Hi there and a happy Saturday afternoon to you. And may I say I am mighty glad it's a weekend. :)

Been feeling very blah and uncreative this past week, so I stayed away from posting. Today is much better, as it started with my sweetie of a granddaughter and her daddy coming by...he's putting the leaf box on his landscaping truck and she's hanging out with us girls. She was going to come to the mall with me, but her aunties won out and they all hung around playing Wii. She's presently winning at Slap Jack and darn proud of it!



So, we have this gorgeous maple tree out front (a Japanese maple maybe?) and when it turns red in the Fall, it is amazingly brilliant. I tried to catch its brilliance with my camera, but it doesn't do it justice. Here's a shot of it anyway.



We're celebrating Chelsea's 22nd birthday tomorrow, so I should stop lollygagging and get this house in order. Have a fun Halloween!

TGIF..."to infinity and beyond", as Buzz Lightyear would say.

Last Sunday we were experiencing a snow squall; today, I found this little blossom on the back porch.  Ah, New England weather, if you don’t like it, just wait a minute.

 

A glorious burst of Autumn color.

This is our fountain which honors all of the people we love that have passed on.  Sadly, we added another person this summer, our beloved friend Tommy. ..but in the true sense of loving someone, he will never leave our hearts.  It’s time to tuck it safely away for another winter.

Onward.

Raise your hand if...you're taking a personal day tomorrow so that you can have some mental health AND so that you can get yourself beautified in time to go to a wedding at 4:00 p.m.! Cool! Me too! :) I guess that makes today our Friday!

So I was "the teacher" again today. Twice a month, I cover for one of the 8th grade teachers I work with as she's the school's literacy coach; on those two days, she coaches the other teachers. Well, she's had a rough time personally this year and last, so I find myself being the teacher more often than twice a month.

These kids are, well, hmm, let me see....hellacious. I don't even like half of them, which is not typical for me. I can usually find something endearing about 99% of the students I work with, which isn't always easy. But this crew...not so much. I spend way too much time disciplining them and not enough time teaching them. The office is fed up with most of them, too, so it's not worth sending them there. It's the worse 55 minutes of my day. Hence...my need for chocolate tonight. :) Aaah, well, could always be worse.

I hope you're all comfy and snuggled in for the night. Have a good Friday. :)

Nice Autumn weather here in New England today...chilly, grayish, splashes of color everywhere--good day for a small bonfire.

This afternoon, my crazy husband and my crazy son decided that they should have a tractor pull of their very own. My reaction was "Huh? A what? Are you two nuts?!" Evidently they are. I took a video of it, but here are some after-pictures of the two nutcases.




















And here's our little pooch, Lucy, wondering what on Earth her humans are doing.

Raise your hand if... 9:00 p.m. on a Friday night used to find you thinking, "What should I wear?" Now it finds you thinking "Is it too early to go to bed?" Once upon a time, it was when the short weekend was just starting. Now it's when the long week is just finishing.

:D

Hi there. Yay for Friday Eve!

The temperature here is hovering between 29 and 30 degrees with icy rain sprinkling down outside, clicking against the windows. I am toasty warm inside, planning on a nice, hot shower soon...I love Fall. :)

Well, last weekend was truly wonderful for the two of us. We heard the loons calling and watched them dive, watched the Canadian geese fly overhead, had coffee on the dock in the early morning, saw more stars than seems possible, caught a trout and a perch, filmed a snow squall, walked in the (chilly) sun, visited with our friends who are old-time Vermonters and ended up with homemade crabapple jam and a quart of their maple syrup. I even let Bob play with my camera for awhile and he did quite well!

The photos tell the story better than my words can, so sit a spell and enjoy. :)





On the highway heading north.










I think this is the smallest library in the country...t's the size of a small bedroom, for heaven's sakes!





































A typical back road "speed bump"...we had to wait a bit for him and his tractor to finish up.






A one-room schoolhouse from around 1799.










This is one of Bob's favorite views, looking toward Mt. Mansfield and Stowe.







This is my favorite view, heading down into the village with a peek at the lake.







Snow on the distant peaks as we headed for home.

Hi there! We're (reluctantly) back to reality after our wonderful Vermont weekend. I don't have much time to sit right now, but I'll share a photo or two with you.





The dirt road on one of our country rides.








These "girls" all came running to the fence when we stopped. Talk about a noisy bunch!







We had our coffee on the dock one morning...talk about serenity. It was sure cold, though; we had a snow squall Sunday evening!

I am so glad that Fridays come around every week!












Well, Bob and I are off to Vermont bright and early tomorrow morning ALONE! This will be his first time back in ten years, and our first trip ALONE together in about 12 or 15 years; he's as excited as a little kid! He went out and bought new fishing supplies and has called me about four times in the past two hours with "one more thing to bring".

I'm always excited to go, but this trip will be different. We're hoping it will be a healing experience for both of us as this past year has been one of the toughest ones we've had since, well, since we started out 31 years ago. We've faced issue after issue this year...medical, emotional, family, financial, marriage...and although we're still standing, we're most definitely wounded. We have been tested.

So off we go with fingers crossed, plenty of food, warm clothes, raingear, music, camera, and books. (I might even sneak in a little wine!) Tally ho!

Here's a bit of color just beginning to appear. The edges of many of the leaves are tinged with color, making each leaf look as if it's a colored pencil drawing with each color being softly blended into the other.






This tree (a sassafrass maybe?) grows along our stone wall out front. Each Fall, it looks as if it's lit up from within!









Creations from last weekend at the 20th anniversary gathering of the farmstand where my daughter works.






My sweet little granddaughter (in the white, with her cousin), painting pumpkins last weekend. She fills my heart, that little one does.

Question: What does one do when the photography studio they've been working in for two years decides to close and they are only counting the hours til the doors are locked for good?

Answer: Why, one poses of course! :)

Amen to Fridays!

I guess Fall is (un)officially here. I went into my cottage to "sit a spell" earlier and just as I was ready to open the door and step inside, I looked down and saw this. Having it resting on the barnboard step makes it all the more perfect. I love Fall.