Thursday, as I sat at the computer, I looked up and out the window in time to see a heron fly by. I suspect that will be my last glimpse of a heron for six months or so. I haven’t seen an egret since late in October.
The window washer came last week. We’ve hired a new company, and for just $15 more, they do both inside AND outside windows, and the chandelier. Such a deal! He even washed the screens for me! The landscape men came and put the gardens to bed for the winter. I still need to do some raking, and I need to remove the tags from the new shrubs. Dear Husband moved the container garden pots into the garage for the winter. I’m going to try to winter over three geraniums I particularly liked. We had our first snow today. I don’t think anything has accumulated.
The cookies have been baked and sent off to four college students. I started working on the cookies very early on Thursday so that they would be ready to be mailed off at mid-day. I’m not sure what I was thinking. Had I made the cookies 2″ as the recipe calls for, I would have had TWENTY DOZEN COOKIES! I tend to make them over-sized, roughly three or three and a half inches across, so I ended up with 13 dozen. One of the kids e-mailed to say the package had arrived.
I’ve swapped the wreath on the fireplace for one more seasonal. I have silk flowers ready to go for a new arrangement for Elegante Mother’s room in rusts and golds. I have a neutral ceramic container that is about 24″ tall, and I plan to create a bouquet for the front entry way of dried teasel and milkweed pod. Once I start the bouquet, I’ll know if I need to add cat tails or eucalyptus. I think I have seasonal wire-edged ribbon, but I’d better check. One more thing to add to my shopping list.
One of my nieces has been organizing my life, specifically, my closets. She has a rule. If you haven’t used it in the last year, you don’t need it. When I obsessed over a pair of gorgeous dress flats that I may not be able to wear any longer, she let me keep them. But everything else went. My clothing closet, the linen closet, the kitchen pantry, the Tupperware drawer and the mudroom pantry are all gorgeous! I was working in the kitchen, trying to take the gum from labels off canning jars. When I went looking for the Skin So Soft, it was gone. I asked her about it a day later, and she said the container “looked old.” I’ll have to get another. Goo Gone smells worse than Skin So Soft!
Elegante Mother saw her doc on Friday and was given a clean bill of health. On Saturday she was ill. I suspect that she may have picked up a bug from the temporary care-giver, whose one year old daughter was under the weather. The care-giver called this weekend to tell me that she had been called for jury duty. It’s just as well. This will give EM more time to recuperate.
Saturday, I made “Vernice Kastman Swedish Refrigerator Rolls” for the church bake sale. Don’t tell My-Sister-The-Nurse. She adores those rolls and doesn’t seem to be able to make them for herself. I was talking with one of my nieces about Thanksgiving, and mentioned those rolls. She said, “I’m 40 and I’ve only managed to snag five of them!” MSTN steals bags of them, and hides them in her bedroom. Her children know better than to ask for one.
Thanksgiving…..I think there will be about 40 people here. So, now you know what all the preparation is about! *G*
I hope you’ve all been enjoying the Fall, and are ready for the holidays. They’re almost upon us.

I’m having a terrible time staying awake! I’ve only had six or so hours of sleep, and that’s about two, perhaps two and a half, too few. If I stay at the computer, I’m going to nod off. I have a number of things to do that will keep me on my feet, so that is the game plan for the day.
I need to collect the decorations for the Thanksgiving tables all in one place, out of the way. I have a few things that need to go to the basement to be stored while we have guests here. I have a Fall themed wreath to put up in the living room. I need to make gazillions of chocolate chip cookies for four kids in college. I want to send off some care packages for the last week before Thanksgiving. The boxes are ready to go except for the cookies and name tags.
We are collecting things for the troops for Christmas. I’ve started the tubes for neck coolers in camouflage materials. We still have to insert the crystals that swell and hold water, and sew the ends shut. I also need to sew binding for the last two quits, and stitch it to the fronts of the quilts. Then I could sit with D.H. and hand sew at night.
