Chill Out

January is a funny month, it's long but it's not my least favorite month in the year. The month of March often feels like ten Januarys and consequently is the month I most want a little getaway. Back to January... I think there's pressure to be productive this month. To look at the blank page before us and feel a surge of enthusiasm for cleaning, organizing, and embracing that out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new mentality in every area of one's life.  

Impossible to maintain for the next eleven months, but in January we are ever hopeful. 

Since I'm mid-office redo I've been forced to go through all my files and accumulated stacks and do some shredding and re-organizing. It feels good to thin the paper piles and start fresh. Hubs doesn't understand why there are still so many piles (there aren't!) but everything has to be looked at before it can be discarded. 

Because our project here required carpentry, painting, construction, and sanding there is mucho dust on every wall and surface. What better time for a whole house vacuum than January? Hubs likes to vacuum so even better. 

Painters left yesterday and their piece of the project is done. Next up is the electrician who will install lights in the stairs. Hopefully. We finally have the lights in hand and now just need to know where we land on his calendar. 

The lights probably should have gone in first,  but we weren’t sure we were ever going to get them so plan B. He thinks we can make it work this way too, 'since there's access'. 

Whatever that means? I'm more of a call me when it's all done kind of home improvement person, which works for us because hubs is the opposite and likes to drill down to the nth detail. Somebody needs to, right? 

Let's talk books.

I read more in January. Well in regular-ordinary years I read more in January. I don't know about you but I feel like my sense of concentration suffered during the 'Covid years' and it's just now getting back to what it was last century. 

My neighborhood book club just finished this month's selection-The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. A mostly pleasant read in spite of its WW2 setting. The plot centers around a cooking show that taught British homemakers how to make the most of their rations.That part of the storyline is true, but the contest added to the novel is complete fiction. 

There were lots of recipes sprinkled throughout the book and I made two of them for our get together on Tuesday-fruit scones and an apple honey cake. I did not make the sheep's head pie or the sardine rolls mentioned, and I also skipped the spam and game pie for reasons I don't need to explain. 

A friend loaned me my current read, The Winemaker's Wife, a novel by Kristen Harmel, plus I've started next month's book club book- Becoming Mrs. Lewis, a fictional account of the relationship between  C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman.

Lots of books to make January feel less January. 

I've also signed up for the Lifetime of Reading Challenge on Facebook (you'll find it on the Book Girl's Guide page), with a theme this year of different decades. This means we'll read a wide range of books featuring main characters of different age ranges. Sounds interesting and you can choose your own book or read one of their suggestions. 

I've chosen one of theirs for January, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which is actually a re-read for me. This was one of my favorite books as a young girl and I've wanted to re-read it for ages. January seems like a good time. 

If books aren't your thing, how about puzzles? I was given three puzzles for Christmas and hubs is helping with the first one. It's the University of Tennessee stadium on football Saturday, and you know what that means? It means the whole puzzle is orange and white. Yikes! I told hubs he has to help because his sister gave it to us. We're making progress and if we ever get it together we might frame this one to hang in the pool room. 

If books aren't your thing and puzzles aren't your thing how about TV? We might be the last people to the party, but we're finally watching The Sopranos. We're only in to Season 2, and it's definitely gritty so not for everyone, but we're hooked. I grew up in NJ and hubs and I lived there twice during our married life so we're loving the backdrop. 

Books, puzzles, TV binging, home improvement and icy temps. That about sums up January. We have snow in the weekend forecast which seems ridiculous because we rarely get snow, but apparently we are getting a little snow. Hubs would be happy to never see another flake, but I miss an occasional snowfall so hoping the weather forecaster is correct. They're wrong sometimes ya know-ha! 

Happy Januarying to you all! 

A Garden State Hodgepodge

I've had my share of of travel frustrations and snafus this past week, but I did finally make it home last night. Just in time for the Wednesday Hodgepodge! If you've answered the questions on your own blog, add your link at the end of my post then leave a comment for the blogger linking before you. Now put your seat backs up and be sure your tray tables are stowed because we're off-

  

1. Security or freedom? Can you have both? Explain.

Absolutely. I think maybe a better question would be can you have freedom without security?

2. If you could visit any historical American site what would it be? Why?

I’ve seen a number of what would be considered the top historical sites in America, but I’d still like to visit Mt Rushmore and Pearl Harbor. I think Mt. Rushmore is something that must be seen in person to truly be appreciated and of course Pearl Harbor is significant in our country's history. I like history. 

