Halloween Farewell

 My favorite month will be over in a few minutes.  I wanted to get this last post of the month in and say a big grateful thanks to the Lord for a beautiful October. We did have tons of rain in the past 2 weeks but rain is a good thing after a dry Summer. We certainly can't complain about the leaves...they really put on a show this year. I know I've posted tons of leaf pics but I might just have to throw a few in as a final BYE BYE!  Today Jack and I drove out of town a few miles to an Ashland County park that we've never been to.  Sauer Farm is located literally on the county line of Ashland and Huron.  We went there for their "Cider Days" celebration.  It's held outdoors and also in the barn. They have a 100yr. old cider press that was being demonstrated.  Unfortunately, it had a few issues.  Heck, when you're 100 I guess it's allowed! We sampled the cider and it was wonderful. I wish they had smaller amounts for sale. There's no way we would finish a gallon of cider!  This may be a shock to those who know me and my camera but I forgot to take pics! Crazy huh?  I did buy a couple of Christmas presents from the craft vendors.  I found a beautiful bracelet and also a watercolor painting from a local artist.   After we left there we stopped at an antique store that is jammed packed with old and new items.

I found a cute little sign for next Halloween and even though there was a lot to choose from, I didn't purchase anything else.

Not that I wasn't tempted! These are only a smidgen of the items here! I know we'll go back.  On the way back home we stopped and bought some items from a small store called "Beyond Measure".  It's a grocery/deli/bulk foods run by an organization that helps Amish who want to leave the order learn how to function in the "English" world.  It was started for women and there's even apartments on the property for them to live in. Amish get shunned from family if they leave and they only have an 8th grade education. The men would fare better with skills in carpentry and such but the women stay home to raise kids and work in the gardens, etc. So anyway, it's a nice store and the food is really good.  Yep, no pics from here either! I might have to stop back just to get a photo of the giant wood Amish buggy and horse. Even though the store was started to help those that want to leave that faith, they bank on people stopping for the Amish items for sale.  After lunch we went to a birthday party for my Granddaughter's half sister, Aria.  She's not our Grandkiddo but we've fallen in love with that little cutie and she spends time here and we're YaYa and PawPaw to her. She called my son to make sure we would come to her party. 

I couldn't say no to her cute face!

Lots of presents!

Rae was there with a friend to help Aria with the big doll house...I think I would have loved that when I was a kiddo! After singing Happy Birthday we passed on the cake and ice cream and headed for home. 

I took a nice walk in the beautiful sunshine.  For the last day of October it was so pretty. Our town already had trick or treat on Thursday (in the rain) so the Halloween activities were done. I couldn't resist some more leaf peeping in the creepy woods:

Then I watched the sun go down quietly and quickly.

I turned our lights on the deck for a final shine:

Later on I turned them off and let the heavens shine as I took a shot of the rare "blue" moon of October. 

Yes, it looks like a big white ball but it's the best I could do for today! I hope everyone enjoyed this fabulous month of Fall, Fun, and Full Moon! Don't forget to turn the clocks back...don't even get me started on how I don't like to do this...and have a good rest of the weekend!  Oh, and don't forget to vote!

Community Gathering..Covid Style

 Tonight our community, hosted by the historical society, had a pumpkin glow event.  It was held at Freer Field where I sometimes do my morning walk.  This area has a huge home that was donated to the community when the field area was donated. It used to be called the Children's Home.  A nice name for a detention center for juvenile delinquents.  A few years ago they closed it down and the historical society acquired it and they are restoring it for events like tonight's.  Because of Covid they made this pumpkin glow a drive through.  You bought tickets for $5 a car and drove by different companies who had carved pumpkins and displays set up and they would come up to the car and hand out candy.  There were food trucks available if you wanted to eat.  We took Phil and Rae and Aria with us and enjoyed a fun time looking at the displays and eating a delish dinner from one of the food trucks.  I kind of wish we had gone a bit later to see the pumpkins glowing after dark but since we were planning on eating we went a little earlier.  Phil may have gone back later to see them after dark. Here's a few of the photos from tonight:

Tables were set up and the folks were in costume.

Ashland University cheer leaders danced to the Monster Mash...too cute!

Rae and her little sister outside the Freer Home.  

The home is huge and they had pumpkins in all the windows. I'm seriously thinking about volunteering with the historical society to be a part of some of their events.  They were going to host a Christmas ball....dancing and such...but Covid shut that down for this year.  I called my sister and told her we're going to have Jack's Chiropractic office grab a spot next October and do a cool set up...I'm thinking lots of skeletons will be involved! She was down with coming out and helping with that! 

I loved that carved pumpkin and this antique fire truck was really cool! That's it in a nut shell I guess, A fun and inexpensive night to spend safely with family and support the community.  I do think we're getting closer and closer to being that Hallmark Town! Ha!  I promised I wouldn't post anymore leaf shots but yesterday afternoon we had a storm blow in and when the sun came out for a minute it lit up our oak tree in the backyard: (I couldn't resist...sorry! Not sorry!)

Enjoy your weekend!

In Love With Fall

Driving around the county I was taking photos here and there and ended up right in my own backyard and around our little town.  I found that the most beautiful trees were in our lovely city cemetery. I go there to walk many times because it's quiet and not a lot of cars to have to worry about.

The colors just blew me away!

I love the shape and color of this tree but don't know what kind of tree it is.  If anyone knows please comment and inform me! 

Here's a close up of the leaves on this tree. Anyone? Anyone? 

As you can see, the walking path is a nice, easy one!  However, roaming my own home site I found a few beauties to share.

