Happy Saturday!!!

It's a happy day in the neighborhood!!! I can not even hear myself think because every one has some sort of yard machine running. People are seeding lawns and raking leaves and mowing lawns. Dennis is dismantling summer...the deck is empty and all of my flower pots are stored away for the winter. A little bit sad...to have everything tucked away...but basically just one more of those East Coast traditions that we are used to...and every one is trying to snatch up one last little ray of sun... I spent the day putting away Halloween and taking out the tiny bit of Thanksgiving that I have...but noface pumpkins are allowed to remain out until Dec. 1st...and they are really happy...

Our rooms show a little less orange right now...

We are taking ourselves out to dinner tonight. I actually bought a Groupon for a restaurant that we love...so I will be sipping an icy cold martini in a few hours...I am in primp and prep mode now. Whew!!! I am realizing for the first time that everything I own is black...my nails are even a sort of black...a very dark greyish color but it looks black...I am suddenly shocked by how much black stuff I own.

Yikes!!!

Books...

You simply have to read this book...It is one of the best dysfunctional books I have read this year!!! I could not put it down!!!
My full review is on Amazon and Goodreads. The writing, characters, and plot...were fabulous.

Wet hair, outfit indecision...more prep work needed...
Happy Saturday...Dennis said there is a college football game on tonight that the world will be watching...I wonder what teams are playing...hmmm.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Two White Geese?

Seriously...I love animals passionately.

I love geese.

My husband does not love geese in large numbers.

This is what our pond looks like right now.

The geese are in constant motion.

The pond is always moving.

I hear them all day long.

I hear them all night long but I am so used to them that it doesn't bother me.

The yard is a mess...and all of us who have houses around the pond just know that this is what it is like for a few weeks.

I can actually walk out on the deck and a few geese will step forward toward me.

We think they are the original geese who were on the pond before our houses were built.

Maybe not them but their babies?

How long does a goose live?

Our neighbors have tried various things to fend off the geese.

The neighbor across the pond has raccoon cutouts on his lawn.

I see the geese walk up to the raccoons and actually sleep next to them.

People have strung fishing line to sort of keep them on the pond.

They learn how to hop or fly over it in a matter of minutes.

They are really smart...these geese.

They have sneaky plans and clever tricks that they use to stay on the pond as long as they can.

My husband will run after them.

They fly to the middle of the pond and then swim right back to the shore and back to where they were.

Some of them sleep under our deck.

Or really close to the deck.

I wonder if tossing bread over the deck lures them?

I think they are protecting our house because we are nice to them.

Or at least I am.

Today amidst the vast number of regular geese I saw two lovely white geese.

I have no clue how or where they came from.

They stand out brilliantly in a sea of fluttering feathers of gray.

 

Seriously...

I love this book.  I have been an online subscriber to their website for quite some time.

It is refreshing and fun and full of food information and trends and ideas.

This book is divided into food catagories with the best places to get each type of food all over the country.

It is an awesomely fun book.

Breakfast sandwiches.

Hamburgers.

Barbecue.

Big sandwiches.

Odd sandwiches.

Pancakes.

Hash.

Eggs.

Frozen Custard.

Gelato.

I almost forgot the pizza chapter.

All different kinds of pizzas.

It is such a fun book to own. 

There are even recipes.

Fun recipes.

And some really great food photos.

See?  I really want  a hamburger now.

How fast can I get to Seattle?

Or New York?

Or Philadelphia?

A Tree Grows In My Sunroom...Again

This is my tree.  I put fairy lights in it. I have a bird's nest in it.

Just in case my little zebra finches escape.

I have a love hate relationship with my tree.

I love it because of the fairy lights and it is so big and it is green and healthy.

I hate it because it is very temperamental.

It sheds.

It will drop leaves if it doesn't like the spot it is in.

And that is all over my sunroom floor.

It looked horrible at the beginning of the summer.

So...after much thought...we dragged it out to the deck.

We kissed it goodbye.

We wished it luck.

We said we did not care if it survived or not.

It was Mother Nature's problem now.

I don't think I even watered it.

Here is the thing...

It thrived.

It flourished.

It did not matter what the weather did...my fussy temperamental tree survived an entire summer outside amidst a hurricane and dry hot weather and rain. 