3. Free as a bird, free reign, be free of, free enterprise, free trip, walk away scot free, free for all...which 'free' phrase can best be applied to your life in recent days or weeks? Explain.

Well I’ve been on two American Airline flights this week and am happy to be free of that airline for a while. One cancelled flight rebooked a day later, eight hours sitting in an airport waiting on the newly booked flight which was delayed-delayed-delayed, then more sitting in the airport on the return leg, again waiting-waiting-waiting on delay-delay-delay. 

4. Something in your frig that's red? Something in your house that's white? Something in your view that's blue?

Something in my frig that's red-salsa.

Something in my house that's white-call me crazy but I do have a white couch. Two actually. 

Something blue in my view-there are certain times of day when the lake looks green, but mostly it's clear blue in color.  I guess technically it’s just clear, but it definitely looks blue.

5. July 27th is National New Jersey Day. Have you ever visited The Garden State? If so where did you go? Are there diners where you live? Have you tried Taylor Pork Roll? Do you like to play Monopoly? Salt water taffy-yay or nay? How do you feel about shopping at the mall? Springsteen, Sinatra, or Bon Jovi-you have to pick one.

I’ve lived in NJ three different times and as a result have spent almost half my life in the Garden State. She gets a bad rap, but there’s much to love there too. In fact I was in NJ last week visiting family so NJ is one of the places I feel most at home. 

We do have a little restaurant here in tiny town that bills itself as a diner, but it’s nothing like the diners I’m used to. If you're in NJ you must eat at a diner. The menus are the size of a novel and there is definitely something for everyone anytime of the day or night. I miss NJ diners. 

I’ve tried Taylor pork roll or Taylor ham as it’s also known. There's a bit of controversy as to which name is the right one. 

I don’t dislike Monopoly, but I have to be in the mood to play that game.  

Salt water taffy? Yes please. 

I’m not a big mall shopper anymore, but there was a time I enjoyed it. These days I prefer stand alone stores with parking out front. Or online shopping in my pjs. 

Silly question-the Boss of course. 

Raise your hand if you know why these add-on questions are appropriate on National NJ Day.

For anyone scratching their head...NJ has more diners than anywhere else in the world, and more shopping malls in one area than anywhere in the world with seven malls in a 25-mile radius. Taylor pork roll and Salt Water Taffy originated in N.J. The streets of Monopoly take their name from Atlantic City and Springsteen, Sinatra, and Bon Jovi are all Jersey boys.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I need to regroup here a little bit (or maybe a lot), and since next week's Hodgepodge lands on the 4th of July I think we'll declare that our summer holiday. No Hodgepodge next week (July 4th), then we'll be back in action the following week-July 11th. 




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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 357

Another week, another Hodgepodge. That's all the blogging I've had room for lately, but maybe it's better than nothing? I have lots to catch up on here, but for now this will have to suffice. Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the universe.

Here we go-

1. Security or freedom? Can you have both? Explain.

2. If you could visit any historical American site what would it be? Why?

3. Free as a bird, free reign, be free of, free enterprise, free trip, walk away scot free, free for all...which 'free' phrase can best be applied to your life in recent days or weeks? Explain.

4. Something in your frig that's red? Something in your house that's white? Something in your view that's blue?

5. July 27th is National New Jersey Day. Have you ever visited The Garden State? If so where did you go? Are there diners where you live? Have you tried Taylor Pork Roll? Do you like to play Monopoly? Salt water taffy-yay or nay? How do you feel about shopping at the mall? Springsteen, Sinatra, or Bon Jovi-you have to pick one.

Raise your hand if you know why these add-on questions are appropriate on National NJ Day.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Home Sweet Home

Day 5-Home

I scrolled back through my dashboard, because I knew I'd written on this very word several times in the course of blogging. As it turns out, I've tagged 775 blog posts with the label 'home', so obviously its a topic near and dear to my writer's heart.

I started thinking about why that is, and I guess it's because at the age of 55 nowhere and everywhere can feel like home. I've been meeting people in this new little town we presently call home, and I'm realizing my girls and I have something in common.

I'm stumped for an answer when asked 'where are you from?'

Where am I from? Am I from New Jersey? We moved here from NJ so there's that. Plus I spent all of my elementary, middle, and high school years in NJ, which means a fair chunk of my life has been marked there.

