The Back Way | A personal journal by Cathy Sullens

the day after

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Sep 12, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

this photo is my dear friend in missouri, dawn box! she gets to celebrate her birthday today, the day after…

i pondered on this for weeks…what do you get your son that has everything???

but then Mother Nature took care of that thought for me….

she sent him a HUGE, most powerful EVER hurricane named Irma….

so all night long, Sunday September 10th, my ice tea and I kept watch…

going from radar to radar, typing away to children that were there, watching from inside…

it was a mighty long night, but thank you, Creator…they are all safe and sound…

marty’s birthday rolled in after midnight and for several hours IRMA howled and stormed…

happy happy birthday, marty tate! so happy you made it thru, that everyone is fine and dandy…

their homes are still intact, Jesse has no electric yet, but Marty and office do…so that’s ok…

other friends up and down FL FL land are checking in online as they can…lots of power outages….

but they are OK! that’s the important part…my sweet daughter, grandson, son and many friends….

we even got a little taste of Irma, had rains and strong winds yesterday, last night the wind chimes were singing…

blew the screen out of my living room window, it had popped loose a few days ago, it’s not bent, just in the floor…

the “day after” is another birthday, my dear Soul Sista, Dawn Box in Elk Creek MO…i do so love you girl…have fun!!!

check on your family, check on your neighbors, check on your friends…keep the love flowing…we all need a HUG! smile

Hurricane Irma

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Sep 8, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I admit it, I’m scared. Have had nightmares for days, even when I’m awake.

Don’t know why this particular storm has me and daughter Robin so shook up.

My son Marty, my daughter Jesse and grandson Alexander live in Clearwater, FL.

I am very concerned about their safely with this powerful hurricane.

They have hem and hawed enough to have waited too long to evacuate.

I’m not sure they are taking this as seriously as I think it should be taken.

But I’m here and they are there and both children are adults with minds of their own.

I know they do not intend to be caught “unaware” and have prepared for this event.

The weathermen are so shifty in where the hurricane will go, what it will do.

The are weathermen for Christ’s sake, their entire world is made up of models and guesses.

I wish safety to all those that will be involved in this storm. Take care of each other.

I look forward to having my children tell me ” I told you so”…and that will be just fine.

Those will be the sweetest words any Momma can hear…Creator and angels, please be with them….

I do so, love them madly…………………..

september birthdays and more!!!!

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Sep 3, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

yep, it’s september…windows open, cool breeze blowing thru the house.

i love that, it will warm up again, but for now, it’s perfect weather for me!

hope all of you have a safe, happy and restful Labor Day weekend! smile

have several birthdays coming up this month, Marty is Sept 11th

my dear MO friend Dawn Box is celebrating on Sept 12th.

next is my oldest grandson Alexander and a week later, my grandson Ethan!

this year it’s getting harder and harder to find that perfect gift for them all…..

i with good health and lots of love to them all, now back to shopping! SMILE

pow wow time AND august, 2017

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Aug 28, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

sure did enjoy watching miss Phoenix dance fancy shawl. never gave any thought to her shawl…it fit 2 years ago, this year it was tiny and PJ’s wing span has grown. no wonder it was giving her arms fits. now i understand, sweet child. we enjoyed watching the others, visiting with friends and checking out the vendors. got goodies for 3 grandsons. phoenix found a cool 3 picture wolf 8 x 10 framed…that was her prize! we had great fun…next time i’ll just get her a new shawl and she can dance intertribal with it, no pressure of regalia. will work much better, i believe. was sorry to read that the Cosby Powwow was cancelled this year. i think someone bought that section of land, hope they tend to it with love and care and respect.

have enjoyed many many many watermelons this year. literally and the cantaloupes were all delicious too! a GREAT year for melons. my local CSA even grew some for me. i’ve been buying fruits, veggies and meats from these guys for several years. they deliver to dandridge every wednesday down at the dike. and now, misty morning farms are some of our new best friends. i wish them every success. they are working their fannies off on the farm and at the fruit and veggie stand, but they have a good location, near the interstate I-40 exit 415 by the marathon station (only gas station on this exit) and close to dandridge, but far enough away to be country! smile it’s amazing to me how much MMF’s Angie looks like my friend Becky. they could easily be sisters.

