A to Z Challenge J is for Mason Jars

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

I had never used mason jars before I moved to the south and let me tell you, they are wonderful.

They are the number one most used item in my house during the vegetable growing season.
I use them for fresh water bath canning of vegetables, sauces,fruit jams and the like.

It would not be unusual to go to visit a neighbor and be served a iced tea in one of these jars as well.

Not a gardener?
Want are some other ways to use them?

Candle holders...
Lightning bug holders..

Or
How about creating a handmade gift?

Mix up your favorite brownie or cookie recipe (dry ingredients only) put it in one of these jars. Attach handwritten directions and a bow and you have created wonderful hostess or holiday gift.

Have you ever used them?
Tell us what for...

A to Z Challenge I is for Home Invader

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

I just want to be clear; nothing bad happened here….

Our home invader had four legs and was adorable.

Here’s the story!

The neighbor has a bunch of cats and one very cute orange kitten.

Then he went into the hospital and the very cute kitten was at our door every day crying meow…meow….meow..

And my grandsons said, “Grandma, he’s so cute!”

So I ran to the phone as quickly as I could and called the neighbors mother and told her if she didn't take the kitten away I’d find the little fellow a good home.

She took him away, but two weeks later and he was back at our door…meow….meow….meow…

I mentioned to my husband Bill “if that kitten follows our own cats thru one of our two kitty doors he'll never leave.”

You've heard of the expression.. from my mouth to God's ears?

Two days later I awoke and in between Bill and I under the bed covers was our little home invader laying on his back sound asleep IN OUR BED!!!

He had entered thru the kitty door and made his way upstairs to our bedroom.

He adopted us not the other way around; and we both agreed!

Our little orphan cat has finally grown out of his a garbage picking and food begging.

We named him Oliver Twist.

A to Z Challenge H is for Houses of Worship

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

This church is called Good Shepherd.

It is located on a fairly isolated country road not far from my house.

I have attended services here with friends who regularly worship here although it is not my church.

It is a lovely building and is the epitome of a quaint country house of worship in my opinion.

Many similar structures are located throughout our area.

It’s charming isn't it?

A to Z Challenge G is for General Store

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

This store hasn't been opened for business for many years.

 As you can imagine in its day it was the place to go for gas as well as many other items of convenience.

General stores like these throughout our area have been neglected or remade into residences; this one however has been lovingly preserved.

It is a time capsule of days gone by; a reminder of a time long before the interstate system was built when citizens both local and passer by traveling on Route 1 (one) would stop for gas, a soft drink and some friendly conversation.

A to Z Challenge F is for flowers

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

We've worked for years to get our vegetable garden soil in shape by tilling in natural matter such as leaves so that we can grow organic veggies.

It’s a completely different story with the gardens surrounding the house. We have some bushes and a crape myrtle even an azalea or two. Flowers however are really hard to grow here because of the heat and the huge amounts of clay in the soil.

Needless to say we do have flowers but they’re mostly perennials/bulbs many which have been on this property since we've move here like these tiger lillies. 

.

Or these wildflowers which I photographed down by my pond one day. I have no idea what they are but they are strange and lovely at the same time.

Sad but true; other than putting an occasional flower in my herb pots on my back porch; I've basically given up throwing my money away on frying flowers in the hot southern sun.

Do you do plant flowers at your house?

A to Z Challenge E is for Evening Sky

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

We live in a rural area. In fact there aren't any sidewalks outside of the town proper; and in town there's one stop sign, seriously! And lighted roads (street lights)?  Few and far between.

When I first moved south, it was hard for me to drive in total darkness. It took a good amount of time for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Funny but now when I go home to New York it’s the reverse!!

When the sun goes down it is DARK. 

The stars, moon and planets hang in the sky like jewels in the night.

Here we get our light as God intended, the natural way!

This is a picture of the evening sky out my backdoor.