Hubs and I had another five year stint in NJ when our now grown up girls were just the cutest little tots on the planet, so yes NJ feels like home.

I went to college in East Tennessee and it was there I fell in love with the mountains and a boy named hubs. When we visit family or travel back to meet up with college friends in the Volunteer State I feel very much at home.

We were newlyweds in the early 80's and there was a radio ad with a little chorus that went something like, 'Ain't no place I'd rather be...home's the only place for me...hello Knoxville, hello Tennessee.'

It's quite possible I still bust that out every single time we cross the state line.

Then there's Maryland. We spent nine magical years living beside the Bay. Water always and forever whispers home to me, and Maryland is where my tiny tots grew into their elementary and tween years. The minutes there, they were golden.

Hubs and I always get quiet when we drive across the bridge that takes us into Annapolis. It positively slays me, and if it's a brilliant blue sky sunny day forget it. I've been known to shed a tear at the beauty and the memory and the sunlight sparkling on the water that says welcome home.

Can you call a country not your own home?

Yes. A thousand times yes. In a funny hard to put into words way there's no place I've lived that's felt more like home than the other side of the pond. No other place God's led me where He's spoken more into my life than in those England years.

I  learned more about myself in a village not my own than any where else on earth. My tiny tots were teenagers there, and in those years of growing, adventuring, traveling, missing, yearning, and embracing, our hearts were knit together in a way far sweeter than anything I could have asked for or imagined.

I've been a resident of South Carolina now for 58 days, and it's home. I might be living for the time being in an apartment filled with rented knives and forks, but still it's home.

Because we'll make it so.

Home is about so much more than your address...

...home is where your heart is and today my heart is here.

Mishmash

Just a mishmash of things because that's how life feels at the moment. Very mishmash. Like why won't this first line of text move to the left? 

1. Power was restored here yesterday afternoon so whoohoo!

2.  The hydrangeas everywhere you look are absolutely gorgeous this year. More gorgeous than other years it seems so maybe they love an Arctic winter.

In times of transition it's so easy to get bogged down in the negative. I'm a naturally optimistic soul, but even an optimist can struggle with the in-between seasons of life. Hydrangeas are not small dainty blooms. They're big and bold and in your face, demanding you look up and take notice and most every yard in my mom's neighborhood seems to have at least one bush.

When I see the huge bursts of blue and purple loveliness I remember that God is also big and bold...that if I just look up I'll see He's in complete control of where and how I bloom too.

3.  I've been power walking the streets of my childhood most mornings and am reminded of how much I loved growing up here. Neatly trimmed lawns, the elementary school tucked right in amongst the houses, mothers pushing strollers and walking dogs.

The sound of a mower and the scent of freshly cut grass. Does anything whisk you back to childhood quicker than the scent of freshly mown grass? I pass kids riding their bikes to the pool, and remember so well the freedom of my childhood. How I roamed these streets with one friend or a pack of ten, and how a summer day felt like forever.

I'm so thankful for the safe place I called home, for the love and security I was given as a child, and for the freedom to grow up with wide eyed wonder and innocence.  I know not everyone can say that and I don't take it for granted.

4.  This mug belonged to my dad more than 20 years ago, and whenever we'd visit hubs would eye it with envy. Now he's totally legit.

5. My girl loves her some fro yo.

6. Okay, six things.

I need to write about how I can't write, at least not in the way I normally do on this side of the pond. I have no routine here, I'm wearing the same thing every three days because our clothes are a disorganized jumble, paperwork is tucked into bags and pulled out in an attempt to get it together, and just aaaagh!! I'm a person who has always needed space and right now there isn't any. Not the literal kind or more importantly, not the figurative kind either. That's the one I really crave.

I know it's a season and a short one at that. I also know there are lessons to be learned in the waiting, in transition, in time spent here at my mom's and I feel like I'm failing the class. Writing is sometimes just a dumping ground for the day's nonsense, but often it's the place I put my thoughts for processing and making sense of them. When you fall off the writing wagon it's hard to climb back on.

Diving back in after ignoring my blog for a week at a time feels a little bit like joining a movie already in progress. When I write I tend to want all the parameters set perfectly in place before I pick up the pen (mouse). I'm realizing in this particular season that might not be possible.

