A good holiday...

This is my dad, doing what he does best...talking...oh, and he's having his morning coffee, too!We had another truck load of beans come in while my parents were here. They had already snapped about a 1/2 bushel before I thought to grab the camera.

Dad showing us his 'bounty'...

Mom showing us ....umm...hers!!(actually, you can't see hers in the photo)

Toby and Gracie taking a rest in front of the porch on July 4th...
(man, dogs live the life, don't they?)Gracie doesn't belong to us but she spends alot of time at our house...we claim her just the same.

Oh my goodness, it was a great holiday here in the hollow. We had a good visit with mom and dad. We grilled out 2 nights out of the 3 that they were here and also made homemade ice cream twice. We're so bad! We visited an orchard while they were here. They got some tomatoes, cantaloupes, nectarines, blackberry preserves, and watermelon rind pickles to take back with them. They helped us snap more beans to can. They left yesterday morning...with Zach in tow! I'm going down today as I have a checkup with my doctor in the morning at 9am. I'll spend the night with them and I'll already be there in the morning for my appt. and won't have to make the 2 hour drive down so early. It's like "killing two birds with one stone", so to speak.

I just found out that Nicole, Dallas, and Bryson are going to be visiting Mom and dad this weekend, so I may just have to pop back down there and see how much the little booger has grown. It's alot of running for me(you know the 'one that doesn't travel well', anymore), but it's worth it. One of these days, I don't want to look back and have regrets...and say, "if only I had done this or that".

And I'm sure that the garden will have some more treasures for us by the weekend. We've canned 50 quarts of beans so far off of 3 rows and we have another 2 rows that's beginning to produce. Tomatoes are beginning to turn, cucumbers are growing, squash and zucchini will be coming out the 'ying yang'...oh, and we've got cantaloupes getting ready to ripen. Corn is coming along but not near ready yet. The next few weeks, I'll be making icicle pickles, pickling squash, making Zucchini bread and jam, canning more beans and canning tomatoes, so if I'm MIA, you'll know what I'm up to.

Oh, and my dear friend, Rhonda, came through her back surgery well, and is doing great! No pain!! I am tickled for her for this successful outcome.

My wealthy Wednesday post will be later than usual this week, due to my trip to NC today. So, if I don't post tomorrow evening, it just may become a "thankful Thursday" post this week! But, that's ok...it's all blessings, no matter what day of the week they appear. So, til next time...I hope your cup runneth over!