October

October

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild, 

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled, 

Beguile us in the way you know;

Release one leaf at break of day; 

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--

For the grapes' sake along the wall.

Robert Frost.

A Short Vacation!

 Last Friday my daughter, Elizabeth, and I left Kansas City and headed west to San Diego CA.
All to visit my oldest son, Steve, his wife, Candice and this girlie!  Currently, my only granddaughter, NORA! Who turned 9 just recently!  (She will be joined by another granddaughter in December-which will bring the count to 4 boys ad 2 girls)

She is a hoot and delightful! Being silly with her hot chocolate!

This is Saturday morning.  This is always a whirlwind of a trip and certain things simply MUST be done when I am there.

 We took a Gondola ride on Coronado Island after a great dinner at the Fish Market on the bay the first night. I had never been over the bridge to the island and the ride took us among the boats of the wealthy and their bayside homes.  Interesting but not my lifestyle.

After Saturday's Breakfast silliness we were off to Penzy's to pick up a free box of samples and some jars of spices--I found Fines Herbs!  Been looking everywhere for that!

Then it was off to La Jolla to see the seals at the Children's Pool.  No children are allowed to swim there now as the Seals and Sea Lions have taken it over!  It was fun to stand on the breakwater and watch the seals swimming in the Pacific! There were also lots of Pelicans, no sea lions that day.

A short drive later and we are at La Jolla Shores beach headed toward the tide pools.  Along the way we found all these

TINY sand dollars!  I even managed  to get them home without breaking them!

 

Nora found an Octopus (Very small and I never did see it for the silt) we saw lots of sea urchins and very small conches while we clambered over the rocks. 

On Sunday, Beth and I wanted to go the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park so we were up quite early and eating breakfast when Nora joined us (Steve and Candice came later) We opened the place and closed it as well!  I think Beth's step counter said 18,000 steps for that day!

I've been several times and always enjoy it-think it's the closest I'll ever get to seeing the animals in the wild.  Best parts for me: watching the keepers feed the Gorillas! Especially the one that kept begging for more by holding its arms up!  And the baby elephants-one born in August and one in September, just adorable little ones.  The Park is heavily into the breeding of endangered species and works worldwide to save wildlife.

Monday, as Steven had to work and Nora was off to school we set off for some other more Touristy sites.

First up was Old Town.  I had never been and neither had she so we walked about being tourists!

Then we headed to one of my very favorite places-THE DOG BEACH!  Of course, we got lost along the way.  I know how to find things there just well enough to get lost each and every time I go there!  But we did find it at last, thank you google maps!  Both Beth and I are serious Dog people and sitting there watching dogs have such a blast both in and out of the water is just so FUN!  The dogs love it-in fact one dog on his way home just laid down in the sand-still with his ball in his mouth while his Mom walked away.  We said "look he dosen't want to go home!"  She said-"It's a stand off every day!"  Then she said "Well, see you later" and the dog ran after her. Still makes me smile.
The last place we headed before I took her to the airport as she was leaving before me was to Seaport Village for a little shopping!

Not all my purchases but. . .  I love glass and miniatures so a little (not tiny) turtle and a tiny dolphin both of glass.

And a Harry Potter mug! 

 Mischief has been managed for this post!

(And I am home again!)

PS-This blog is kind of a mess!  But I've fought and fought with Blogster and I GIVE UP!

Another Finish!

I'm on a roll this year finishing up quilts.

I actually finished this Rail Fence

Week before last.

We've had SO much rain 10" in four days!

Then 1" more a couple of days later.

(None of this had anything to do with a hurricane!)

At any rate I couldn't get outside for a decent photo

as the back yard resembled a pond.

It's lucky I did it while there was a short blip of sunshine

as it's been mostly cloudy and cool.

All that rain 

and the temperature plummeted!

Went from Air conditioning to heat almost overnight.

Gotta love the weather in Missouri 

Where it's too far north for mild winters

 and too far south for mild summers.

I mostly hate it!

I've always said it was too bad the weather was so bad

as it's such a pretty place.

Back to the Quilt.

I tried something new on this one

Used fleece as both batting and backing.

Only one layer.

It's quite light and very warm.

(And oh so much less expensive.)

I'll be doing more of that.

I liked it.

Finished Part 1

I began an enormous project eight or ten years ago.

  I sorted and scanned a lifetime's worth of photographs.

Today, I scanned the final actual photo!

(Well, unless I open something else and it has photos in it-

that's happened a couple of time!)

I still have one roll of negatives to scan, 

and some slides.

Still, I like thinking that most of Part one of this project is finished!

Happy Dance!