Inspiring Story- What a Kicker!

 

Even if you don't care one smidgen about sports, I hope you will read this post....

Yesterday, the number one ranked Georgia Bulldogs (from the University of Georgia) were beaten by Auburn University (from Alabama) in a stunner of a game.  (27-24)  Auburn was an UNRANKED team, which even if you don't know anything about football, you can see what an upset this was. Number 1 vs. No ranking!

If you are interested, you may read this article and it will tell you the details.  For the sake of this post, I will say that the Auburn kicker, Alex McPherson basically won for his team in the very last few seconds of the game. (He also had an important field goal earlier in the game).  Now, the thing that I want to make sure that you know is this: Alex McPherson went through some extremely serious health issues in 2024. He had severe ulcerative colitis and had his large intestine removed.  His weight dropped from 165 to 110. I wonder how many people might have given up ever thinking of playing football again? After successful surgery, he regained his weight and then went on to play brilliantly in 2025.  And his performance on this past Saturday was exceptional. Football fans were stunned. However, it is the inspiring story about him that I wanted you to know.  I found a really nice piece about him on the Auburn site - 

On the Plains with Alex McPherson: 'It was all worth it' - Auburn Tigers - Official Athletics Website

If you don't have the time to read that, I will tell you that Alex McPherson also speaks with young people who are going through the same type of medical experience.  I really like what he shared...

"If I had to go through everything I had to go through to be an encouragement or inspiration for someone, then it was all worth it."

Now, in case you are wondering.... I am from Georgia, and I am sure that many Georgia Bulldog fans are not looking up info from the Auburn website today! Still, even if Georgia fans were disappointed after the game, they would have to admit that this is a KICKER of a story!  

Oh, and his name might remind you of another kicker in the NFL, his brother Evan McPherson is the kicker of the Cincinnati Bengals!

Our leaves are just beginning to turn.  (This was from last year.)

But I promise you that is Autumn for sure, it is time for football!

Justin Hayward "Hello Young Lovers"

 

Hello Young Lovers

Hello to all my blogging friends! Here it is October and we are being told that the hurricane that is headed to the Gulf coast of Florida could bring heavy rain and winds to Georgia! Wish us luck! (Of course, thinking of all those in its path.) 

I hope you are able to click on that link at the beginning of this post to "Hello Young Lovers" on YouTube!  It is a song from "The King and I" and was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. (If you have been reading my blog, you know I love their songs!) Now, the song is performed by Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues! His voice is still good and I LOVE the guitar! He is such a great guitarist! Alas, Justin is the only surviving member of that great group.  We are big Moody Blues fans in this household! We went to six Moody Blues concerts. Our son is a big admirer also!  Ah, memories....

Justin Hawyard shares surprise cover of Hello, Young Lovers from The King And I | Louder

There, that is a piece in a music website, and it has the video there also if you can't link to it on the first link I gave you. See, I really want you to hear it!

Justin Hayward is touring just now in the UK and guess what, he will be in BEXHILL on Oct. 20th!  How I wish I could go to that concert!  It will be at the De La Warr Pavillion. I have shown you photos of it before on my blog!   

Oh dear, I was able to see those posts about Bexhill earlier, but now when I am typing "Bexhill" into that search engine on the side of my blog, I am unable to find them.  That is how things are going for me these days! 

Most of the yellow daisies are almost finished blooming now but the swamp sunflowers are blooming in October!  This photo is from last year, but I promise they are just as pretty this October! Another name for them is narrow leaved sunflower, see the narrow leaves? You WILL be tested on this! These are also wildflowers and although you sometimes see them in yards, they are mostly in the ditches beside the road! 

Am I the only one having problems still with Blogger? If you have resolved things, let me know what you did! 

Our hummingbirds have just left us this week. Look at this photo that Richard got of one of the female hummingbirds perching on this branch, just outside our patio glass doors.  I mean, look at those little feet. Hard to believe that this tiny bird will fly about 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico! Quite the journey.  We hope we have helped them on their way.

There, we hope we always help creatures along the way, don't we? We all should!

Never been to Australia but this is a Kimberly Queen fern from Down Under!  It was very small and only cost $4.00 but Richard can work wonders with plants. Now, will we have room for this plant to over winter this year? Wish us luck with that too!

