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.

Welcome A New Season

 I know on New Year's Day most of us were saying our goodbyes to  2019 and hoping for a happy new year that was open for all possibilities.  As Spring approached I was ready to dig in the dirt, plant some flowers and get color back on the landscape.  Before that seasonal change however, we were thrown into a series of events that changed most of our lives.  I think everyone was touched in some way with Covid 19.  As the next season of Summer was approaching we were again hopeful for a changed in the world circumstances.  What did follow was again not what we hoped for.  But we dealt with the world chaos and political nonsense as best we could.  Made Summer as enjoyable as we could.  Today is the first day of Fall.  It arrived at 9:30 this morning here in Ohio and elsewhere.  Maybe you're not fond of cooler temps, or seasonal color on the foliage.  Saying goodbye to Summer might be painful as you close up the pools or come back from vacation or as the kiddos start school in some fashion.  For me, I love this time of year. I enjoy the crisp mornings...like this week so far...brrrr!  The trees are starting to turn lovely shades of orange, yellow, or red.  The pumpkins are everywhere and again we have hope that this will be a good season, better than the past ones this year.  Who knows...I'm just taking each day as it comes and taking deep breaths and trying to get my calm mojo on!  I took a chilly walk in my yard this morning and up into the Creepy Woods.  Here's a few shots of my trip:

We have 2 paths into the woods...path one

Path 2..kind of hard to tell the difference.

Path 2 leads up to Jack's wood splitting site at this time. It changes as he cuts up the wood that will heat the house this Winter. 

Its a pretty and quiet place to be.  Path one is pretty too but we use that area a bit more. We'll be using path one for part of our Halloween party in a few weeks.

If you have the time today, get out and enjoy a walk in the fresh air and enjoy some seasonal scenery.

I did find this little number on the path...now you know why it's called the Creepy Woods! 

Time to follow my footsteps back to the house! Happy Fall!

It's In The Air

 I don't know about where you live, but here at the Pines Fall is definitely in the air. However. the air quality in these parts has been hazy.  It's from the fires all the way out west.  That's a testimony of how awful and wide spread those fires are. The destruction and pictures that have come out from there take your breath away. My son, Craig, and his family live in a suburb of Portland, Oregon and have been house bound because the air quality is so horrible. But thankfully they have a home that's not devastated by the fires and we pray for them to be kept safe. Too bad all the water down south can't be dumped out west to put it all out. I'm sure the southern states would welcome that!

Eerie looking sunset here at the Pines.

Driving home the other day and it's just hazy when it's suppose to be bright blue skies.

Sunset up close and personal.  Today was the first day this week that dawned bright and Fall crisp with beautiful blue skies.  Our temps are usually up and down here until November when they pretty much remain cool to cold. Tonight we're expecting temps in the 30's so I think it's time to bring in my Boston Fern with hopes to keep it alive until next year. I'm better with outdoor plants but I'm going to give it a try. Meanwhile I'm decorated for the season with a teensy bit of Halloween thrown in. I don't usually put any Halloween until late September or October 1st but I couldn't resist just a little. Hey, it's in the air I guess!

A little greeting pumpkin for starters.

I collect these Lori Mitchell figurines and usually get one or two each year.  This came in the mail the other day and I had to leave it out...right? She may be the "Grim Reaper" but I say "cute" describes her best! (I now have 22 different little trick or treaters...time to stop? Nahhh)

I found these little stick on bats at the dollar store. Yep, I'm batty about them! 

The kitchen fireplace is ready for Fall but it will get Halloweened (I just made up that word!) in a few weeks.  The month is flying by and soon we'll be having some family visitors and will celebrate with some outdoor spooky fun....if  the weather cooperates! 

Final thoughts.  This poor tree has just about lost all it's leaves. It's been on the downhill slump for a few years now but I didn't want Jack to cut it down because it always bloomed out so nice in Spring. Until this year anyway.  I have finally realized it's time to remove it and replant a different tree.  Walking past it the other night made me stop quickly and look closer.  I don't know if you can see it but here's it's final gift I guess:

One last little blossom out of it's season. Sometimes when all seems lost or we're at the end of our rope..maybe God will be sending a little gift your way to make you stop and smile and be grateful for little surprises of life.  Or maybe just for the beauty that's in the air.

