It was a warm and cloudy day today, until late in the afternoon.  I took a break from my bookkeeping chores
and after lunch, took my book and headed for my comfy corner of the porch and the big papasan chair.  At this time of year, the sun usually pours in on this corner and is a bit too warm for me, but today with the cloud cover it was just right here.  I only read a few pages before putting my book aside to just close my eyes and let the other senses take over.  A gentle breese came up bringing with it the wonderful scent of autumn leaves and the sound of them rustling about.  The sun peeked out and felt warm upon my face.  Most of our birds have left us but the little chickadees were busy at the bird feeder, chattering away and making off with a seed to hide in the bark of a tree for a day not as nice as today. Miss Lizzie our pretty kitty lay purring in my lap. The scuffling I heard in the leaves must be the chipmunk she was watching so intently awhile ago.  I think this is good medicine, good for lowering one's blood pressure !  A reflecting time, autumn seems to be. Soon all the colored leaves will be gone and 'Stick Season' will be here.  (This is the time before the snow )

November is my least favorite month. We are wimps and we fly away to a warmer place for the worst of winter.  I always miss walking in the falling snow and feeling those snowflakes fall on my cheeks. And all the wonders of winter. But old winter just lasts too long !

Just before supper tonight we piled the corner of the porch full with wood, all sawed to stove length.  It sometimes gets pretty cool before we go and when we get home in March it is always needed to keep us
cozy till summer comes. There is something comforting about just looking at a nice woodpile.

Tomorrow I'll make some applesauce with the apples we picked.  The cider is sweet and good that my neighbor brought to us.  She helped to press it herself at a friends house who has many old varieties of apples. It's been a full day, yet a quiet country day and now it's time for bed. 

Dahlias in a Blue Vase

It has been like Indian Summer today.  Warm, real warm and muggy with an occasional surprise shower popping up. to be followed by sunshine again.  Between the raindrops I picked the last of the dahlias.  It is so nice to have flowers to cut and arrange in colorful bouquets. How different each kind of flower is from the other. Their beauty inspires me to make a poem.

       Dahlias In A Blue Vase

Dahlias don't behave
as well as cut flowers should.

They tend to hang their heads
like shy maidens would
or those who feel inferior,
downtrodden or blue might do,
not wanting to stand up straight
and look each other in the eye.

Colors so pure and exquisite...
Garnet, pale pink, pristine white;

Don't they know how very lovely they are
arranged just so in a vase of cobalt blue
or in a common mason jar
they're simply plopped into?

Tonight at twilight, just before the sunset, the sky was such a sight to behold, all cerulean blue, pink and yellow, like a Maxfield Parish painting.  I think this one is called 'Sunup'

Seems like it has been a day filled with beautiful sights including the fast turning autumn leaves of the many hues of reds and golds.  What a day to be thankful for the wonderful gift of vision.  May we not ever take our sight for granted!

The Dollhouse

Maybe today I'll dust.  I haven't dusted in a couple of years.  OH, dusted my dollhouse that is !  Well, I probably SHOULD dust the real house too, but rainy days are good for doing procrastinated jobs.
Many years ago, my children and my husband bought me a dollhouse kit for Christmas.  Dennis put it together lovingly and painstakingly with some help from me and Petey the cat.

Over the years we have always kept an eye out for just the right little something for furnishing it.  Finally it was all finished and some occupants, a nice little family, moved right in. 

The Flatbottoms family

I was reading one of Billy Collins' poems today. I like so many of his poems. He's especially nice to listen to as he reads them.  He was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003 and Poet Laureate of NY 2004-2006.  He played in a golf tournament with my son Chip once and gave him an autographed copy of his book, 'Picnic, Lightning'.  The poem is called "Some Days" and I thought you'd like it too.  This got me to thinking about my dollhouse and the neglected dusting.

  

                           Some Days            by Billy Collins

Some days I put the people in their places at the table, 

bend their legs at the knees, 

if they come with that feature,

and fix them into the tiny wooden chairs.

All afternoon they face one another,

the man in the brown suit, 

the woman in the blue dress,

perfectly motionless, perfectly behaved.