I still need to put together the head count for Thanksgiving at our house, but if I sit to do that, I’ll be a goner. It will have to wait until I’ve had a nap.
So…..I better get myself in gear, or I will STILL be here hours from now, sawing logs. I hope you’re all having good fall!

Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I made a long weekend trip to visit my youngest sis and her family, in Indiana, this weekend. I wasn’t sure at first that we would get to go. D.H. called me at mid-day to warn me that the job he was on was not moving forward well, and he might have to work on Friday. I was capable of driving E. M. and myself to Nan’s but I really didn’t want to go without him. We are only two weeks into the non-boating season, too early to be apart. Besides, I enjoy these trips with D.H.
At any rate, he was able to move things through, but we didn’t leave for Indiana until sometime past 5:30. We make a stop halfway through this trip, so it takes us easily five hours to get there. We could make it in three and a half, if we took the tollways, and if we risked flying low part of the way, but that’s not what this trip was about. It felt rather like being in a cocoon, as we drove through the dark fields. It took us an hour to get out of the suburban area that surrounds Chicago. At that point, we saw the lights on harvesters where farmers were out combining the corn in the dark, and there were lights on the farmhouses that were scattered through the fields. Otherwise, the dark closed in around the car. I used my brights to illuminate the sides of the road, so that I’d be aware of any deer getting ready to cross the roads.
The trip went smoothly, We arrived a little earlier than I expected, but we crossed a time zone line, so we got in about 11:30 Indiana time. Normally, I would have slept in my own bed on Thursday night, and made the trip on Friday morning, but we really wanted to have as many hours as possible to share with family. I was surprised that E.M. was awake a great deal of the way.
Gas……when we left the far west suburbs of Chicago, gas was in a range of $2.69 to $2.79. When we left central Indiana, we purchased gas for $2.11 a gallon, and that was the rock bottom price for the trip. By the time we got home, gas had dropped to $2.55. I want to know WHY I have to pay $.44 a gallon more? I know…the answer is “because they can charge it, and get away with it.” Not a good answer!
The color…..was STUNNING! We had missed the peak by a few days, but there were sharp reds, and oranges and yellows, and more muted golds and apricots and greens. There were trees that hadn’t begun to change, and trees that had no leaves! Everywhere you looked, it was just beautiful.
Nan and I gathered Osage oranges to use in our homes to deter the insects which want to take up housekeeping. She has made the acquaintance of a farmer who has a line of Osage orange trees along his field. She swaps him a home made apple crisp for the chance to pick up the windfalls. Dear Husband and I helped in the endeavor. Nan and her hubby have an apple tree just past their deck that is heavy with apples. DH pared, and I cored and sliced enough apples to make two pies and the apple crisp. IT was well worth the effort!
Nan enjoys cooking, especially when there is someone to share the bounty. She and her family eat more simply, as we do, during the week, but it’s fun to try recipes that you don’t normally have time to try. The first night they stuffed us with steak, baked potatoes (or sweet potatoes), sourdough bread, and a stir-fry of onions, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. The contrast of the green and purple was eye candy!
Nan had intended to do cioppino for lunch, but we got a late start. We went antiquing and shopping and were on our way home when hunger hit. We stopped at the “Apple Dumpling Inn.” I had a tuna salad sandwich that had small chunks of apple and walnuts that was incredibly good. Unfortunately, we were too full to have the baked apple dumplings for dessert. Duh! We could have brought some home with us! Too bad. We’ll just have to go back! *G*
Nan cooked the cioppino for dinner, and it was just right, with more of the sourdough bread. I’ve only cooked cioppino once, and that was after our trip to Alaska. I’d enjoyed it so much on the cruise that they gave me the recipe….for 60! As a Midwesterner, ciopinno is something new and fresh to experience. For those of you who live on or near the coasts, it’s old hat, something taken for granted. We really enjoyed it, and you can bet that should I ever get to travel through the coast areas of the US, I’ll be looking for more chances to sample it.
