Tis the Season!

 Good Morning!

Spotted this on our drive over to Colin's yesterday morning.

The tape across the spare says "crime scene."  The green color of the skeleton cracked me up.  We also passed a number of jeeps with skeletons attached to the front.  All the jeeps.

Here's to a great weekend ahead!

The View From Here

 Good Morning!

Once again it is still dark, so who knows what the day will be like...I've heard it is supposed to be sunny which would be nice.  Yesterday was foggy all day and a bit on the damp side.  I had some misty rain on the windshield driving home from the office.

The only person I saw at the office yesterday was Des - my financial analyst for Kevin's world.  She was coming in just as I was about ready to leave.  And, as I mentioned to some of you in my reply to comments yesterday, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I'm beginning to see it!  My major work of late has been on bonus calculations and I should have the final piece of that wrapped up later today.  I still have other projects that are screaming for my attention, but it will be wonderful to have that piece finalized!

Meanwhile, Fall is definitely here in Eastern PA.  At times yesterday while driving to the office I felt as though I was driving through a golden tunnel.  There were beautiful trees on either side of the road and some of them had branches hanging over the road.

The colors this year are funny.  Some are very muted and rather dull, but then you turn the corner and wham!  Colors are more brilliant and saturated than ever before.  Here is a picture of our crepe myrtle in our front yard.  The blooms (white) were pretty good this year, but now it looks like it is on fire!

 Sorry about the wires, but nothing I can do about them!  Fletch and I both remember this tree as turning gold in the Fall - never a red color.  Amazing!

I passed this scene on my way to work yesterday.  This is just as you enter Valley Forge Park on Route 23.

So much moisture in the air!  This house is decorated each year for Halloween.  Last year it looked like the skeletons were having a tea party.  This year it looks like they are cooking something in a giant cauldron.

The huge skeleton in front of the chiropractor's office is out all year.  In winter it has a scarf on.  I couldn't get a picture yesterday, but now it is wearing a purple cloak and has long grey hair!  It's wonderful.  Hopefully I will drive by when no one is behind me so that I can stop to get a picture.  Yesterday traffic was too heavy.

Finally, here is the view Fletch and I see when we sit on the patio in the afternoon.  We watch all the birds (so many varieties!!) and if we are lucky, Steve the Beav may run across the back.

We've had good rain - the grass is still so green, but it is not growing quickly.  It's been 2.5 weeks since we've had the lawn mowed.  I think the mower told Fletch he usually stops by mid-November, so I'm guessing one or two more cuttings and that will be it!  You can see in the picture above that it finally cleared a bit in the afternoon.  Blue skies returned.

OK!  Time to get to work.  Have yourselves a very lovely Thursday!

Fall

 Hey There - Good Morning!

I'm happy to report that I survived my work meeting yesterday.  It was surprisingly not as long as I anticipated and not quite as long winded with unnecessary talk as I expected.  There was still much that was said unnecessarily, but overall a better experience than I thought.  One thing that annoys me is when people say they will get something to you in a couple of hours and then it is much, much later.  The finance guy promised to send out the "master - parent- company" spreadsheet in a few hours after our meeting...so I assumed I would have it by 3 or 4 at the latest...maybe 5.  Nope - it came through the airways close to 10 p.m. last night.  My day (most of it) today will be spent completing that spreadsheet.

However, there was delight yesterday.  I spied this tree along the drive into my office complex.

Gorgeous, isn't it?  Just brilliant.  There are still a number of trees around here like that.  And some that I call half and half:  the top half has changed to red or orange or gold or a mix of colors and the bottom is still vibrant green.  However, today is a heavy rain day with the remnants of the hurricane, so by tomorrow many trees will be bare branches (still beauty there my friends).

My drive to work is very pretty.  I typically drive through part of Valley Forge Park.  There is a house right at the edge of the park that every year is decorated for Halloween.  Yesterday I finally pulled into a parking lot across the street (Valley Forge Post Office) and took some pictures.  First the whole thing:

You should be able to click to enlarge.  I like the leg sticking out of the cart on the far right - lol.  And here are two close ups - first the left side and then the right.

The bottom picture looks like a skeleton in a bathtub!

I think there are more decorations this year.  Maybe it's that people are home more and have time to do it?  Or folks are so bored with staying at home?  Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying the Halloween decorations.  I'd love to get more pictures, but many are on busy roads where there is no space to pull over.

Last night I ended up doing a little baking!  I had been thinking about pumpkin bread...with cranberries and with pecans.  So I made some.

My kitchen smelled so good while this was baking.  The loaf on the left did break in two after I took it out of the pan - lol.  That will be our loaf.  I will most likely give the second loaf to Colin & Mailing.

That's it for me this Thursday morning.  I've got to get cracking on my regular Thursday morning financial reports and then buckle down and get that spreadsheet completed.  Wishing you all a wonderful "it's almost Friday" kind of day.

A Finished Hat

Good Morning!

Did you all have a nice Halloween?  We did not have a single person/child/animal come to our house for treats.  So...I brought the candy we had bought into the office...it will disappear quickly I'm sure.

Around here, the colors are finally beginning to pop.  I pass this tree on my to and from work.  Yesterday on my way home I was able to stop in the street for a moment to get a shot of it.  It is just brilliant!

Yesterday my office closed early for Halloween.  Lots of other places must have too because traffic was heavy at 2 p.m.!!  But, with the bit of extra time, the Crazy Hat was completed last night.  Just as I thought, a 4th color came in at the top.  This color wasn't as long a repeat as the others, but I like the way it turned out.  First up, my willing model, Fletch, in the completed hat:

And here's the top - I tried to spread the hat out so you could see all the variations in color.

I even tried it on - so soft and (I think) it will be plenty warm.  I love it.  Guess I need to make one for moi!  But I think next up will be some socks (of course) and some fingerless mitts.

Meanwhile, gotta run - more reports to do today at work and also open enrollment starts today.  I need to remember to sign up!  hope your week is going well.

Camping Postponed and More Halloween Pics

Hi All,
We've decided to postpone our camping trip for a week.  It still feels like summer here, but rain is coming in today and tomorrow along with high winds.  not exactly good weather for hiking and a campfire.  Hopefully next weekend will work.
Meanwhile, I managed to get some better shots sent to me from our Halloween party and thought I would share.  This was such a good time.

Meanwhile, there's a breakfast spread in our main kitchen and I've got a conference call to get on shortly.  So, au revoir for now.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Work Halloween Party

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love where I work.  On the whole, everyone is wonderful.  There are always a few sorry souls no matter where you go, but in this case the good far out weighs the bad.


Today was our Halloween Party.  Our training room, located on another floor from the main office, was decorated by the caterer who ALWAYS does a fabulous job.  Not many of my pictures turned out, but here is one giving a sense of some of the set up.

All the tables had gorgeous centerpieces.  I have one of the centerpieces on my desk.  Each one had a raven in the middle - love!  I got an extra raven as well.

And the menu:  prime rib, crab cakes, chicken, salads, veggies, soups, tons of candy and pumpkin cheesecake with a caramel sauce.


Our CFO came in as Beer Man and suggested that we start serving drinks at our luncheons!

There were a bunch of different categories for prizes - scariest, funniest, group, etc.  The one that won for funniest (and best overall) were two people from our AR department who came as Alcoholic Ken and Train Wreck Barbie.  You can see them just in the back of this (poor) shot (in the pink cardboard boxes that they made):

Cheech and Chong were there, two different groups came as Shark Week, a few clowns, etc. 

A great way to break up the middle of the week.  Now I need a nap - lol.