So here I am, writing a bunch of blobbityblahblahblah, and you know it feels good. Not as good as when I'm organized and clear headed, but it's a start and it's something and sometimes a less than perfect something is better than a nothing.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Where is Thomas Edison When You Need Him

So I'm attempting to blog from my iPad and it's not going well which is how it usually goes when I blog from my iPad. Not well. I'm also in a busy public library taking advantage of their wifi and basic electricity because we are on Day 3 of no power at my mom's house. Pesky storm.

Tuesday evening we were on our way to meet my brother for some delicious Indian food, which btw hubs and I had been looking forward to all day, when the weather alert on my phone began buzzing furiously-Tornado Warning!! Seek shelter immediately!! The sky was growing darker and greener by the minute and there was crazy scary lightening striking every which way, and then my brother phoned and said they were heading to their basement and we better pull over and stay put.

There happened to be a Walgreens Drug Store on the corner so we pulled in and very nearly blew away running the long five feet into the store just as the skies let loose in a powerful way. Do you know what I observed about Walgreens as we hid from the storm? Walgreens loves windows and has a lot of them. A lot a lot. As in the whole complete entire front of the store. We moved to the pharmacy in back which was better and waited out the warning for the next thirty minutes.

The worst of it blew on by so we headed on to the restaurant because it would take more than a tornado to keep us from our Indian food. Driving home most traffic lights were out, and pulling into the neighborhood we realized the power was out there too. We figured it would return sometime during the night, but sadly that was not to be.

Small problem(s) in the neighborhood.

There's another pole just like this one down a few feet further so yeah, it's Thursday and still no power. There were trucks on site today so here's hoping!

We woke up Wednesday morning to the sound of my moms neighbor pounding on the door at 8 a.m. That's a little early for company except bless his sweet thoughtful heart, he'd driven three towns over in search of an open shop and was holding a carton of hot Krispy Kreme coffee in his hands for us to share.

And just like that, the world felt less harsh. May there be small kindnesses in your day too. 

Moving into the Weekend

The packers have been here all day and my house is a complete jumble so of course blogging makes perfect sense.  I have about a dozen lists going just now, so what's one more?

1.  Seeing some of the items going into boxes reminds me I really should have been more ruthless in getting rid of a few things, particularly in the kitchen. One poor packer has been wrapping dishes the whole ding dong day.

Actually there were two of them wrapping dishes most of the day, but I'm pretty sure the #2 guy couldn't take it anymore so he moved on to the picture frames.

2. I might have too many dishes.

3. And picture frames.

4. That's the kind of thing I'll worry about on the other end.

5. Except all of our belongings are going to storage, so I probably should have worried a little more on this end.

6. Oh well.

7. In cleaning out drawers and closets and cupboards I have come across approximately 45 keys, 1001 paper clips, and at least fifteen eyeglass cleaner cloths. We won't discuss the envelopes, pens, or hole punchers.

8.  Neither hubs nor I can figure out what any of these keys lock or unlock. Most likely they belong to lock boxes we no longer own, luggage long since retired, garages in homes sold in decades past, gym lockers in gyms we no longer visit, and your guess is as good as mine.

9.  We did find the key to our desk so not a total wash.

10. We rented an apartment today. Hello 1984! That's the last time I rented an apartment, back when hubs and I were newlyweds. We'll be cozy this next year-ha! I'm excited though, because guess who is going to be my neighbor?

Daughter2!

She's excited too, mostly because she's a teacher and Monday is the last day of the school year, but also because her momma is going to be nearby for a change. Hello 2008! That's the last time I lived less than 700 miles from my girl. I feel sure I'll have more to say about this another day.

11. So in that way we like to do things, which is complicated and everything all at once...the a.c. on my car has been acting up. Third summer in a row which is super annoying. We've made two big expensive repairs the past two summers, but now they are saying it's a-nother bigger expensive part that needs replacing. Hubs called me from the dealer and asked how I felt about a trade in today.

Whaaaat? Is he serious? He was serious. Did he forget we were moving today? Isn't that enough for one day?

Yes. It is.

Even my pup says so, and she should know...

...she's an old hand at this move stuff.

Long Story Short

I am not a Saturday blogger. Saturdays are for other things, but I know me and skipping a letter in the A-Z challenge would make me twitch so I'm going to eke out something about something. 

J is for  New Jersey

Home. The place I grew up and the place I raised toddlers and the place we've come back to as 'empty nesters'. As an aside-I'm not a fan of the term 'empty nest'. Firstly it's depressing, and secondly it makes us sound old. And dull. 

We are not old. 