We were busy all day long Friday and Saturday. Saturday evening we all ended up in the sun-room, with the dog. My brother-in-law popped popcorn for us. I had the chance to work on a binding while we watched Mike Rowe, and his Dirty Jobs program, which is an odd way to end a day, but interesting. (More on that another day.)
Sunday, we ATE AGAIN!!! And sat and chatted for a little bit, before heading home. I hate to leave Nan’s home. We are always so comfortable there, and it’s nice to have the chance to catch up on each other’s lives.
So, it’s back to our regular chores. I need to have the car looked at (a mysterious clanging sound when we corner….swaybars, maybe), and I need to stock up on birdseed, return some items we bought for EM that don’t fit, work on Thanksgiving, and VOTE!!! I hope you’re all registered, and have been able to make up your minds. Go Vote! And have a great week!

I can’t believe I’ve missed blogging for so many days. Last week we sent ELegante Mother’s caregiver home with what sounded like a horrible cold. I cared for Mother, put in hours in the office, and managed the house. Our care-giver returned on Monday sounding much better, but this morning she called, and she’d been in an accident, and needed the day off. It was no hardship, since we planned to be home. Luckily she wasn’t hurt, and it sounds like it might have been just a fender bender.
One of my nieces came to give me a hand cleaning out closets. We brought up winter clothes for Elegante Mother, and my niece swapped the seasonal clothing, and reorganized Elegante Mother’s closet. We need to shop for cold weather slacks, long sleeved T-shirts, and long underwear for EM.
We stripped my closet, moving everything out to a sheet-covered bed, the floor, the bathroom counter, and the top of the dresser. I created a pile of things to throw away, a pile of things to give away, and a pile of seasonal things to be taken to the basement. As we went through stacks of things, she made me throw out anything that I hadn’t used in a year. She checked expiration dates on things from the pharmacy,and pitched anything that wasn’t from 2008. When we returned things to the closet I was astonished by the amount of space, and how bright it was. We actually had three empty shelves. She had even cleaned the light bulbs! During the next week, I plan to go through the drawers in the vanity. Next visit, we will work on the linen closet and the mudroom pantry. I love the feeling of being organized AND CLEAN!
Thursday, Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I are going to Indiana to visit with my sis and her family. Nan has a three-day weekend beginning on Halloween, and we want to visit with them through Sunday morning. My stepson is willing to cat sit with Edward Scissorhands, so that he won’t be left alone.
Speaking of Edward….he’s still with us. I thought we might loose him early this year to kidney disease, but he’s still here. He does sleep more these days, and is going out less now that the weather has gotten cooler, but he’s eager to be among us, and comes to cuddle with me in the early morning and evenings. He was quite the champion hunter this summer!
I think the herons and egrets have gone south for the year. I haven’t seen either of them for about two weeks now. At an Empty Nester luncheon on Sunday, I learned that our goldfinches stick around for the winter, simply going to a duller color of plumage for the winter. All this time I thought they left for the south! We were also told that chickadees were harmed by the West Nile Virus. I knew the crows and blue jay population had suffered, but I thought only the larger birds were affected. We’ve seen a parent hawk showing a junior hawk how to sit on the lamp posts and survey the area for prey.
Sunday was Dear Husband’s birthday. Elegante Mother and I went to church, and then attended the Empty Nester’s luncheon. We went home, and I stole the opportunity to work on the lawn for a few hours, before the kids arrived. One of DH’s sons, and his daughter and her family joined us for dinner. We ordered from Magianno’s and there seemed to be something to satisfy everyone.
Wednesday is the birthday brunch for those at exercise who had birthdays in October. That includes me, so I’m glad they scheduled the breakfast on a day when we could attend. I hope to get Elegante Mother going early, so that we can make it to exercise first. After breakfast, we might do a little shopping if EM is up for it. Then, it’s home to get ready for our trip.
