The Lake on an Autumn Morning

I woke up early on Sunday morning and discovered the lake had fog rolling across it. The sun was shining and hitting the colorful leaves on the trees around the lake and the fog made it have an eerie feeling. I grabbed the camera and took this photo. This is the view from our kitchen window.

Another Step Closer

Our little storage building is one step closer to completion. This weekend David put the lattice around the bottom all the way around it. It is adorable and we are really enjoying it. The washer and dryer and fridge/freezer are really working out well and I'm loving them!

Millenni

Millenni has been exhibiting signs of a problem with her right front paw for about the past 5 days or so. Over the weekend I tried looking at it and discovered redness between the pads. She has been limping around and licking it constantly and doesn't like putting weight on that foot. I finally took her to the vet this afternoon and he checked it out thoroughly and didn't see any foreign object in there. He gave her an injection of cortico-steroid and put her on antibiotics for the next week. Hope that helps. She seems pretty miserable and concerned over ther paw. She is finally resting and taking a nap right now. I love my little puppy dog and want her all better again!

Feeling Blue

OK, so this is probably not what you were thinking this story was going to be about when you first read the title. Thought I would post something a little humorous today. Anytime I am out riding around I have my eyes open to things that grab my attention and that I may want to take a photo of or blog about in the future. I like unusual things but the photos I have here today, well, I am not sure how to explain what I feel about them. I have one question... Why would anyone do this to an otherwise nice home in a nice neighborhood? I have passed by these houses numerous times and never seem to have my camera with me when I do. These photos were taken using my cell phone camera. The blue blinds in the first house appear to be throughout the entire house and they stand out like a sore thumb. I don't understand why anyone would do this or where one would even go to purchase blinds in this shade. The second house has shocking neon blue shutters and door. I bet they glow in the dark! You almost need sunglasses on to look at the house. Was there a special on neon blue paint one day and these people said, oh that would look lovely on our house. Eh gads! I am just glad these houses are not in the same neighborhood. What if the person who lives in the house with the blue shutters decided to put blue blinds in their windows... oh my, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse I guess it could! Have and enjoyable day and next time you are out driving around look for unusual things!

Flu Shot

It's a cold, blustery, rainy day here today and I decided to go get my flu shot. I had to stand in a long line for well over an hour but I got it! Last year I didn't get one and ended up with a horrible case of the flu so I made sure this year to get it. I don't want to go thru that again if I can help it. I've noticed this week that Millenni is gnawing on her right front paw. Not sure what is going on but just today I have noticed that it is tender and she is holding it up when she walks. She can walk on it somewhat but prefers not to. Guess there is going to be a trip to the vet in the near future. Hope it is nothing major. Not a lot going on this week to blog about as you can tell.

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we passed by a place selling pumpkins and we stopped and I ended up buying 2 to carve. As we were leaving we noticed they had 2 red tractors up front and people were getting on them to make pictures. We didn't have our camera with us but had my cell phone that has a camera so I took the opportunity to get on the tractor for a photo op. Boy those things are difficult to climb on and off of. This afternoon I decided upon the faces I wanted to carve and got busy. Below are my masterpieces.

Linda up on the tractor at the pumpkin patch

I have always wanted to make one of these jack-o-lanterns throwing up!

a scary skeleton

Lobster Fest

David and I were invited to a lobster and clam dinner last night with some friends. They had 6 fresh, live lobsters and a pot full of clams flown in from Maine. We had a wonderful feast that started out with a wonderful clam chowder, followed by asparagus wrapped in procuitto and swiss, then the pot of steamed clams was served. The main course was the lobster, corn on the cob and potato salad. Desserts were homemade cream puffs and a pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling along with hot coffee that we all enjoyed while sitting around a nice toasty fire. The meal was served outside next to the pool and it was quite chilly but oh so much fun! What a delightful evening with friends and fantastic food!

we even had lobster facts on the place mats

the pot of steamed clams

Our host, Dean, shows off one of the lobsters

David chooses the one he wants to eat

6 live Maine lobsters waiting to meet their demise

Our hosts, Ann and Dean start by dropping the lobsters into the pot while David watches

steam bath

they are ready to eat!

that's me showing off my plate just before I chow down

David proudly wears his bib

David, Linda, Ann, Dean, George and Annette all gathered around the fire after dinner

A Night of Acoustic Music

Last night David and I attended a wonderful concert. Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt performed an acoustic show at the beautiful Peace Center in Greenville, SC. We were lucky enough to purchase box seats for this event and our box only had 4 seats. We were joined by another couple that we did not know. The show was a little late in getting started but the 2000 patrons nearly filled the venue and the show was underway. They sat on stage, each with their guitar and took turns singing with lots of talk between each song. They were very funny and the show was most enjoyable. David and I first became fans of both Lyle and John while living in Austin and have enjoyed their music since. It was a very enjoyable evening for us. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed so the only photos I have to share were ones I found online.