Not that there's anything wrong with old, it's just that we're not there yet. 

And we're definitely not dull. 

Now back to New Jersey. She gets a bad rap. About some things. 

Some of what you hear isn't too far off the mark. 

This is my third time round the Garden State. My parents moved to NJ when I was in Kindergarten and, long story short they stayed. I grew up in a neighborhood with sidewalks and street lights and lots of kids. Where you could ride your bike to the pool or the duck pond and catch fireflies in your own backyard on warm summer nights. 

It was a pretty great place to be a kid. 

I moved south for college. Upon setting my feet in East Tennessee I found my accent and my inner southern girl and pretty soon thereafter, a southern boy. I married him. The south is my adopted home.

In that funny way life has of twisting and turning, we moved back to my earlier homeland, aka NJ, when Daughter1 was a year old. Hubs corporate headquarters were located in NJ, so we always knew it was a possibility. 

We were young and poor. Poor by NJ standards-ha! What you've heard about the ridiculous cost of living here is correct. It is indeed ridiculous. So we bought a house a long way from the office, and we had another baby and we lived on love and macaroni. We called NJ home for five whole years. 

We went on to move and then move again and long story short, we moved back to NJ after six years abroad. Re-entry was brutal. 

We've almost recovered. 

It's been a crazy five+ years in this thing I'll go ahead and call the empty nest. Mostly it feels like we've spent a lot of time schlepping. Our families are scattered and our children live in two different states, now in two different parts of the country, so planes trains and automobiles have been a big part of this season. 

Such is life in the modern world. When our girls were little hubs used to try to convince them we should all live on a compound one day.

Long story short, we don't. 

Which brings me to now. We've stuck our big toe into the retirement pond, and we're figuring out what's next. We've always had a plan and also a dream. That plan and that dream were not set in the Garden State, so long story short we're headed back south. 

The south also gets a bad rap. About some things. 

Some of what you hear isn't too far off the mark.  

I'll talk about the move south another day, but right now you're wondering if I'll miss NJ? 

My answer is yes. 

If there's one thing I've learned in making a bunch of moves, it's that there's always something to miss. On the bright side, there's also always something I'm happy to leave behind. On the front end of a move, I think it's best to focus on the latter, but for the sake of this post how about a list of the other, ala stream of consciousness?

What will I miss about NJ?

I still have family here

my backyard in October

sunrise from my front porch

the view of the mountains as you come up the hill 

my hawk, our deer, mama fox tending her kits, and a black bear lumbering up the drive

my next door neighbor and friends a street over

my women's Bible Study

my hairdresser

hubs work peeps-some of them are my peeps too

my doctor

my boot camp experience

my neighborhood book club

the friendly gal who works the counter at my dry cleaners

Italian food on every corner

good bagels

breakfast at the diner

and New York City a short car ride away

There's more, but that's a snapshot. 

If you had to move tomorrow what would you miss?

Also, we are not moving tomorrow. We still have a house to sell. I'm not making a list of what I won't miss but if I were, selling a house would definitely be on it!

Back to the Future

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions, you'll find them here. 

It always takes me about three quarters of the challenge to figure out how to manage the Hodgepodge and the alphabet in the same week. Since I host a meme here on Wednesdays that I try my best to keep going during the month of April, and since I post questions for that meme on Tuesdays, I struggle a little with where to incorporate the letter of the day.

If I were organized I'd have my posts pre-scheduled and would have somehow inserted today's letter F into the Hodgepodge questions I posted earlier. Sadly I'm not at the top of my blogging game, so a separate post it is.

Also, I'm not sure why I felt the need to explain all that but chalk it up to my DNA, which is perhaps a post for another time.

F is for Flux

The weather is depressing here today. Just gonna say it. We've had a serious shortage of sunshine this winter and today I'm feeling it. I have to give myself a pep talk on days like today, where the skies are an unrelenting shade of gray. Makes me want to curl up on the couch and count the days til Spring.

-22. That's how many days til spring. Hmmm....

Hubs and I went for a walk in a nearby nature preserve this morning. It's good to walk and remember change comes eventually. That we move from a state of flux to one of motion. There are days I want to hurry the future into the present, but winter weather doesn't work that way.

Neither does life.

In thinking about how I feel and write on the subject of change, it occured to me that most of my thoughts run along the lines of resist and avoid.

Springtime days that look like winter remind me change is sometimes longed for too.

Just Write. And Also Maybe Wedding Post 10.