I hope you are all well, and that you are enjoying the fall weather and what’s left of the color. Even if the golds and reds are gone, I’ll enjoy the sights on our trip to Indiana. I’m looking forward to a little time away. Take care, all!

…that someone clearly loved. When we moved to this area of the suburbs, we found a route off the beaten path to get out to more traveled roads. And toward the end of this route there was a wonderful, old-fashioned house with green shutters, and mature trees, and a family of ceramic deer in the center of the lawn.
The yard was always faultlessly maintained. The house looked as though it had been painted fairly recently, and the gutters and roof had been maintained. I suspect that the house had been in place for a number of years when a correctional facility was plunked down across from it. That didn’t keep the owners from giving their home loving care. I suspect the facility wasn’t a bad neighbor except for an abundance of lights at night.
Two, or perhaps three years ago, the house took on an abandoned look. We speculated on the situation. Perhaps one of the owners had passed away, or needed to move to assisted living, and the house was too much for the remaining owner to manage. Perhaps a woman had been living there for years with her children to help with the gardening, and now, she couldn’t maintain the grounds.
For whatever reason, the house was put on the market, where it languished. The lawn wasn’t mowed frequently enough, and no one trimmed around the feet of the family of deer. It became shabby, as those things lacking attention do. One of the tree trunks broke off and a huge portion of it crashed through the roof of an outbuilding.
This week as we passed by, the change was glaring. All but two of the old trees had been cut down and turned into a pile of mulch. The evergreens that had lined a sweeping driveway were gone. Landscaping around the house had been ripped out. The house looks naked, and unprotected. It looks as though it’s waiting it’s final sentence.
That’s when I realized that the fire department is going to be allowed to burn it to the ground. It makes my heart ache to think of all the memories that house has held going up in smoke. I’m sure that the family has had to make the decision to raze the home because they can’t afford the annual property taxes, and couldn’t sell it.
I hate that our government forces people into decisions like this because of the property tax laws. I haven’t worked my way through a solution to this situation, but it’s one more reason we need to alter how we finance our schools. The current plan is inequitable both to homeowners AND students! It won’t be long before the middle class can’t afford to support our government, as it is. It’s possible we have already reached that point. Certainly, the owners of this house have said, “I give!”
I know that we’ll be passing that lot in our travels in the coming weeks, and despite knowing what’s likely to happen, I won’t be prepared to see the hole in the ground where the house once sat. It was a good house, and I’ll remember it.

I had a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!
I had birthday wishes come my way in every conceivable manner: in person, by snail mail, by e-mail, by phone, and by blogs! I was greeted and encouraged all day long, and it was really lovely
IT started with a short note from my youngest sister that ended with
“H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y!” I was almost ready to leave for exercise when the phone rang. It was Nan, and her 9th grade Romeo and Juliet class, and they sang “Happy Birthday” to me over the phone. I really wish I had been where I could have recorded it! *G*
At exercise, the class fussed over me because I’m one of two ladies who have been the babies of the class for years. The other woman stole my position as the youngest of the class when she joined a few years ago. Her sixtieth birthday comes in just a few days. One of the women gave me chocolate, and a card that played the Chicken Dance. (grins)
I didn’t realize I had talked with the class about the Chicken Dance. I had never seen it until Dear Husband took me to an Oktoberfest a while ago, and the women all got up to dance this strange dance! I understand that it is frequently played at wedding receptions, but somehow I had missed it. I’d join in on the fun, but partway through the first refrain I start laughing, and then I loose it.
I worked a little in the office, and took the time to get cleaned up in mid-afternoon. One of my nieces has been visiting with Elegante Mother once a week so that DH and I can go out. I wanted to be ready to go early so that we wouldn’t keep her too late on a work night.
