A Purple Castle that Inspired this Writer.

Finally, I have managed to upload some of the images of the Purple Castle that has inspired my imagination for years now. Unfortunately, the exterior of the house is neglected. So use your imagination and imagine this unusual house in a beautiful green setting, with colorful flowers all around it, instead of the dead grass and weeds that actually do surround it. And think of a man and wife, who had a dream of building a unique house, 14 years ago, and actually did it. All the work, from beginning to the present, was done by the two of them. They designed it, and built it together from the ground up, which is quite an accomplishment, if you think about it. Above, you see the backside of the house. When I shot this photo, I was afraid to step back anymore than I already had, because just a few feet behind me is a steep ravine/hill. This is the side that you see in the winter, when the trees on the huge hill the house sits on, are leafless. And as you're traveling on the highway below the hill, you get this glimpse of the Purple Castle, looking down on all travellers. (Well, okay, the purple house that sort of resembles a castle.) And that's Sandra standing to the side. I didn't realize she was in the picture until I uploaded it. Duh!

This is the front side of the house with its purple fence, as it faces a two-lane blacktop road. It is where Eileen and I were parked, when I ventured out to take pictures of the house, and Sandra came out and gave me permission to take as many shots as I wanted.

As you can see, the porch is stacked up with furniture and other stuff which isn't exactly flattering looking, but you can nevertheless see the unusual architecture of the house.

This is a giant, wall-sized painting, inside the house, of a magnificent buck, done by Sandra, who is an artist. Isn't it beautiful? She said the painting was a labor of love, even though it took some time to finish it. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see it in all its glory!

As a writer, I enjoy doing exercises that are called prompts. The Purple Castle became my prompt and inspired a story. A fantasy fiction type story. It is slowly evolving, and it's about an unhappy, lonely woman who has the reoccurring dreams of a beautiful, Purple Castle. She begins to love the dream so much, that she doesn't want to wake up again! Well, that is all I will give away about the plot of this story, but Eileen is already talking about making it into a movie, with the theme music in the background to be "Deep Purple." LOL. But I'm just hoping to get a short story out of it, even if just for my own satisfaction.

I have several more pictures of both the exterior and the interior, but I think the few that I have chosen to upload, were good choices. As always, click on the pictures to get a larger, full view of them.

Well, I have made this post long enough for now. I hope you enjoyed seeing this writers inspiration from a lovely Purple Castle!

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful week, everyone!

A Little of This, A Little of That.

The weather around here has been beautiful this past week, with pleasant temperatures. And my dear friend, Eileen is finally free of her cast! She still has to wear a temporary brace around the wrist, but for the most part her hand is free, and she can now even put curlers in her hair at night! :-)

She is still somewhat afraid to drive, since she hasn't had her hands around a stirring wheel in over three months, but we'll be out there practicing this weekend.


The warmer temperatures and frequent showers have turned everything lush and green, and growing at a rapid speed. I mean the grass, of course. The lawnmower gives us quite a workout these days. Meanwhile, I took a few photos this week to share. I hope you enjoy them.



The cattails in the pond first appeared a couple of years ago. At first, I thought they added a nice touch to it, since my pond is mainly a wildlife pond. But these days, the cattails seem to be multiplying at a rapid rate, and I am worried they will take over the entire pond. So we will have to do some cattail weeding soon!

I call this shrub my purple globe. Actually, the flowers are kind of a raspberry color, and the honey bees are very fond of it. I planted this five years ago, because I liked the round shape of it, and the light, yellow -green color of the foliage, which turns a pretty gold in the fall. But I forgot the name of it. Anyone know what this shrub is called?

The white wild rose at the top of the field has made one of the smaller trees its trellis! It looks very pretty cascading down from the branches. We may have to do some pruning though, this fall.

Looking out the window the other evening, I saw this guy out in the back. And when I opened the window to talk to him, he stood up on his hind legs! Since it was already quite dark out there, his eyes are glowing, but he is cute, isn't he? I did give him a hot dog, as a snack!

And this guy was making his way through the field, the other day, at quite a rapid pace, and I went running out with the camera, to take his picture. He seemed very cooperative, and then went on his way, to wherever turtles go. Since he is quite large, I think he is quite old as well. These turtles can live to be a hundred years old. There is a turtle in the pond as well, but he is a ferocious looking snapping turtle, and spends most of his time in the water. His head sometimes pops up, when I'm feeding the fish, and he snaps up some of the cat kibbles I feed the catfish.

May is almost over, and I haven't seen a new fawn yet. But I have been watching for the mothers to come and show me their babies, when they're old enough. I know they will, and I can't wait to see them.

Well, I have made this post long enough. Thank you for reading, have a lovely weekend and a great week!

The Greens of Spring

The beautiful palette of spring greens in early May is a feast for the eyes. Artists have painted these subtle, tender greens over the ages, poets have written poems about it, while I can only snap a few pictures of it, and gaze at it with deep appreciation, and much thankfulness. Spring is finally here in all her splendor!

This is a picture of some of the new lettuce in my little garden. Isn't it a pretty green? I have already enjoyed it as a salad with grape tomatoes, chopped red onions, and a vinaigrette dressing. Delicious! And the resident deer haven't found it yet!

The green of the iris leaves is darker, with some gray tones, adding to the green palette of the yard and field, nicely.

Speaking of deer, they have been enjoying the new, tender green grass in the field. That is a hickory tree, to their left, with it's yellowish-green leaves that are almost full size already.

Here, the greens of the trees to the northern edge of the field, display their tender new greens of early May, beautifully.

