This is our beautiful cinnamon fern, getting ready to sleep for the winter.  I love watching it through the seasons.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

Our friends, the Lachances, had a dog, Clifford, who would walk "the Loop" with us.  Riley was about 6 and Clifford was probably 12 years old.  When Clifford would fall behind, I would worry.  But Riley assured me that he knew the way home.  

 

Clifford always made the whole walk, sometimes with us and sometimes 15 minutes behind.  Slow and steady, that was Clifford's way.  And Riley was right:  he knew the way home.

 

This is the top of the first big hill on our Loop walk.  We have always called it Clifford's Hill.  We have to take it slow and steady, just like Clifford.

 

Sure is pretty right now.

 

HAPPY HIKING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Look how pretty our mountains are today.  

 

This is the view to the west from our porch.  Beautiful!!!

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

What did you do with all those rainy days?  We cooked.

 

Here is Jon kneading raisin bread, and Gizmo waiting for a raisin to escape so he can chase it around the kitchen.  

 

We have fun.  Even in the rain.

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

I hope you do something fun for Halloween.  

 

We have very fond memories of Halloween with Momma.  She would dress up like a witch, and open the big garage door.  The garage was decorated with spider webs, and spooky stuff hanging from the ceiling.  Momma used a garden fork for a claw-like hand to give out treats to brave little children.  All the neighborhood kids loved coming to our house for Halloween.  Til one year, she got egged.  That ended that.  

 

Momma was a costume designer in the theater for many years.  So, of course, I have some fabulous costumes:  a huge fabric pumpkin filled with ghost poop (styrofoam peanuts), one of Santa's elves, a witch's cape, a Princess dress complete with a jewel laden crown, butterfly wings and butterfly net, bumblebee wings, and of course the infamous ladybug ensemble.

 

We went to a party once as a giant butterfly and a Lepidopterist.  That was fun, but the space was small and my wings were huge, so I was banished to the outside.

 

Then, we were in JoAnn Fabrics around Halloween a few years ago, and they had all the Halloween costumes on sale 70% off.  So I got a ladybug outfit, probably a child's thing, cause it is a red tutu with black spots and bows.  We painted a cardboard sandwich sign for Jon to look like a bug zapper.  We tickle ourselves.

 

Anyway, dressing up like a ladybug was fun, so the next year we painted a black long sleeve shirt of Jon's with bold yellow stripes, and we visited our neighbors as a ladybug and a bumble bee.  I thought you might like to see that one.

 

Trick or treating in a mostly adult neighborhood is always interesting.  One of our treats was a bottle of champagne left from New Year's Eve.  Hahaha!!!

 

That's it for my rambling.  Maybe we will dress up and go trick or treating.  Wish me luck.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was starting to run out of ideas for the blog, so I thought about taking a little break.  Then we went for a walk in Meeks Park, and I looked up.

 

The trees are starting to change color, and our world looks beautiful!!!  So get ready for FALL pix.  

 

HAPPY  FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

Patty's butterfly bushes are so pretty right now!!!  She says they are easy to grow; just plant them and stand back.  Not high maintenance plants.

 

As we were walking by the other day, we saw Monarchs on them.  That makes me so happy.

 

I had a friend in Virginia Beach who worked inside the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  He said that when the Monarchs were migrating (this time of year) they would often fly THROUGH the tunnel.  I would LOVE to see that!!!

 

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy seeing them in our gardens.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Well, the Welcome Committee decided that we needed a new sign to announce happenings in the neighborhood.  Of course, I volunteered.  This is right up my alley.

 

In the middle of the night while I wasn't sleeping, I thought up a new sign.  We would use chalkboard paint on a wood board.  In the morning I told Jon about my idea, and the dimensions.  He went to the basement, and was back in 2 minutes with the table top that we saved from the old van.  See the nice frame?

 

We taped off the frame, and he sanded it and sprayed it with several coats of chalkboard paint.  Tada!!!  All that was left was to add eyebolts on the top, and hang it at the pavilion.

 

Now everybody coming and going can read about upcoming events.  I love it when a project comes together.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

 

 

I love the forest, in all seasons.  It is peaceful, quiet, and calming.

 

I heard a cool phrase about the forest:  Forest Bathing.  It is the meditative practice of immersing oneself in the forest for no other reason than to be in the forest.  I love that!!!  I couldn't remember the proper spelling of the Japanese word, so I looked up forest bathing in Wikipedia.  The word is Shinrin-yoku.

 

Wikipedia has a pretty good page on forest bathing.  They describe it as an unscientific technique to improve health.  That's ok, it is still an interesting read.  Go to   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy?wprov=sfti1   

 

Just reading about it is calming in itself;  better yet, take a walk in the woods for the real therapy.  We are so fortunate to be able to just step out the front door, and be in the woods.  Five Forks is such a great place to live.

 

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!

 

This is the sign that Mark made for me a few years ago.  The last time I showed it to you, I was bragging that I had written 463 blogs.  That was last year:  September 30, 2020.

 

Well, I just went over 800!!!  They are all right here on the Five Forks website.  You can go back through the archives and find blogs from July, 2017.  I've had so much fun, blathering on about things that interest me.  I'm glad you enjoy reading them.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!