Day 5: Tuesdays with my mother

I am so blessed to have my mother so close now. Her and my step dad bought a house and moved up here 2 1/2 years ago. It's only 25 miles from me. It sounds far, but I drive way more than that most days. My step dad passed away May 28th, so now mom and I go out on Tuesdays and do errands and shopping together. And of course have lunch!

So I am very thankful for my mother. And that I get to see her and talk to her almost every day. I love her so much and she is my inspiration. I want to have her gentle spirit and love for everyone.

I love you, mom!

Day 4: Penelope Jane

Penelope Jane. the last goat standing. Or milking. She's a first freshener and had her twin doe kids back in Feb. 3rd. So she's going on 10 months milking! Quite a thing for a first freshener. I am so proud of her. Zarah Belle, who is also a first freshener, dried up soon after her kids were gone. And she's the same age as Penelope. Sandy, who is 7 and had triplets this year, dried up soon after her kids were gone as well. So Penelope is my only source for goat milk til Spring. I just put John Henry back in with the girls the end of October. So around April is the soonest they'll have kids. I am already having anxiety attacks.

Isn't she the cutest little elfin goat? I love her. And I am so thankful she's still giving us a little milk.

She still gives about 3 cups of milk each morning. But each day it gets less and less. I guess when it gets to a cup, I'll have to dry her up.

And these silly dogs are thankful for Penelope too! They love those squirts of milk so much. It's so hard to wait for more!

They do love that warm milk!

As you can tell, these posts are in no particular order as to what I am most thankful for. I need some more family pictures so I can post them too. So I am just posting as I have the pictures to go with the posts.

Day 3: The beautiful place I live

I am so thankful that I get to wake up every morning and see a beautiful sunrise right out my front door.

And I get to see this right out my back door. Just awesomeness all around. I am so thankful that God chose to put me right here, in this place. I truly do love it here in my valley.

And right across the road is Pigeon Mt. And sometimes I get to see huge machines going through soybeans or corn, kicking up dust. There's always something going on out here. America at work!

I also get to see this beautiful mountain every day, in all it's glory right now. Lookout Mt. When our kids were little, my husband always told them that when they see this mountain, they were almost home. And if you make this picture bigger, you can just see Covenant College a little to the right of the middle. We could see this from our house just to the left. I would tell the kids it was a castle way up there on the mountain. I still call it the castle. My youngest graduated from Covenant 3 1/2 years ago. With bagpipes and all! The other day at the market, there was a group of young people with cameras that were on a field trip from the college, taking pictures of all the booths. I got to talk to them for awhile and they took lots of pictures of my booth. That was fun.

This is St. Elmo, Tn.We are right on the border of Tn. here and I go here several times a week. I love it there. When me and my husband get too old to farm, I want to live in St. Elmo. Just blocks and blocks of old houses. This is the 1885 restaurant on the corner. Named so because that's when St. Elmo was started. We've eaten here and they use local foods. It was really good. If anyone comes to Chattanooga, stop here to have lunch.

To the left of the restaurant is the Incline. It's that straight line going up the mountain. I have only ridden it one time. When my oldest daughter got a job at the Incline gift shop, she could ride it for free. I went with her the first day. It was really fun, but don't think I'd want to do it every day. She didn't work there but a few weeks. Where I took this picture, behind me, is Mr. T's pizza. It used to be a Kay's Castle ice cream shop when I first moved here. It still has the big ice cream cone on the roof. And to the right is the end of Lookout Mt. and Point Park. It's got a lot of Civil War plaques and statues and info there. Also a trail at the very end that goes all the way down to the Cravens House, which was a place that officers used during the war and I think it served as a hospital too? You can take a tour of it. It's a pretty place. Lots of history here. From this end of the mountain, you can see Signal Mt. and the Tn. River.

And here, in the shadow of the cloud, is Rock City. Can't hardly see it here.  This area is full of things to do and see. It's beautiful here.

If you ever get a chance to take a vacation, come here! You'll be glad you did. It's amazing. There's also the Tn. Aquarium and the river and Smokey Mts. aren't that far away either. It's all so much more beautiful in person!

I hope you enjoyed your little tour!