September

Sunflowers always make me think of September. Their beautiful big colorful heads and bright colors say fall in a big way. September is a month of birthdays in my family. My two sisters and I were all born in September. But today, September 11th, is remembered for a different reason. Everyone will remember where they were on that fatal day when the Twin Towers fell. That was my last year of teaching and I watched while my students were attending a special class. It was so shocking that I didn’t think my students in third grade should be watching it so during the day I’d get reports and during lunch I watched what was happening. We were all unsure of what would happen next and unbelieving that something of this scale could happen in our country. It gave us a new respect for firefighters and first responders who put their lives before others. Take a moment today to say a quiet prayer that this will never happen again in our country.

How’s your day?

Hope your day is going fine. Don and I are still laying low, nursing our colds. Sadie on the other hand has been full of trouble. She decided there was a chipmunk hiding under my flower box by the addition and proceeded to dig up the whole box tearing out all the herbs and flowers. And to make matters worse the french doors were open and she trotted through the house with her muddy, dirty paws and jumped all over my living room couch. Luckily I had a couch cover (I’m no fool), but it had to be put in the wash and Sadie into the bathtub….bad Sadie!!

Life goes on

Life goes on and tomorrow is another day.

I blinked

What happened to Monday and Tuesday? I blinked and they went by and it’s Wednesday night already. It’s looking very much like Autumn with a temperature of 62 and cloudy.
  Yesterday was perm day and then to the doctor to find out that I have thrush in my mouth..again. Yikes! The mouth rinse is helping but it’s very tender, red, and irritated in there. Then tonight Don started feeling badly with a cold. So we are both down and out.
 
Don’t you love the devil look in Sara’s eyes in this picture. She had discovered Chris’ suitcase. And, of course, she had to start pulling all the clothes out.
Mom just laughed as she grabbed every piece of clothing and proceeded to dump them on the floor. “Ok, Sara, that’s enough”, says Chris.


  

This could be the start of something good.

Ah, this weather is more like it. Yesterday the temperature hit the nineties and I was inside most of the day. Today it was cooler and I was able to do some weeding and cleaning off the courtyard.
   I’m still playing around with Photoshop. Thanks to Rita at the Coffeeshop blog I learned a great shortcut that is making my life so much simpler. Sometimes all it takes is someone who can give you what you need. Her blog is full of detailed instructions on how to use the free actions that she provides. Here is something I made today.

Q & A

Q: What do you do when you can’t sleep because you ate a chocolate fudge bar at nine o’clock and it’s now one in the morning?

A: Play on the computer with Photoshop

Moonflower

This is the prolific but unyielding moonflower. The vine is growing and prospering but has not one bud. I was looking forward to seeing this plant bloom in the moonlight, but so far……..nada.
The tiny purple flowers and the dusty miller make a cool combination.
They have filled up the area around the lightpole.
My new camera can take a panoramic view.

Last night Don and I took a walk over to the Willow Dale Cemetery to see how the pond is filling up. For years this pond has been full of dirt and overgrown with weeds. Thanks to one persistent citizen who wouldn’t give up until he got permission to make it new again we will have a lovely pond once more.

I love how the sun is shining into the kitchen.
Today I weeded out this herb garden mess. This is the before picture. I was too hot to take an after. This area has become so overgrown with pineapple sage, lavender and thyme. I need to transplant and get this under control……help, Becky! (my gardener guru)
Sadie’s on bear watch. A few weeks ago a big black bear walked up between the houses and right along our fence to the woods. I feel so much safer now that we have the fence. He did once or twice break through it but I think by now he’s given it up.

 

 

September

A little twinge of sadness
When Summer disappears
But Autumn brings new gladness
And joys this time of year.

Elise Natalie Brady

Sniff…….sigh….. even though it was 80 degrees out today, don’t be fooled. Summer is trying to hang on but we all know what is right around the corner. We see signs. Everywhere we look we see apple trees hanging full with fruit. And now and then a colored leaf. The summer flowers are looking spent and drooping their heads. Football games can be seen on tv.
   Don’t you know…fall is on the way. Although it is a favorite season of mine I’m not in any hurry to see it come. I love the colors of fall…the cinnamon oranges, the browns and golden yellows. I love the crisp air and the painted hills. I love the nubby sweaters and tightly wrapped scarves. The orange and new white pumpkins. The bright mums. The smell of hot apple cider.
   But you know…it can stay away for a few more weeks and that would be all right with me. 

  

Quotes I like

More photos from Tennessee

Sara’s first birthday

This is called a “smash cake” down south. It’s the baby’s own layer to eat or smash as she chooses. Sara hasn’t had sweets and really didn’t know what to do with it so she had fun playing in it.



It was so much fun buying girl’s clothes for a change. She will look so cute in this. These are some others I bought here. You can see the theme is pink and black. I especially love the zebra striped jacket.

Texture Tuesday

It’s Tuesday again and this week Kim Klassen’s theme is “orange”. Ryan had quite a prolific garden this summer. He enjoyed going down to the patch and bringing back buckets of tomatoes, peppers and squash. He loves to work in the dirt. He takes after my father in that regard.

Home again

Please ignore the previous post. I was in Tennessee and thought I could post using the old system which obviously didn’t work. Today is Monday and we are back home again after visiting my grandchildren and celebrating Sara’s first birthday. Pictures will follow when I get some time to edit them. Don bought me a new camera for my birthday and I got carried away and took over 300 photos. Whoops!
  One of the things we did was take Sara to get a pair of shoes. She is just beginning to walk and thinks she is so big! She also discovered her image in the mirror. Sara's Nana Ginger was there too to see baby get her first pair of shoes.

Precious Moments

New England Vacation

What a beautiful week to spend in Massachusetts! We began our trip on Monday by driving to our niece's home in Douglas. Cally and her husband Steve welcomed us with open arms. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner grilled by Steve and then settled down for the night. Their dog Cashmere was an Akita and quite large.


On Tuesday morning we left to spend the day in Boston. It is a metropolis and had crowds of people and traffic.

Our first stop was to ride the duck boats that I had heard so much about.











We took this shuttle from the pier over to the other side of town by the USS Constitution to get on the boat/bus.
On the hour and a half tour we rode around Boston hearing the history of the city and then we plunged down a ramp into the water and had a guided tour of the harbor.