But other days, I am the one 

who is lifted up by the ribs,

then lowered into the dining room of a dollhouse

to sit with the others at the long table.

Very funny,

but how would you like it

if you never knew from one day to the next

if you were going to spend it

striding around like a vivid god,

your shoulders in the clouds, 

or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper

staring straight ahead with your little plastic face?

I try to move my 'family' around from room to room now and again.  When I go to FL for the winter, I sometimes put them together like they are in this photo and set up their Christmas tree for them.  Sad to say, with nobody home here to turn on their power, they have to sit and stare at an unlighted tree until I get home in the spring.  Maybe this time I'll just put them all in their beds in their clean house, tuck them

in and let them have a good long winters nap.

OK  so now you KNOW I am a little strange !!  Well wait till you hear this one.   You know those pole beans I keep mentioning, and their abundant productive powers this year...well I'm kinda SICK of pole beans !!   But you know what they say, 'Waste not, want not." So after taking my Little Red Riding Hood basket and delivering a bunch to all my neighbors, I had to think of something really different yesterday to do with the latest batch.. So  I made a pole bean PIE !!  Not the veggie kind of pie but a real sweet-like-an-apple pie PIE.  I used sugar and cornstarch, a pinch of salt, lemon juice and some good spicy cinnamon.  I cooked this concoction and mixed in some partially cooked pole beans.  Looked like that apple pie filling stuff that comes out of a can, kinda.  Then I just made a two crust pie dotted with butter and baked it same as you would an apple pie.  Voila !   A new creation !  It was pretty yummy with a hunk of good VT cheddar cheese. You guessed it, hubby said, " NO WAY am I eating THAT !" Not even willing to taste it !  Oh well, it was just a small pie anyway as I made him a traditional, all American,  made-for- a-man-to-eat APPLE pie.  He had no trouble with that !  Today I will get my good neighbor Allison to try the new creation and I know she can be relied on to give me an honest opinion.  So much for my creative genius for the week.  Now I better go do some work....maybe I'll get to that dollhouse tomorrow ??  

The Time Sure Flies !

Where does the time go ?  It seems like summer was very short this year. I gave away the last of the ripe, red tomatoes.  My tummy has had enough acid for a spell!   Now there's only the late producing pole beans left in the garden.  The 'afterthought' garden.  We plant a few of these beans in a less sunny spot to grow up a latticed arbor and they come along more slowly here.
It was chilly enough this morning to have a small fire in the old woodstove.  How I miss a nice little wood fire in FL  Just a quiet crackle or a little sputter with no furnace or blower running.  We  really do have some pretty cold days there in the central part of the state.

I'm being scolded loudly by Miss Lizzie our beautiful white cat.  I came in and left her on the screened-in porch before lunch and she is really letting me know that wasn't kind at all !  She knows I sit down after lunch to write or to read while my honey takes a snooze in his recliner.  He invites her to sit in his lap and snooze with him but she usually just makes a dash for my computer chair and parks there.  She has me trained !  I don't like to oust her from there so I pull up another chair and she starts to purr as if she now feels I'll say a few words for her.  How I'll miss her this winter when she leaves 'Camp Grammy's House' and goes to stay with our daughter in-law for the winter.

Tomorrow is a special day.  We celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary !  Guess it will be a quiet day.  No elaborate plans.  Dinner out in the evening will be nice.
               
We are thanking our Lord for our journey together.  He has been so gracious to us and has provided for all our needs, blessed us with wonderful children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and with many wonderful friends.

Season of Reflection

Yesterday we awoke to 38 degrees on the big thermometer out on the back patio.  Fearing a frost I had covered 'Rosie' my rosemary plant with an old sheet saved just for this purpose.  I need to dig her up and get her into a good sized pot to come inside for the winter.  It is really nice to have a sprig of fresh rosemary year-round. Rosie goes to my neighbors for the winter when we migrate to FL.  More on that later!
Autumn is a pretty season... also it can be a sad season.  A time reversal as we undo the spring chores.  The garden needs to be put to bed and the flower beds too.  All that summer furniture brought in.  Seems like it is also a time of reflection.. of the passing of another year and remembering other years past.  Mustn't dwell on the past they say but try to look on the good things of yesteryear.

