Finishing Up October

FRIDAY FAVE FIVES.  I pause in my week to reflect on blessings and little or large things that I am grateful for.  Monday evening at my Bible Study, we discussed being grateful and decided that we would focus on THREE THINGS each day that we were blessed with.  Just like the FIVE THINGS in my week.  If you want to join in, use THIS LINK to get you to Susanne's blog where she hosts us.

1.  A wedding.  On Saturday, we drove an hour each way to attend the wedding of a young man who we knew back in California.  He lives here now and married a young woman from here.  It was beautiful!  And we were able to chat with his parents and sister who flew out here for the wedding.

2.  That drive through the country to and from the wedding was lovely.  I posted lots of photos of the autumn scenery and old barns here on the blog a couple of days ago.  This is the link if you love barns and autumn leaves.  Or just scroll down to the next blog post.  Here are three pictures to whet your interest.

3.  One little blessing really cheered me up this week.  We were in a big box store looking for a new ceramic pot for my shamrock plant.  When we took it to check out, we realized that there was actually supposed to be a plant in the pot.  Since there was no plant (probably it had died), the store just gave it to us for free.  I think I like this store and will be back.

4.  Since we own the home Younger Daughter was living in, we decided to sell it and not continue to be landlords.  We already have a buyer and things are moving along quickly.

5.  I can never tire of enjoying backyard bonfires.  On the weekend, we invited our next door neighbors to join us and we sat and chatted until late evening.  I am so very thankful for my new beautiful firepit!

Barns and Trees

Are you ready for an autumn tree photo dump?  Accompanied by lots of old barn pictures?

All the fall trees and falling leaves.  We drove for an hour each way to attend a wedding through all the farm land and trees and fields.  I might have taken a few photos...

Enjoy!

And the barns!

Autumn in Full Force

Friday Fave Fives.  Here we are at the end of another wonderful week.  We've had some cold days, some rain, some sunshine, and lots of blessings.  (follow the Fave Five link to join us)

1.  Last weekend, The Professor joined both grandsons (and Younger Daughter) for the Trail Life Daniel Boone Campout.  Their troop was hosting the campout (1,200+ campers!) and they had the BEST time.  Younger Daughter was 'in charge' of their troop's campfire.  She spent the whole day Saturday tending the fire and making sure there was always coffee for the dads and leaders.  A GOOD TIME was had by all!

2.  Midday on Saturday, I received a text relating that they were running out of firewood (it was really cold!), so I grabbed a couple of bundles of wood and drove out to the campout place with Older Daughter and Granddaughter.  We took advantage of being near a great walking spot and took the dogs with us for a beautiful walk under the autumn trees.

3.  Monday morning, I spent a lovely couple of hours 'crafting' with friends (new and old).  Our hostess is an accomplished quilter but is learning to knit.  It was a fun morning of coffee and yarn.

4.  A three and a half mile walk with a young friend and her eight month old boy along our local trail.

5.  We went to the local gardening store to purchase some potting soil.  As we were checking out, we were directed toward a shelf full of gorgeous mums and told that every person who bought anything at that day were given a free one!  We came home with an amazing lavender mum.

Willow's Week wasn't exciting but it was still full of blessings.

Falling for the Season

Autumn is in full swing here.  Brilliant colors.  Falling leaves.  Cooler temperatures.  Here in my new(ish) state, fall is my favorite season.  I hope it lasts a long time this year.  Each week of autumn seems to be filled with so much color and many many blessings.  Here are five (well, seven, really) which I am sharing for Friday Fave Fives (follow the link to join).

1.  On Saturday, I joined a group of ladies on a day trip to Amish Country.  My friend's church sponsored it and we drove up in a van.  The weather was perfect autumn.  Of course, that meant the town was very very crowded with tourists and visitors.  Mostly, we wandered around and checked out all the stores.  Because it was so busy, we were fortunate to have reservations at a local restaurant.  The best part was just spending time with my friend and one of her family members.

2. Of course the trip there and back was filled with old barns and farm land.

3.  Sunday was another stunning fall day.  We took eight of us and two dogs to the local arboretum and hiked 3.5 miles.  There is an area that does not have paved trails and we thoroughly enjoyed walking under all the trees.

4.  We thought we were going to have our first bonfire on our new patio.  But, literally, just as The Professor was cutting the kindling to start the fire, guess what.  It started raining.  I guess we'll just have to wait a few more days.

5.  This week was our youngest granddaughter's birthday!  PAL is EIGHT!  She called us to thank us for her present which actually arrived on time.  She also received an American Girl doll, so we discussed what kind of sweaters Meema should knit for it.

Bonus:  I had an appointment with the 'hand doctor'.  After examining both of my hands, he suggested two more shots of pain meds in my right hand, and upcoming surgery on my left to deal with the trigger finger issues.  I have been in much less pain!  So thankful!

Bonus2:  My absolute favorite photo from the weekend is this one:

Have a wonderful week full of God's blessings!

It's October!

 Can you believe it is October?  We have only three months left of 2022!  And here we are at the end of the week.  It's Friday.  And time for Friday Fave Fives, my weekly focus on being thankful.

1.  Our granddaughter ZG turned sixteen!  We celebrated by having dinner at Cracker Barrel (her choice) and then returning home to enjoy some cake.

2.  Finally, I pulled out my small cricket loom and wove a scarf!  It has been awhile.  It is finished, and I will have to take some photos of it before it gets mailed off to its new owner.

3.  And along with that, I have to state that I am thankful that The Professor always helps me with the warping.  (that's the first part where you have to place ALL.THE.STRANDS of yarn on the loom length wise.

4.  The patio is finished!  Maybe if it is not too chilly this evening, we will lit our first fire.  Our contractor even brought over a pile of wood and placed it in the firepit for us to burn.

5.  And last but certainly not least, a visit from very dear friends from California.  We were in a Bible study small group with them for more than ten years, meeting every week at their home.  They were in our area for a funeral and saved Saturday evening and Sunday morning to spend time with us.  We know each other well enough that when all the plans for meeting them for dinner tanked because they couldn't get a rental car (it was closed!), we just went on the plan B and then plan C.  All the laughter, memories, conversations.  Then they managed to get a rental car in the morning and made it to attend church with us Sunday morning.  I really do think their visit was the highlight of our week.