Good afternoon friends! This post is what bloggers sometimes refer to as “random.” Random is really not me. I typically have a theme…or at least a point. But today, I just wanted to share some summertime pictures on Gran Jan’s Joy. And since Gran Jan’s Joy is really a blog about the JOYS of my life, let me begin with my three grandblessings…
Here is my oldest grandchild, Zeke, who will be 2 next month. He is wearing a tee-shirt I gave him that says, “Got Biscuits?” Couldn’t you just squeeze him? He has beautiful long eyelashes and has begun praying out loud for us at mealtimes. Melts my heart every time.
Next is his baby sister, Madie Ruth, who is almost 10 weeks old. She is absolutely precious, a very sweet and laid-back baby. She was ready for a pool outing in this picture. She is beautiful and sleeps like a dream…
Below is my youngest grandchild, Jackson, who will be 2 months old the end of this week and is the cousin to the above two grandbabies. He has so much hair, and nary a bit of it is coming out! He is a beautiful baby and he and I were decked out in our red, white, and blue in this July 4th picture!
More random…One day last week my husband and I went to a Farmers Market about an hour “down the road.” It was a really fun day, and these are some pictures from going the back roads.
This is a huge truck/trailer load of watermelons fresh from the field. They were coming in by the droves. The town is Cordele, Georgia, known as “The Watermelon Capitol of the World.” Truly. I have never seen so many watermelons in my life, and we bought a HUGE seedless one for only $2.00! 
This is a huge fig bush/tree. Have you ever tasted old-fashioned fig preserves on a homemade buttered biscuit? My, my, my. Truly a Southern delicacy and so good! This huge bush was behind Calhoun Produce, where we bought some butter beans and crowder peas to put in our freezer. Nothing like fresh vegetables in the middle of the winter.
This is my sweet husband coming out of Calhoun Produce with the goods. He will also be willing to enjoy them when I cook them this fall and winter! He helped me with putting them in the freezer too. We had a wonderful day together. It is so nice when the agenda is light and easy. Good times for sure.
In case you’ve never seen a house with a silo in the front yard, here it is. Maybe this is an old family farm and they just couldn’t bear to take it down, I don’t know. But it was worthy of a picture. Well, this is a good old Georgia red-clay dirt road. I love a dirt road on a summer day, especially when it is DRY and has not been raining. Georgia red clay is something that even extra-action Tide has a hard time getting out of your clothes. (Especially if you are a little boy that likes to slide into home on a field of same said Georgia red clay. “Momma, don’t wash it out, it shows I was “in the game!'”)
I would have LOVED to go inside this beautiful old country home. Isn’t it amazing? It reminds me of that big old home in Little House on the Prairie. This one is a great example of Victorian (Queen Anne) architecture (1840-1890) and was in a little town called Unadilla. I even like the way that sounds…it is pronounced you-nah-dill-lah, emphasis on the third syllable. There you go!
This cotton field is directly across the street from my home and is part of a huge farm. I will take pictures and post them when the cotton blooms and is harvested. You will want to go watch “Gone With the Wind.”
This close-up of a cotton bloom shows how the bloom fades to this gorgeous rose color after it opens out so white. The field will be so beautiful when it is snowy white and full of cotton bolls as far as the eye can see. 
This is a half-bushel box of the sweetest Georgia peaches from right down the road in Peach County, Georgia. (Isn’t that sweet, peaches from Peach County?) These came from Lane Packing. It is a delightful place and if you are ever heading south on I-75 you should stop for lunch and a tour. I ended up with about 17 quart size bags in my freezer for peach cobbler. Click here for my peach cobbler recipe.
This is a picture of some squash pickles I made. They are sweet like old-fashioned bread and butter pickles. They turned out really well and look so colorful.