A to Z Challenge D is for Deer Abbey

theme‘My views of the south’as seen thru the eyes of a former New Yorker

This picture shows a friend and frequent visitor to our property. 

She was fondly named by my granddaughter who aptly chose the name ‘Deer Abbey’. 

She especially loves the tender leafs and sweet fruit of our fruit trees. 

We see her frequently in the mornings and twilight nibbling on the lower branches of the pear and apple trees lower branches.

Beautiful isn't she? 

A to Z Challenge C is for Cow

Holy cow!

Cute little fellow isn't he?

Well I have news for you he’s bred for eating.

So I guess I should admit it I love steak! I don’t eat it much but upon occasion I do enjoy a nice medium rare one.

Many of the farmers around my area have cows for milk and steers for eating.  I drive past them all the time grazing in the fields and never giving much thought to what eventually will happen to them.

We have a big enough piece of property that we could probably have a few of these cute cows. My husband Bill knew however it would be futile since I would never ever eat them, they would be assigned names and become family pets.

..Or as he said big fat lawn mowers..

Chances are this beautiful creature is going to be on someone’s table someday soon.

I always think of my meat butchered nicely and placed on trays under plastic in the meat section of the market and rarely think of the animal it came from.

Do you ever give any thought to where your meat comes from?

Or do you go without from eating meat?

A to Z Challenge B is for Bird watching

This is my third year or participating in The A-Z Blogging Challenge and I’ll be writing a blog post a day each day of the month except Sunday for the month of April.

This year I’ll be doing a theme which I’ve decided to call ‘My views of the south’. 

I will show you my south as I see it with my camera….. and I will tell you from my perspective as a former New Yorker what I find to be unique about this place that I now call home.  Follow along as I share with you what I consider the South’s ordinary even extraordinary beauty one letter at a time.

Enjoy!

Do you like to bird watch?

Well, clearly so does my cat Cheetah.

Our whole family does!

We keep a book that lists all the birds of North America in our home. We use it frequently to identify the birds that visit bird houses, baths and in our feeders or nest in our trees and bushes.  Many times over the years we've been fortunate enough to see a variety of new species when they visit our yard. We have many cardinal’s, crows, blue birds, blue jays, wood peckers, mocking birds, indigo buntings and gold finches to name a few.

Clearly, Cheetah was fascinated as he watched this crow perched upon the clay pot. I have to wonder however if he would much rather have done what comes natural and ‘eaten some crow’ lol!!

Do you have bird feeders, bird baths or bird houses at your home?

Do you bird watch?

A to Z challenge A is for Apple tree

This is my third year or participating in The A-Z Blogging Challenge and I’ll be writing a blog post a day each day of the month except Sunday for the month of April.

This year I’ll be doing a theme which I’ve decided to call ‘My views of the south’. 

I will show you my south as I see it with my camera….. and I will tell you from my perspective as a former New Yorker what I find to be unique about this place that I now call home.  Follow along as I share with you what I consider the South’s ordinary even extraordinary beauty one letter at a time.

Enjoy!

I was trying   to be good this year and pre-wrote a  number of my posts, so this morning I went to publish my A post and realized  I never did an A post!!  Sorry I’m late folks!! Not the greatest start for this challenge but here goes…

We have a large piece of property; it would be safe to say it is a farm although we don’t have farm animals nor do we grow large amounts of crops. Regardless of that, taking care of our land can be burdensome; there mowing, weeding raking leaves and generally making sure that it looks as neat and tidy as possible. There are acres and acres of woods so that is a huge difference from the 100 x 80 parcel that we lived on in New York.

One of my favorite things about living here in the south is the abundance of fruit trees. We have peaches, plums, pears and apples right out the back door. There is nothing better than picking a fresh apple off the tree and eating it in the shade of that very tree.

I have made apple sauce to serve with dinner with freshly picked apples and of course apple pies and cakes.  Mmm….apple pie is wonderful and one of my favorite deserts!

What’s your favorite apple desert?

Do you have an apple tree?