I did it! I did it! I did it!

AKA, Blogging the Lighted Sudoku.

Translation #1: As of today, I will have posted something to my blog every single day for the entire month of November. Hey, that wasn't as hard as I'd expected--I still have lots more ideas and pictures to write about (including the promised pictures and directions for several multicultural art projects).

Translation #2: In spite of entering the Christmas season feeling decidedly Scroogish, today's astonishingly warm weather (it got up to 55ºF today...in Maine, no less...and on the last day of November!) inspired me to search out the outdoor Christmas lights and get them up...before winter finally arrives. Maybe it will stay away this year. Maybe it will go to Florida. Or the Caribbean. Yeah, that's it, let's give winter a winter vacation and let us keep this lovely spring weather.

Translation #3: I'm always late to fads and this was no exception. But, yes, I have finally succumbed (in a severe bout of procrastination--see #2 above) to the Sudoku craze and managed (with only a few hints from Beth and peeks at the answer key) to successfully complete my very first Sudoku. Do I hear applause and cheers? No? Why am I not surprised. Surely it can't be because I'm the last person on the planet to try this. No promises to ever do another one. The newspaper's note that Sudoku does not require math but only logic is what gave me courage to begin. And if the paper ever runs a beginner level Sudoku (which this was most certainly not!), I may just break down and try this game again. Stay tuned.


By the way, did you know that the results of going through severe stress will show up in your body months later? Yup, with crossways ridges in your finger and/or thumb nails. So there's your trivia tidbit for the day.

Happy Birthday to the Sunniest of Sisters!

Secrets whispered beneath the sheets after lights out.
Smothered giggles at the sound of fatherly footsteps.
Stories, smiles and sorrows shared over many years and miles.
Somehow there is simply no one in the world as special as a sister.

Friends come and go, but a sister is forever!

Happy birthday, Sunny, the world is richer because it contains you!

Christmas Music on the Internet

There is a local radio station that is currently playing only Christmas music. I know it exists because Beth set up my van radio so that I can listen to it with the touch of a button. I love listening to it whenever I'm driving around. But, when I tried to tune that station in at home on my cheap little portable radio/CD/tape player, it was overpowered by a nearby stronger station. "You get what you pay for" my granddaddy used to say and, in the case of this little portable device, he was certainly right!

So I went to the internet and here, for your listening pleasure, is a list of internet-based web-radio Christmas stations playing a variety of styles of Christmas music. Enjoy!

'Tis the season for...

I'd initially planned to write about today being one of the busiest internet shopping days of the year and then, for the benefit of USA readers, to segue into a mention of SalesCircular.com so they could get a heads-up on upcoming sales in their local areas. Because I'm very much into saving, not wasting, money.

But then, yesterday, the OC decreed it to be "we need to decide now where to distribute the extra donation money so I can do it and get it done" day. So, being a highly organized sort, he brought out a spreadsheet showing how much and to which extra (beyond our "usual") charities we had donated last year and so far over this year and how much had accumulated in the designated fund in the budget. And then we looked over the stack of fundraising materials that had escaped the trashman and had the "who gets how much and who do we add or cut this year" conversation.

Thanks to the OC's talents, our charitable contributions are carefully organized. We donate to our church regularly but also like to provide help to other worthy needs as well. We've both been through very, very poor times in our lives, times in which there really wasn't quite enough food to go around so, now that we have plenty (as do most people in developed countries!), most of our favorite charities are those that help to feed hungry people, particularly children.

"One little girl or boy dies of hunger-related diseases every five seconds in developing countries. That’s 12 children every minute, 720 children every hour, more than 17,000 a day." We can't feed them all, but for each one we can feed, our help literally means the difference between life or death so we donated to ADRA Matching Grants for Food Security! $1 = $7! Hey, how could I resist not only providing food for hungry children but making each dollar worth seven dollars? What a bargain!!

When I was around 9 or 10, Louisa May Alcott was my very favorite author. I read and cried over Little Women more times than I can count. I loved Little Men (and Jo's Boys) and aspired to have my very own orphanage one day. So far, at least, that shows no signs of ever happening, so I've contented myself with sponsoring orphans in third-world countries instead.