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt

a partial view of the Peace Center, you can see the box seats on the sides

Our Little Red Barn

Our new storage building is coming along. We finally got it painted and have started to fill it up. We bought a new high effeciency steam washer and dryer set and picked up a second hand side by side refrigerator/freezer. We have added a couple of nice heavy duty shelving units and we're filling up the lofts with boxes of things we don't need to get to very often. Thought I would share a few photos with you. I still need to put the white lattice up around the bottom of the barn so you don't see underneath it. And we need to level the step going up to the deck and I want to make some flower boxes out of extra white lattice for the two gardenias I bought. We really love it and it is so useful. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying my new washer and dryer and having the extra refrigerator/freezer means I can stock up on some things when they are on sale.

our cute little red barn

found this fantastic side by side on Craigslist for only $200 and it is in perfect condition

I love, love, love my new steam washer and dryer!!!

Harvest Moon

I have always wanted to make one of these huge moon pictures but never knew how to do it until recently. Now that I have it figured out I thought I would play around and make one. This one turned out fairly well for my first try at it. Here's a picture of Hannah and the harvest moon.

A Weekend Trip

David and I took a trip to Wilmington, NC to visit Jordan and Elizabeth and take them some furniture. We rented a U-Haul trailer and loaded it up and pulled it with our truck. Arrived in Wilmington on Friday afternoon. We had a fun weekend despite the fact that I wasn't feeling well. I managed to get thru most of the weekend until the early hours of Sunday morning when my body decided to get rid of all I had consumed in the previous 3 days... oh joy! Needless to say I had a rough trip home yesterday. Feeling better today, still not quite back to 100% but no complaints except when I cough or use those chest muscles that I apparently strained yesterday. Today is Jordan's birthday. It was 25 years ago that I gave birth to him, what a blessing he is. Happy Birthday Jordan. Hope you enjoy your new furniture!

Jordan and Elizabeth's new home

Jordan and David, relaxing in the newly decorated living room, guess we should have cleaned off the coffee table before taking this photo

Hannah and the Jack-O-Lanterns

Hannah hard at work tracing out the designs before carving

Hannah was here for the weekend and we decided to make a trip to the pumpkin patch and choose a couple of large pumpkins to carve into Jack-O-Lanterns. Unfortunately the pumpkin patch is not open for business until October 8 so.... we had to go to a local grocery store and choose a couple of pumpkins there. We came home and carved the pumpkins... one on Saturday and the other one on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. We did the same thing last year and Hannah enjoyed it so much I decided to continue the tradition and do it again this year. Below are a couple of pictures of Hannah with the final projects.

By the way... I have posted all the answers to the "What Is It" games. Thanks to those who guessed. There may be more to come if we find more things to photograph.

And for those interested... click here to read about the History of the Jack-O-Lantern. You will have to scroll down a little when the new page opens. I posted this info last year and thought it was pretty interesting.

Hannah with her choice, the Hallo-window

Hannah with thh Hallo-window and the skeleton with bat

What Is It? ... the Original

Here is the photo that started this game. Debbie sent me the following picture asking me to identify it. Now it is your turn... What is it???

What Is It ? #4

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More will be forth coming! For now these are the ones Debbie and I have traded over the past few weeks. Thought I would go ahead and post all of them now. Hope to have new ones soon.

What Is It ? #3

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What Is It ? #2

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What Is It ? #1

My sister sent me a photo recently with the question "what is it?" She had taken a photo of something and sent it to me to guess what it was. It started a new game and I thought I would share some of the photos here with you readers to guess what you are looking at. Debbie, no fair guessing at this point since you already know these. Jamie, Kathy... anyone else who wants to play please jump in and post your guesses! I will start off with five photos today and will post more in a day or two. These are all pretty common things that everyone should have seen but they may look differently up close. If anyone wants to play along with your own photos you can send them to me via email and I will post them here too.

a

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e