It's Late In The Season

It was late in the Season, but I scurried to downtown Roanoke for a last minute gift.

The little red farm truck was there selling live trees, wreaths and greenery for those who had yet to don their home with the fragrance of a forest.

You simply can't beat the look, hustle and bustle of an old downtown that takes you back to days of yore, beeping car horns and shoppers scurrying across  the busy streets.

Pay to park lots, parking meters, and high rise parking buildings help to manage the scenes, and if my husband could survive there, I would choose to have an old. small apartment over a store.

The lifestyle would suit me well.

My little Elf On A Shelf girl would have come along,

But downtown simply had no place for horse parking.

Neighbors stopped by with goodies in a cellophane wrapped box,

just one more thing for us to eat!  But we love that we are surrounded by good people.

 

A pretty flower arrangement from my husband's mother arrived, and it's nice to know that at 87 she still thinks of us each Christmas with a display that brightens our home.

Rowdy loves the red and green of Christmas and hiding directly within it is a game he plays each December.

And he was nice enough to think of his girlfriend, Izzy, and brought a matching Christmas scarf home for her from his visit to the vet.

They are simply stylin' in their pinecone neck scarvess.

 My husband's present arrived a few weeks early this year and parking it beneath the tree was a problem, so we parked it in the driveway instead.  This photo was the last one taken before those golden leaves in the background fell to the ground from a windstorm followed by the first snow of the season.

So in early December we said goodbye to the golden leaves and hello to the snow of winter.

 

But snow never gets us down.... as long as we can get to the grill life is good!

 

The lights come on with each sundown and  cast their reflections on the rainy, wet driveway,

and we ooh and aaah when we step outdoors with the pups.
It's only right that we should enjoy them, since our home is hidden from the road and only those two homes we share our driveway with can see them.

And my husband brought us home a pink poinsettia from the grocery store this week, a must have each year at this happy time.

I'll say goodbye for a few days now as each and every one of you enjoys YOUR gifts of the Season

and time with your loved ones next to the warmth of your heart fires

and Christmas trees.

Merry Christmas to all!!  

See you soon.

Charred Chicken And The Constitution

 While my husband took the pups on the morning walk today in 38 degree, foggy, fall weather, I stayed home and enjoyed a egg, onion, avocado and pepper on toast breakfast.

It was delicious I might add.

 Now, my husband always enjoys his walk which allows our pups to play with other neighborhood pups who happen to be out getting walked by their humans as well, and then he returns home and tells me all of what he heard from the neighbors.

He enjoys being a social butterfly here on our little backroad in Botetourt County.

A HIGHLY Republican county I might add, but we who are more liberal and possibly stick out like sore thumbs amongst the Fox News watchers don't mind, because we are all the same.

We all enjoy country grown tomatoes from our gardens.

 We all share holidays and enjoy pumpkins on our porches this time of year.  We all enjoy wearing jeans, hats, turtlenecks and things that keep us warm on 38 degree mornings.

Many of us enjoy technology and sitting on our porches and decks, and the internet technology that allows us to do so here in the country.

We all enjoy some great chicken from the grill with just a touch of char on it to go along with those fresh homegrown veggies.... and we LOVE sharing our veggies with one another,

 and laughing at Republican neighbors who leave you a bag of squash in a bag at the end of the driveway with a pamphlet about the Constitution of The United States.

I guess he thinks we need to be converted to Trumpettes.

Sorry Dude.... not happening, but you sure gave us a good laugh this morning!

And.... if you want to discuss politics, come on over and we'll char you some chicken.

Neighbors

 Winter storms with ice can be so hard on not only the trees, but the people who own the land that the trees are on.

 This is the lane that leads to the driveways of we three homeowners who live here.

The land on one side of the lane is owned by my husband and I, and the land on the other side is owned by a homeowner who lives up another lane.... he sort of forgets about the far side of his property and rather than create bad feelings, my husband and another homeowner up our lane tend to the messes here.

 It's just one of the 'things' about living in the country.

 The snow in these photos is pretty much gone, melted away.... but the mess of the downed branches remains.

 *sigh*