After the OC wrote the check last night, I had a question about one of "our" Rwandan children so this morning I called REACH International headquarters. I reached Jasmine, the president, who started the first REACH school with her husband when their hearts was touched by the starving children they saw while on a visit to India back in 1973. Now, with the aid of many caring sponsors, some 26,000 children in 25 countries are cared for, fed, educated and taught of the love of Jesus.

Jasmine told me, though, "I had a very unhappy Thanksgiving. I just came from Malawi where children are dying like rats from AIDS and from starvation. And here people are stuffing themselves." So now I'm trying to think what expenses I can cut so that we can find an extra $20 a month to sponsor a child from Malawi. We can't save them all but perhaps we can manage to save one more.

Another, and much more challenging, approach to caring for children, of course, is that of our niece who just brought her beautiful new daughter home from Central America.

The late lamented "lake"

The late lamented "lake"
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

That developer's new drainage system seems to be working all too well. So much for our hoped-for neighborhood ice rink. Sigh.

Sunset on Sailor Dave's boat

Sunset on Sailor Dave's boat
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

With winter starting to set in, I'll soon find myself curled up beside a cozy fire pondering over memories of this last summer and fall. One of my favorites was of the September sunset sail I enjoyed with new Grandpa Sailor Dave. Definitely a memory to savor!

Surviving the Great American Shopping Day

With his new job, the OC now gets Black Friday, the Friday after American Thanksgiving, as a day off from work. So, of course, he was quite interested in becoming part of what is surely a uniquely American phenomenon--much of the population heading out before dawn just to go shopping. Shucks, not just before dawn, I know of at least one mall in a nearby city that hosted a "Rockin' Shoppin' Eve!" bash to keep the anticipated waiting crowds entertained until their stores opened at one in the morning with loss-leader bargains for the Early Birds.

We, however, stayed closer to home for our venture into Black Friday's orgy of consumerism. We were pretty low-key about it all as we initially planned to be away at Christmastime so have already given or mailed gifts to our family.

Shopping just for ourselves, now that's a new experience! We (the OC, Auntie Beth and I) looked over the mound of sale flyers that came with yesterday's paper, discarded the ones for non-local stores and then went through looking to see if there was anything we'd had on our personal wish/need lists. We found relatively inexpensive things to circle in the flyers of three stores in one mall (Staples, Radio Shack and a shoe store) and an LLBean outlet store and made plans to leave at 6am when the stores were scheduled to open.

We left at 6:30 and found a couple of things we'd considered buying at Staples already sold out! (No, we were not interested in buying a half-price LCD HDTV--good thing, too, as they were long gone before we ever arrived.) Tag-teaming (I waited in line at Staples while the OC and Beth collected what they wanted and then we zipped in and out of the other two stores even more quickly), we had collected our bargains and were on the way to the Bean outlet store in just 40 minutes.

We parked beside a car with a Nova Scotia license plate. Hmmm, guess the exchange rate must be pretty favorable to make driving all the way from Canada just to shop worthwhile. Of course, they may have been in the area to visit relatives, though the bargains we found at the outlet might have had something to do with their presence, too. With the additional early morning discount, we only paid 38% of original price for clothing and boots that were on our "watch for" lists!

With only buying for ourselves, shopping surely doesn't take long! What did we get? Winter boots, socks and snow pants. Dress pants. Two pairs of comfy shoes and a very comfy computer chair. DVD blanks, a flash drive, Turbo Tax software, a power strip and then the fun stuff: a hand-crank emergency radio, a rechargable spotlight, and Beth's favorite--TIVO so she can easily watch her favorite TV programs after she returns to work in a week or so.

With no pressure to choose the "right gift", spending only limited time in more crowded stores and the satisfaction of having saved money buying (mostly) needed items, this morning was a surprisingly enjoyable couple of hours--even for committed anti-shoppers of the "get in, grab it, get out" school!

Thanksgiving memories from four and a half decades ago

Our local newspaper recently ran an article about how being a vegetarian has become a very "in" thing with teens. It took me back, way back to a long-ago Thanksgiving when I was about 12 years old.

Back in those olden days, we lived in the hills of eastern Tennessee which was (and likely still is) a national center for chicken raising and processing. Shortly before that fateful Thanksgiving, my nurse mother had recently taken advantage of an opportunity to tour one of the chicken processing plants. She came away absolutely appalled by the conditions--both the unsanitary, inhumane and unhealthful* way in which the chickens were "processed" and by the way in which the employees were treated.