Time for a blog post.  A regular ole what's been happening around here kind of blog post. The kind I haven't done in months. A lot has been happening around here, and I really dislike when a blogger says they have all kinds of big things happening in their life, but they aren't ready to blog about them yet.

We have all kinds of big things happening in our life, but I'm not ready to blog about them yet.

Haters gonna hate, right? I'm mulling over the notion of somehow saving it all for the A-Z challenge, but that's not til April, and I'm not sure I can keep quiet that long. We'll find out I guess. The problem is, when big stuff is going on and you aren't ready to blog about it, blogging becomes so tricky. You end up yammering on and on about inconsequential things like the weather.

The weather!! y'all. Not for the faint of heart in the great northeast this winter. Of course it could be worse. We could be further north-ha! Things were chugging along just fine until late January, and then kaboom. Snow! Ice! Snow and ice!

For the record, I'm not a fan of ice. Our little town deals with snow quite effectively, even large amounts of snow. Ice is another story though, and there's only so much you can do when you've got inches of ice coating your steps and patio.  Hubs does his best to keep up with it, but we could surely use some bright sunshine and warmer temps. It's currently 9 degrees and gusty here, so melting is not happening.  At all.

Something I love about winter? Footprints and glitter. Sunshine has been in short supply here in recent weeks, but when it shines our snow covered yard looks like a small child has been see free with a sprinkle can full of glitter. So pretty!

We can see exactly where the deer, coyote, and bear trek, and we've been watching our little fox as she slinks about looking for food. Hubs spotted her just the other evening with a rabbit in her mouth as she made a beeline for her warm cozy nest in the woods on our side hill.

The trees may be bare this time of year, but life carries on.

Hubs and I stayed in for Valentine's Day and cooked dinner together. We enjoy celebrating in this way, and while I did most of the prep, hubs did most of the cooking. We make a good team.

We made a recipe I'd seen on the Williams Sonoma site-Seared Scallops with Warm Shredded Brussel Sprouts and Prosciutto. Really good, and something I'd make again.

Here's some big news I can talk about. Big news as far as we're concerned anyway, you all may be a little wedding-weary by now. We got our pictures back from the wedding photographer and to quote my grandma, 'Oh my stars!'...they're heavenly. I don't know how to begin choosing a favorite because they're all my favorite. I'm overwhelmed by how exactly to go about sharing.

How about I just share?

photo credit: Chris Isham Photography

My daughter posted the link to the whole lot on her Facebook page, but I've just shared a few on mine
so far. I might make an album to post with some of my favorites, but since they're all my favorites I'm going to have to give that some thought.

I'm sure you'll see some here. ahem.

photo credit: Chris Isham Photography

This picture was taken just before we climbed into the limo for our ride to the church. Don't let gray skies and a little drizzle spoil your day because I'm pretty sure gray skies actually make for better photographs. I love the lighting here, the pop of color, the gorgeous flowers, and most of all, how happy we look. I remember the sense of anticipation we were feeling in this moment. Mostly though, I  I remember the love, so palpable it seemed like you could reach out and grab it.  

And we did.

Rest.

We're having a spectacular fall. The leaves are mostly off the trees in our back woods, but there are still pockets of color around town.  

In some ways they're more beautiful because they're rare. Hubs snapped this picture on his weekend run around the lake-

I thought it looked like he'd put the photo through one of those apps that make your pictures look like paintings, but this is the real deal. No filter. 

Sunday afternoon we took a walk in a nearby park. There's a small airfield here and we sat for a while watching planes take off and land. 

They come in and out over water and you can sit pretty close to the field. 

Hello-

 Everyone found it interesting.

What's an afternoon spent outdoors without a selfie?

Or a mushroom four times the size of a boot?

It felt good to walk. To breathe in the fresh autumn air, and soak up the golden gold sunshine, and savor a day that was made to be savored. No doing.

Just being.

"Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness."

~George MacDonald

Freaky Friday Fragments

Happy Halloween! I saw an ad for Best Buy last night while watching The Biggest Loser, and while they didn't say ho-ho-ho or the ever popular 'happy holidays', there were Christmas lights twinkling, snow falling and the sound of bells in the background. On October 30th. They didn't even wait for Halloween.

Our local supermarket is also confused, and it seems they've kind of just waved the white flag on this whole holiday season. In a single aisle you can find Halloween candy on one side, Christmas lights and assorted decor on the facing side, and running down the middle are Thanksgiving napkins and turkey related paper goods.

