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Monday, September 21, 2026

Monday Mishmash

One of today's projects: getting this thing ready for our Halloween display window at the antique mall. 


My poor pup Pip does not like it at all and just barks and barks. Inspiration came from the nice velvet cloak, found at Goodwill for $3.99. I used the same mannequin frame as last year. I have dubbedd it Grimm, because i am not sure if it's male or female. The odd horsehead thingy beside it, got at auction for $1 because it has a repair,  I have decided is its Grimm's familiar. So these two things, a few pumpkins, some black gauzy fabric, a lamp, some little lights and I think that will be the window. I hope.

This was last year's mannequin:


We added a red wig later. She was quite a hit at the store. We named her Miranda. Her dress was also an auction find, also $1. 

I forgot to check the temperature this morning, but it's been in the 70's all day, with high humidity after another very stormy night and morning. More flooding, unfortunately,  this time getting into some homes and businesses. This was in Sandyville, not far from us, this morning:


Unfortunately,  it got worse before it finally receded. Here on our hill, water is just standing on top of the saturated ground. Larry had to spray for mosquitoes today, first time we have ever had any issue with them. Even our poor dogs don't want to go outside!

It has been an odd few days. Saturday I thought we had auction pickup, so off we went. Then about 10 miles from home I realized the pickup was Sunday! They never do that, always have it on Friday or Saturday. Since we were out and had no other plans, I said, "Let's go get a TV." We have been meaning to do that since Larry broke ours back in January, just never took the time. So off we went to Wally World and after some dithering I picked a 4e" Samsung---the size because of our limited space, the brand because it's the same as our phones and I thought that might make it easier to set up.

It turns out I was right. I unpacked and set it up all by myself in less than an hour. I was so pleased with myself, because last time my oldest son helped me and it took several hours and many headaches to get the thing working. I ween got the DVD player working. So that's one thing off the to-do list. 

Yesterday was taken up with picking up our wins at the auction; nothing too great this time except an exceptionally fine Ka-Bar military knife from World War II, 


and 150 antique Christmas and Valentine's day post cards. We had a late breakfast and took our time since there was still a lot of water on the roads. Nothing dangerous, but who wants to hydroplane?

I had planned to can some peaches on Sunday I had picked up Friday, so that had to be put off until today. And just as I was cleaning up from breakfast, the power went off. On to Plan B, pricing things for our booths.  I did a little work on planning the upcoming open mics, called our car insurance to get set up to replace our (very expensive) windshield, and then put Grimm together.  The electricity came back on around 6, and once again I sent up heartfelt thanks for those crews who get out there and slog through who knows what to do the repairs.

Speaking of the open mics, Corey Hager, who started them, just won a Song of the Year award in his category at the Josie Awards at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville! These awards are for independent artists; they had over 100,000 entries, and Corey was nominated in 2 categories, best new male vocalist and song of the year. You can hear his winning song here.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Sunday, September 20, 2026

More Photos from Colorado

69°f/50.6°C, rainy afternoon big storms overnight.

More flooding today, after some heavy rain last night. We are on our way to auction pickup, and water was right at the edge of Trace Fork, our usual route from home when going north. Apparently it had been over the road recently. More rain is expected, and some places are already flooding, including one church. Fingers crossed that the rain lets up for a while!

I still have more Colorado photos to share, so here goes.

Seen on the way to Boulder, in the casinos area.


Granddaughter Ashley, who live in Denver, came out to visit, and brought her younger half-sister with her. It was wonderful to see Ashley, as we rarely get the opportunity.  She is in IT,  and stays pretty busy. Of course we played the rock game from Petra Mons.! This game is made by Sarah's neighbor. He collects rock from the lake bed nearby, cuts them into 6 different shapes and polishes them. Each shape gas a number. The rocks are just beautiful,  so many different colors and textures. The game is played like this: each player gets 6 rocks to start. You roll the dice and then add your rocks together to make that number. For example, if you rolled 8, you could use you 5 and 3 or 6 and 2. The rocks are stacked on a provided rock base. If any fall in the process, you have to keep them. That's the basics; there are more rules for when you get down to 3 rocks or less, etc. I would love to have a set for home, but at $95+, it's out of my budget. Worth it, of course, because the rocks are works of art in themselves. Ah, to be rich!


Larry and I took the girls to lunch at Blue River Bistro, where I had this delicious beet salad.


The others had some good food too, including truffle fries. Oh. My.


In, Georgetown, which has the most per capita Victorian houses of any town in the US.


Hard to see, but a tractor trailer had to make use of the runaway truck ramp coming down the Continental Divide.  Made the local news! I cannot imagine what his trip down that long, steep mountain must have been like. As you might be able to see, he went up to the very end of the ramp. Terrifying.


Another Georgetown house, I think. There were so many cute ones!


Sadly neglected museum in Georgetown. 


Andy, his daughter, and Sarah, ready to go into the silver mine.


Wee little flowers.


Sarah's friend Nina was thrilled to win the rock game! She came here a couple years ago to do West Virginia's Great Greenbrier River Race,  a triathlon, with Sarah and our guys. Such a fun lady, and a county commissioner too. She came to Sarah's bearing the most delicious pastries for breakfast.


Andy and his daughter first thing in the morning playing---you guessed it---the rock game. We were all obsessed with it!


For a mere $3000, you can rent the very haunted Hotel Brown in Breckenridge.  It sleeps 14, so just $215 each! I would love to spend a night there!


These lovely flowers were everywhere. I think they were asters.


So many beautiful views. 


Flowers were everywhere in the towns but of course only survive with constant watering. And water is a scarce commodity there. I took this photo because i want to look up that flower. It was not familiar.


Enough for today! I may have more from our trip as I get them sorted out.

Sarah continues to do well, and awaits next steps in her road to recovery. She amazes me!



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Saturday, September 19, 2026

Saturday Odds & Ends

71°f/21.7°C, overcast after a cloudy day yesterday. 

I was going through recent photos and a few older ones that popped up while I was looking for something else, and decided to post this random group.

First, a porch visitor, a Harnessed Tiger Moth. Poor fella looks a little worse for wear.


Teapot set i photographed to put on ebay. I haven't listed it yet, but it is so pretty. Made in Poland.


Some flowers picked after my latest stringtrimming session.



An old photo, probably from 2008, of granddaughters Haley and Hannah arriving at Granny's house after school. They were here a lot while their dad Derek was deployed in Iraq. Funny to think Hannah now has 3 children and 3 step-children! And Haley is a sergeant fulltime in the Army National Guard.


Tomatoes are dwindling, only a few left in the garden.



Herbs hanging to dry in the kitchen.


Last month's full moon.


The 2018 ghost walk I think. The last one I led was in 2019, then Covid happened. I have tried and failed to find someone to take it on. I'd even give them all the stories!


Recent visitors out by our garden.


Another old photo, from 1982, I think. Family came to visit from Virginia. This place was still pretty rough! We'd only been living here for 6 years, trying to carve a farm out of wilderness. 


Same photo, but I cropped out the tobacco barn. I think this is the only photo we have of it. 


And a current photo of the same view. It's changed a bit.







Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
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