plumber to come and remedy the situation. Therefore, with no water and the problem as yet unresolved, we went back out to a different store to pick up a few more grocery items that were not available at the previous location.
Finally, back home again and the water back on much to our delight we could relax a little before working on the clean-up. Also, Coleman, my grandson, needed to have food prepared for him to eat. (He is almost always hungry, but then again, he is four.)
I trust your day and week went better than ours. Hopefully, the rest of our work will be without any complications or unforeseen problems. Have a Blessed week. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
We see shapes of every kind everywhere we walk/hike. Shapes are all around us if we just stop and take notice. Shapes are in everyday items, around playgrounds, in toys children play with, in decorations & even in various sculptures around our neighborhood a, our cities, states, and around the globe. Take time to notice the world around us and see what shapes you might notice.
Circles, Cylindrical Circle ⭕️ & Square 🟨Circles ⭕️ Triangles 🔻🔺🔻& Rectangular Shapes Coleman playing with Foam Shapes Little Explorers The Schiele Museum of Natural History
Signs are just about everywhere we look and even in places we might think to look. Some signs welcome visitors to a particular state while others provide information regarding parks or can be on the humorous side to bring a laugh & a smile.
Welcome Billboards:
Informational Signs:
Humorous (to some) Sign in International Cruise Terminal Cozumel, Mexico:
Take a Ride with Us on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina
After a scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, it is nice to take a stroll or a crawl down the Scarecrow Pathway in Millstone Park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Bonus for October: Any Halloween themed Which Way Photo:
Includes Water, Blue, Green, Yellow, Trail, Landscape, Space.
Photos 1-9 are all of the Pond at The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina. Photo 10 is of the North Carolina Mountains displaying both Autumn 🍂 Colours & Winter ❄️ 🥶 ❄️Snow.
This week’s questions I’ve needed to think about prior to answering, the last two especially. Anyway, here are my responses to the questions. I’ll be looking forward to seeing y’all’s responses to this week’s Share Your World questions.
Here are this week’s questions:
What is your favourite dessert? I’m not sure that I have favourite dessert. This time of year I do enjoy a delicious pumpkin 🎃 pie 🥧. However, if I had the time and my grandson wasn’t lactose intolerant, I would bake and eat My Grandfather’s Favorite cookies. [That’s the actual name of the cookies passed down from my maternal grandmother.] The recipe calls for using sour milk. Growing up my mom always used buttermilk instead of sour milk. With this recipe one could make two different types of cookies. One type is filled with a raisin filling and another is made using cookie 🍪 cutter and iced and decorated as desired however one might desire.
Do you still use cash to pay for goods? I hardly ever use cash to pay for anything anymore. Most of the time I’ll pay by a debit or card card. I also barely use the actual physical card to make purchases, most of the time it is a digital card to make online purchases or pay via apple or Walmart pay.
Apart from a house, car or holiday, what is the most expensive thing you’ve purchased? The most expensive thing I’ve ever purchased was my Canon EOS Rebel T3i camera and lens combination from Sam’s Club years ago. I bought it as a gift to myself as a birthday present. It’s one of the best if not the best present I have ever bought myself.
If you are going out for a special occasion, what is your favoured outfit? Currently, I do not have a favored outfit. I do not recall ever having a favorite outfit I would wear. I haven’t been out for any special occasion since Covid-19 began in 2020.
Gratitude:
Brave Humble Breast Cancer Awareness Sunflower by Simply _Fashion Zazzle.com
The previous post photos were all shot on my iPhone 14 Pro Max. These photos were all Shot on Canon. The Solar Eclipse in my area was only a partial solar eclipse, however it was still amazing to observe. These probably would have turned out better if I had the proper filter to use for the occasion. [Filters for Canon are on my wish list]. I hope you enjoy the video of my view of the Solar Eclipse.
Partial Solar Eclipse 2023 October 14 Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
While taking a long walk through the neighborhood; we noticed several houses that were decorated with fall decorations. Some of the houses were decorated with Autumn decorations while others were already decorated with Halloween decorations. These are a few of the decorations we saw on our walk.
October 14th was the day for the annual Solar Eclipse. In my area we were only able to see a partial eclipse. We had rain previous to the eclipse and a tremendous amount of cloud cover. These photos are from my iPhone 14 Pro Max. They do not, I’m sorry to say, do justice to portraying the spectacular view I saw watching the eclipse unfold.
Solar Eclipse 2023 October 14 as seen from Gastonia, North Carolina, USA.
Sorghum is a cereal grain plant that belongs to the grass family Poaceae. It is thought to be native to Africa and is widely grown in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Sorghum has numerous varieties, including grain sorghums, used for food; grass sorghums, grown for hay and fodder; and broomcorn, used in making brooms. Sorghum grain is a nutritious food rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and minerals.
For human consumption, the gluten-free grain is usually ground into a meal that is made into porridge, flatbreads, and cakes. The characteristic strong flavour can be reduced by processing. The grain is also used in making edible oil, starch, dextrose (a sugar), paste, and alcoholic beverages.
The Sorghum plants pictured here are located in The Farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in Gastonia, North Carolina. These plants as well as other plants grown in the Garden are grown and given to the animals for feed.
I know they all feature my grandson, Coleman. I never tire of looking at his pictures on my iPhone or on my laptop. I also never tire of spending time with him out in nature. He makes me smile, makes me laugh, and amazes me in how much he is growing and learning.