watched an eclipse this week. the moon covered the sun, the world all got quiet (need ear plugs here) haha it was magical, mystical, i really did enjoy it! 99% here…total across some TN robin and family and many friends of theirs i know met at billy’s house is crossville to watch it as total…know we all looked so cool in our eclipse shades from AZ! smile

had fun going shopping and lunch with robin on friday. tried out a new burger place in morristown, hunted up a shade tree (good luck) then got to look at everything at the new aldi. they have a manuel wheelchair with a basket on front. was hoping the basket came off for getting in and out, but i guess if it did, someone would help themselves to the basket. i was thrilled to be able to go shopping. it’s been forever! i still think their 25 cent buggies are the bomb! no buggies out in the car area, you bring back that cart to get your quarter back…genius idea….we found our first Aldi in Rolla MO wayyyyy back in the day. we’d shop for us, the ol man and sue and for uncle john. 3 lists, a truck bed full of goodness. we found a good butcher shop in rolla, rolla was 60 miles from elk creek and we’d make a once a month shopping run. but still not as good as the butcher shop at norwood. local grass fed..we fed our family well, beef, pork, chicken, fish, huge gardens…no chemicals…glad we had the chance to do that, to live that life…to raise our 4 children with a country life. no sirens, traffic horns, yelling people, smog, fear, danger…instead, we had a skeleton key for the back door, christmas lights to light up the back porch, animals, chores, stars, respect for water, land, family! quiet. until it was a celebration and we put the big speakers out on the porch roof and we ROCKED that valley! family and friends always there to help us in our joy. my family, we ALL did a lot of work, money was always tight, but lordy, it was fun! that was our life on the Johnson farm in Bado, MO…thanks Mina, for taking a chance on us! we loved tending to your farm. it made us a most wonderful, HOME, too. just like you gave your family there before us. it was a beautiful home, acres of grass and trees and wildlife. Our BEST garden spot, EVER!!! big SMILE

my dreams did come true.

this years porch garden

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Aug 28, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

do you enjoy the sunshine warming your shoulders? the smell of fresh dug earth? the feel of the dirt sliding through your fingertips? the smile on your face as you dream of all the plants to be? this can happen not once, but twice a year! yes, it’s time for fall planting!!
if these words are close to your heart, my friend, you are a gardener. you can’t help it. it brings such joy to you and your friends and neighbors too. if you’re like me, you’ve gone from many outside gardens to something a little smaller. you’ve moved from the farm to the city, your growing area is now limited. i live in an apartment building outside the great smoky mountains of east tennessee. my front porch is my gardening area. it is 6′ wide by 15′ long. there is an upstairs with a railing. after asking nicely and sharing plants, i also use 10-12 chains connected from their balcony to hang down on my side of the porch. those hold hanging baskets, bird feeders, hummingbird feeder, wind chimes and crystals of many colors and sizes. my entire garden is now grown in containers. you would be amazed by the many sizes, styles and shapes that you can grow things in. i have commercial pots from greenhouses, window boxes in my two outside windowsills, pots from tiny to large and even a few grow bags that i can also use over and over each year. at the end of each season, i watch for the pots to “go on sale”, to get good deals on various size pots that i could not afford during the peak of the season. yard sales, thrift stores, online offers all help to add to my collection of gardening containers.
 