One question-why???? I just do not understand why this is necessary in October. Christmas especially, but even Thanksgiving is late this year. We have a solid month to shop?? for Thanksgiving once Halloween ends, so why???

Hunting was a theme in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. It's funny how strongly people feel about hunting. Most hunters I know are the most responsible of gun owners, and most eat what they kill. With all the talk of hormones and gobbledy-gook injected into our food, hunting is truly getting back to basics. You know where your meat comes from if you hunt.

Unless we're all going vegetarian, our meat is killed in some form or fashion, oftentimes much less humanely than by a hunter's bow or bullet. I think the 'gun debate' in our country has lost all perspective. I'm still waiting for a real discussion about the mental health crisis in our country which, if not at the root of our most recent tragedies, is certainly a factor in nearly all of them.

In happier news I had a facial yesterday. I need to have my skin looking ten years younger by January-ha! Is that possible? I'll let ya know.

I fi-na-lly got Daughter1's car booked with a mover. You're relieved I know. Getting a car from the East Coast to the West Coast within a very narrow window of time has been a teensy tiny bit stressful. But!...her belongings and her vehicle will be collected next week and on their way. I'm pretty sure I'll sleep easier once this portion of the 'wedding planning' is behind us.

Lastly, this video surfaced on YouTube and is making its way round social media. This occurred just up the road so to speak, not far from the mall where I shop, a couple of little towns over from where I live. Hubs and I saw something very similar in our backyard the first year we lived here. The bears reminded us of the way brothers sometimes wrestle. Experts consulted believe the two in the video were likely worked up about a girl-bear. Anyway, it's a pretty incredible snapshot of suburban NJ wildlife. Creation never ceases to amaze-

If you've got fragments from your week to share, hop over to Half Past Kissin' Time and add your link to the party. Enjoy your Friday everyone!

And Merry Christmas! Happy Halloween! Don't eat too much turkey!

October Goodness

The thermometer on my car read 37 degrees when I left for boot camp this morning. And it seems like almost overnight (no pun intended) the mornings are pitch black. It takes a little more umph to get up and out from under my toasty covers, but then I remember my m.o.b. dress and that pretty much does it.

Plus when you're up and out early you get to see this...

That's sunrise for those of you who sleep til 9.
Does anyone actually sleep til 9?

It was another beautiful fall weekend in our neck of the woods.

I love October.

When I let the pup out on Saturday morning it was gusty, and FYI-here's why they call it 'fall'.

I don't know if that's true or not, but it seems like it should be. Hubs will twitch from now until every last leaf is down. We have millions, and he doesn't like to see so much as a single one lying on the grass. A typical conversation when we pull in to the driveway after being out for a few hours goes something like this-

Hubs- 'Look at the mess on the yard!'
I spy three leaves and say, 'What mess???'
to which he replies, 'All those leaves, just look at all those leaves.'

Nature you mean?  If he had his way our lawn guys would do a fall clean up three times a week. Shh...don't tell hubs, but I love a windy day when the leaves swirl. Our back woods are positively dancing right now, and I try to soak it all in because in another month these trees will be bare. That's pretty in its own way, but cannot compare to a forest of October trees.

Hubs was traveling last week so we had a quiet evening at home Friday night.  It was just the right kind of weather for a fire out back...

...and maybe a marshmallow or two.  So glad I married a boy scout. 

For the record, I was a camp counselor and can build a pretty mean fire too, but no need when hubs is home. I think a love of fire is present at birth, part of a little boy's DNA they never quite outgrow.

We spent all day Saturday at the 94th running of the Far Hills Horse Race. It's a steeplechase and a really fun day. Judging from my hair you might think I was actually riding, but no...just a very breezy day.

We were in a corporate tent with a great viewing spot, beautiful decor, a delicious breakfast and lunch, and the added perk of our own restroom. Port-a-pottys are for the young, drunk, or desperate and we were none of those on Saturday.

The temperature dropped on Sunday and we watched a lot of football from the comfort of our cozy couch. Shout out to our favorite Tennessee VOL Peyton Manning, for throwing TD # 509, and breaking the NFL record held by Brett Favre. Whoohoo! We won't even mention here the current Volunteer team's performance on Saturday. ahem.

So, what happened in your little corner this weekend, and most importantly, are the trees showing off? Are you happy to live in a world with Octobers?