Geocities will be shutting down so....

I have decided to resurrect this blog up again. I will transfer some of my pages to here so I can have them available to others. Will do that eventually when I have more time. I have kind of lost interest in keeping a website and blogging. But perhaps I will get inspired once again. Meanwhile I do enjoy communicating on Facebook. Check me out there at http://www.facebook.com/larindayelcich
Check back here later.
God bless,
Larinda

Fall 2008

Well, here it is almost another year gone by since I last posted here. I apologize to my faithful readers. Most of you know how hard things have been in my life since my last post, so I will not go into any of it.

Please just enjoy viewing our day trip to WV's Autumn Colors.

This picture is of what we see every day as we leave our complex.

Can you see the deer in the next picture? We were looking

at property that is for sale in this area.

We are driving up Laurel Mountain and saw this spot to

pull over and capture this tree.

And here is the last one. So many lovely scenes but very

few places to pull over and take the picture or power lines

in the way.

I hope you have enjoyed them. We sure did. This is still not

the peak of them. We get to enjoy for at least another week

or so.

God bless,

Larinda

Scenes Around Here

Ok, just gonna load some pictures here to share with you all. I am really loving this season. I have missed it soooo much.
Ok, Enjoy!!

Fall season trip

I am not liking this blogger to much lately. I have written this 3 times now and it loses it. Grrr. I have tried writing here before and gave up because of trouble but I will keep on trying.!!!!
This week we took a day trip to Maryland, Pennsylvania and through some of our WV. The trip was originally planned for going to Romney, WV to buy a bushel of apples for John's mother. She will make applesauce and of course some cobbler for us all to enjoy. YUMMY!!! Can't wait!Anyway, we got to enjoy scenery of the Fall foliage. We have some here but not as much yet and it appears it may go by quickly. Some leaves are falling already without turning colors. (boohoo)Anyway, here are some pictures of some of things we saw and did along the way through Amish country and the beautiful mountains and hills around us.
We got her apples then headed over to Amish country and stopped at Penn Alps Artisan Village. Here are a view pictures of that. You will see a one room school pictured here as well.

And he even went into the one room school.

Next to the village is Cassleman's Bridge. John got a picture of it this summer but it really does look better in the Fall.



We ate our dinner at Casslemans Restaurant where I enjoyed a short stack of buckwheat pancakes with sausage. We did some shopping in a bulk food store where you can find Amish foods. We bought some buckwheat pankcake mix, longhorn cheese and some treats. Yummy!!

We drove around more until dark and caught this really nice Fall road.

We happened upon this field along the way. You rarely ever see these types of cornstalk stacks anymore. Cool!!

It was a beautiful overcast day but we had a great day.

NC trip to meet Grandma Ruth

I have been online for over 11 years now and not long after I joined a group called Graphics R Us so I could learn graphic designing with my Paint Shop Pro program. In this group I met a lovely lady named Ruth whom I always called Grandma Ruth. Sometimes she signed off as Mom aka Gma Ruth. Anyway, we closed that group and started another, Create4Jesus,then closed it and started a group of a small group of us for keeping in contact called ChristianPals. Well, we have become very close. I have no more grandma's so I have "adopted" her as my own. John mentioned to me that this might be a good opportunity for us to go and meet her, so off we went.
We left on Sunday before dawn and stopped at Beckley at the Tamarack and did a little shopping. They have so much WV craftsmenship items.
Headed towards Knoxville in order to go through Pisgah National forest on the way since we had plenty of time.
We saw this along the way along with other waterfalls and beautiful scenery.
(you can click on any picture to see it as a bigger view, oops, I guess I was wrong, I tried to view them larger and it wouldn't. Sorry.)

We drove through it and into Hendersonville to her house. When we arrived, it was like we knew each other forever. We saw the old pump organ that used to be at Julia's house (her aunt who passed away a few years ago). John checked it out but Grandma had a newer one in the corner and so she played while I sang. John came up with songs to sing. Here she is playing away and telling me she can't play. HA!! I am the one who cannot play at all. We had fun singing old hymns. Although, I must admit I did not know allot of the old hymns she was playing but I gave it a good try. I have been attending contemporary services for so long that I have not been exposed to hymns enough. We then wanted to take her to dinner but she insisted on taking us. So we went to her favorite Chinese buffet called China Grille. We had a great dinner there together, just us and she.

I should have gotten the waitress to take all of us in the picture. I have discovered that we took more scenic pictures than of people so am using some of the copies Grandma made up for us. Thank you Grandma!!! I am not much of a photographer but John is.

After dinner we drove around letting her show us places. We drove into a cemetery where I have seen many of her pictures and where her family is, like her beloved Kenneth. We were heading out when I saw an unusual sight I have never seen before. There was this white squirrel coming down a tree. We stopped. John and Grandma both got out and caught pictures of it. Here is one John got. I cropped it out.

