Pumpkin Picking

 

The mastery of pumpkin picking is an art.  Every year I begin my search for just the right ones to decorate with. I like some of them to be slightly taller than others for my front porch groupings but all with a less rounded and a more flat bottom so they will sit up properly. Even so, I look for character not perfection in the pumpkins I pick out to carry home. I like all those knobby imperfections. I admit that sometimes I become overwhelmed with the large selection but I never leave empty-handed.

Visiting a pumpkin patch can be a great outing for the youngsters and in the enchanting season of autumn with all its magical charm there is nothing better to do than to head off to the nearest pumpkin patch for a few pumpkins and gourds to decorate with for the holidays.

Above my grandson Joseph is taking a rest after toting one fairly large pumpkin around making sure he kept this one for himself.  I bow to his efforts. Mighty little man of three you have my admiration.

Pumpkin patch picking is one of the most family friendly activities we do at the start of the official holiday season and one that is enjoyed by millions of other Americans as well.  It is not only the gathering of pumpkins to take home from a dusty field but all the other activities that make the day so special. This year my grandson Joseph enjoyed this tradition with his family in Ohio.  From the corn maze to the hay ride and climbing on tractors Joseph looked like he had a lot of fun.

 

This year Joseph and his parents went to Fulton Farms outside of Dayton, Ohio 

 Where he spent most of the day with his head inside things like groups of corn stalks, bails of hay and totem poles.

Week Cut Short

My week was to be solo …. solo! As in only me and Petunia the 10 month old Bull Dog.  She’s enough company for ten people.  Loves my legs and feet when I’m sitting at the computer which is rather nice, actually.  But, a text message cut short my solo week.  Steven is coming home early.  This is fine except for the fact that sometimes I require down/solo time just with me in the house and a few hours while he is away at work just doesn’t cut it.  When he takes off for a few days I really like it.  Maybe I’m not ready for a one on one 24/7 relationship (smiling over this) although I can’t think of any other person I know that I could stand to live with 24/7!  He stays out of my business unless he thinks I really need his … um, help … and when this happens, when he notices and give that help it is a combination of relief and objections on my part.  Oh well……….life is not perfect.  And, I sure am not perfect or at least this is what has been mentioned by my children in the past 😉 “Really?  Mom not perfect?  I thought all mothers were.  I’ll have to do some research on this and get back to you on this notion of yours”, I would say.

So, the house that was to be cleaned over time is being done sooner as well.  The study time I need to do well on a mid-term is being intermixed with the cleaning.  I mean there isn’t much to clean.  Not really.  The floor and bathroom and some light dusting.  Still, it takes away from what I wanted to do which was simply play with Petunia, take walks, listen to music (well, I’m doing this actually as I clean), finish that book and begin the second installment in a four-part series and watch a few good movies.  I love this man to the depth of my being, he is my best friend, I’ve totally got his back!  And, I would rejoice if he found someone special to hang out with.  I know this sounds weird but I love him … and with that love comes the wishes for his happiness.  So if it’s not me then I hope it is with someone special and yes!I would want to be that persons friend as well.  I’ve never loved any person like this before and it feels so great to love so totally unconditionally.  Simply great!

But, it is not great he is coming home early!

Saturday Are Lazy Days

Window is open to air out the place but that’s about all that is getting done around here so far this morning.  I remember when I was working my day job and my evening job and Sunday afternoons and had practically no time for sprucing up the place.  That was when I filled Saturday mornings with pillow plumping and window washing and bed mattress turn-overs not to mention all the other chores I spent six hours doing each and every Saturday morning.  After that I’d head off to the park with the girls or down the coast to a museum because Saturdays were for play too.  Sunday mornings — church — then it began all over again.  Today I’m privileged to be sixty-five years old and Saturdays are for being lazy.  I’ve earned the down time!

Actually I think I’ll spend today writing and then watch San Francisco beat Philadelphia.  World Series next stop!

Elton John & Leon Russell Rock!

So in walks my room-mate/best friend with the new Elton John and Leon Russell CD.  His birthday is this Sunday and I’d planned to pick up a copy today for him.  But hey, whatever. Norah Jones newest one should do for his birthday just fine.  He’ll like that one.  But, I digress.  This new CD “The Union” is some of the best work either have ever put out.  The reasons behind the making of it genuinely enhances the reasons to love it.  I read the literature provided inside the CD.  All about how Mr. John and Mr. Russell reconnected after years of silence between collaborators and friends to Mr. Russell’s steady improvement after his illness, how the music brought him back.  The history behind the making of this CD is impressive, to be sure, but it is the voices of Elton John and Leon Russell that make you want to shout: Good Lord this is good stuff!  Leon’s voice has always taken me to places in the heart no one else has ever touched, I swear it.  I’ve liked him ever since the Beach Boys.  But, few others know about Leon Russell.  I’d shine that man’s shoes for free!  I swear that too.  I just love that sultry voice of his.  It makes me want to shout! It makes me want to dance, jump up and down with childish joy and sing along. It sometimes makes me reflective and deeply held feelings steep up from within, a tear appears, deep breath taken, and I acknowledge the past that rushed forth to visit me again.  Either way Leon Russell touches me, deeply.  Too add Elton John’s voice along side, well . . . it is nearly too much to handle but this morning,  handle it I am while the voices of Elton John and Leon Russell fill every room in this house.  Buy this CD! Rip it off the shelves at record speed. Send it to the top of the charts in a day!

