Yet Another Surprise! 10/8/26

 Hello Friends,

This will be quick as I am off to see Iris shortly.  But, I wanted to share with you all that I did make the French Apple Cake.  Oh my!  I highly suggest that everyone make this.

I did not have the rum the recipe calls for so I doubled the vanilla as the recipe suggests.  YUMMY!  You can find the link to the recipe on Kat's blog.

Next up, more blooms:  more on the apple tree and then I noticed honeysuckle blooming again at the side of our property.  

The big surprise though was that a hawk landed in our apple tree for a bit!  Then it flew off only to come back to our property through our woods.  We could hear him calling (Fletch says trying to scare up something - a mouse? a mole? - I think he scared everything off!).  Fletch is pretty sure it is a Cooper's hawk - striped tail and slightly smaller than other hawks.  Whatever it was, it was gorgeous.

Okay, time to dry my hair and get dressed and have more coffee!  Have a wonderful Thursday.

Unraveled Wednesday 10/7/26

 Hello My Friends,

Well, so far today is not going as planned.  I'm supposed to be at the vet's with Mabel right now (her annual check up), but she is outside somewhere and not coming when I call (which is not unusual).  I know I should not have let her out this morning, but she was so vocal and I figured she would go out and then come right back for breakfast.  I guess she is on some kind of walk-about.  Fortunately the vet is very understanding and said when she shows up to call and they will do their best to fit her in.  Nice people.

Yesterday was a good day with Iris but oh my!  I was so sleepy and tired.  I couldn't knit or read while she napped - couldn't focus or concentrate.  And, I actually went to bed a little after 8 p.m. last night.  Not sure what's up or if I'm fighting a little something, but I slept almost 10 hours last night!  

But here we are at Wednesday and it's time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday.  Always fun.  Originally I thought I would finish the second sock for Iris over the weekend, but time got away from me and then I didn't finish it yesterday as planned (see above).  So here we are, just rows from the toe decrease:

One done and one almost done.  Maybe later today??  Since I'm home today I'm also planning to make the French Apple Cake that Kat blogged about on Monday.  YUM!!

Reading is still a bit on the slow side for me.  I did finish Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  This is a book I started years ago and then it sat on my nightstand.  Periodically I would pick it up and read some pages.  Now I want to go back and start it over again.  There is an awful lot of wisdom in this book!

Fletch and I finished listening to Robert Macfarlane's book The Wild Places which was quite interesting.  Some of the glossary chapters became a little long winded, but overall a good listen.  Last night we started listening to his book Underland: A Deep Time Journey which we are both enjoying.  What will we do when we run out of Macfarlane books?

One of my brother's recommended the book The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science which I've started.  Carly Anne York is a good writer and the book is fun and interesting.  I think a number of my fellow bloggers would enjoy it.  I also picked up The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian and am hoping this pulls me out of my fiction reading slump.

Here's hoping Mabel shows up before too long and I can get her into the vet's later today.  I hope your Wednesday is a good one.  Have some fun!

A Surprise! 10/6/26

 Good Morning All,

Another chilly morning - 45 according to my phone.  I have a long sleeved tee shirt on with PJ pants and a shawl wrapped around my shoulders.  Feeling cozy.

Once again I have not been stitching, but eventually I will.  Right now my days seem to be filled with other things.

Look at that blue sky!  This photo was taken yesterday, the 5th of October, and if you click to enlarge you will see there are a couple of blooms on our apple tree!  This has happened before - I remember coming home from a Fall camping trip to blooms on the tree.  So not unusual, but still a surprise.

A funny story about the apples.  They are almost all gone now.  The ones that are left are pretty high up.  On Saturday the lawn guys came to (finally) cut our grass.  One of the workers was walking around with his blower or weed whacker holding it up high and knocking down apples.  Then he would pick them up and put them in his pocket!  LOL

Fletcher also discovered that we finally have buds on our morning glory!  Maybe it will bloom before a frost kills it all.  Our figs are plentiful, but still not ripening.  Not sure that will happen.  I read up on them and it does not pay to pick them early and try to ripen them inside - doesn't work.  But I did see that we do indeed have more zinnias blooming in the garden and there are still two cucumbers that are just about ready to pick!