Take care, everyone! 

More Yellow Daisies/England Dreams

 

Hey! Here are some photos of the yellow daisies (small sunflowers) that I told you about in my last post.  You can see my son, Christopher with me and also, he is out standing in his field! (Of flowers!) All taken at Arabia Mountain. These were taken years ago, but I wanted you to see how plentiful the flowers can be.

You should never miss a chance to do something funny! What leaf is this from? Alas, I can't remember!

Since I have shown you some photos of my son, I am sharing a photo of my husband, Richard! I am not even sure what year this is, but I know for certain that it was taken in Eastbourne in England! Isn't the pier lovely? And Richard, you are looking mighty handsome too!

If you would like to see more of Eastbourne, I have a video for you. Oddly enough, I know Eastbourne better than most cities here in the States. I have spent more free time there. (Richard's parents lived there for many years and we visited them as often as we could. I miss them. I miss England.)

Today is the last day of September. Remember I told you that it was cooler this past weekend? That didn't last long, it was 89 degrees today!  Take care, everyone! 

Yellow Daisies /Everyday People

 

September is the month for the native yellow flowers that I have shown you before! They are called yellow daisies, but they are technically sunflowers! {Here is a link -What’s a Daisy? Arabia Mountain - Arabia Mountain ) They are not the great big sunflowers that you are thinking about, those are beautiful too, but these are smaller and they have the most beautiful fragrance! Years ago, I was able to see them blooming beside the road. I made a careful note of where they were, and I went back there and collected the seeds. I cautiously planted them in a pot and hoped for the best. Sure enough, they all came up! They re-seeded and now, I have small spots in my yard with blooming yellow flowers! (Thanks to Richard who watered them when he recognized the leaves when they first emerged.)  They are not as big as they normally are, and not as tall either but they are still lovely to me.  All the photos above are from our yard. 

 And here is one that came up around our bird bath....

Now, if you have been reading my blog before, you will remember them from Stone Mountain, Arabia Mountain and Panola Mountain! Below is a photo from Arabia Mountain from a few years back...

We were just there on Saturday! A glorious day! It has cooled a bit and was very nice to be outside. The flowers are not as plentiful as the ones pictured above due to our drought, but they were still lovely. 

Please remember these are wildflowers! Isn't that amazing?

Here is the video that I have for you! Hope you love it as much as I do.  "Everyday People" with Dolly Parton and Kermit!  The one that I saw mentioned Lou Rawls, but I do hope that you know that the song was by Sly and the Family Stone. (Nothing against Lou Rauls but hey, folks need to get these things right!)  There is another video of "Everyday People" that I also want to share with you, but that will have to wait for another post!  

I have finally figured out that if I click on the feed on my blog, that I must do so TWICE in order to see my blogging friends. Anybody else having these problems?

Take care everyone!  

Two Songs for You

 

Two songs! 

 The first one is a small clip of a song that Dolly Parton sang with the David Hidalgo, the lead singer of Los Lobos. (Do you remember the great film "La Bamba" which was the true story about Ritchie Valens? Los Lobos performed the title track in that film and had a big hit with it.)  I really love hearing them sing together! And he sings it in Spanish at the beginning; it is a nice touch.  Just look at how sweet Dolly is with this singer who admitted that he was nervous to be working with her. After her passing, so many photos and videos of Dolly with other musicians and singers were posted on social media.  I watched a good many. Such a talent, such a loss. 

Now, this next video is a song written by Dolly Parton, "In The Light of a Clear Blue Morning".  It is sung by the United States Naval Academy Glee Club, and the performance was during the pandemic of 2020.  (In case you are wondering about the spaces between them.) As I was watching it, I thought to myself that it was a shame that they couldn't be outside. What do you think? As soon as I thought that someone walks to the great big doors and opens them, and they all march out into the clear blue morning! Love it when the world does what I want it to!

 Let me know if you can see both of these videos!

We had a bad storm this past Saturday and it knocked out our electricity at 7 PM.  The power was restored by 12:30 the next day, just in time for lunch! Thank goodness.  Since we didn't know how long it would be out, we did not open our fridge one single time. (That is what you are advised to do.) Sure enough, everything inside was perfectly fine. It did get hot in our house, but it was bearable.  We just had our TV and computer restored today. (Wednesday). We were able to use our cell phones, but we did not have Wi-Fi until today. (Thank you, A T & T guy!  Hope you liked our homemade blueberry muffin with blueberries from our own garden!) However, I notice that I am not able to add photos on this blog post for you!  So, hopefully, I will be able to figure that out. (Wait, maybe I can get one on here!)

