Yesterday made up for the last two miserable days we spent watching marching bands!
Dear Husband and I spent the day together. While he went for coffee and a pecan roll, I got my hair cut. Then, we stopped at the Farmer’s Market for apples, pumpkins, dried fruit and corn for the squirrels. When the chores were finished, we began a leisurely trip to Chesterton, Indiana, to watch another marching band competition
Monthly Archives: October 2005
Beneficence
Beneficence: The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity; bounty springing from purity and goodness.
Just a quick note about beneficence…
I am personally practicing beneficence this week. I don’t know that I’d say this bounty springs from purity or goodness, but it was a logical extension of my interests. A reader of this blog asked me if I’d care to create a “Quilt Room In A Bag” for a quilter who had lost everything due to Katrina or Rita. You all know that quilting is dear to my heart, so how could I refuse? I’ll blog more about it tomorrow, in case any of you would like to participate in this activity. I’ve asked my quilting bee if they would care to contribute items, and I hope that we are able to put together several bags. I personally think it’s a cool idea!
Preparations
I was getting ready to make a trip last weekend, and took the time to send Cop Car a note. I told her about all the things I wanted to get done before we left. I had cleaning and laundry to do, and some bookkeeping for the company. I wanted to water the container garden and feed the birds and pack the car. It was important to me that the house be clean when I left, so that I wouldn’t come home after a great weekend and feel that I had to clean.
You’ll have to ask Cop Car to tell you about the all the cleaning she did the day before her oldest daughter was born. We must think alike, because coming home to a clean house is high on our list of preferences.
What Are The Odds?
Last year, about mid-October, we went to Indiana to watch one of my nieces march in a band competition. We had anticipated typical Fall weather, so we packed for every contingency: lightweight pants and tops, and sweaters to layer, along with jeans and jackets and gloves and boots.
It was a good thing we had taken all those clothes because the morning of the competition was frigid, and by the time we were seated in the stands of a high school football field (on metal stadium seats), the temperature had dropped, and it looked like we might see the first snowfall of the season. I was really concerned for the girls in the color guard because they had to be freezing in their lightweight costumes.
So, what are the chances that we would hit similar conditions this year, when both my nieces are marching? We drove to Fort Wayne for the competition. It was COLD!! At least this time there was no threat of precipitation, but the wind was nipping at us. We had two lightweight flannel throws wrapped around Elegante Mother and we huddled together to stay warm.
In a former life I used to be a band director, so you’d think I’d be used to a little inclement weather, but that was a LONG time ago. It was a joy to see the girls march, but I was relieved when we could return to the car and warm up.
This seems to have become a traditional trip, driving the back roads of Illinois and Indiana to see the girls march. We have three years of these competitions left. I plan to have my entire winter wardrobe along next time, and I bet you that it’s sweltering out! What are the odds?
The Annual Trek
We’ve been unusually busy at Chez Buffy the past few weeks. We’ve made it a habit to visit with my youngest sister during the fall. She and her family live in Indiana, so it’s not a major trip, but we wend our way through the farms of Illinois and Indiana and it takes us anywhere from four to five hours to make the trip. Normally.
Cutting back?
It seems to me that I read something recently that suggested that some plants winter over better if you wait to cut them back in the spring. I’ve made it a practice to put the gardens to bed for the winter by cutting everything back and raking up any rose debris. I have a number of plants that get wintered over in the garage in large pots. The one rose that’s left in my garden will be trimmed back, mounded with dirt to protect the graft, encircled with a cage and covered with shredded leaves.
I need to surf to see what I can find about waiting to cut the plants back. It seems to me that chrysanthemums were included in that list, and maybe iris, but I can’t remember the others. I want to check on daylilies, clematis, ornamental grasses and several herbs.
The Dreaded Filing
I had a very successful day today. I spent it cleaning up a small corner of my life.
I am an office. Dear Husband chooses to handle payroll. The CPA does taxes, and everything left over is my problem. I am blessed that my office is in my home, and that the owners of the company (one of whom is my husband) are willing to let me work unusual hours.
The bane of my existence is filing. I finish a bit of work and move it to the stack on the left. The stack grows. Eventually, I HAVE to file or the desk might fall through the floor to the basement.
Salmon Thirty Salmon?
Did you see the news tonight? ABC closed the Nightly News with a story about an Alaskan Airlines 737 that has received a new paint job. It took 30 painters 24 days to paint a salmon on this plane. They call it the “Salmon Thirty Salmon.”
The Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board and Alaskan Airlines have gone into a joint venture to promote the sale of fresh seafood from Alaska. Essentially, the plane is a flying billboard for fresh Alaskan seafood.