Well, that is about all the random I have for now. Hope you’ve enjoyed this “summer country living” post on Gran Jan’s Joy. The simple things in life are the most special to my heart. My family, the smiles of my grandblessings, the joy of God’s creation and the bounty of summer gardens. As my work week closes in and the pace quickens too much for my soul, I may just have to come back and enjoy these photos again. I hope you will too…
Abiding in Him,
John 15:5
You were down in my neck of the woods! Calhoun produce has some great stuff in the fall for kids — an antique tractor show I bet Zeke would love!
Jan, I LOVE randomness! Seems like it helps to get to really know what your life is like instead of just the pieces that you “plan” to write about. 🙂
So much of what you showed us was very familiar to me except from the Mississippi viewpoint. ha We have the red clay also in our area of north MS. Plus…we LIVE just off a dirt road….about 6 miles to the nearest blacktopped road. And I do like it better when it’s dry…except for the dust!….than when it’s muddy. We have several fig bushes in our yard and I’ve already put up some strawberry/fig preserves from them.
Surprise us with “randomness” again soon!
Marilyn…in Mississippi
Your grandchildren are ADORABLE! Oh my goodness! SO sweet! .. and that beautiful home… made my imagination just run wild! 🙂
Looking forward to reading more of your posts. So happy to find your blog today.
Blessings!
Melanie
~ melscoffeebreak.blogspot.com ~
Such familiar sights for me since I’m a Georgia gal as well! I live in Rochelle (Wilcox), work in Cordele, and my husband grew up around Unadilla. I’ve ridden by that beautiful old house many times over the years. I really wish someone would restore it…it’s too beautiful to just sit there.
Love looking at your pics of your grandbabies…they’re adorable 🙂
Lynn Langford
You’re blessed.
Happy blogoversary 🙂
You bring me so much JOY!!!!
Love you,
Yolanda
Jan, those babies are huggable. I always feel hungry when I visit your blog. Thanks for the Southern Grace. You are a dee-light! Emphasis on the first part of the word…
I feel like I spent a day down in Georgia!
Those peaches looked so delious I could almost smell them up here!
Our peaches we get up here in the store come from New Jersey…somehow that just doesn’t sound right even thought they taste alright. 🙂
Blessings,
michelle
Hi Jan!
Loved all your photos! What fun!
Yesterday my darling daughter helped me can tomatoes…. 54 pints, which we will use in spaghetti sauce and vegetable soup. I have a whole box of yellow squash that I don’t know what do with, so I think I will try squash pickles! Is the recipe the same as for regular bread and butter pickles, but just substituting squash for the cucumbers?
And I wanted to tell you that your peach cobbler recipe is the best ever! We loved it!
Hugs,
Adrienne
GranJan, THERE REALLY IS ANOTHER ONE!!!! LOL! SOOOO glad you found me and vice versa! Weirdest thing, ever, we also seem so very similiar!!! Loved that you wrote how to pronounce the city in Ga., I knew EXACTLY how to say it in my head,’cause I’m a ‘Bama girl and we Southern gals ALWAYS put emphasis on the middle parts of words! LOL!!!!…Your grands are beautiful and I am soooo impressed over your being in the cookbook b/c I LOVE those cookbooks!!! I have you in my “FAVS” and will be coming back often! Please come to my blog, often, too. We “SOUTHERN GRANJANS” need to stick together!
blessings and hugs!
Another GranJan <><
Ummm, need your squash pickle recipe, please. I just made some pepper relish that will be divine on soup beans this winter, but I’d love to do some squash pickles.
Yes, yes, the babies are precious. And I loved the south GA tour. Maybe I’ll have to do a north GA tour one of these days.
Leah
I’ve been to Atlanta once, a long time ago with my Daddy, but your post makes me want to get back there SOON! My grandmother had a fig tree in her backyard and she made delicious homemade fig preserves. She passed away 2 years ago last week actually but I have one jar of preserves left. I can’t bring myself to eat them yet. But they’re so good!
Oh my goodness, I think you did have a theme and a point to your post! Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed it very much!