I'm off to spend the day with Iris.  I hope your Tuesday finds you discovering some lovely surprises!

Weekending 10/5/26

 Good Morning My Friends,

So, October is here!  I took a few days off from blogging and October snuck right in.  The garden is definitely looking spent and I may have picked the last (or next to the last) zinnias.  After a few days in the house they are looking weary as well, but still pretty.

They kind of blend right in with my Fall themed tablecloth.

Well, after successfully avoiding chores for a couple of weeks, Thursday found me jumping right into them.  And, there was lots to do.  Bathrooms were scrubbed, shower curtains washed, towels washed, sheets changed and sheets washed.  You get the idea.  And Friday morning found me back at it dealing with a very dirty kitchen floor.  Luckily my massage booked for 10:30 Friday morning put an end to doing chores!

My massage was wonderful!  Pure bliss.  Mallory, my massage therapist seems to know exactly where to focus her attention.  I had been having some awful headaches for close to two weeks, and I walked out after my massage completely headache free!

Friday afternoon I went to a local nursery and picked up more mums for the front area as well as a couple of pumpkins.  I also got a Black Futsu Pumpkin which is a type of rare Japanese heirloom winter squash.

I LOVE winter squash and I'm looking forward to trying this one.  Last week we had an Autumn Frost squash which is a new one to me.  It is a cross between a butternut and kabocha squash and is very, very tasty.

There was also a little bit of excitement here as somehow a sparrow ended up in the house!  Fletch called to me and there it was sitting on a curtain rod in the living room.  Not sure if Mabel brought it in or if it flew in on its own when a door was open.  We were not successful in capturing it but have not seen or heard it since.  Hopefully it found its way out - we left doors open for a little bit.  Hopefully it is not dead under a piece of furniture - I guess we will know in a little bit if an awful stench is suddenly present!

Saturday was another beautiful day where we ended up at Colin & Mailing's for dinner and an evening fire.  It was the perfect evening for sitting around a fire.  Sunday was a somewhat wet and lazy day.

How was your weekend?

Unraveled Wednesday 9/30/26

 Good Morning My Friends,

How can it possibly be the last day of September 2026?  The days are flying by.  And, as they fly by, the temps are warming.  It could be close to 90 by the end of the week!  Yikes!!

Let's see:  my new credit card arrived and I've successfully (I think/hope) updated all automatic payments.  Today is my last day caring for Iris this week.  Bonnie is back from Paris and she will take over starting tomorrow.  I have a massage booked for Friday which will feel SO good!!

Now it's time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers for an Unraveled Wednesday update/post.  I may not be doing any stitching lately, but I am doing some knitting.  Woo-Hoo!

One of Iris' socks has been completed and the second is well on its way.  Yesterday morning I knit the cuff on the second before leaving the house and then the first half of the leg (in red) was knit while Iris napped.  I hope to finish the leg and perhaps the heel flap today while she is napping.  Socks generally go pretty fast (unless I put them aside and forget them), but Iris socks go really fast!  There are just 52 stitches around (rather than my usual 64) and I'm using size 1 needles rather than my usual size 2.

Some reading has been done.  Still no good fiction although a Bruno book is waiting for me to pick it up at the library.  That is a good thing.  I did read Thoreau On Man and Nature which is a slim volume (62 pages I think).  It is a compilation of some of Thoreau's writings.  There are gems in this book, though some of it seemed a bit "preachy" to me.  Still, worth reading.

Also completed was Local Wonders Seasons in the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser.  Another slim book that is just filled with wonder and beautiful words.  Broken down into four sections for the four seasons of the year, I had intended to read each section during its own season, but I couldn't stop reading!  Filled with kindness and caring, this book has been perfect for me right now.

Be sure to check out the links on Kat's blog post and let me know what you are making and reading these days.

