A Bright Kitchen Light and Pumpkins #6 and #7!

 Louis Dean and I are getting a lot done these days.

We made trips yesterday to Home Depot, Shady Grove Feed Store, several grocery stores and finally Walmart - looking for pumpkins! They are all so BIG this year!

We also stopped at Chambers Nursery on Shady Grove and bought lots of onions to set out and lots of pansies, dusty miller, ground cover, and two more yellow bushes that I forget the name of but they are like yellow trumpet vines and we already have one but I wanted two more. (Talk about a long sentence!!)

Louis Dean bought a new light for the kitchen on Wednesday and put it up for me Thursday.

Now I can see to read my cookbooks!

This is such a good one and I am reading it like a novel!

Miss Mary started a boarding house back in 1908 in Moore County - the smallest of Tennessee's 95 counties. She catered to the visitors who came year round to Lynchburg, the county seat to tour the Jack Daniel Distillery. Many of her recipes include a bit of Jack Daniel Whiskey.

Her husband died in 1948 but Miss Mary continued to cook and welcome boarders until a few years before her death in 1983 at the age of 101!

My friends Denise and Charlie collect Jack Daniel Whiskey!

WOW!!!

Louis Dean and I got a late start on our pumpkin #6 Thursday night and he had to put a light up so we could see!

Not the look I was going for but it will have to do!

I aimed for a happy face since we were taking it up to the hospital.

When Louis Dean was here in June, I would come out to my car all tired and weary so I thought we would put that Jack-o-lantern where others might see it and smile.

And that's what we did.

Two men were outside the hospital watching us and when they got up to go back inside, they called out to us, "We LIKE him!!!"

We sat out on the driveway at our beautiful table our friends, the Barons, gave us last year.

Time flew by and we sat and talked for hours.

We needed to do that.

It was 2:00 in the morning before we came in so, of course, we slept in really late.

It was afternoon by the time I was heading out to do errands.

First stop was back to Chamber's Nursery.

Yesterday when we were there, I filled one flat with plants in my cart and Louis Dean had several flats in his cart. He was paying out so I went off to look at something and met him as he was coming out the door. We loaded out stuff in the trunk and I did not realize until later in the evening that he only checked out his cart. So I went back once more to get the pansies and dusty miller.

Chamber's is in South Irving and so is Kimmy and June so it was a perfect opportunity to stop by and visit with them. I packed my Rachel Ray casserole carrier with a meal of chicken spaghetti, candied carrots and black eyed peas from our ranch garden which I had cooked overnight in the crock pot.

June was looking good today and we all three laughed and talked and had a really nice visit.

June said she is ready to attend another Eat, Love, Pray at First Christian Church and I told her I would take her! Kimmy and June are like family to us and we go way back to the 1970's!

We've been sprucing up the flower beds and working in the yard and time got away from me.

For the second time this week, it was dark when I started carving the Jack-o-Lantern.

I used Louis Dean's jigsaw to cut the top off and I won't be doing that anymore!

One - it makes a mess.

Two - it's dangerous!!

I had just cut out one eye when an Amazon delivery truck drove up and I opened up a box holding a Pumpkin Carving Kit!!

Talk about perfect timing!!!

My problem is - there was no card or message.

I would love to know who to thank for this so very thoughtful gift!

I'd already started the eyes but I used my new tools for the mouth and nose.

On our way to leave last night's pumpkin, we spied a spot to put this one!

It's one of those side parks on MacArthur Blvd right before you get to Highway 183.

Louis Dean thought it would be fun to put this Jack right under the horse's hoof!

No....too bright.

The wall at the back of the park was perfect!

There's a flower bed below this fairly tall stone wall and then there's a park bench in front of that..

We sat down for a few minutes to watch the traffic and a lady came by walking her dog.

I hope she  smiled back when she saw this Jack-o-lantern grinning at her with stars in his eyes!