Complete and Utter Twaddle Today!

I always have to post that picture of our now long gone sugar maple tree. It says fall to me. How have you been? Its been beautiful around here. Ron made it home after a week in Texas. Which I think If he could uproot me from here that is where we would move. He loved everything about the freedom to live in Texas.
You don't realize until you go some place else the lack of freedom we have in California. But I digress. I didn't come here for that.

I wanted to tell you a joke. Yes a joke. If I were in person, I wouldn't be able to tell you because I can't tell a joke to save my life. I always forget the punch line. This one I heard and I think I can type it out.

A Preacher was invited to give a talk at a woman's health symposium. His wife inquired about his topic, and he was too embarrassed to admit he has been asked to speak about sex. Thinking quickly, he replied, "I'm talking about sailing."
The next day at the grocery store a young woman who had attended the lecture recognized the minister's wife. "That was certainly an excellent talk your husband gave yesterday," she said. "He really has a unique perspective on the subject." Somewhat chagrined, the minister's wife replied, "Funny you should think so. I mean, he's only done it twice. The first time he threw up, and the second time, his hat blew off."

I don't think I have ever wrote a joke out in my whole time of blogging but I laughed at that joke and when I told it to Ron he laughed so I hope it makes you laugh too.
I think it will be time to take out the garden this weekend. I picked one of my Cinderella pumpkins last night but its still to dark to take a picture of it. I don't know if any of them will be very orange.
They look kind of like this.

Well sort of without the lovely orange lines. We might have rain tomorrow then I can work out there because it won't be so dusty.

I hope you have a lovely Thursday.

I wish you a lovely day,

~Kim~

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. Emily Dickinson

Just Thinking

I am sure that you have seen the devastating fires on the news. I am just in shock. It is always scary when the weatherman announces that the Santa Ana winds are going to be blowing. Its never good when an East wind blows. Monday the wind was stirring in the tops of the trees when I went for my walk. With a Santa Ana wind, it comes blowing in across the deserts. Its hot and feels unnatural. That is when the tumbleweeds pile up along my driveway.

On Monday, I was praying for the people in Northern California. When I looked out my front window and there was smoke billowing. Black, scary, ugly smoke. When the east wind blows, one spark can cause terrible fires. Because it looked from my vantage point the fire was moving toward me, and the fire trucks going down the street, I just sat there wondering what I was going to do.

I found out that fire was not as close as it looked. That day there were 7 fires burning here in town. It did look like the whole city was on fire. Though nothing compared to Northern California. But to the people that lost everything, loss is still loss and saying that you have to start over, is nothing like living through it.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning up the mess from the wind. You know I thought as I picked limbs and trash, I kept thinking of how the poor people whose houses burned up, how do they go about picking up the lost parts of their lives. It becomes about relationships. It is the people in our lives that become the most important. All of the things that have happened in this great nation of ours in just the last few months makes me pause and think about what is important. What do I spend my time doing? How in that instant life changes maybe forever.

 I was sewing, and looked up to see that wall of smoke. That fast. At the end of the street, a truck loaded with pipe lost the load at the light. So not only was smoke filling the air, there was oil field pipe scattered all over the road way. Thankfully no one was in the way of that truck. It did give me a surreal feeling. There I stood, all by myself, feeling very small and very alone.

I don't like that feeling.

I wish I had some kind of pithy statement to make. I don't. I just wanted to share my thoughts today.
I wish I was smarter and I could come up with better words. A lady the other day told me that when she was a girl, her Mom would say to her after something terrible had happened, "The sun will come up tomorrow." She thought it was terrible, but now that she is a older woman, she sees the wisdom in it.

We really only have today. Its all about what I do with what I am given today. Not next week, not tomorrow. Today. So today, I will make it the best day of my life. Doing what I can do in my sphere of influence, to make as many people happy as I can, serving those God gives me and being a encouragement
to every single person, God brings in my life...Today.

 So today, I wish you joy.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. You are a gift to me.

~Kim~

“The autumn leaves blew over the moonlit pavement in such a way as to make the girl who was moving there seem fixed to a sliding walk, letting the motion of the wind and the leaves carry her forward. [...] The trees overhead made a great sound of letting down their dry rain.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Lovely October

My zinnias are tired. I think I like zinnias even at this stage too. I hope you have had a nice week.
This week has had an unreal quality to it with what has gone on in Las Vegas. That is all I am going to say about it. I am sure you have have read more or heard more than you want to hear from me.

