Plants

Those of us that garden will most likely use mulch. It keeps the weeds down and the soil moist and cooler. I have been mulching my houseplants now for years. I find the beach glass or glass stones at thrift stores and garage sales cheap. They may have been at home in an aquarium or a vase to support flowers in a previous life, but now they add beauty to my plants that I move in and outdoors. Although there has not been a frost here yet, there is definitely one coming soon. The dining room is filled with plants until I can figure out where to put them all. The plant in the photo is an allspice tree. It has a rosemary topiary, two bay trees, two Meyer lemon trees and a red leaf peach tree to keep it company....as well as the polar bear. Each of my plants has at least one "plant buddy". It might be in the form of a small glass slipper or something as simple as a few shells.

Apple Mug Mat

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the smell of apples cooking and have often, on the weekends, had a crockpot of cider with cranberry juice simmering on the counter in the kitchen. The house sells wonderful and the sound of the rain outside makes me happy to be inside. The best place to rest a mug of cider would have to be an apple mug mat, don't you think? The hand dyed embroidery floss was a beautiful match to the hand dyed wool.

Journals

I have been journaling for more than a dozen years and have many journals accumulated. I began mostly to keep my thoughts and dreams and day to day occurrances. It got to be a chore instead of a pleasure. I began to edit the sad or bad parts of my life out of the journals and it bcame more and more difficult to write in them. Soon, I started writing in special or family favorite recipes because I knew I would not lose them if they were here. Then there were the magazines I could not bear to throw away because of a picture I loved or an idea I wanted to try. There were the wonderful, inspiring or funny quotes that came into my email or the stickers that came in junk mail. I began to clip and throw these items in a basket. Every time I go visit my sister, Cathy, I take a journal with me. She spends time going through each one, sometimes writing down some of the same things I did. A few visits ago (long after she also started keeping her own), she asked me to tell my daughter that if anything were to happen to me, she would get one of my journals. That was when I realized, although my journals are different, they are who I am.

Birthdays

Happy Birthday, Kiddo. I love you much!

Philadelphia Eagles

We should not be striving for perfection, thank God, but for enjoyment along the road of life. My Eagles had some key players out for most if not all the game against the Bears yesterday. For all that, I believe they performed admirably in not getting their butts skunked. It was a close game, all in all. Better luck next week, guys!

Sunday Moments

I usually start earlier in the year for Christmas presents, but better late than never. I have finished several of these waffle knit dishcloths to tuck into boxes (as filler) that will go around the continental US and Hawaii to family members later this year. Deb, from Homespun Living, shared the pattern with all of us. I see she has posted that her Father is not well and she is asking for prayers for his healing.

During my daughter's last hospital stay, I got these mittens underway and finished them recently, too. It is a very easy pattern from a book entitled "One Skein Wonders".

9/11 & Vacation

What better place to be on 9/11 when you live in South Dakota than at Mount Rushmore. As we pulled into the park to pay for parking, I told the woman in the booth what a great job she had, to be able to talk to happy excited people all day. Imagine how stunned we both were when she said, "You would think that, wouldn't you?". It turned out that a car a little ahead of us told her they thought the monument would be bigger, they were disappointed and they wanted to know if they could just turn around without paying and leave.......

We were still excited, even though we have been there before. The flag was at half mast, as it should be on that day. The camaraderie we felt emanating from the other patriots and those visiting from other countries was powerful. The picture above was taken from the highway before you even get to the monument. If you chose to take the Presidential Trail, as we always do, you get to see the faces fairly close up and there is a story along the way about each President. There will be wildlife if you look for the movement off the trail.