Modern Day Weddings

 Weddings are so different these days than when Jack and I tied the knot. (or noose as Jack might joke...I think he's joking?...hmm) Anyway, my son's step-daughter, Samantha, got married yesterday afternoon. Yep, on a Friday and on 9/11.  It was a really beautiful afternoon and evening. The setting was great. It was outdoors and thankfully the event Gods knew it wasn't me planning the festivities or else it would have rained, or been 95de with 95% humidity, or maybe even a tornado...just ask my son Phil about his reception here at the Pines. ( a story for another time) The ceremony was lovely and the reception fun.  What's the difference from then to now?  When we got married we were really young..21yrs old.  We were poor as church mice but my parents paid for the wedding so it was really nice.  All the gifts we received were so needed since we hadn't set up housekeeping before we were married. I so loved my avocado green crock pot! Living together before hand would not have gone over good with our folks. Especially my Dad! Jack was still in school. I just finished my schooling so I could work while he finished his. We had help from his folks to afford the first and last month rent and some furniture.  We had a budget of $25 a week for groceries.  We did OK. Plus I wasn't expecting a baby.  I'm not judging here, just stating facts. Things were different back 46 years ago.  Samantha and her sweet hubby just bought a new house. They have lived together for a while and she's a  respiratory therapist and he's a police officer. They work hard and are an awesome couple. I'm very happy for them.  I'm thinking they were smarter than us. Not struggling in the same way we did with Jack in school and living with a small income and some of the other things that many people go through in life. I'm sure Sam and Ryan will have their own unique challenges since the world today, even with all it's conveniences and opportunities, is a different place than 46 years ago. Of course we knew couples in our day who did live together first. They did have outdoor weddings. I mean, we lived through the 60's and early 70's with flower children! And of course children came "prematurely" after the wedding.  So maybe things really aren't that much different. I just wish them a wonderful, loving and long life together.  I wish them to learn through trials and how to compromise. I wish them all the happiness Jack and I have had over these years.  I won't be here in 46 years to see how it goes but I'm putting my faith in them to make it a wonderful life. And congrats on their surprise announcement at the reception. They are expecting their first child! I guess that will make us step Great Yaya and Pawpaw...time marches on.  Congrats Samantha and Ryan!

Beautiful setting.  A small wedding. This was not the original plan but thanks to Covid they had to choose a different venue.  It was a good choice!

The happy couple, Samantha and Ryan.

My son Jack and my daughter-in-law and mother of the bride, Evelyn.

My Granddaughter Summer and her fiance, Brett. They're getting married next summer.

My Granddaughter, Driana, (Summer's sister) and her fiance, Jonathan. They are getting married next summer too! When did these kiddos grow up? I must have blinked!

Good luck to all the cute couples...I hope you have as much fun and as many years as we have!

Happy Labor Day

 No problem social distancing today.  We have lovely rain this afternoon. We need it since it's been so dry and it's nice to spend a quiet day indoors enjoying the sound of the rain and the cozy feeling inside. It's one of those days to curl up in a comfy chair and read or perhaps take a nap. However, I came up into the computer room to do some cleaning and reorganizing. But then, like a dog who sees a squirrel, I got a bit distracted by the computer. I went into my email and "unsubscribed" to a lot of junk mails.  Why I have to unsubscribe to something I never subscribed to in the first place is a mystery. Oh well.  Then I had to head over and check on my blog buddies. Then I got distracted by my own blog and decided to do a quick entry for today. So I hope you're enjoying the last holiday weekend of Summer.  I took my walk this morning and noticed many folks heading out of town pulling their campers behind before the rains started. We have a state park, Mohican, not far from us and I bet it was full until today. So here's a few pics and then I will really do what I came up here to do....clean! 

I took this from the window in the computer room.  (through the window screen..sorry!) It's really a lot darker outside than this pic shows. Loving the green grass though!

