Stradling the Seasons

Still straddling the seasons - summer begonias and fall ornamental kale.  The back porch flowers are still looking good, and it's Novembrr.

Day two after Daylight Savings Time.  Not quite as hard as yesterday, but still hard.

In my church small group, we're reading the book "How We Learn to be Brave" by Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington.  

I'd like to be brave.    

In the back of the book is the bishop's sermon from January 21, 2025, at the Inauguration Prayer Service, when she discussed unity and asked the president for mercy for the stranger in our land. How many of you remember her words that day?

She was brave.

Pumpkin Saga

The pumpkin saga continues.  The hole is big enough now so that you, my friends, can look inside and see that it's empty.  Apparently the squirrel has decided that the outside is delicious too.

Do squirrels munch at night?  I've never actually seen one in action.

It was another Bengals win today.  And once again I'm wondering if I'm too old to watch these come from behind wins.  I liked the game a couple of weeks ago when they just cruised.

Next week the Bengals play the Falcons in Spain at 9:30 am Eastern time.  I wonder if church attendance will look a littl sparse. 

Today is the first day after Daylight Savings Time.  It's 8:00 and it feels like midnight.

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

OK, Trick or Treat was a bust.  There was only one group of kids.  Who exclaimed happily over the Reese's.

I'll leave the light on a little longer.  You never know.

During the two treating hours, I finished baking oatmeal rolls for the small group potluck after church tomorrow.  And two loaves of bread, because if you're making a bread recipe you may as well double it.  And I've had baking bread on my mind for weeks now.

Thanks for Angie and the anonymous person who gave tips for keeping critters away from pumpkins.  Next year I'll know to put a dryer sheet under them and spread them with soap.

I know now to blame squirrels, not deer.  One pumpkin has a smallish hole and the pumpkin is completely hollowed out.  

Kndness

 

Because she no longer sews, an incredibly kind friend gifted me her amazing sewing machine.  

Her kindness is incredible, and I am so grateful.

You might think that because I sew many hours each week that I could just sit down and start sewing on this new machine.  You would be wrong.

It's a different kind of machine that I usually use, and things are in different places.  Both kinds may do the same things, but there are different ways of gtting there.

Luckily, she included her workbook, and that will aid in my learning.  I'll get there, and I'll love the challenge.

Why Not Just One?

 And pumpkin number 3, behind thse two, has a scrape.  Why can't the squirrel, or deer, just nibble on ONE pumpkin?

In My Planner

 

The birds were from a lunch invitation from the Taft Museum of Art.  The lunch is called Modernism on the Menu.

I'm not going to the lunch, but I loved the birds and cut out the picture for my planner.

The exhibittion will be called Edie McKee Haarper:  Modernism at Play.  And that I will go to.  

The museum is in Cincinnati, and is practically in my back yard. 

I Like This

 
Yesterday several people mentioned that it was just three months until Christmas.  While that's true, we have Halloween coming first.

I love the fall and Halloween decorating that's happening, both inside and outside.  I'm definitely getting $5 worth of enjoyment from this small indoor decoration that lights up in late afternoon and turns off again before bedtime.  Really it's just a single white ghose inside a glass globe, no yellow reflecion, and there's only one.

Soon, I'll have pumpkins and mums outside.  Already there are tiny quilts here and there inside the house.

Some people go all out, and I like their efforts.   Lights and skeletons and any number of other things.

My feeling is that it's a long time between Easter and Halloween and people just want to celebrate something light-hearted.