We went back and met Lloyd (her son) and enjoyed an evening on the porch swing. Lloyd told us that the white squirrel is a breed but found mostly in an area called Brevard. We passed through it coming out of Pisgah on our way to Grandma's.


Lloyd never did make it in the photos since he was in his grubbies. You know how it is when you are working around your place. Lots to do. Cathy, his wife, was away at a music workshop of sorts. They have a lovely home with a gorgeous view of the Smokies. That evening it was rather hazy so one could not really see them that well.

The next day, Monday, we drove around and found Carl Sandburg's home and walked up to it but did not do the tour. Course my John had to comb out some places to go use his metal detector while I visited with Grandma. I spent a good bit of time alone with her and I loved it!! We went over in her golf cart with Cody, her golden retriever, where I met Guy, Jean (her daughter) and Ray (her husbands brother) who were just finishing bringing some logs up from the woods. I took some pictures but mine did not turn out very well. We visited for a bit then Jean gave me a tour of her place. They too have a lovely view as Lloyd does. Grandma is definitely in Apple Land according to one sign I saw. So, anyway, John was waiting for us back at the house to go for lunch. We took off for Wendy's then came back so I could go for my ride down in the woods. John dropped me off and he metal detected around Julia's house (we slept there instead of a hotel) while I visited with Grandma. Tabitha listened to her radio. We used our walkie talkies to stay in touch when needed. Julia's house is not far from Grandma's. So, we went back over to Lloyd's house so I could meet Cathy and hear her play piano. We visited a bit, talking music. So nice we are all musical families. I can truly appreciate it. So, then she played "Majesty" for us. Beautiful!! I enjoyed it. We then took off into the woods.

This was actually taken after our time down in the woods. John took it. Anyway, she showed me all her plants and Cody had fun down in there too. Here is a picture she took of me at the point where
were going to have to turn around since it ended just below the picture. I think it is so neat how they have cleared it out enough for the golf carts to go.
The weather was pretty nice. There were a few humid moments but mostly, they seemed to have a nice breeze there on their property. Cody laid in the creek bed so he was not allowed to
ride with us. She is a little hotrod on that cart especially on her driveway. LOL We went back to her house and she showed me her computer. She is so sweet and so is her family.
She is blessed to have them all around her. And of course, David a phone call away.

We got ready for dinner and this time we took her and she chose Kentucky Fried Chicken Buffet. We love it too so it was nice. We returned to Jeans so they could meet John and Tabitha. Again, a wonderful visit, in my opinion. John got to talking about his family history. Tabitha and I have
heard it before but we were content to be there. Got sleepy so called it a night.

So, Tuesday we awoke and went to the Smokies to a town called Franklin. Found a gem mine we would be comfortable at called Mason Mountain Gem Mine.

Here I am sleuthing through stones to find the gems.
Tabitha was sitting back behind me under a canopy watching and listening to her radio. John was down digging more dirt to go through. We found a nice amount of sapphires, rubies, garnets and a few other gems. We only paid for one bucket that we could fill all day for only $25.
This is a pic of the better ones all cleaned up and laying on a paper towel. You can see they are not very big except for the one in the middle. You have to really know what you are looking for. There is an emerald there at the top right.Once they are tumbled and cut then you see the way you see them in jewelry stores. The lower ones in right are Rhodelites and they say they are more value than emeralds. Hmmm, I don't know. I just know after 5 hours of doing that, I was worn out and now I am suffering from it but it was worth it. My body will get over it. LOL

We then left there and traveled to Highlands through the Smokies and saw lots of canyons and waterfalls. Some have names and some do not. GORGEOUS scenery!!!

I took this picture from our car -

John nearly killed himself getting this one
--

This was taken from a drop off where John walked to and hugged a tree to get this shot. This really does not give you the height of these falls. On further down the road there was finally a parking area for this beautiful falls called Dry Falls. Can't figure out why they call it that.

You can walk behind them. Tabitha and I stayed up top but John walked on down. I was too exhausted and wasn't sure I would make it back up without being a long time and slowing everyone down. Here is his view from behind it --

We returned to Hendersonville and going on sundown so drove to Jean's house and asked if we could sit on her porch and watch the sun go down. They were all so accommodating. The distant high peaked mountain is Mount Pisgah but the range you can see is the Smokies. The darkened area is the apple orchards across from them then closer mountains. It was an awesome ending to our day.

Jean called to see if Grandma was back from her community meeting so we went over and had our goodbyes. We got our hugs in and a last picture or so. I am so glad we made this trip. My John was really glad too. Tabitha, she is quiet but I know she enjoyed it too. She was so good.