My washing machine broke on Monday. I felt like it went from bad to worse every day. I called someone that I was not familiar with and after the third day of them trying to fix it, I was getting a little panicky. On the second day, when they brought out the saws-all to work on it, I was just sick. Yesterday, as I sat white knuckled listening to sounds I am sure no washing machine has ever made before, they finally got it fixed. Today is is quietly purring along. I think I got a few more white hairs from it though.

I picked my first bushel basket of pumpkins. I need to wash them. I thought you would like to see these pretty pumpkins. I cut the stems long. I just love pumpkins.

I still have some growing and we will have a bit of a warm up this weekend so I hope these begin to turn colors.

These are those Cinderella pumpkins. There are quite a few out there. I do love watching pumpkins grow and change colors.

Yes, I know I have done this rug before. I like this pattern and I had sold the last one. I wish I hadn't so I thought I would do another one for me. I had to dye wool this week for the back ground. I like to cook, but I love dyeing wool!! There is just something that makes me so happy to see the colors. I have hooked and listened to Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. The lady from Librovox that does Charles Dickens is the best reader I have ever heard, there are times I forget and think I am listening to lots of different actors and its just Mil Nicholson. Its my favorite thing to do, hook and listen to audio-books.

This is my page 9 of my embroidery book. It was the buttonhole stitch. I have my bullion stitch page all drawn out. This has been a fun little project. I can't wait to see what the outside covers will be as soon as we get the directions. I have loved learning all of these stitches.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. Today is Kessie's birthday. My goodness where does the time go flying by to? She was born at 3:31 on October 6th. Now she has five kids and her hands are so full. So happy birthday Kess, I am proud of you. :) I wish I was there to babysit. Or at least bake you a cake.

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party for Ron. We are having a early Thanksgiving dinner. Smoked turkey and all the fixings. It just sounded good.

I hope your weekend is nice and the weather is perfect.

Blessings to you all,

~Kim~

"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical
explanation is that I was made for another world." C.S. Lewis
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."
C.S. Lewis

Happy October!

Dear October,

I was so excited to see you today when I turned my calendar! Oh my how I have missed you. I admit that this year after almost 70 days over a hundred, I wondered if you would after all decide to come for a visit. September was a little kinder than August and July and June this year. But you October, my goodness, today you exceeded my expectations. Such a nice way to start fall. Welcome home.

When I walked out on the porch before the sun came up this morning. I could smell the difference in the breeze. The heat in the early morning was gone and I could hear the trees, beginning today with the sound of the ocean in the leaves. It was too dark to see the shimmer of the now very tired cottonwoods. The sound of the far away sound of the train whistle, the roosters crowing, the meadowlarks who have returned to their winter home to sing up the sun. My sleepy kitties thinking these cooler mornings might mean more of a warmer abode.

The windows stayed open all day. I even got cold. I never thought I would get cold again. The leaves are already falling from the front tree. Ron mows the lawn and by the time he is finished the leaves are falling more and more every day. The trees in the back are turning red already. My poor hens are molting. They always seem so ashamed to be without feathers.

I thought all weekend I would get some of my pumpkins brought in but trying to get the last of the limbs cleaned up from the windstorms has taken all of our time. I hope we don't loose any more trees that break and shatter. We have some that didn't make it this summer that will have to be cut down. I am so glad Ron grows replacements.

I am very thankful for shiny blue Octobers. The smoke from the forest fires is gone. I read the Farmers Almanac. They have us having rain every week in October. I think that would be so nice. I would say most of the time they do get it right. I can't wait to smell wood smoke from fires trapped in fireplaces, all orderly and well mannered and cold frosty air. I hope your October is off too a great start.

Have a lovely brand new week, in a brand new month.

~Kim~

“Indian summer comes gently, folds over the hills and valleys as softly as the fall of a leaf on a windless day. It is always unexpected. After a sharp cold spell, we wake one morning and look out and the very air is golden. The sky has a delicate dreamy color, and the yet unfallen leaves on the bravest trees have a secure look, as if they would never, never fall.”

 Gladys Taber---Stillmeadow Seasons.