I was dressing when DH came in and brought me a HUGE birthday card. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t one of his hand made cards, but I was glad that he had remembered my birthday. I opened the card, expecting a big, mushy card, and it’s an over-sized version of THE CHICKEN DANCE!! (The card says I should celebrate “accordion-ly.”) I can tell that my sixties will be memorable! *G*
We went to dinner at the Front Street Cantina. DH offered to take me to one of the ritzy steak houses in the area, and God knows there are enough to choose from, but that sounded too heavy to me. I vetoed our usual trip to Pappadeaux, asking if we could do brunch when the boating season is over. Instead, we had an inexpensive meal that we both enjoyed, and a relaxed evening. I treated DH to an ice cream cone on the way home, to end my celebration.
I visit the Star Tribune Crossword Corner blog each day, after I’ve done the Chicago Tribune crossword on-line. The people who post there have become friends, and they were very positive about the pluses of turning 60. It was nice to be among so many people who believe that aging only means “getting better.”
I had a great day. I don’t need major celebrations to have fun. Visiting with friends and family is enough, and you all came through to make my day memorable!
THANKS!

I don’t usually blurt out things like this. I actually try to maintain SOME modesty, now and then. But A Momentous Occasion is rushing toward me, and I find I need to comment on it.
On Wednesday, I will turn sixty years old. There…..I said it. I’m not upset by this; it’s more a case of wondering just what “sixty” is. Despite the aches and pains, and working a little slower than I used to, my brain still thinks I’m in my thirties
I don’t sleep quite as well as I used to, well, at night at any rate. I carry more weight than I should, and I creak and ache a bit more than I did when I was thirty, but my brain seems to think there haven’t been any changes. Until this summer, I used to find myself out on my hands and knees gardening for hours at a time. Or, I’d work all day long, and then spend the evenings looking for more things to do, like laundry or dishes, or quilting. It would be safe to say that I don’t work at full tilt for 16 hours a day any longer.
I’ve made a few changes. I wear more comfortable clothes and I buy UGLY SHOES. Of course, I buy those ugly shoes because I want shoes that are comfortable. I’ve given up heels completely, and I look for great arch support. Foot care has become really important.
I have begun eating oatmeal each morning. I add cinnamon and a little brown sugar, but at 5:30 in the morning I need a little incentive to have breakfast. I realize that the cinnamon I have in the house may not be the variety which has the health benefits, so I plan to do a little research to find the proper product, and then I will be doing TWO good things at one time.
I have gotten to the point where I can get up between 5:00 and 5:30 without being rousted out of bed. I like early morning when the house is quiet, and I can get the day started without having to talk to anyone other than Dear Husband, who is a fairly quiet person all day long.
I need to work on being in bed at 9:00, learning how to tape programs that air at 8:30 or in the evening, and reorganizing my going to bed ritual so that it’s all accomplished before lights out has passed. Moisturizing has become a MUCH more important part of my life, and I’m not very good about it. (Thank you, Nan, for the lovely incentive! *S*)
Probably the biggest change over the past decade is my focus on family. They may not be aware that anything has changed, but I’m trying to find ways to let my family know that I think about them and love them. I’m aware the passing of time, and with each day, those days I have left to spend with family become more precious.
So…what’s sixty? Darned if I know, but I plan to jump in with both feet, and meet it running! *S*

Do you do crossword puzzles? I used to do them all the time, and then I slowly set them aside when I became addicted to quilting. I resumed doing the puzzle in the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, on-line. There are times when I have a few extra minutes, and I pick up a book of New York Times puzzles and try to wade through one.
Why is it that the first time you work a tough puzzle, you can stare at the blanks and not get a thing, and when you walk away in frustration and come back later, answers fall into place with ease?? I frequently feel that “Duh!” response, when the answers are obvious and generally easy. Is it just that I’m working against myself, expecting the answers to be a lot harder?
I’m VERY glad that I took Latin. It amazes me how many times an answer to a clue will be a Latin word. Many times, I can guess the answer to a Spanish, or Italian word because it’s related to Latin.