                                                       Grandson Nate and his Farm Stand

This is a memory of a happy harvest time.  Our grandson set up shop on the General Store steps, the owners were Peg and Pete and wonderful people that they were, promoted young entrepreneurs in their endeavors.  For everything there is a season and for everything a purpose under heaven.  It is a sad thing that we no longer have our little General Store.

Going to the fair is a fun treat in autumn.  Thursday was a lovely, crisp day, a day for knee socks and big sweaters.  The fair was good.  Even with so much devastation here in VT this year, many, many people made it to the fair.  The exhibits were great.  Lovely art work and photography.  Quilts and crafts in abundance.  The 700 lb. pumpkin was a sight to behold as well as the 12.6 foot tall sunflower that got the blue ribbon.  The young kids and their animals are always a favorite feature.  They take such great care of their goats, cattle or what ever they have raised. And then there is the fair food !  The aromas !
This year I tried to be 'good' and only sample things on the good-for-you list.  I found a vendor selling baked potatoes, big fat ones hot from the oven with all kinds of toppings.  Filling too.  But I saved room for a big bowl of hot, homemade apple crisp with ice cream. Had a very hard time passing by the spiral cut, deep fried sweet potatoes !  These are the VERY best. Also passed up the VT bar b q ribs.  I did stop to breath in that wonderful spicy aroma though and watch our friends enjoy theirs.  I was too full to have my usual ear of fresh roasted corn dripping with butter.  (Made up for that today as for Sunday dinner we had our fresh corn.)  Listening to Banjo Dan and his group playing great bluegrass was the perfect end to a great day at the World's Fair.  Made it home safely with only two detours.

                                                               Some prize winning goodies

I'm off to walk in the warm, friendly sunshine and scuff through some fallen, dry leaves.  Not much fall foliage yet but lots of fallen leaves.  Have a great fall day wherever you may be.

A Peaceful Day

Monday!  After a busy and eventful week, this was a really quiet and peaceful day.  I used my time well, got the wash done and could hang out the sheets as it was a lovely warm and sunny day.  Even got a little housework done !    The fridge looked like there might be the makings of a good hearty soup in there.  This is what we call "Must-Go".  A bowl of homemade tomato soup would make a good base. A bit of spaghetti sauce with meat too..  Some onion and garlic & of course, some pole beans and carrots sauted in olive oil to start the pot off right. Lurking in the back was an ear of corn.   It was beginning to look like minestroni.  A handful of pasta right from Italy brought back by my friend Alison who vacationed there.  Finally kidney beans and some beef broth. Since it was too warm for having a fire in the cookstove today the concoction had to simmer on low for an hour or better on the electric stove.  It sure was good come noontime, with crusty bread for a tomato sandwich and a chunk of cheddar cheese.

After lunch I found time to put the binding on a quilted table runner I have been working on.  SO good to get a UFO finally finished !  (Un-Finished Object).  Quilters usually have a few of these hanging around.
Then I went out back to sit on the patio to read my book and listen to the river as it flows over the dam once again.  I am reading a book called "Two Coots In A Canoe" by David Morine, about a couple of old guys who decided to take a canoe down the length of the Connecticut River from up near the Canadian Border in Colebrook, NH all the way to Old Saybrook, CT, a 400+ mile trip.  They didn't want to camp and pack all that gear so they decided to rely on the kindness of strangers living along the way to take them in for a night as they passed by.  It is a funny and enjoyable tale.

Coming home from a walk tonight we were greeted by a huge orange moon rising in the east. I didn't think to get the camera but I do have a lovely moonrise picture to share with you.  Taken a couple years ago way up on Darling Hill.

Bless to us, O God,

The sun and moon above us,

The earth that is beneath us.

The friends who are around us,

Your image deep within us.

(A Celtic Prayer)  

New Beginnings

Today is here. Yesterday is gone, never to come again, except for the memories we cherish of all those good yesterdays. Tomorrow you know, never comes !  By the time it arrives it is called Today!

