Spiritualist Village of Lily Dale, New York

In 1974 I moved from Hattiesburg, MS to Joelton,TN ( a bedroom community outside Nashville) into a haunted house! I spent 4 days and 3 nights there before fleeing with my husband and two sons. It was not a good experience but it left me knowing that physical death IS NOT THE END!

Since then I have been fascinated with all things paranormal................

A few years ago Hubby and I were visiting a local tourist attraction Windsor Ruins which is located between Natchez and Vicksburg. While there we both saw a full body apparition of a Union Soldier!

I want to introduce you to LILY DALE,NY.....Where No One Dies!

" Never Too Old "

Your never too old to learn something new! I learned a few new things lately I wanted to share.....
Spot Removal..... No I didn't buy this product. I found out that good ole cheap Hydrogen Peroxide will take out any stain and won't hurt the color. It will even take Red Kool-Aide out of carpet. If you have dingy whites....fill washer with hot water and a small bottle of HP and soak overnight and spin cycle them and wash as usual.





Fleas seem to be a big problem this year. I tried my usual Front Line, it didn't work, tried two other brands, didn't work. I decided out of desperation to bathe Bubba in Epsom Salts! Killed every flea on him, immediately! Who knew?






Hubby got carried away planting Cabbage this year. So after eating it and giving it away, I was left with 3 huge cabbages. I told Hubby I was going to try something new. We cut them up, and they filled up my large canner( holds 7 quart jars in rack). I cooked them down but not done, added a quart of homemade rotel tomatoes and some Cajun spice . I got 11 quarts of Creole Cabbage! We tried one the other day! Fine stuff!




So just call me Helpful Carol and Have a wonderful weekend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

" SUMMER 2011 "

In 30 days...Fall arrives! In 60 days.....my beloved Smokies will look like this and I can't wait to see it! Summer 2011 is almost in the books and not a minute too soon for me! It has been a long, hot, and I do mean hot & humid summer in South Mississippi!




I took a walk around the farm yesterday morning to take pictures of it winding down. The flowers didn't do as good this year as they usually do, but it could be because it was just too hot to take care of them. This Hibiscus is one of the few that did thrive..............



The bees.........buzz it



The Trumpet Vine on the pond house...........



This Rose of Sharon looks like a bouquet............


This Hibiscus is at least 10 feet tall..............




This was the garden back in late Spring...............



We had NO rain in June and it really affected the harvest except for the tomatoes....




I put up 92 jars of Tomatoes..................




The "Girls" are still thriving......we get an average of 9 eggs a day.....


They love to free range............


And Lay.........one was getting ready to "set" these..........



Lolly Pop loves that bucket twice a day..........

Cattle prices went high this summer so we sold off all but 3 momma cows and the bull...


Big Dub added a baby girl to the group..........



Paw Paw taught Molly how to drive the tractor.........


Cousin Sheila brought her nephew Brantley by for some fishing in the pond....

Last week my "baby girl" came back to spend some quality time with her Mommy before heading back to school next week. She's getting a BSN in Nursing........



We went shopping, had lunch at Olive Garden and went to the movie to see " The Help".
It was a great movie! I told author Kathryn Stockett not only do I expect it to win lots of awards, I expect her dear friend Octavia Spencer who played " Minny" to get an Oscar for her role because she stole the show!


I also did a lot of reading this summer but that is a post for another day! I hope all of you had a great summer too! COME ON FALL !!!!!!!!!

" Sunday Soapbox "

Sometimes we just need to take a stand and get on our soapbox!!!!!


Then again......we may just get ourselves in a dangerous situation like my son did here!



However sometimes you need to vent just to keep yourself from blowing up!
Since I'm close to explosion, I chose to do it here............
I am truly a "live and let live" type of person. First let me say; " I am a Christian".
I was not born perfect and God knew this would be the case, so long before I was conceived, he sent his son Jesus to pay the price for my imperfection. I try my best not to judge people or their motives because I'm not responsible for their thoughts or actions and they will not ever have to answer to me for anything. I also do not live my life according to what "others" think.

" The tendency to turn human judgements into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world" author: Georgia Harkness

People judging others is one of my pet peeves! Another emotion I fail to understand is jealousy.
Awhile back I was at a function with a group of authors. One of my very favorite authors made an uncalled for, hateful remark, about another of my favorite authors. I was appalled by this behavior and so disappointed in this person. This remark was just made out of pure jealousy because the writer is as good if not better than the one making the remark. I am no longer able to read this authors work because I was so turned off by this. Why can we all not be proud of others success? Why do people feel so threatened?



I know I can't save the world or change anyone but I long to see people become more compassionate and treat each other with less judgement and jealousy.

"There are 3 great days in our life, the day we are born, the day we discover why and the day we leave this journey and find out if we learned all we should have in the school of life"






My prayer is that I can be grateful for all the blessings I've received and always see my cup as half full. Treat others like I want to be treated and keep my mouth shut about other people's lives!


I believe this wall says it all...............



AND ALWAYS REMEMBER............................................
Enjoy your day everyone!

Birthday,BBQ, Bluegrass

August 6th is Hubby's Birthday......we always try to do something fun for our birthday. We had been for weeks trying to decide what to do for his. He was watching one of his favorite TV shows, BBQ Pitmasters a couple of weeks ago and mentioned how he would LOVE to go to one of their competitions. So I got on the computer to search for one. It just so happened that there was one in Dillard, GA on his birthday! Dillard is a beautiful small town in the North GA mountains only 100 miles from our place in the Smokies so the plans were made!



There are actually 7 Pitmasters on the show.....3 of his favorites were going to be at this competition.

The star of the show is 3 time World Champion Myron Mixon of Jack's Old South in Unadilla,GA . Now Myron is a character on the show! The kind you love to hate! We often discussed if he was really such a jerk in person and I'd say; " I bet it is put on cause he makes the show". I was right, you have never met a nicer guy and we really enjoyed meeting him and talking to him! Made Hubby's Day!



Another favorite is Tuffy Stone of Cool Smoke in Richmond,Va. Hubby got some great tips from him!

Last but not least....Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, Alabama! What a super guy he is!

There was also plenty of great mountain Bluegrass music from some really talented musicians!


You should NEVER visit Dillard without enjoying some of the best food in the South at The Dillard House! We had lunch there and it was AWESOME!

Family style dining with to go boxes!


We then returned to Townsend and spent a few rainy mountain days at our little place taking in the view! It was SO Much Cooler than the horrendous heat we have endured here in South Mississippi this summer!


I know I haven't been blogging much but hopefully I'll get back to it more often now that the garden and canning are over for awhile!