It’s odd, but I find that the vertical clues are easier. You’d think that seeing the boxes in a pattern other than our usual left to right, would make it more difficult. I tend to fly through the puzzle starting from the upper left (Northwest) corner, and answer as many of the horizontal clues as I can. Then I make a run through the vertical clues. More than half of the answers will fall into place on the vertical clues. The hardest clues for me are those that pertain to the young stars who are likely to be found on the pages of “People” magazine. I admit it…..I’m an old fogy.
Years ago, the editors of the puzzles provided information concerning how many words made up the answer. Now, they limit their advice to “var.” (variation) or different ways of indicating that the answer is an abbreviation.
Today, one of the answers was “music.” In another life, I was a band director, so you might expect me to find all the music clues easy. WRONG!! I over-think the clues, and they are often the last clues I answer. I dread having someone assume that I will get all the music questions. In fact, I can usually guarantee that I’ll miss anything that took place between 1975 and 1990, and a lot of the more recent stuff, too. I’ve got COOKING terms down, though! lol

How often do you say “Thank you”? How often do you hear someone say “Thank you” to you?
I don’t think I say “Thank you” enough. I certainly think it. I’m behind in my written thank you notes, but I’m getting them done. Still, I think I could take the time to let people know that I really appreciate what they do for me. It bothers me that personal notes are going the way of the dinosaur. My youngest sister writes exceptional notes, and I love to get them from her, but I’m very bad about writing back to her. I send her a lot of e-mails, not just the forwarded type, but also short thoughts and responses to her e-mails, and I talk to her on the phone, but I don’t make the time to write personal notes.
I’ve been pondering this as I reach a point in my life where contact with family and friends is more important. I need to shape up (in more ways than one), get my act together, and take this show on the road. I need to stop saying “I need to…” and “Just DO it!” And I haven’t a clue how to make these life changes.
I think I’ll start by telling people “Thank you” more often.
For those of you who have come to read this blog, Thanks! It’s nice of you to stop by, *S*

“I Like Ike!” was a refrain from the election pitting Dwight D. Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson in the early 1950’s I was a child, but I recall the campaign buttons.
I’m not so sure how I feel about our recent visitor, Ike, the hurricane. The Midwest had an extended line of showers crossing from west to east, and Ike rolled up through Texas, steamrolled over Oklahoma and Kansas and Missouri and attached himself to that line of showers. The forecasters were predicting three inches of rain over a three day period. That’s a lot of rain, but manageable. In reality, O’Hare Airport measured 12.61 inches of rain by early evening on Sunday. Parts of Chicago and the surrounding counties have been hit hard, and farmers are saying that the corn and soybean crops may be damaged. We were fortunate. We’re high and dry, and still have all our utilities.
I went out Sunday morning to collect the newspapers. We have a fairly long driveway, and it was pouring out, so I took the car. While I was down at the end of the road, I stopped to collect Saturday’s mail, too. As our road goes to the east, it passes between two retention ponds, and the road crews had put up barricades to warn drivers of water on the pavement. The ponds were so full that they overflowed their bounds and met on the road. You could get through, if you went very slowly. The barricades were set up so that you had to slalom to the left. and then again to the right. Apparently everyone got the idea that you had to slow down, because there were no cars stranded in the water.
It rained almost non-stop from Friday morning to Sunday evening. It was still sprinkling Monday morning as we went off to exercise, enough to need window wipers, but not enough to keep the standing water from slowing draining off.
The record rain for my area was 17 inches in 24 hours. I can recall pictures of people canoing or rowing from house to house looking for people who needed help. What amazed me was that people would walk in the water without regard to raw sewage or downed electrical lines. What happens to people’s brains when we have unusual weather!?? Our underpasses were closed for a couple of weeks with that storm. I think we’ll clean things up faster with this one, but it will take a lot of work to bring some areas back to where they were before the storms.