As a writer I love good and meaningful words strung together.  Each day I set at my desk and tell myself “you can’t leave until you have written 500 good words!”  I usually write more of which I am sure 500 or so are good!  So I was delighted with the lyrics on this new CD.  I do not think many people pay attention to the words, the gathering of thoughts into something meaningful and true.  An expression of an idea so pure an outsider understands completely what the author is saying.  From deep reflections to light-hearted banter I love good writing.  So, I’d like to acknowledge the words (lyrics) of Bernie Taupin.  He has a truly amazing gift of writing down what so many others think but can not say.

Weigh In? Really?

 Just for kicks mind you: This morning I stepped upon that dastard scale again.  Was yesterday’s readings only a glitch (batteries, setting, etc.) or is the scale really broken?  Got my answer in seconds!  I felt like a contestant on the Biggest Loser when it registered 303.2!  Now, I know I need to take a few pounds off but really didn’t realize I had that far to go before reaching my goal weight.  It looks like if I’m going to weigh myself at home I’ll need a new scale.  So I began to weigh my options.  You know a little mulling over, thinking on, contemplating the facts.  Do I really want to buy another weight loss tool?  Lord knows I’ve spent enough money already on this tonnage reduction thing I’ve got going on.  Or do I want to keep on doing what I’m doing and when I think I’ve had enough of dieting schedule that physical I’ve said for months I was going to schedule.  Wait for the appointment date.  Step on their more accurate scale.  Be delighted in which case I will kiss their scale or not be so delighted and scream bloody hell at the fool thing? 

I’m still under the cloud of my pondering phase over this.  The way everything is manufactured these days spending money on a new scale in the price range (I’m very cheep!) I am thinking about might get me the same results.  Another broken scale.  I mean the one now is only a couple of months old!  What to do. What to do.  Ponder. Ponder some more.  Nope!  I think I’ll schedule that physical for early next month.

I’ve always been “the glass is half full” kind of gal so I think I’ll be kissing that scale at Dr. Herron’s office next month.  At least I know this much: Her scale will not register any 303.2 pounds!

The Scale is Broke!

Stepped on the scale this morning and weighed 248.6 … WHAT? … stepped on it again and weighed 212.8 … again 238.4 …. stepping on the scale within seconds apart gave all these?  It think the scale’s broken.  I’ll replace the broken scale on Wednesday.  I’ll continue with Plan A.  One more week of this insanity.

The good thing about the scale being broken is what I thought I weighed yesterday and the day before might be wrong too!  One can hope.

5TH DAY! A SUNDAY

Sundays are for huge family dinners!  I remember them with fondness.  A platter of fried chicken, creamed potatoes smothered with cream and butter, fresh vegetables from the garden (or freezer) and pie!  Mama’s chocolate pie to Grandma Donnald’s peacan pie I never saw a pie I did not like!  I shall be day dreaming of tasty delights all day long as eat my cup of strawberries and bowl of beans!  Down two (2) pounds this morning.  Plan A is working!

Food For Thought: A 100 word story with no ‘E’ (via My Mandorla)

Ummmm, tasty fantasy (more than 100 words though) but Grand -E-Effort!

Plinky Prompt: Write a 100-word story without using the letter "e" in any words. (It's a tough one!) Food For Thought: A 100 word story with no 'E' by Spiral It was horrid; a crusty black blob. And what an odour! My first cooking trial was a laughing-stock. I wasn't laughing, though. I had no food to put in my tummy and I was hungry – practically starving! What was I to do? I had a cunning thought – I would allow my imagination to nourish my body … Read More

via My Mandorla

Gardening With Lexi

Alexis (Lexi Bug) is older now, of course.  And her face is not shown for I am overly cautious about posting photographs of my grandchildren on the web!  Why wouldn’t I be?  In this snapshot she was not yet two but I already had her outside with me planting containers and flower beds around our house on Yank Road in North Carolina.  Lexi Bug (as we called her back then) loved lady bugs.  And she loved doing anything that involved digging in the dirt.  She loved digging up things so much that the next planting season I would replant the pansies twice, no thrice that were planted around our fountain.  A beautiful display of yellow and orange pansies despite her attempt to dig them up time and again!  She was so proud of her efforts that year.  Finally, her mother explained the difference between weeds and flowers and why she needed to leave the flowers alone.  A lesson waisted if you ask me.  Lexi continued to dig things up but she was so cute and proud of herself all I could do was laugh about it.  It was not until she turned four, however, that she learned ‘once the plants go in to leave them in’ was the thing to do.  She was totally responsible for the one pot filled with her favorite color pansies (purple) on our front porch when she was three.  She watered and weeded them every time she came over.  They filled the pot to overflowing under her care.  Amazing.  Lexi Bug was/is amazing.

When I moved out of our home on Yank Road the only thing I regretted about the move was missed gardening time with Lexi.   We’ll get back to it one day soon.  I’m sure of it.

Day 4

Have I blown it with pasta?  I don’t think so but we will see in two days time!

Doing tax returns! Lots of tax returns …. and it’s keeping my mind off of food 😦 …. all the food I want to eat, like peaches & onion soup! I have neither on hand …. so sad, so sad for I could eat peaches and onion soup and not worry about them in two days time.