Minor Tasks on Blackberry Homestead

November 20, 2025

On Monday (November 17), I unboxed the art we had used in the RV. I started putting it up. I’ll take pictures once it is all up. I hung up the crystal we bought at the Waterford Glass factory in the south-facing window so it would glitter in the sun. I love to see the rainbows it casts.

I worked on my picture of Juneau.

On the right side of the picture is a piece of paper. I use the paper to tell what the hardness of my pencils look like and to help keep my arm from smudging the picture.

Bruce came in and asked if I would like to go for a walk. I felt I was at a good stopping point and agreed to go for a walk. Nox was happy to go outside and lie in the sunshine, while we looked at the pile of leaves Bruce swept up while I was drawing.

Nox followed us back into the back pasture. At some point, I am going to start calling it the orchard.

Tuesday (November 18), was my birthday. I was lazy and Bruce joined me in my laziness. After looking at the big branch from the big pine that fell into poison ivy, Bruce carried it down by the ditch for the garbage pickup.

Bruce took me out for dinner at “The Woods at River Road.” While they have a limited menu, their ribeye steak and pork chop ribeye are delicious. I also enjoy their spicy pepper jack cheese sticks. For sides, we upcharged to a Caesar salad for one of the two sides. I got the standard baked potato with lots of butter and sour cream for my other side. For Bruce’s second side, he ordered the loaded baked potato for an upcharge. After saving off half the meat and potatoes, I was ready for dessert. I enjoyed the New York style cheesecake topped with a raspberry purée. Delicious!

Yesterday (November 19), we met up with a friend for lunch in Huntsville, AL. We had a great time talking. He had just retired the week before. He was telling us about how strange it was. I agreed with him. We talked about it for a while. I told him my experience with retirement, while he described his experience so far. Once we realized the restaurant was closing, our friend suggested we go see the Oakwood University cemetery. He mentioned there was a slave cemetery.

The cemetery is affiliated with Oakwood College. One of the most impressive women buried there was Eva B. Dykes. She was the first African American woman to get a Ph.D. She received her Ph.D from Radcliffe. She served as the chair of the English Department and the Division of Humanities at Oakwood College. I was not taking pictures while we looked at the various headstones.

We said goodbye and I got a hug while Bruce for a handshake. Bruce and I went to Coasto and shopped.

On the way home, the sunset was so beautiful. The sun was a big ball of color sinking behind the grey clouds with streaks of red-orange.

Please excuse the first picture. My camera focused on the truck’s dashboard instead of the sunset.

Nox was very happy to see us. We took her outside first thing. She kept trying to get underfoot as we brought in the groceries.

Since we were gone so long, Nox peed in the dining room. We fully realize it was our fault for not being home sooner. She is old and can not hold it like she could when younger. I am glad we don’t have carpet in the dining room. We didn’t scold her since she knew it wasn’t something she should do. I now wish we had trained her with pee pads so she would have a place to go inside when we are gone so long. (What a run-on sentence!)