October's Everyday Images

I'm sharing Everyday Images of late using the prompts provided by Kym at A Fresh Cup Of Coffee. She posts new prompts every other Thursday and the most recent are-

Friday focus~rocky~two~at my feet~orange~new and/or used~books

Let's see what we saw...

Friday focus~

Beauty in the neighborhood...

rocky~

Not a super interesting photo, but four buckets of rocks are sitting beside the lower level garage waiting on a small waterfall repair. 

The repair was supposed to happen last week so hubs turned it off so it could dry out and then it rained. It's funny how much I miss the sound of the waterfall. You get used to that and it's the perfect soundtrack for relaxation. The repair (as I understand it, which I'll admit is not very well) requires a little bit of concrete so it needs to be somewhat dry. This is the waterfall sans water-

Lots of rocks though! Once the repair happens (fingers crossed for tomorrow) we'll add a few more rocks where needed. 

And it goes without saying that by 'we' I mean the hubs. 

two~

The weather was gorgeous here yesterday so after lunch we decided to take the boat for a spin and fill the gas tank. We let the little brown dog come along for the ride and let's just say he can kind of wreck the tranquil feel you're aiming for. 

He's cute though. 

Pulling up to the gas dock means the dock boy must get the bumpers out and attached before we 'park'.

Hey, guess what? I'm the dock boy. 

I know. It surprises me pretty regularly too. 

We have four bumpers on the boat, but conveniently only needed two today. Nobody was on the lake so the marina wasn't rockin' and rollin'. The sweet dock girl (actually employed by the marina) who filled our tank and handled the lines like it was no big deal, also happened to be the owner of not one but two Boykins.  

We had a nice time chatting about all the naughty things they get into and how many belly surgeries they've had (hers is recovering from one currently), and how they can swallow a sock in the blink of an eye but we love them anyway. 

at my feet~

Water. 

orange~

Hubs and I went out to breakfast Saturday and the restaurant has a coffee station where you can help yourself. Part of helping yourself means choosing a mug and I picked this one for hubs. Go Big Orange! 

A picture I snapped on a walk in my neighborhood last week. Gotta give the hometown team some love too, right? They definitely need it this season. 

Porch pumpkin close up...

Coming under the bridge today. That circle may originally have been red, but when you mix red and yellow (the sun) you get orange...

True story...when we were in uni we used to go to a friend's lake house and hubs was a maniac on water skis. The guys would ski under the bridge and get as close as they could to the bridge sides to see whose spray went the highest.  

Probably why most lakes now have no wake rules under bridges. 

new and/or used~

Are you watching the newest season of The British Baking Show? My daughter2 and I watch it together apart. What that means is she watches on her television in Tennessee and I watch on my television in South Carolina and we text the entire time. We watched the newest episode Monday night. 

We love Nigella and are going to work the word unctuous into our vocabulary this fall. 

books~

This stack is on my nightstand as I type. Not a single library book because I'm determined to read through some of the books friends have given me recently before I check out anything else from the library. 

Also this stack is on the bookshelf in my office. My parents had a pretty amazing reference library, their own church library if you will, and when my mama passed away my sister still had some of her books from when my mom lived with her. She sent me some pictures asking if I wanted any and I said send me all the C.S. Lewis. 

So she did. There's more but these are in a section all together so it was. easy to snap a photo. 

These photo prompts are fun and stretch your brain a little too. Why not give it a try? 

Linking today with Kym at Everyday Images and Joanne for Talking About it Tuesdays

Mid-August Everyday Images

Linking with Kym today for her Everyday Images party and Joanne for Talking About It Tuesdays. 

I really enjoy the snippets of everyday life this photo challenge offers, and I also like having a place to drop random snapshots that reflect life in this season. I like reading the prompts and then looking for something in my world that fits. It's a bit of a creative mental exercise, and who doesn't need that now and then. 

Okay, here we go. The most recent prompts are-

dessert~gradual~on the road~imperfect~tangled~selfie (quarterly)~restful 

dessert-

We had our August wine dinner last week with a Spanish theme. Don't judge the quality of this flan by the quality of this photo because the flan was absolute perfection. 

We had a guest presenter who did a wonderful job presenting the wines and the stories behind them, and I told hubs I wanted to buy some of this one mostly because the bottle is pale blue and so pretty. 

I help teach Mah Jong in my neighborhood and one of the new learners makes beautiful cookies and brought me this lovely box of treats as a thank you. 

Chocolate chip shortbread and flip flop sugar cookies. 

Both are scrumptious and I so appreciate a thoughtful gesture like this one. 

gradual

We love a home improvement repair/project of some kind, and we've had one happening here-

Gradually. Over the course of a few days. 

Actually what I said a minute ago was a lie. I dislike home repair projects and hubs walks around the house and yard in search of them. This is a good thing most of the time, because homes require upkeep. Ours is nearly ten years old (can you believe it???) so there will be some things that need doing from time to time. 

The joys of home ownership. 

Shoutout to roofers working in this heat. We had to have our chimney repaired due to a blah blah blah and it required two different groups of people to make it happen. One did the flashing/roofing portion and the other reattached the stone. 

I can tell you right now my hubs is going to have a lot to say about the inaccuracy of my explanation, but just know a repair was necessary and a repair happened. 

Gradually. 

Having the incorrect rock delivered didn't help, but they corrected the order and it's all good now. 

on the road

I live on a lake. If you're boating this is the road-

imperfect

I'm going to call this one perfectly imperfect. This Japanese Maple sits beside our waterfall and currently has a single bright red branch. Giving us a peek into fall I guess. 