Weekending 9/28/26

 Good Soggy Morning!

Yup, still very wet here in Eastern PA.  The ground is saturated and though I do love a nice rainy day, I have to say enough!  I think that today will be the last day (at least for a couple) that we have some rain and temps are rising - it might get near 80 towards the end of the week.  Is this an Indian summer?

Anywho, how was your weekend?  Ours was good.  We met up with Colin, Mailing and Iris for lunch on Saturday.  We went to Fitzwater Station which is along the canal where I used to walk quite a bit (turtles and blue heron!).  Of course it was raining when we arrived.  What I had not realized is that this place was a stop on the Underground Railroad.  Pretty cool and the food was tasty.  The rain had eased up some when we were finished, so the kids went for a walk.  Fletch and I came home and then I did a quick grocery shopping.

Since I did not post on Friday, I never showed Fletcher's birthday cake:

Very yummy!  More than half of it went to C&M&I, but believe it or not, there is still one piece left in the fridge for the birthday boy.

After a big lunch on Saturday we did not want a heavy dinner, so I made a pot of pinto bean soup.  YUM!!  There was cornbread in the fridge that I heated up in the oven to go with the soup.  A good rainy night dinner.  Yesterday I made  a Southwest Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet for dinner.  This turned out to be a great recipe and FAST!!  Plus enough leftovers for more than just another dinner.

Yesterday I also made a batch of Pumpkin Snickerdoodles - YUM!

Most of these will find their way over to C&M&I today.  Again, an easy and tasty treat.  Now I have leftover pumpkin, so I made need to make muffins or something.  Fall flavors!!

One not so pleasant discovery:  on Saturday while reviewing our credit card statement, I discovered a charge for over $1,000 from Walmart!  I don't shop at Walmart and certainly wouldn't spend that much money there.  When I called, it turns out that my card had been compromised.  There were a bunch of other high charges that the credit card company had denied (thank goodness).  (More charges from Walmart, some from an electronics store, a department store, etc. - all on-line purchases.) So, my card was cancelled immediately and hopefully my new card will arrive today.  What a PITA though - I've got to notify those companies that automatically charge my card each month (Netflix, Apple, etc.).

Other than laundry, it was another successful weekend of avoiding chores.  I found time to knit (a sock for Iris) and read.  No stitching though, so no TNT post tomorrow.  I'll get back to it at some point, but right now I'm busy with other things.

Tell me how your weekend was - anything exciting?

Thursday Musings 9/24/26

 Hello and Good Morning!

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my guy.  Yup!  Today is Fletcher's Birthday.  He is 79 today!  I've been up since 6 a.m. and his birthday cake is now in the oven.  Pineapple Upside Down cake - one of his favorites.  His presents are wrapped, but we will save them for dinner time when I am home from watching Iris.

Speaking of Iris, our neighbor Rob came over yesterday to get some lettuce sets we did not need in our Fall garden.  He and Eva have a new dog - another Great Dane and her name is Iris!!  She is a rescue from a shelter where she ended up from a puppy mill.  Sad.  They are guessing she is around 2 years old.  She only weighs 70 lbs (only!) and should by now weigh more like 130-140.  Malnourished and she has kennel cough, so she cannot yet be around Annabelle their other dog.  Anyway, they did not name her Iris - that was the name she came with.  Please say good thoughts and send all the healing juju Iris' way.

I walked out to the garden to get the lettuce sets for Rob and discovered this:

Another giant cucumber.  I had not even noticed this one.  The other two I had seen are still growing.  There are still plenty of beans, but once again I am not looking at the plant!  LOL. Rob doesn't really like beans (how can anyone not like beans??), but he said he would ask his ex wife if she would like any.  We still have many, many in the fridge and freezer.

Finally, these guys were lazing around the back yard when I got home yesterday.

There are three deer laying down by our shed and archery backdrop!  So peaceful.  You need to watch where you walk in our yard though!  Plenty of poop!

Time to check the cake!  Have a great Thursday.