On top of the field to the east, where the woods begin, the trees are subtle green colors, tender greens, faint rose tints, chartreuse greens, all forming a canopy of colors that lift my mood with their beauty.

I read that the color green symbolizes life, nature, fertility , well being , and that grass green is the most restful color. Green also symbolizes balance, growth and harmony. And, of course, money! But that's another story.

I hope you can get out there and enjoy the tender greens of early May. By mid-May, they will turn to the darker, more robust green, offering us shade from the hot sun.

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful weekend!

Spring's Progression in My Neighborhood!

The wild plum trees are finally blooming! And I knew it before I saw them at the edge of the woods. Their heavenly fragrance reached my nose as soon as I went outside this morning. The wild plum is a small, deciduous tree, belonging to the Rosacea family. The redbud trees will be blooming soon, followed by the dogwoods. I love the progression of Spring!

Later, I took a little drive up my road to enjoy the scenerey I never tire of. The rolling fields are getting green now.

I love this old barn. It is still in good shape, structually.

Lots of pretty, rolling fields around here.

I hope you enjoyed some of the Spring scenery from my neighborhood. Have a wonderful week!

Two Beautiful New Awards!

Carolyn at Talk to Grams has passed on to me this beautiful Spread the Love Award. How sweet was that? Thank you so much, dear Carolyn, I appreciate this award so much, and will pass it on in a few days.

And I would like to pass this award on to my dear friend, Audrey who so richly deserves it. I hope you enjoy this award, Audrey!



Old friend Mary at Mary's Writing Nook sent me this beautiful, Young at Heart Award, through the email. I already put it up on my sidebar. Thank you so much, Mary. It's a lovely award, and I love it. I will pass this award on in a few days as well to other "oldies but goodies" in blogland, who I know are also "young at heart."

I'm not sure I deserve these beautiful awards, but I feel blessed to have been chosen to receive them!

And I am going to pass on this lovely award to four "oldies but goodies" friends who I know are Young at Heart.

To-Dear Merle at Third Time Lucky

To-Patty at Old Lady Lincoln

To-Glo at Young at Heart

And to Leann at View from the Eagles Nest.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful award, friends. Please pick it up, when time permits, and display it proudly! :-)

Another Special Award!

My dear friend, Leann has just given me this very beautiful award. Here is what Leann said, "here is a award for renie; its a "you made my day award..from the eagles nest. "

Leann, I'm honored to receive your beautiful award. You are a talented photographer, and a very special lady. Thank you very much, and God bless you!

Finding Joy

Early this morning, I was catching up with some of my favorite blogs. So there I was at Mary's Writing Nook, enjoying her always positive, family oriented posts, when I came upon a sweet comment made by Denise, that somehow touched me. Something prompted me to go and check out her blog.

I have felt a bit down lately. Concerns and worries sometimes get in the way of enjoying a beautiful day to the fullest. Then I sang along with Denise, "I've got joy, joy, joy, joy, here in my heart. Here in my heart. Here in my heart..." and pretty soon, joy did fill my heart.

I gazed at the beautiful sunrise, enjoyed the crisp fall air as I filled the bird feeders, and noticed the hickory trees in the field had turned all gold overnight, and were sparkling in the bright morning sun. And suddenly, I was thankful to be out there seeing and enjoying it all. And I thought, even in blog world "seek and you shall find" applies. Thank you, Lord!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Moping Around

It was a beautiful day today. Summer-like temperatures returned, but the sun was pleasant, and not uncomfortably hot. A good day to be out and about, enjoying the warmth laced with a cool breeze playing its leaf harp through the trees.

But I've had "the mopes" today. The mopes, a dictionary tells me, is having low spirits; having the blues. I don't know why. It just descended on me like a dense fog, and it hung over me with it's depressing dampness.

To be moping around, I read, is to be gloomy and dejected. Ah, yes, that definition fit me well, today.

A dog never mopes around. He lives in the "now" and enjoys the moment. If during a walk, he happens to come upon a little creek in the woods, he plops in and cools off, then shakes himself and is off and running, following all the exciting scents the woods abound with.

A cat never mopes around either. If he comes upon a fallen log in the woods, well, he uses it as a scratching post! What could be more perfect than that, for a cat?


And does a squirrel mope? Nope. He is too busy looking for something to munch on, and relishing his find.

And trying to get these pictures to look right, in here, helped me forget the mopes. Now I'm just frustrated! Oh, well, tomorrow is a new day.

Good Food, Good Fun, And Good Company

We have a beautiful winding river in our area, that everyone can enjoy, and that is what I did today-enjoyed my time on the river. Whether going down the river in a jet ski at 40 miles per hour-whee-or floating at a leisurely pace, it's a wonderful experience. Good food, good fun, and good company made today especially nice.

Oh, What A Beautiful Day!

Finally, August is history and September is here! And it was a beautiful first day of September. Sunny, mid-80s, with a breeze that tickled my wind chimes all day, and gave me a chance to be outside, listening, feeling, enjoying. Of course, I should have been writing, instead of be-bopping around, but it has been so long since I could be outdoors for longer than ten minutes, that I decided to enjoy it. The two dogs, who also dislike the hot weather, were happy, too, chasing sticks, walking in the woods, with their noses to the ground, smelling for wild things that may have been around.

Actually, I did work on Grist for the Mill, early this morning, so I made some progress. The heroine, Liz, has discovered something astounding,
so she is excited! But she will have to stay where she is for now, this is Labor Day weekend, there won't be too much time to work on the story.
But a good time at the cabin on the river is in the works for me. Happy Labor Day!