Happy Fall

Another season change and this is my favorite.  I'm over the hot and humid days we had all summer.  It's not always that bad and I think part of my struggle this year was the absence of the pool.  It was a good pool season but I survived and now I'm loving the cooler temps that moved in Saturday.  It was such a typical Fall looking day with clouds and cool breezes.  Last night the temps were in the 40's.  Yep, loving it.   Just to make it really seem like Fall, Jack and I went to a favorite festival of ours.  The Prairie Peddler festival is usually the first 2 weekends in October but was changed this year to this weekend and next weekend.  Yesterday was the perfect day for us.  I was hoping the cool temps and threat of a shower would keep folks away but it was pretty crowded.   Things ran really smooth  however,  and we had a fun day. 

The vendors lined the paths in the woods.   I managed to find a few fun things to purchase.

Wooden pumpkin and a wooden candy corn..can't hardly live without that!

Here's your sign!  We thought it was a win-win because if we want to give it to one of the kids the name's the same. 

We sat down in the crowd for some lunch and these guys were playing and having a great time.  The music was really good and we enjoyed their sense of humor too!

Bison chili and hot dogs for Jack..

Ruben sandwich for me! Yum!

After a few hours we were overloaded with cute so we took off  for home.  Although we have a slew of projects on our plate right now, I'm glad we took the time to enjoy this first weekend of Fall.  Last night we had a lovely sunset.  Hope this week brings good weather for everyone and lovely sunsets every night!

Hello Ashland

When I'm on call it's one of the few times I'm happy to say bye-bye to the weekend.  Not really wanting to alert the gods of call, I will say it hasn't been super bad.  I'm hoping to get through the night and start a new week.  It's Ashland County Fair week.  That always calls the end to summer and ushers in Fall...and I'm ready for that change.  I'm not sure if we'll go to the fair since I didn't put any photos in this year.  Maybe next year if I feel I have any winners!  I think I'm going to post a few pics I took the other day while walking Arnie at Brookside park.   We're lucky to have some really nice parks here and they are very well maintained and I have lots of good memories of spending time with my boys here.   Arnie and I took off at a part of the park I hadn't been too in a while.

This side is near the city golf course and the town creek winds through it under cute little bridges.

Of course Arnie can't resist a quick swim!

The shuffle board courts were empty.  Not sure how busy they get but I don't think they would keep them if they weren't used.

This little red barn building was a favorite spot to visit.  You can get a really delish icecream cone here and when the boys were little they could get penny candy here too.   A quarter got you a nice bag full!  Since I haven't been here in a bit, not sure if that's still the case.  Guess I need to visit it before the end of the month when it closes.

This interested me.  I wasn't sure what it was at first.  Upon closer inspection I was pleased with what I found.

Free books!  Take one and return one.  Great for kiddos!  I noticed today that the park closer to us had one too.  I think this must be something new.   Great idea to encourage reading.  I know I've posted about our town on many occasions.  It's getting a revival in many ways.  The downtown is trying to draw in new business and has many activities to bring folks out to enjoy what's here.  Car shows, farm to table meals on main street, movie nights and more.  I found this video that was made for the Chamber of Commerce about Ashland and liked it.  I don't post videos since I make my blog into a book at the end of the year, but I'm going to give this a try.  If it works I hope any who sees it enjoys what makes Ashland "Someplace Special". 

Do You Remember What You Were Doing?

For some reason I felt I should write something about 9/11.  I ask the question "Do you remember what you were doing on that day?"  I'm sure many of us do remember.   Those times in life when tragedy strikes leaves impressions and feelings that just become part of  our forever memories.  We had just moved into this house on September 8th.  I was working 4 10hr shifts and had Tuesdays off.  It was the most beautiful day.  The sky was so brilliantly blue and the air was cool after a super hot weekend of moving. I was sitting in the kitchen with a friend from church when my daughter-in-law called and told me to turn on the TV because something was happening in New York City.   My friend, Gayle, and I had to go to our family room in the basement because it was the only TV we had hooked to cable.  We sat in total shock and watched what was happening, not really understanding how it could be happening.  Then the second plane hit and we knew our country was being attacked.  We knelt and prayed at the very moment.   My first thought was one of horror and I realized all the first responders will be running into those buildings.  I work in that atmosphere of feeling the need to do whatever you can to save somebody.   Yep, I will never forget the images of that day, how I felt, how the day looked and how I also felt for many months afterwards.   Today I again watched on TV the images and sounds of that day.  We now have faces and names attached to victims and also know the how and the why of the events.   It's been 17 years.   For the families who lost loved ones, it probably feels like it could have been today.  They will never forget.  We must not forget either.  That's all I wanted to say today.   Let's not forget.  God bless America.

   

Do We Need An Ark?

I'm not one who hates the rain.  I welcome it's refreshing coolness after last weeks blistering hot and humid days.  However, it's been raining pretty much straight for the past few days thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Gordon.  The temps were only in the 60's today...ahhh, love it.   I think the end is near and it came down gently and not torrential downpours.  So our grass is super green and growing as I type this! My tomato plants are nearing their end but the peppers seem to be growing forever...and that's OK.  We've been working on our projects and I blogged about the outbuilding progress.  We went from this:

To this:

To this:

Here's the inside version:

Hello space! Hello space for more junk!  Not really.  I joked that we had to get an outbuilding so we could downsize!  The gator, lawnmowers, snowblowers, and all other odds and ends will get out of the garage along with some other real "junk" that will make room for Jack's car.   Look out trash people...we're downsizing!   So what else has been going on?  Well, our apple tree was ready to be picked so I combined our apples with the orchard's and made some applesauce.  I bought an electric canner and I love it!

It doesn't do a ton of jars at a time but we're not canning for an army.  Last week I had Tuesday off.  It was super hot and humid so Arnie and I took our walk early.  We went to the park and it was deserted! With school back in all the kiddos were gone...just peace and quiet!

The pool was empty.  The grounds keepers were taking down the diving boards and getting it all buttoned up for Winter.

Playground empty.

The bandshell waiting for next years' free concerts on those Summer Thursday and Sunday nights.

Sorry Arnie...no music today!

Proof that Fall is only a few weeks away.  The picnic tables are just collecting falling leaves.  Have a good week.

 Night all.