No worries. It was 97 degrees here this weekend so fall is not in a hurry. 

tangled

We had a bit of a breeze happening on Sunday, albeit a scorcher that felt Saharan in nature, and our flag got itself wrapped around the pole. I perched on the very edge of the narrow side of the dock, leaned way out in a precarious manner, phone in hand, while hubs yelled things like 'don't fall' and 'I could do that for you ya know'. 

Got it! 

selfie (quarterly)

True story. Selfie taking is not in my skill set. Hubs offered to snap a picture but I said that goes against the very definition of the word so here ya go-

It only took me six tries to get one I could call a small success. 

restful

Lake life man. It's restful. 

Unless you have ten people on your roof, scaffolding attached to the side of your house, and a cement mixer in the drive. Otherwise, yes it's restful. 

Okay, now scroll through your camera roll and show me what ya got. 

Everyday Images Hello Tuesday Edition

Hi. It's Tuesday, but I'm recapping the weekend anyway because I can. I'm linking today with Hello Monday hosted by Holly and Sarah, Talking About It Tuesdays hosted by Joanne, and Everyday Images hosted by Kym, whose most recent prompts are-

layers~current season (quarterly)~milestone~getting ready~wings~entrance~young

Also, this post might be all over the map. We'll see. Let's start with this one-

layers~

On the left a great grandmother/grandmother/mother, in the middle a granddaughter/daughter/mother, and on the right a daughter/granddaughter/great-granddaughter...the many layers of a family

Not the weekend, but this happened last week and I like the word play. Daughter1 and her Little Miss made the trek with me out to see my mama. We had a nice visit, we fed the ducks who are loud and demanding, we chatted, we looked at pictures, and then we walked with her to lunch and were on our way. The three of us stopped for lunch on our way back to the lake and little miss was an A+ car rider.

Current season (quarterly)~

We've had a rainy summer. Not necessarily all day rain, but what feels like lots of gray skies and intermittent rain. 

Friday was one of those days. I helped with a Mah Jongg class in the morning and then hit the grocery store, then hubs and I  hung out at home for a bit. We went out for Chinese food, which we haven't done in a long time because the few Chinese restaurants in town don't get fabulous reviews. 

Friends told us about a place they like so we gave it a try and we thought it was good. I mean it's take out Chinese, although we ate in, and we always go for spicy and it wasn't bad. Is that a stellar recommendation? No, but we'll go back when we want easy Chinese so that's something. 

young~

We saw this sweet thing at the entrance to my daughter's neighborhood over the weekend. There are few things cuter than a baby deer. Speaking of entrance~

We have a crepe myrtle on either side of the driveway entrance. Here's the one on the left-

and here's the one on the right. Hmmm...

These were planted on the same day, same time, and for some reason one is twice the size of the other, although both do bloom. We think it might have something to do with the electrical box on the right side of the drive, but we really don't know. 

These purslane are at the entrance to the garage. This color is called strawberries and cream, although lately there's some orangey shades in the mix too. Nature is amazing. 

Since we're on the subject of nature...

wings~

It's hummingbird central around our house and hubs added another feeder to the upper deck. The birds love it and it seems to be their new favorite spot. 

Our pet heron-

Technically not our pet, but he hangs out here a lot. Usually on the shoreline but on this day it seems he wanted a 'bird's eye view'. 

Saturday was party day. It drizzled in the morning, but cleared up (mostly) for the afternoon happenings. The Mancub's birthday party wasn't until 3 so I stayed in my pjs until it was time to leave. I have had the cough that won't quit since we got back from Florida, plus did I mention my little 'mishap'? Ugh. This year has not been smooth sailing in terms of injury. 

Last week I dropped by my daughter's house to steal from her garden (with her permission) and when I stepped out of the car, my foot landed on her soft hose, which caused the hose to roll and yep...down I went. I scraped my leg pretty good, but the bigger thing was I rolled my foot and let me tell you, it hurt. 

So I hobble in to my daughter's house and the kids come running happily to greet me and blood is gushing out of my leg, so my daughter hurries to get ice and bandaids and first aid and honestly y'all. I have been a lot this year. For everyone, myself included. 

I went to the dr for the second time yesterday and will try an antibiotic now. For the cough, not my foot. And that's if hubs doesn't smother me with a pillow first. 

I kid. 

Except he probably wants to because I'm annoying even to me. The ortho in my family and the doc today both tell me my foot is likely not broken so it's ice and the sleeve and time. 

Back to the weekend. The birthday party. My daughter should have a party planning business because she can work a theme with so many cute little touches, and the Mancub loved it. 

milestone~

Turning a year older surely qualifies. 

The Mancub's party was all things Harry Potter along with a big inflatable water slide which has nothing to do with HP and everything to do with Carolina heat and humidity and a backyard full of 9-year olds. 

There were 'Great Hall floating candles'-

pencil wands in the goodie bags, house banners hung, and Hogwarts letters in the fireplace...

Plus a  beautiful cake complete with Harry Potter themed candles-

Everyone had a lot of fun. 

Sunday morning I was up early to make ham and cheese sliders for a bridal shower daughter1 and I were attending right after church.  A sweet young couple were celebrating their upcoming wedding and I do love a bridal shower. The food was delicious and there was an ice cream bar for the bride who's been scooped up : ) So cute. 

getting ready~

...for the sun to set. 

Sunday night hubs and I kayaked over to a nearby island with a couple of neighbors to watch the sunset. It was an absolutely gorgeous evening and the air was hot, the water just right. A nice way to begin a new week.