Thanks for the sweet concern about my poison ivy! It looks as if it is all cleared up. I am just a wit bit wonky after the medications, but nothing that I can't handle.   

Take care everyone! Hope all is working in your part of the world.

Last of August

 

Our bird calendar for August has a photo of the Painted Bunting. (I hope to see that bird one day!) For me, that has been one of the best things about this month.  Someone said that we have been suffering from "Post Parton Depression" after Dolly Parton's passing.  It is sad, but I have been truly surprised at the outpouring of love and respect for her. I thought she might be just not quite "edgy" enough for our society, just too nice. I am pleased to be wrong.  Therefore, I feel a bit more positive about the world if there are more people with a "Dolly" mentality! Thanks to all of you for your lovely comments on my last post.

Remember me telling you that I had poison ivy? Well, it got pretty bad and I went to the doctor.  I am on steroids AND an antibiotic AND a steroid cream and for good measure, was told to take antihistamines also.  So, here is a link for you:   Poison ivy rash: Symptoms, treatment, and prevention - Harvard Health     

Poison ivy is in every state in this country except Hawaii and Alaska. (So, all across Mainland USA!)  Hopefully, I am getting better though, but I am on enough medication to make me sleepy and dizzy and sometimes (oh, just sometimes) irritable!

We have been able to enjoy a few butterflies and birds though, so that has been nice for August....

We had this little visitor that we had never seen before!  According to my research, it is a Northern Parula warbler.  Richard did a very good job getting this photo, warblers are very quick. They don't often come to feeders in back yards but as you can see, the water is very attractive.

It has been so hot. Our glass hummingbird feeder looked as if it needed to be in the shade. We can't put it under the tree, as the squirrels will knock it down. So, I found a plastic bowl and put a hook right in the middle of it, and then, hung the bowl by a string.  Can you see? Guess what, it works like a charm!  

Wait, here is another shot, it shows the glass in the shade better!

Yay! A butterfly in our garden!  It is the beautiful Gulf Fritillary. 

It is on a native plant that is truly a wonder!  Elephantopus tomentosus (Common Elephant's Foot, Devil's Grandmother, Elephant's Foot) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

The common name is Elephant Foot, due to the size of the large leaves at the base of the plant. The flowers are a delicate lavender color and bees and butterflies love them.  Whenever they come up in our yard, Richard leaves them there for the pollinators.  

Wildflowers!  You know I love them!  

Oh, I love rainbows too!

When we walk at the Monastery, I like to walk past this window into the shop and see this statue.  I always say "Hang on, baby Jesus!".

It just seems right to say so. 

The quote with the calendar says, " Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark". 

Hope all of you are doing well in your part of the world. Take care!

Dolly Parton

 

Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022.  Dolly Parton died today on August 25, 2026.  It truly saddened me to learn of the Queen's passing, much as Dolly's has today.  Dolly Parton was Southern and proud of it. For me, Dolly was MY queen. How many songs did she write in her lifetime? That number is believed to be 5000.  How many books has she given away to children in her Imagination Library? I have read different numbers, but it seems to be over 300 million books worldwide. Oh, and remember the Covid vaccine? If you got the Moderna one, Dolly gave a million dollars to Vanderbilt University for developing that one.  Admirable? Yes, indeed.

 I have several videos here for you. I hope they will stay on my post so you can see them.  The first one is her singing with Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn.  The second one is a song that she wrote that I remember we had on an album, "Me and Little Andy".  She called it the most pitiful song! And yet, it shows her sweetness, I think and I can listen to it and be astounded at her songwriting ability and her singing and doing the little girl's voice too. If anyone wants to make fun of it, go somewhere else to say so!  And the third one is from her film "9 to 5" with some great lines! How much I love that movie! So funny and the song that she wrote and sang in that film!   Just perfect.

Dolly loved butterflies, they were really like her signature. 🦋 

I hope you all know that this is the Monarch butterfly.