Thanksgiving day rolled around and she dutifully baked our family's Thanksgiving Chicken (chickens were cheap, turkeys were expensive and we were poor) but then, when carving time came, announced that, while she'd cook it, she'd decided that she wasn't going to eat meat anymore (not that we could afford to have it very often, anyway). Well, I'd been listening to her tales of that eye-opening tour so I piped up with, "I'm not eating any more meat, either."

And that was that. No more meat for me. Well, no more meat except for a couple of lapses along the way (one on purpose a couple of years later because I thought I missed tuna and one very sill accidental one decades later because I simply didn't recognize a cold lamb chop).

A funny thing happens after going most of one's life without eating meat--the very idea of eating something dead becomes repugnant. It's probably kind of like most folks would probably feel about the idea of killing, cooking and eating their pet dog.

In a way, I kind of envy all the kids who are becoming vegetarians these days because not only are there lots of vegetarian meat alternatives in regular grocery stores but now there are even vegetarian fast food options. Plus, of course, they get to be "cool" instead of weird, which is always a major plus when you're a teenager. I certainly wish the very best for them all!

By the way, if you know a teen who's recently become a vegetarian, don't assume it's necessarily just a phase that they'll grow out of it. This may well be a life-long change! The OC stopped eating meat at about the same age as I did after his pet steer ended up on the dinner table, but that's his story to tell.

On the off chance that you were wondering, yes, we had a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner with all the usual trappings--a groaning table with an astonishing number of people crowded around it, cranberry sauce, stuffing, fluffy mashed potatoes, pecan-topped sweet potato souffle, rolls, squash, peas, a fresh vegetable platter complete with olives, cider, pumpkin and apple pie plus two other desserts including an absolutely delectable orange cranberry trifle. Oh, okay, yes, there was a mock chicken loaf, of course. It was made from things like cottage cheese and eggs and onions and seasonings and, while nothing like chicken in texture was still quite tasty and no animals were harmed in its filming, er, preparation.



*For example, cancerous chickens had the most obvious parts of their tumors quickly sliced out and then were processed along with the apparently healthy chickens.

How to Preserve a Husband

Whilst searching through my recipe box today, I came upon a clipping I'd long ago glued to an index card and carefully filed away. Experience has shown it to be a recipe most certainly worth sharing.

With thanks to Ann Landers from whose column this was saved:

How to Preserve a Husband

First, use care in selection. Get one that is not too young, but tender and healthy. If you choose one recklessly, it may not keep.

Don't put in hot water. This makes them turn sour.

Sweeten with smiles, and spice with patience. All varieties will respond.

To ensure a wonderful consistency, stir gently over a low flame and don't leave unattended for long periods of time.

To add a delicious flavor, sprinkle generously with praise and appreciation. -- Tested by Yours Truly

Don't mess with the old lady

Think just because you have an empty nest that you can no longer influence all those young whipper-snappers? Think just because you're getting older you are becoming weak and powerless?

Think again! (Hint--turn on your speakers.)

Oh, boo, hoo. Our lake is disappearing.

After all the rain we've been having this month, one would think that "lake" out back would be overflowing its banks. But, instead, it seemed to be seeping away far more quickly than it did after the first big rains. So, once we got a chance to go walking while there was still light, we took the camera and went off to investigate.
Alas, and alack, someone has cleared a channel from "our" lake to the development's drainage system and dumped in some rocks to prevent erosion. All of which is very nice for their project, but not so nice for our view. As you can see, the lake is starting to give way to mud. Sigh.

Of course, soon enough it will all be covered with snow.

THUMP, bump, bump, bump, bumpity, bump.

That was the sound of a huge burden falling off our backs and rolling away. Yes, boys and girls, we are happy to report that Auntie Beth's apartment is now not only completely empty but cleaner than it was when she moved in!

Whew, it's done! Well, we are done. Auntie Beth still has to sort through a very large pile of boxes out in the garage and decide what to throw away, what to give away and what to put away...and where to put it...and finish all the boxes before snow flies if she wants to park her car under cover during the winter. But that's her burden, not ours.

Rain, rain, go away... Wait. What is all that PINK?

After almost a week (and five inches!) of rain, actual sunshine was a more than welcome sight this morning. We got a little foretaste of better things to come with last night's astoundingly pink sunset.