My big bargain from Saturday....the "BOO" pillow.  $5 from Walmart..maybe just a tad early for Halloween?...NAH!

My son and daughter-in-law out in Oregon sent me a retirement gift. The candle holder lights up and there's bats flying around in it! So darn cute. A really nice smelling candle and pretty towels and even a gift for Arnie! Thanks guys! You know me so well!

Arnie loves his toy!

This is part of  my walk I take every morning.  So pretty. It's one of our many city park areas.

There was a group of kids that made this little structure last week. They also had a hammock strung in the trees and a little camp looking area. They were gone by Friday and I'm not sure if they were asked not to be there 

or if they just got tired of the game. Anyway, it was an industrious effort!  That's all I've got...Enjoy this week everyone!

Big Whiner!

 I'm going to sound like a big complainer in this post.  Well, at least in the beginning of the post.  Had I known how many forms I would be filling out, how much time I would be spending on the phone..on hold most of time (yes, I know my call is important to you and I love the piped in music choice)...and how slow the processes work just to leave employment behind, I would have stayed employed until I was taken out feet first.  Ok, Ok, a little dramatic there..sorry!  I have given my name, age, birth date, social security number..which I thought was a classified secret...NOT...and ditto that for Jack's info and he hasn't even retired yet...to most of America and I'm suspecting a good portion of some foreign country judging by the accents that were not easy to understand.  Plus 99.9% of human resource, insurance, investments and medicare and social security folks are working from home.  Many times the phone connections aren't great and the crying baby or barking dog are give aways.  My favorite was the one sleeping. I called twice because the first time nobody answered and the second time she was really confused like I am when I get awakened by a phone call.  I also love when I give all the info asked for and at the end of the call they repeat it back and it's all wrong..twice.  Maybe I have bad phone connections or my Ohio accent is tricky. Whatever.  My other favorite thing...then I'll move on I promise..is when I have filled out all the forms, mailed them in and await the requests to be mailed back only to get a letter thanking me for doing all that and if I would just give them a call at 800-yada, yada, yada...they will happily answer all my questions.  Wait, What??? You couldn't have told me that in the first place? Seriously?  End of rant. Thanks for listening/reading today!  So is there anything good about being retired so far?  Yes, actually.  I'm enjoying going for a morning walk every day.  I put in my ear thingies, turn on the music and enjoy getting back into a walking routine.  I'm starting out slow...2 miles a day so far..and I'll start increasing my distance next week. Hey, I'm working here with 2 fake knees so cut me some slack!  I've been able to tell workers, or friends or my hair dresser that any time works for me for appointments.  I can have family visits or trips without getting out a form and hoping there's nobody ahead of me for that time!  I'm able to work on my yard and gardens and spend time with Arnie as he recoups from  his doggy knee surgery.  I can sleep in until 6 and even later on the weekends.  So life is good so far.  I was joking that retirement has taken away my love of Fridays, 3 day weekends, and low census days. Heck, everyday is Saturday with Sunday on the end! Ha!  So no more whining for today!  Here's a few pics from last weekend when we had the kids over for lunch on Sunday.  

My Granddaughter, Driana, with her fiance, Jon.  I was happy they could make it. Driana just got her RN and is working at a hospital in Cleveland but had Sunday off.  It was fun to spend time with them.

They enjoyed meeting Temp, my neighbors horse and also seeing the Alpacas.

Hello neighbor!

It was a beautiful day and after lunch we spent time on the deck and in the yard. Jackie got a new guitar that he brought to show his brother, Phil.  Phil can play really well and I think was giving a lesson here. 

Granddaughter Rae just hanging out. 

Driana was taking her turn on my little toy! Love that bike!  But what I really love is having the kids come and eat and play! They were fun as littles and fun as big kiddos! A win-win!  One final pic that made me smile.  I love the Fall season and Halloween is a biggie fav at the Pines.  We saw this at Home Depot last week:

It was hard not to buy this guy...The big skeleton, not the guy in the mask! But I did resist....sigh. Have a good week!