Today is here.  A day of new beginnings for each of us, each in a different way.  Today is a wedding day in our family.  A happy occasion for sure.  Our wonderful daughter in-law, was widowed a few years ago when her beloved husband, our son, was killed in an accident.  The time of mourning is a sad time... a time without many smiles.  Today will be a lovely early fall day with lots of blue sky and sunshine.  But what will really light up our day is a bride's fabulous smile, a glow from the inside out.

We have a dilemma here!  What will this new bride be to me??  Mother in-law,  (I never liked the 'ex' thing. )  But she will be getting a new Mother in-law.  Oh well, guess we'll just adopt the both of them and call them our adopted kids !

I am honored to be asked to make their wedding cake.  Sure I make a cake now and again but a wedding cake ???   That was my first thought.  But then I thought of how sweet it was to be asked to do this favor for the bride and her groom.  My next thought was from Philippians 4:13..."I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".  I've proof that this is true.  So with this support I built a wedding cake.
Like the bride I had something Borrowed, the pans from my friend Betty, something Blue. I was blue in the face trying to get the parchment paper decoration bags folded properly so the icing would stay inside until I squeezed it out the tip... not out a seam in the side of the bag !   Something old, the floral arbor I used on top of the cake. Something new, the cake itself!   So now we just have to get the cake to the reception site all in one piece !

One of the Daily Devotionals I read each morning had these words of wisdom.  "Whether it's a vocation or avocation, any work can be performed as a prayer to God's glory, a prayer that draws us close to our Creator's heart "  And then the writer, Evelyn Bence, adds, "Lord, draw me today to some project that I can complete as a working prayer."  This I read as I was about to embark upon the creation of a wedding cake, so it became a 'working prayer' !

I'll finish this post when we return from the wedding and I'll take a picture of this 'working prayer' wedding cake.

We're back home after a lovely time at the outdoor reception.  Such a pretty day. Much joy. Much love.

Here is the cake.  If you wonder why there is a swing atop the cake... the poem explains it.

The Swing

It all began 'neath the schoolyard swing

Where she boldly etched their initials in the sand...

When they were ten... C.B. + G.G.

Not much scares a lad of ten,

'Cept maybe a pretty little girl, writing in the sand.

So he quickly scuffed it out with his hand.

Many a twist and turn life will take;

Many separate roads they traveled;

Each knew the joys and sorrows, just living life can make.

And now, mid life, they've found

Each other for the second time.

So this explains, once again,

Initials 'neath the swing, atop their wedding cake,

And she now wears his ring!

            

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY !!

And still it is raining!  The devastation from the flooding waters here in VT is tremendous.  The pictures taken by so many and posted on youtube and other places tell a very sad story of loss.  But also there are many stories of courage and caring.  Every newspaper has a few.  What a great place to live!  Here in the hills where neighbor helps neighbor.
We were only able to go about 2 miles to the north, by a back road, for a few days, to a four corners where the roads were closed in all four directions due to washouts. There were many little roads we knew about as locals that could be taken to get us from here to there and then hook us up with a highway that wasn't too damaged for passage.  We took some supplies from a church near here to an area about 10 miles away where a command center had been set up at a fire station. There were people cut off from everywhere who had no electric and needed food and water delivered by ATV's.  National Guard helicopters were leaving off these supplies just outside the village and we were able to help a group of men, women and youngsters load them onto a flatbed truck to be taken to the command center for distribution.  Amazing how fast this could be accomplished by forming a 'box brigade' just like the old bucket brigade.

The water is rushing over the dam we see from our backyard again.  It really is kind of eerie when we don't hear the falls.  It was real quiet for a few days as the water covered the whole dam.
We are slowly but surely making progress toward recovery. Hoping that this rain will be light and not cause any more flooding.

  Some good news is that on Saturday we will be going to a wedding.  A small country affair.  Hoping for a lovely fall day.  I am going to be busy making the wedding cake. And we are still picking pole beans !!   Tomatoes did well too.  Made spaghetti sauce, salsa, and tomato soup so far. Not to mention all those tomato sandwiches.  How I'd like one of these fat juicy tomatoes in May !  The ones from the store just don't measure up to these vine ripened beauties. We get our corn from a local farm stand and it is so sweet and good.  So thankful for the wonderful fresh veggies.  

Lizzie is staring at me again so that means time for bed.  Sleep tight !