End of September, Really?

Happy Friday!  It's time for Friday Fave Fives. with Susanne. And it's the last week of September!  How did that happen??  Anyway.  These are the five things I've found this week to be thankful for.

1.  Weather that is cool enough to wear my flannel shirts.  I do love my flannel shirts.

2.  My college friend wrote this book.  Another friend bought me a copy of it!  I can highly recommend it.



3.  Several years ago, The Professor and I read through all the books by Dick Francis.  He wrote murder mysteries based in England and focused on horse racing.  At least I thought we had read them all.  This week at the library, I found a title I didn't recognize, and as I read the fist chapter, I was sure I'd never read it before.  So I'm enjoying this new to me book.

4.  I've been working on a new bunny knitting pattern.  At this point, I have a head, a couple of arms, two ears and two legs.  Oh, and the body.  Now I just need to put Bunny together.  I'm enjoying the challenge.

5.  Our small groups at our church started up again for our autumn sessions.  It's good to be back together!

Farmers Market

Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, "Earth laughs in flowers." 

I think that the earth also rejoices in vegetables and fruit.

Especially when they are at our farmers market.

What an abundance!

Autumn Arrives

Happy Autumn!  It doesn't feel or look much like autumn here.  But that's what the calendar says.  Here is Willow's Week, celebrating Friday Fave Fives with Susanne and others.

1.  About autumn--The Professor announced a couple of days ago that he had just declared that fall has arrived.  Why?  Because it was cool enough in the morning to wear a flannel shirt!  I wore one the other day, too.  So, yeah, I guess it is cooling down a bit.

2.  Early Evening Hike.  There were six of us (including The Professor).  We hiked up and down the hills surrounding a neighboring community for between three and four miles.  I like hiking when the sun is no longer high in the sky--it makes for cooler temperatures.  And our companions were congenial.  (I'm going to post this and then check my camera--did I take any decent photos?  If so, I'll include them later.)

3.  BYOD.  That stands for Bring Your Own Dinner.  We have an arrangement with our friends for dinners.  She and I have been friends since college, and we have maintained our friendship all these years.  Since they live several miles out of town on their ranch, they text us their order for a local eating place, and we get our meals and drive to their place for dinner.  We enjoy our fellowship, and no one has to spend hours preparing and cooking.  I have always called my friend Blueberry Lady, but since they are now growing strawberries, she told me I should change her name to Strawberry Lady.

4.  World's Best Neighbor needed to go to Santa Barbara this week.  We drove her up there.  And since we were already nearby, we popped over to see an old (in both senses of the word) friend, take her to lunch and help her do some grocery shopping.  It was a joy to spend that bit of time with an long time colleague from our Indonesia days.

5.  That loom I purchased?  Here is my first project!  A scarf for those cooler days coming up.  I used two shuttles and two colors to create a sort of herringbone tweed pattern.  I'm so excited!  This is one I'm keeping for myself.

Happy Weekend, Friends!  Be watchful and thankful for those daily blessings.

Encouraging Words and Deeds

Hello, Friday!  And Hello, Friday Fave Fives!  A busy week here means not much less was blogged about.  But I still maintain my habit of posting Willow's Week with Five blessings.  You can follow THIS LINK and read other FFFs and maybe post yours, too.

1.  So, my sister-in-law knows me.  She knows I love to read.  Last weekend, she handed me two, TWO!, books in a series that she knows I am currently reading.  She found them for free and snagged them for me.

2.  Finally, I pulled the trigger.  I bought a small table loom!  It is called a Cricket Loom.  Fifteen inches wide. So I can weave more kinds of things on it.  This is not my exact loom--just a photo of what it looks like.  Now I just have to set it up and 'warp' it (that means putting the long yarn threads on it).

3.  Back to walking.  I am happy to back on our normal walking routine--two to three miles of up and down streets in our neighborhood in the early evening.

4.  I have been so very encouraged by sweet comments others have made about me to my husband.  I am not mentioning this to be proud!  I am reminded of how much it means to me, and it reminds me to pass on kind and encouraging comments to other people.  If those things mean so much to me, maybe my encouraging words will help someone else through their day.

5.  Rides.  Currently, we have one car at home as our second car is being used by a friend.  One day this week, The Professor and I both needed to be in two different places.  A friend who lives in my neighborhood gave me a ride to our Bible Study.  I really truly appreciated her willingness to help me out!

How about you?  What FIVE things can you pick out of your week that encouraged you?

HOME Sweet Home

Happy Friday!  I am HOME and recovering from jet lag and crazy hours in airports.  Here are my Friday Fave Fives--my blessings from this past week.  Follow THIS LINK to participate in FFF.

1.  I know I write this EVERY TIME I fly.  But it's always a fave for me.  We had a safe and uneventful trip on the way HOME

2.  After we touched down in Los Angeles, I texted our friend that we would be ready soon to be picked up.  We had arranged for him to use our car while we were gone, and in return, he fetched us from the airport and drove us HOME.  Win-Win.

3.  New Boy is growing up so quickly!  He has a phone for emergencies and after we were HOME, he reported this:  "I already miss you!  I love you!"  I guess that's an emergency message, isn't it?

4.  On our drive HOME, I texted World's Best Neighbor that we would be home soon.  A few hours later, she stopped by to welcome us home.  She really is the World's Best Neighbor and I am so very thankful for such a good friend who lives on property adjoining ours.

5.  All those things about being home are appreciated:  our own beds, our own routine.  I love being with my family, but I also love being HOME

All About Family!

This isn't really a Friday Fave Five since it is already Saturday.  But I want to take a bit of time from my busy holiday to share some things I'm loving.

1.  Sibling Time.  Three of my four children were together for the first time in a LONG time.  So we celebrated their summer birthdays which are all within two weeks of each other.

2.  The four cousins gathered together for only the second time ever.  That's one of the harder parts of encouraging your children to spread their wings and follow the paths God puts in front of them.

3.  Our clan does love ancient history, archaeology, old ruins and such stuff.  So we had to visit Serpent Mound in Southern Ohio which is a National Historical Monument of the Ancient American Indian culture.

4.  My PAL lives in the desert Southwest, so she isn't familiar with lots of green grass and tiny flowers.  She was fascinated with white and purple clover and buttercups.  You can't even see the yellow flower in her hand but she was so excited to show me.

5.  Finally, we got to attend The (No Longer) New Boy's baseball game!

Yes, this post is ALL ABOUT FAMILY!