As I mentioned on my last post, I was driving down south to visit my sis in Alabama. This was the first time I have driven by myself this long of a distance and to somewhere I had never been.
Luann suggested I take photos of my stops on the way so here are a few I thought were interesting. One thing I did discover on this trip is how beautiful this part of the US is. Tennessee just took my breath away. Now, it’s not that I’ve not been there, but it’s been a while.
At this Alabama rest stop I saw a couple interesting cars.
The travel time there was long – It took me 8 hours – but it was well worth being able to spend time with Mari.
I was only there Monday evening and Tuesday, but we crammed it with lots of talk, thrift shopping, and eating. I found these neat things for my art at a couple thrift shops. I know – another potato masher – but it’s so much different than my other ones. I’ll spray through that white thing and not sure what I’ll do with the butterflies.
Mari surprised me with a couple gifts. She knows I love old linens. These are table scarves. They are beautiful and will look lovely dyed.
And then she gave me this picture she had drawn of me years ago. Oh my! What a surprise and really lovely. She is so talented.
On the way back to her place after dinner Tuesday night we had to stop to watch the sunset. It was awesome and so much fun to share with my sis.
I stayed at Treasure Island Bed & Breakfast which was just a few miles from Mari’s home. Here is a view from the back of the house. Lillie and Earl were wonderful hosts.
The only “scary” part of this adventure was Monday night. Mari and I had gone to dinner and when we were ready to leave, it was storming with lots of lightening and thunder. We waited for the storm to pass on Cracker Barrel’s porch and then moved inside when the wind picked up. It finally cleared up – just a little rain – but still lightening. I dropped her off and on my way to the B&B and on the only road into the island I came upon a tree and line across the road. I called Lillie and they called the authorities and then came to get me. Fortunately I was driving slow so that I saw the tree in time to stop and the line was just the cable. Even though it was after 9 pm, the area was cleaned up quickly and I was able to get back to my car to drive it back to the B&B that night.
It was a fun, but short trip. I’m so glad I went. Not only did I get to spend time with my sis, but I pushed through my fears of driving that long way by myself. It’s too bad I wasn’t there longer. I would have loved to meet Cathy from Birmingham, one of my longtime blog subscribers. However, there just wasn’t enough time. Cathy, we’ll meet one of these days!
Since I’ve been back I’ve been resting up and then yesterday I weeded and mulched the blueberry patch getting it ready for winter. I mulch it with pine bark mulch. When I started working on it years ago, I would go to my friend Barbara’s subdivision and we’d rake up pine needles. Now I buy the mulch at the local gardening center. All I need to do now is mulch the walkways with the cypress mulch. Then it’s on to the blackberries. I love having this area all cleaned up for the upcoming cold weather.
Since I’ve been back I’ve also been working on the Printed Fabric Bee challenge for this month. The theme is Architecture. I know what I want to do, but I’m having trouble pulling it together. Did you know we have Pinterest boards for all of our challenges? You can see them all here. I added several pictures to the Architecture board before I left on my trip.
Thanks for dropping by and reading about my road trip adventure. Also, thanks and welcome to my new subscribers this week. So glad you are here. I’m hoping to get into the dye studio in the next couple of weeks and also have plans for several other projects I am looking forward to sharing.
Oh, one more thing! Fellow Printed Fabric Bee Lynn Krawczyk is hosting a screen printed ATC swap. If you’re interested, all of the info is HERE.
Have a great Sunday!
Sounds like a very nice trip, and good for you to overcome your fear of driving so far alone! And I love your update on the garden… you are so much more into what to do when than I am! Can’t wait to see what you do for the next challenge… always so interesting to see everyone’s work!
Maybe I should send the old photo of us together and you post how old we’ve grown! HA……Thank you for coming down. Great photos of your trip, and the sunset was really beautiful that evening. I love you and miss you very much. May God be with you and Dave always.
Mari, Really! I have that old picture right here on my computer. Thank you for having me. Love you too!
Judy, Yes, overcoming my fear was big. I could have waited a bit longer to clean up the blueberries, but I wanted it over with. We still need to prune them once the leaves are off. Yes, it is really neat seeing how everyone interprets the challenges.
Lynda
Thank you for sharing all your creativity. I loved reading about your trip to visit your sister. Wow, you were brave to drive the Iong distance, perfect love removes all fear. I too drove a long distance to see my sister as well.
The summer is coming towards and end here in Canada as well, time to get my gardens ready for winter too.
Glad you had a safe trip despite the ‘bumps in the road.’ I would not be brave enough to sit on a porch waiting for a storm to pass.
I attached metal butterflies to rebar stakes for the garden. Can those be in the weather?
Hi Debbie, Thank you! Yeah, it’s that time alright. I love when everybody is put to bed for the winter. It seems that I have less work in the Spring when I do some extra work in the Fall. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Hi Jean! Thanks. It did get kinda scary so we went back inside. Regarding your metal butterflies, it depends on whether you care for them to weather. I bring in most of my metal yard art, although I do have some metal stuff that stays out because I don’t care if it gets rusty.
As someone who has driven 11-hour trips all alone so many times, I can tell you that the first time alone is definitely the worst! I drove between my home in NC to upstate NY at least 25 times over 3 years and ran into pretty much everything road trip related: awful weather, accidents, a train crash that backed up traffic for hours, crazy drivers, rude drivers, prisoner escape roadblocks, and of course construction detours. Thankfully I’ve relocated and no longer have to make that trip!
Laura McGrath recently posted..Art retreat on Martha’s Vineyard
Hi Laura, You are right. Now that I’ve done it, it’s not scary at all. It’s that fear of the unknown. Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s a lot of miles in a short time. Glad you no longer have to make that commute. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.