A little more trick than treat

Trick or Treat came a little early this year

 This little bandit decided to help himself to the feast on the front porch

 I immediately thought of Jane and her declaration this year that she was not going to put out pumpkins because the squirrels always just eat them. I thought how funny that was since I had never had the wicked little things bother my pumpkins.

Hey Jane, I think I have your squirrel;>)

 You have to admit his costume is cute.

I had to carefully open the door and sit on the floor to get these photos. The meal was so good he barely blinked an eye. Bold AND wicked!

*sigh* guess I'll clean up the mess later.  I'm such a pushover for little critters.

Everyone has to eat right?

It's a cold and blustery day, I'm baking bread and I will be boxing up household stuff to move out of rooms for the flooring installation next week. Yay! It's a good time to practice a little tough love in this house.  I don't need all this stuff. And most of it was thrifted anyway, so no big deal to replace it with some fresh decorating over the next few months. I'm anxious for a cleaner look in this little house anyway, so out it all goes!

What kind of projects are you working on?

World on Fire

I suppose the last thing you need to see is photos of more fall leaves. Forgive me I couldn't help myself. Yesterday I came home to a fall day in the high 70's. I had to go outside. I decided mowing the lawn for the last time this year was the best way to enjoy this rare late October sunshine, but I kept seeing the sun shining through the leaves and I had to hop off and get some photos.

Some random catch up while we peruse these last fleeting days of sun and color, (tomorrow it dips into the 50's and next week  temps in the 40's  are in the forecast!)

I have been busy packing up the house, doing some fall cleaning. We have new wood floors on the way and I am taking a look at things and deciding it's time to get rid of some of the old to make room for some new. Numerous trips to Salvation Army have been made and I have not allowed myself to go inside. Much.

 The Mums by the back door beckoned me to photograph their smiling faces, how could I say no?

 Lauren's beau is almost done with training and we are planning another wedding. Winter this time instead of fall, indoors instead of outdoors. I'm not one of those people who believe you can "jinx" something by talking about it, but you won't hear more about it until I can show you wedding photos:>)

 Earl and I have discovered the Polly Ann trail near our house, an old rail bed turned into a multi mile bike and walking path. Glorious! it is our new favorite place to be on sunny fall days. Surrounded on both sides by lush, mature trees, we are cut off from the rest of the world. It is like walking for miles in mature woods with swamps and lakes and wildflowers, and the spicy smell of autumn all around us. We're biking it tonight. And that's where I've been. I have big plans for this little blog, but it will be slow going and I'm not going to fret about it.

I hope you are enjoying these last days of Autumn. Maybe it lasts longer where you are? When do your trees lose their glory?

The end of the affair...

There is no photo with this post. It is too sad. The garden...sob...murdered in its sleep last night.

The zinnias brown, the few tomatoes left on the vine just sad sacks of juice.

I can't even speak about the basil.

 It was that villian Autumn. All dressed up to distract me from his real intentions.  

Oh sure, he's good looking but he has a heart of pure ice.

I'll string him along for a few more weeks, make him think I care.

 

But I can see right now we never had a future.

Falling in Love

Every year at the end of summer, while it seems everyone else is anticipating Autumn, I get a little cranky. Sometimes I'm guilty of looking at the glass half empty. You may be surprised by that. What's not to love about Autumn?  Well, in my mind I skip right past the beauty of Fall and start thinking about shorter days, and cold and snow and slush. Winter in Michigan seems to last a full six months. I love the holidays, but January through March?

Notsomuch.

So I stew, and I mourn the loss of long days of sunshine and I get a little cross.

 And then I drive down a country road through a stained glass arch of trees

 Past misty fields of gold and russet

 I see whole fields of wild purple asters

 And wild sweet peas growing beside beautiful bike paths

 I see scarlet vines (that I don't dare touch! Could it be poison ivy?)

And the Sweet Autumn Clematis froths over the chippy pergola by the back door.

And I push my thoughts of winter to the back of my mind (why give it one more day than I have to?)

And I fall in love with Autumn.

A Weekend in the Country, Happy October!

For the first time in nearly a year, I actually had a Saturday and Sunday off with the chance to do  whatever I wanted to. Heaven. Pure Heaven.

Earl and I got up bright and early and headed to Panera for coffee, our go-to face time most weeks, and we love it. Then off to the farmers market. Once again, the first time (and last time) all summer that I have been able to go. I usually work early morning shifts on Saturdays at my job so I'm not out until the market is closed. We have the greatest Farmers Market around.

We ended up with a big mum for $5, some beets, fresh corn (for chowder!) and a big old fat pumpkin for the front porch.

 This red and white vegetable is a radish!

 We got fat, sunset colored peppers to roast for 50 cents each

 Earl is going back next weekend for a bunch of baby pumpkins for a fall party:>)

 I wanted the whole basket of these gourds.

 The freshest beans, but we filled the fridge with other goodies this time, maybe next week he can pick up a few of these

 My sweetie always buys my flowers at the market..$5 a bunch and I filled two large vases!

 I think eggplant is so beautiful, why don't they taste better?

I love the warty, odd, unusual pumpkins the best, why didn't I get one of these?

And then we went to A Weekend in the Country at the local fairgrounds.

It was billed as a

"Shopping Festival". Can I just say we found that absolutely hilarious? A shopping Festival?

Ok, well it was fun, and we managed to walk away with only some artisan cheese, glazed pecans and cashew snack packs and lunch from the traveling lunch trucks. Because you gotta eat some truck food at the shopping festival don't you?

 Cute stuff galore, I want this wire basket

And these bags are adorable.

And I have some little cardboard houses somewhere in my craft supplies that I must dig out and paint and glitter the heck out of before Christmas.

So it was perfection in a weekend. We came home and made corn chowder with our farm market haul and I made another apple cake to celebrate. And how was your weekend?