Then I walked down my little country road in front of the Pines:

Country roads take me home!  No more leaf peeps I promise! But it's so hard when you're in love! Have a good week!

Crazy, Wild Halloween At The Pines

 This week has been a flurry of busy as Midge and I prepared for our annual Halloween family bash at the Pines. This year her family came from Chicago to celebrate and leaf peep and just have some fun. Midge and I (with Jack having our backs!) babysat her 10 Grandkiddos on Friday night so her adult kiddos could catch up with my adult kiddos at Union Town Brewery in Ashland.  Whew! It was a little crazy but I think the kids enjoyed it...the littles and the adults!

My sister and her 2 daughters, Amy the nurse on the left, Katie the detective on the right.

My sister's son Bill and his wife Laura. They have 5 of the 10 Grands!  So as they all went to meet up with my boys, we entertained the littles with some outdoor ball games, cookie decorating and pumpkin decorating.  The older ones helped later with some food prep for the party on Saturday and the young ones watched a movie or played on their devices.

Bats and balls and boys...good combo!

My Great niece, Addy, decorating her cookies...Midge has an Addy and a Lexi too! Good thing we call our Addy, Rae and our Lexi, Lou!

Brooke and Ava...some posing with pumpkins!

Lots of silliness and noise and we were pooped by the end of the evening but hopefully these guys will have good memories of the weekend.

Saturday night we had a table full of food and a houseful of family...about 30 to be exact. We mostly hung outside. We had a ton of games planned and a haunted Creepy woods trail.  We had a Halloween egg hunt, a pinata smash up, and many more that we didn't have time to play. Of course a fire in the firepit was nice to sit around after dark.

We had 3 tiny pinatas that all the kids took turns hitting..finally they just smashed them open..those little suckers were hard to break open! (the pinatas, not the kids!) We didn't get a pic of the egg hunt but the Creepy woods trail was fun. I think we scared the adults more than the littles!

The gateway to scary!

Hello...

The idea of the trail was to find the lost trick or treater with their candy...but first you had to pass the cemetery of lost souls that appears every Halloween in the Creepy Woods.

It's a mystery how it appears each year.

Don't let the cackling witch stop you!

Don't let the Demon of Darkness grab you if you find the bucket of candy! 

The first pics were taken in the light so add the darkness and the sounds of the woods and all I can say is:

The trail was the hit of the evening but hopefully we made many more fun memories with the family. That's the fun of all the work we put into doing this. Hearing the laughter, the noise of kids playing and even the screams in the dark that also made us laugh since they came from the adults! I wish I had gotten a photo of the last part of the trail where a large wolf creature jumped out at the end! Even scared me! Ha!

Gotta love the Grands with the bat wings or bat pins...too cute! On a final note, Midge was going to stay tonight and go home with Amy and her family tomorrow. However, she was having some trouble with her diverticulitis and we all insisted she go home early with Katie. Amy also went with to take her to get a cat scan back in Chicago. Amy's hubby, Eric, took their 3 kids to Cedar Point and will go home tomorrow as planned. He's a great guy and a wonderful Dad to do that all on his own while worrying about Midge.  But her scan came back good and just antibiotics are happening and she could go home tonight. Whew! I was really worried. We were both sad she had to leave early but we weren't taking any chances with her health. We've had a wonderful Fall so far. The weather  has been great and all the leaves are really popping out. Take time to enjoy the beauty of this season!  Thanks to all my family who came this weekend...we love you all!

Get Your Spooky On!

 Those that have followed me for a bit know I love this time of year and Halloween. Yes, to me it is the most wonderful time of the year!  We're going to have our family Halloween gathering this weekend and my sweet sister is here from Chicago to enjoy a week of fun but also being a big help in the preparations. Jack just shakes his head with the two of us and our craziness!  He knows the way to my heart however. He helped me complete my Wizard of Oz collection:

He heard me say I would like to get the "flying monkey" for my set.  These are figurines from Lori Mitchell. He surprised me with this guy! Thanks Babe!

Life can now go on! I have a few other creations of hers...like 22 other creations!

Little trick or treaters like these two.  In other news, my sister came just in time for the last weekend of a local festival called "Prairie Peddler" 

It's set up in a wooded area and there are tons of vendors and food and usually music. Covid has changed a few things..all masks, certain eating areas for social distancing and no live music.  But we had fun anyway and bought only a few items. 

This gentleman was making big pots of soup...all the open fires smelled like fall! We had a good time and the weather was perfect..cool and very fall like!  So Midge and I will spend the week making food and decorating our Creepy Woods up. She still has dialysis to go through but the center is close to our house and the people there are really nice so it goes good for her.  Here are a few other tidbits from the Pines:

Jack and our son Jackie got the new screen door on last week.  I love it!

Wood for the soon to be cold season!

Rae turned 12 on October 1st! We had a nice time with her celebrating! Love this growing up Grandkiddo!

Arnie is still recovering from his leg surgery but doing good. His final vet visit is next week and hopefully we won't have to continue carrying him up and down stairs! He loves his new toy that Craig and Amy sent him!

I was cleaning out a cupboard and didn't realize that my new floating witch hats were right above me...but Jack noticed and clicked a pick....funny guy!

The leaves are changing and soon will be in peak season but I do love when the sun sets and lights up the trees!

So go get your spook on and carve some pumpkins, have some hot cider, crunch in the leaves and enjoy this time of year. It's been a rough year for many so I hope some smiles come your way in October.

The sun is setting earlier each night...take a minute to enjoy it.