We left Wednesday morning and had a nice ride home enjoying all the scenery. We are truly blessed with a beautiful country. God has blessed America!

Now to plan a trip ot go down the Blue Ridge Parkway and then on to Pigeon Forge. Oh that will be really nice too.

JUly 4th Celebration

On the actual day of the Fourth, we had a cookout at John's parents house. He grilled chicken with his special BBQ sauce and veggies in teriyaki sauce. Yummy!! We enjoyed a chick flick "Music and Lyrics" for the afternoon. Had to make a trip to the local ice cream shop too. Then we left Tabitha to stay the night and enjoy the fireworks from their front porch. We took off and had supper at a 50's-60's diner we have seen along the interstate and have wanted to try. We really enjoyed it and even played some songs on the juke box. I had to call my sister Kathy when "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brother's came on. A little nostalgia is fun.
Last night, Friday the 6th we decided last minute to go to the local celebration at a nearby town. "Symphony Under the Stars" was what this was called. They, The Wheeling Symphony, played marches we all are familiar with and some broadway tunes. We listened to the concert then saw the finale of fireworks. We had a grand time!!

Our Day Trip

From the first day of moving here, our neighbors above us have made us feel very welcome. She even brought us cookies within the first few days. What a nice woman. I have enjoyed getting to know her and we have become friends. She loves the Lord just as I do. Well,they are from TX and have been here for 2 years and have never seen one of WV's most spectacular scenery's, Blackwater Falls. We made a date and took off this past Saturday.
We began at 9:40 am and made our way to Cool Springs, near Aurora, WV -- web definition of the site --
"Cool Springs Park - Outdoor exhibit of a variety of vehicles and agricultural implements, most dating from the early twentieth century. Restaurant and general store adjacent. Open 6:30 am - 11:00 pm seven days a week Free admission. Located twenty miles east of Grafton on US Route 50. (304) 454-9511."

There is a general store with lots of old fashioned goodies in it plus new stuff. Then outside you can go for a walk and find geese, ducks, fish, a water wheel, and all along a graveyard for farm machinery and trains. One almost has to stop there for a break after going round and round on about 45 curves to finally reach flatter land. Kinda sickening. Janet got a bit sick from it but recovered well. Her hubby Richard took lots of pictures with his really nice digital camera. We continued on to ride down the road and came to The Smallest Chapel and Mailing Office.


The chapel can only hold about 12 people on the small pews.



I went to visit this little building which I must admit was well kept after. Only it was rather dark inside once you shut the door. I used to have one of these outside our home when we lived in Upper Peninsula Michigan on Little Shag Lake in a log cabin house. I did not hesitate to use it. :-)

We continued on down the road and took a little walk in The Cathedral Park that is full of Virgin Hemlock trees and other beautiful natural habitat. We stopped in Thomas and checked a few stores. My favorite Christmas Shop was not opened. We ate at Davis, Saw Mill Restaurant. Not too bad for a small town.
Now on to the real beauty. Blackwater Falls. Oh my, quite a walk down but the walk back is a huffing and puffing time. Well for me anyway. But the view is breathtaking.
And the roar of the falls is awesome.
Here we are, this might help give the idea of how big the rocks and falls are. During the later summer months there is more water coming down the mountains.

They have a gift shop there and all. We took a break and rested then saw another breathtaking view close by. No railing here to keep you back. Richard took our picture. John tried to talk me into going down further over the rocks. "NO WAY!!". I was on the edge enough. As you can see, dear Tabitha did not want to take her eyes off of her footing. Can't blame her a bit. LOL What a drop off!!
Here is another location we were able to view the Falls from. Really shows the size better.




We went to another spot called Lindy Point or something like that. Well, there were so many tree roots and rocks along the path that I ended up taking a tumble and decided I had had enough. A bit embarrassing, oh well, it happens. Richard and Janet continued on to see the even more spectacular view. I am glad they did, I hate to put a damper on anything. I was sore and dirty from the fall but recovered just fine after a little rest.
We headed on back home. Stopped and got a ice cream at Dairy Queen in Grafton and ended the trip a bit tired. Sunday was a good day to rest and recover from all the walking we are not used to. To me it was well worth it and a wonderful day spent with really nice new friends.
Thank you Lord!!
Btw, you can click on any of the pictures to view the full view of the image. Just click your back button to return to the blog page.
Oh, in looking up Blackwater Falls online, I discovered we were there during the 50th anniversary of it becoming a state park. I remember as a child we were allowed to climb the rocks and cross over where we could, even go up behind the falls. There were no steps, walkway, to it. You went down a path and you better have good footing. But with commercializing it and all, of course they had to make it more safe and no one is allowed to detour off the walkway now. The goverment ruins the fun of it but I do understand why.