Trust me...had it been inside and I did not water it at the exact time every week...

it would have dropped leaves and debris everywhere.

Last Friday night we had our snow forecast.  My husband and I were in dreamland thinking we had months to decide what to do with this tree...bring it in or let it go.

It was so beautiful last Friday...my tree...that at nine o'clock that night in the dark we dragged it in.  There could have been an eagle's nest in it in the dark and whatever but we dragged it into the sunroom.

It was tilted and huge.

My husband spent hours the next day trying to straighten it out.

We trimmed it.

We forgave it.

So far there has not been one leaf on the sunroom floor.

I think it is in a happy place.

Even Lucy welcomed the tree back inside.

For some unknown reason she loves laying in the warm dirt.  I had dirt all over the sunroom floor yesterday...three times.

Is this how the tree is getting back at us?

Books...There Is Always Just One More...

except for this one...

This book was just irresistible to me.  The book's description says

 " Kathleen O'Dell deftly weaves magic, secret identities, evil villians, unlikely heroes, and the wonder of friendship into a mystery adventure with all the charm of an old fashioned classic."  I can't wait to read this one. 

This is another book that I want to read. 

Three peculiar looking girls from an all girls school have to help save a town from a curse.

There are disappearing boys and detention and a mystery.

Yummy stuff.

And anything with Flavia de Luce has to be on my must read list.

This book finds Flavia hard at work in her laboratory trying to concoct a potion to trap St. Nick.  It is a Christmas Flavia de Luce story.

Halloween always involves some issues with leftover candy.

We probably did not have over 30 visitors but they staggered their visits from 6 ish until after 8 ish...so it was a your turn...no my turn...up and down kind of night.

Not horrible but I really do wish all trick or treating was on a Saturday in the afternoon.

The town I grew up in always had it that way with a huge bonfire at the end of the day and donuts and apple cider for everyone.  Contests for all different kinds of costumes and a parade that we always marched in.  That town still does this. We would walk all over town in our costumes with my dad and get tons of candy.  I think that when I was little it was big candy bar trick or treating.  And certain neighbors gave out popcorn balls and homemade cookies and we would get money from our aunts and uncles who lived in town, too.   My sister was giving out treats on Saturday and getting ready for the bonfire later that night. 

It is nice when some things stay the same.

We gave out handfuls of candy nearer to 8 o'clock but we still have a huge bowl left.  I already ate a Tootsie Roll Pop, a Reese's peanut butter cup and a Snickers...just because it was there.

And tasted really good.

Tonight we are having Greek Salad for dinner to make up for eating Halloween candy.

It is all prepped and in the refrigerator...ready to go.

It is crisp, cold, full of veggies and no chocolate is involved.

Unless we have one small bar for dessert.

Halloween Candy...How Do You Decide?

Happy Halloween!!!

Forgive me, Lucy Grace, I just had to...

she's flying like a real Halloween witch!!!

Halloween is huge here on the East Coast.

When I was teaching 2nd grade it was a really big day!!!

Halloween was just too exciting for 2nd graders who have not yet grasped the concept of time.

The questions would start the minute they walked through the door... when was it time for the party and when would it be

time to put their costume on and were we really going to have math on Halloween?

A headache was the aftermath of a parade and party and parents and grandparents and candy and games and fun...so much fun.

It really was fun and the headache could not be avoided.

Every primary teacher I have ever known prays for Halloween to be on a Friday.

It rarely happens.

Today I found myself wandering the Halloween candy aisles at Target.  They have a huge assortment but it took me forever to make choices.  We can get 3 trick or treaters or 50.

I seriously found and tossed out massive amounts of Halloween candy from last year.

I put them in a picnic basket and forgot about them.

I found them last week.

Ick.

It must be a common theme...having great difficulty making a Halloween candy choice because I swear there were about 15 other people wandering the aisles along with me. 

Everyone had an opinion.

Someone wanted only Reese's.

A little old lady was trying to get the best value.

A frustrated woman was buying only candy she would not eat.

Someone else was looking for the best collection that did not include Milky Way bars.

 For the first time ever I bought only 2 bags.

Huge bags but still only two.

I feel as though we will run out.

Oh...

I only bought my childhood favorites and my husband's, too.

Tootsie Pops

Snickers

Skittles

Well...maybe more my favorites.

Sorry, Den.