Needless to say, all that rain filled the lake again. I wish we had a kayak if for no other reason than to be able to float (and photograph) it out back. The water is too shallow for the canoe...I think...maybe we should try...stay tuned...

Yay, it's gone! Oops.

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and, what a relief, as of 3:30 this afternoon, the Christmas box is in the mail. Ahhh, big sigh of contentment. A huge part of the last minute rush was getting the twins' dresses dyed (before they outgrow them, already!). Of course, once I got home from the post office, I realized that I'd forgotten to go to Walmart to buy a gold-colored metal ornaments for each child. Hmmm, perhaps this is the year to end that tradition before it gets too deeply entrenched, eh?


In other news, Auntie Beth is very happy that I've discovered that a once-stained shirt can be rescued by dyeing it using the crunch method. Can you find where the (small) stain used to be?

I am tempted to join the "Y" after spending a delightful hour and a half this afternoon swimming in their warm "therapy pool" as a guest of our friend Elizabeth. We had it all to ourselves for the last half hour as the church group that usually rents it during that time was having a Thanksgiving dinner instead. The place I'm planning to swim this winter is much closer (and cheaper!) but doesn't have such a nice warm pool. Sigh.

Art photo alert.

If you find this comic funny, you may or may not enjoy the stories and photos from a senior college multicultural art class that will appear here in days to come.


http://images.ucomics.com/comics/cl/2006/cl061115.gif

More about the African watering hole webcam

It seems that the best times to see animals are not precisely at dawn and dusk but rather within the hour or so after dawn and before dusk. We saw several zebra and impala this morning.

Antelope species in Africa is a great identification resource.

You can go here to learn more about the camera and see pictures of the tree on which it is mounted and of the lodge from which the controls are remotely operated.

Happy Feet

The OC had today off work but still had to go in to get his flu shot so I went along and we made a day of it. He showed me around his old and new (as of tomorrow) workspaces and introduced me to some coworkers. We met up with Ally who was between classes and enjoyed a soup-and-sandwich lunch together at Panara Bread.

High on our "to-do" list for the day was to connect with a Certified Pedorthist and get me a new pair of walking shoes. We went to the shoe store right after lunch which turned out to be an excellent (read: not busy) time to go -- he spent over an hour fitting us. Ally has wonderfully comfortable new winter boots and I now have a pair of New Balance combination last (SL-2) running shoes -- they fit snugly around the heel yet have plenty of space in the toe box, even with my orthotcs. Ahhhh, such happy feet I have now. Tomorrow's walk will be such a pleasure that I'll very likely be up to more than than our usual two miles!

Take an Armchair Safari

We've had a lot of fun watching this South African water hole webcam. Nkorho Pan is a natural water hole in the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve in South Africa.

We've spotted groups of elands, zebraa, enus, monkeys, many small birds and a pair of some kind of large birds or ducks...and just heard lots of insects if we were trying at the wrong time of day.

In our experience, so far at least, the best time for animal spottings seems to be around dawn and dusk Africa time.

Of course, if you find yourself hankering for a real African safari, you can always travel to the Nkorho Bush Lodge and go stand in front of the webcam to wave at the rest of us homebodies.

My new toy

Look out Tim the Tool Man, I've got a new toy, a new power toy, no less. I'm just back from a trip to Sears and am the proud owner of a very basic Miter Saw which will (probably tomorrow) be set up in the basement ready for me to gather my courage in hand and see how I do at turning out simple picture frames. Shhhh, don't tell but now I've started drooling over the scroll saws I saw there, reminding me of the one I made puzzles with years, nay, decades ago.

And in other news, last night the OC and I rescued a couple of used double-thickness cardboard appliance boxes that I'll cut up to become the "canvas" for Navajo sand paintings for ~40-50 children. Yup, I'm planning on sharing my new art discoveries.

Yes, yes, yes, I'll be sharing with you, too. :D

Last Sunday afternoon, the OC and I took our Victorio Strainer over to our friend Elizabeth's house to help her turn a bushel or so of ripe apples into a couple dozen quarts of lovely pink apple sauce. Working together, we made (relatively) short work of the project finishing in time to walk down to the bay to watch the sun set over the bay. Ahhh, such a super day--sweet sauce, special friends and a spectacular sunset!

Would you call any of these "Misty Blue"?