it’s true…container gardening needs extra care. unlike their “in the ground” cousins, their very survival depends on you! the mixture of the potting medium, the variety of seed you want to grow, the space needed, stakes for the taller plants, their only source of water. and you will need to water at least every other day. you can also move your pots around as needed for sunshine during the growing season. highlight the plants that are doing best! i also have a gardening secret to share with you. i, myself can’t stand to wear gardening gloves. i like the feel of the dirt in my hands. but as we all know, the aggravation of getting the dirt out from under your fingertips. here’s my solution. when your bathroom bar soap gets down to the slither, take it to the gardening area. before each session, scrape your fingernails down the soap, be sure to get them all. the soap will stay under the nails, keeping the dirt out, making for easy wash up each and every time! SMILE
i like to mix my potting medium, an organic potting soil, compost, sand, peat moss, a little vermiculite. this makes for easy watering, nutrients in the soil and everything your plants will need to grow happy and healthy. Fall gardening is even easier than planting in the spring. the weather is warm so no plants get stunted by a cold snap, the seeds germinate quickly and produce even faster. whether it’s flowers or vegetables, trees, or shrubs, there is no time better than fall. you can clean up the pots of plants that have gone to seed, refurbish the dirt and start all over again. I have planted basil, onion sets, lettuce, spinach, carrots, moss roses and snapdragons just this week. it’s always exciting to watch the seeds grow into lovely plants. why limit that joy to once a year? take a chance, plant those leftover seeds and watch your gardens bloom with color and fill your table with the bounty of vegetables you can produce! most of all, Happy GARDENING! 

exciting adventures

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Aug 9, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

it’s been awhile since i’ve written here….

lots of medical things that i’d rather not get into….

but now, new things are on the horizon….

hoping to write about my love of gardening…..

from the patio container perspective of growing veggies and flowers….

even gardening from my wheelchair, surely there are more folks than me!

hope all are well, be good to each other and always, always share the love.

Lions, Tigers & Bears – Maybe an alligator or 2

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Apr 1, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

What an exciting day it is on my little hill today….

My Saturday morning yard guests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life in the Smoky Mtns of east TN…………

Oh, by the way………………………….

April Fools……………………. 2017………………..SMILE

yesterday 02.21.17

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Feb 22, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

what a most unusual day it was yesterday….

watched a squirrel dig up his stash, sit and enjoy eating it….

it was 70 degrees here in the smoky mtns of east TN….

was out on the porch playing in the dirt, felt so mighty fine….

dug thru my seed box (pretty skimpy) and found sugar snap peas….

had my biggest pot dug up and cleaned and ready to get to planting….

i now have 3 rows of peas planted on my front porch, waiting on 10 onion sets for the edges….

slept with my bedroom window wide open….only got down to 54 degrees during the night….

going to see if the raindrops made it across the porch or not….ya’ll be good, laugh and have some fun….

and if you need some soothing of your soul, joy to your very being….go play in the dirt….pure bliss it is….SMILE

a flu bug bit me

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Jan 30, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

i have not felt well for 4 days now…achy, headache, eyes hurt, throat hurts

there are many folks here in TN and all across the country that are feeling ill

this afternoon, i stretched out on my bed to watch the sunset

it’s was beautiful, i dozed off, when i woke up, it was dark outside

Jupiter was shining bright, right about a little sliver of a moon

i heard folks walking around in my home, even the bathroom door close

i called out for them to come see this beautiful site in the night sky

i dozed off and on and always speaking about what i saw thru my window

then i woke up enough to realize i was the only one here in my home

the ones i heard, the ones i called out to, were part of my dreaming i guess

made me feel strange, i was sure i heard them, strange how dreams are sometimes

i hope you got to enjoy the night sky, as it was truly lovely…my love to you all…

the first 12 days of the year….weather wise for the year 2017

Posted by Cathy Sullens on Jan 12, 2017 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

January…45-50 raindrops, foggy, wet, very windy……..

February…60…overcast….foggy, wet…….windy

March…60…grey, wet…raindrops…calm winds

April…40…partly sunny…calm winds

May…33…rain…tiny snow…calm winds

June…20’s…trace of snow…grey day, calm winds

July…16 degrees …5″ snow…sunshine, blue skies

August…20 degrees. sunshine. white clouds, calm

September…30’s…sunshine, blue skies, calm winds

October…45…snow melting, grey day, calm

November…50…rain, grey day, calm winds

December…60’s…cloudy day, calm winds’

Well, there you have it folks! The first 12 days weather for east TN…looks like a lot more rain this year than last…sure hope so…the local farmers need it! We need it to be able to eat all the wonderful organic veggies they grow! The trees need it, the rivers need it and yes, even the lakes…WATER IS LIFE….

I was taught this little theory back in MO a long time ago…how to forecast the years weather! The temps won’t match up, but you get the general idea. Hope you enjoyed it! smile

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