Blue Sky Vineyard and Winery & Happy Birthday, Cheryl!

As anyone who has traveled around the Southern Illinois countryside can tell you, this region of the State, often referred to as The Land Between the Rivers, showcases such natural works of nature as The Shawnee National Forest, the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, The Garden of the Gods, and Cave In Rock, to name a few, and it also has an equal amount of man made works of beauty. One of the newer places of interest is the Blue Sky Vineyard and Winery. Perched on a hillside in Union County, IL, and surrounded by miles of hills and hardwood timber, the Vineyard and its grounds is one of the most peaceful places a person can spend some down time. We had such an occasion on the afternoon of Saturday, August 22, to kick back and enjoy the ambience of this wonderful country retreat and to also celebrate the 40th birthday of one of our dear friends, Cheryl Dillon, at a surprise party for her hosted by her husband, Matt and children Trey and Addie.

The weather was picture perfect and Cheryl couldn't have been more surprised by the gathering of family, co-workers, boating and lake friends, and many other family and friends. Matt and his team of party planners, treated the party goers to a wonderful afternoon lunch of pulled pork BBQ and lots of wonderful sides, plus lucious chocolate dipped strawberries and a beautiful birthday cake, and of course various wines from the winery.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was a magician, who delighted the crowd with his wondrous balloon sculptures. He honored the birthday girl by creating a lovely crown, fit for a queen of course, featuring a birthday candle that sprang from the top of the hat.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we all enjoyed relaxing at Blue Sky and helping Cheryl celebrate her 40th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Cheryl, and we wish you many, many more!

Hummers...those fascinating little speedy birds.

What is it about those colorful, tiny, swift helicopter flying like birds, that people so eagerly look forward to their arrival each spring? Is it that they bring with them the promise of Spring itself and that winter is once more behind us? Or is it like the return home of a loved one whom we haven't seen for awhile and are anxious for thier return? Whatever the attachment, each spring, I receive e-mails and notes from friends and relatives in all parts of the country announcing 'their Hummers' are back. It's kind of like a race to see who gets their's first.

This year, ours arrived pretty much on schedule, although I have to admit we don't keep exact records of when they arrive and depart, like a lot of you do. However, they did get here before the big May 8th storm that swept through Southern Illinois and caused so much destruction to our woods and trees. And I did notice that for several days following the storm, the little birds were uprooted from their homes just like the rest of us. You could tell by their disrupted flight patterns around the yard, darting about as though they were looking for familiar landmarks that were no longer there. But they were not alone in their desperation as several of the other nesting birds were having to relocate and rebuild their nests as well. As summer progressed and things settled down, we have again enjoyed our back yard guests who visit our feeder at a rapid pace. This summer I began using my clothes line again. It is the kind that is attached to the house and the lines roll in and out. After I rolled out the lines the first time, I noticed it is a popular landing spot for the little hummers coming and going from the patio feeder. So, the clothes line has stayed out for the summer and will until the little birds leave for the winter. Just this morning I received some beautiful Hummingbird photos taken by my friend, Jim Martin, and want to share them with all you 'Hummer Lovers.' I'm sure you will agree they are totally awesome. Thank you, Jim, for sharing.

PEACHY GOOD PEACHES!

One of my favorite summer time treats is Southern Illinois peaches. And they grow some of the best peaches in this area that you can find anywhere in the country. Nothing can compare to biting into a big, ripe, juicy peach and savoring the sweet, juicy peach flavor. And, if conditions have been right for a good crop, peaches are bountiful in Southern Illinois for about a 6 to 8 week period of summer. A few of my favorite places to go to get ripe peaches are Lipe's Fruit Stand in Carbondale, The Carbondale Farmer's Market, and Flamm's Orchard near Cobden. At Flamm's Orchard, as well as shopping for peaches, you can also order up a nice big dish of home made Peach Cobbler with ice cream on site. What a summer treat to sit and savor the wonderful summer concoction at their picnic tables on their covered patio flanked by pretty summer vining flowers and hummingbirds. This year we had good peaches and the cobblers and fresh sliced peaches have been heavenly. I always try and get as many as I can while the getting is good. You just can't get enough of a good thing!

August 2009

OH, my blog!...One of the things I learned when updating my blog recently is not to procrastinate and try to post six month's worth of writings at one time. The reason is, each new post (or file) you write has a date assigned to it based on when you create the file. As I was catching up my writings while on vacation, I was creating new files at random as past events came to mind. And as one topic led to another thought, I was writing about things in no particular order. So what's the problem? When I tried to post them in date order by month, they wouldn't line up right...they would jump from March to July to May and so on. In order to get all my 'ducks in a row,' I had to copy and paste most of the stories back and forth into files that had dates that would line up correctly. I finally got it straightened out enough for the stories to appear in the blog in fairly good order. However, now my Archive for 2009 will not show any postings for several months because most of the stories carry July dates. I know this probably makes no sense to some and to others they are chuckling at my absurdity. Lesson learned...at least create a new file each month, so if I do fall back into my old habit of procrastination, I can catch up my blog in fine order! What is that saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"?