Way last spring when I was preparing an order of dyes and blanks (white ready-to-dye garments) for tie-dyeing, Deb added a pair of crushed-nylon slacks to the list. The challenge, however, was that she wanted them to be dyed a still-to-be-determined solid color.

She finally decided that she wanted "Misty Blue" pants. Whatever that means. I'll tell you what it means--it means that I have to learn to do "vat dyeing" (or "bucket dyeing" for those of us without a vat)...

I carefully weighed the pants, researched colors and formulas and calculated how much dye would be required. Mixing of powdered dyes must be done outdoors as the powder is highly allergenic. With the change of seasons I knew that my procrastination time was rapidly disappearing so on a beautiful fall day earlier this week I mixed up what I hoped would be the perfect amount of dye to turn that garment Misty Blue.

The next day I had time to do the deed. I used a long bamboo stick to stir a couple of cups of non-iodized salt into a bucket of warm water, added the liquid dye and then the pants. The next step is to stir pretty much constantly for 20 minutes (so the color will be evenly distributed).

Only, as I stir, I notice that those pants are turning a much darker blue than what I would call "misty". Oh, dear, I have too much dye! What to do? I dash upstairs to my sewing/project room (one of the advantages of an empty nest is getting to take over those abandoned bedrooms!) and grab a waiting-to-be-dyed tee-shirt.

Dash down stairs. Stir the pants. Man, that 20 minutes is taking a loooong time to pass. Add the tee-shirt to the bucket. Oops, now it's too full to stir properly. Mix up some more warm salt water. Add (slowly!) to the dye bucket. Stir. Stir. Look at the clock. Stir some more. Use the bamboo stick (a tomato stake in its former life) to lift the pants and the shirt out of the dye bath. STILL too dark. The pants are dark, the shirt looks less so. Actually, the shirt looks more like what I'd think Misty Blue should be. Oh, dear. What to do?

Run upstairs again. Grab a pair of white cotton child's shorts. Dash back down. Stir. Take a deep breath. Add the shorts to the bucket. Stir. Stir. Hey, those shorts are starting to look like the light blue color I'd expected for the tee-shirt. Stir. Stir. Ignore the fact that the bucket is now REALLY full, too full to stir properly.

DING. Yah, the 20 minutes are up at last. Spend the next 12 minutes (it's supposed to take 15, but I cheated) slowly adding sodium carbonate solutiion while, you guessed it, stirring and stirring and waiting for another ding.

Take a deep sigh of relief and let the bucket sit blessedly undisturbed for an hour. The bucket sits. I don't. I have too much to do...

Come back an hour later and pour off the dye water and begin the process of hand rinsing and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing, then run them through the washer a couple of times with a set of dark blue sheets to fill out the load. Dry.

Take the pants, shirt and shorts out to find that we have three different shades of blue, depending on how many dye molecules were available to bond with each garment.

So, here's the question: Which (if any) of these blues are closest to what you would call "Misty Blue"?

Would you call any of these "Misty Blue"?
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Don't like the weather...

Future ice rink?
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Last week the temperature dropped overnight and our mud puddle, er, pond, er, LAKE, yeah, that's a lake, right? Anyway, there it was--covered in a thick layer of ice! Neighborhood skating rink, anyone?

Then we got another inch of rain which refilled it and today a lovely warm sun came out and the temperature went up to a balmy 60 degrees. In mid November, no less!

Hope we don't get snow next week...

The Lobster attends a "Council of All Beings"

Today was the last gathering of my Senior College Exploring Nature class. Our teacher had assigned us each to choose to "speak for" one animal or plant in a "council of all beings". Which we spent the last half hour or so doing.

Using the voice of a deer and a clam, she'd written short presentations to be read by herself and for one who'd missed the last few classes. Another student told about snakes, another spoke for the Pink Lady's Slipper (wearing pink slippers which cracked us all up), while another spoke in the voice of the wild turkey.

Then it was my turn. I had chosen to "speak for" the lobster. Thanks to B's suggestion, I had printed off a photo of a happy lobster in the wild. I'd typed up an outline of the results of my research but presented it in the "voice" of the lobster. The other students (and the teacher!), came away quite affected by what they heard...questioning if they'd ever again be able to cook a lobster.

Here is my outline--read it as if the creature itself were talking to you:

Lobsters are Sentient Beings who feel Pain


Lobsters have an exquisite tactile sense and very sensitive pain receptors.

-“Smell” chemicals in the water with antennae
-“Taste” with sensory hairs along legs

Respond behaviorally as if they are in pain

-struggle, thrash and try to climb out of boiling pot
-response to electric shocks as adverse stimuli is used by researchers
-response to pain is similar to mammals’ response

Have biological structures for mediating pain

-Nervous systems produce opioids which mediate pain (as do mammals)
-Crabs’ defensive reaction to shocks is reduced by morphine (as do mammals)
-Unlike mammals, no autonomic nervous system so can’t go into shock if harmed

Demonstrate mental cognitive processes

Learning and Association

-high degree of associative learning
-can make distinctions about environment
-can learn to associate certain chemical signals
with punishment and chemical signals with rewards

Memory

-explore new environments but not familiar ones
-form stable social hierarchies
-can remember and recognize fighting opponents

Generalization

-can associate an individual odor with a mixture that contains it
(i.e. can discern that a combination is not the same as the sum of its parts)



“After all the abstract intellection, there remain the facts of the frantically clanking lid, the pathetic clinging to the edge of the pot. Standing at the stove, it is hard to deny in any meaningful way that this is a living creature experiencing pain and wishing to avoid/escape the painful experience.” David Foster Wallace
“Consider the Lobster” Gourmet August 2004

The incredible shrinking "lake"

The incredible shrinking "lake"
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Sunshine+wind+no rain=disappearing water.

Both lake and pumpkins have seen better days.

Sigh.

I'm too old to be this young...

OK, so I'm really, really enjoying my Senior College classes--both the nature class and the multicultural art class. Interestingly, both of the classes I chose have women teachers and all the students happen to be women. Yes, they are all older than I, though one retired lawyer student is only a couple of years older.

I was a little taken aback last week, though, when I was asked my age by both teachers. It seems they were suspicious that I'm not "legal" i.e. don't meet the minimum age requirement to be part of Senior College. Which I do, by a year or two. Apparently, I don't look the part, though. I think I'll take that as a compliment, LOL.

Awwwwww

We recently received delightful letters from some of our grandchildren. Kindergartener Maddy even addressed hers herself "2 AOME" which clearly means (to me, at least) "To Grandmommy". :D

One of her little sisters (Megan) added her own artwork on the back which she described (and our daughter transcribed), "This is a tent in our campsite. I made the tent. Sleeping bags are going inside the door. We are going to get in our sleeping bags and camp." It even looks like a dome top tent with a large door. Pretty good for a two (and 3/4) year old, I'd say!

Embracing my Scotch ancestry

"Alter" with "coals" for Isaiah Bible story
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

I was on this week to teach the 6-9yo class at SS. The lesson was about Isaiah 6:1-8 or Isaiah's call with the coals of fire from the alter. So, I dug out some one-side-still-good gold colored card stock, taped it onto one of the boxes we're using to move Auntie B, picked up some stone "coals" for the top from a church walkway and placed the "altar" under the back side of an angel cut-out leftover from a previous lesson. Voila! Lesson props with no extra expense!

Oh, and I Sharpie'd one word of their memory verse on each stone and the children got to use kitchen tongs to arrange the words in order. They loved it...and I loved that it was all free!

Done. Check. Sigh of relief.

To do: Get flu shot. Done. Check. Happy smile.

After I'd suffered through real Influenza (the nasty kind where even your hair hurts and that takes weeks of recuperation and can even be fatal, not that wimpy gastroenteritis, commonly known as "stomach flu"), I became an ardent seeker of yearly Flu shots.

I am happy to report that, as of about an hour ago, this year's quest was successful. Whew! Now, to go give my hands a good washing and drink some extra water...

Happy Pumpkin Day...a little late

Auntie Beth's cat pumpkin
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Here's Miss B's kitty pumpkin come to say "Happy Pumpkin Day" and "Happy Fall" to everybody. Ah, but things are more lively around here now with a (relatively) young'un around the house doing things like carving up pumpkins.

sunset over "the lake"

sunset over "the lake"
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Living on a "waterfront." Ahhh, that's the life!


Shhhh, don't remind me that it's just an oversided mud puddle back there...

Morning comes to our "lake"

morning comes to our "lake"
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

I am so enjoying our recently rain-expanded "lake" especially its glossy reflectiveness early in the morning and at sunset.