it’s been mostly mundane here at sonnystone with a kind of “getting ready” feeling. between monsoons we’ve enjoyed some beautiful autumn weather. it’s supposed to get down to 37 tonight and rebound into the 80’s this weekend which should make some pretty colors on the trees.
i’ll be flying out of nashville to nyc very early saturday morning for a fun-visit with emma and her mom. i hear emma is nearly as tall as i am now, so i’ve got to hurry. there’s no school monday or tuesday next week, so i’ll be back very early wednesday morning. moon’s surgery is scheduled for 10/31 and husband and i will drive out the week-end before so i can do all the heavy lifting (emma) for awhile. we’ll work out some details as we go, but i’ll probably be gone 3-4 weeks. this is why i kept the little school job–everybody understands. it’s really a very supportive atmosphere: no fmla, no catty co-workers to question my priorities. and i won’t be missing out on much money!!
sister and i are burning up the nursing home circuit with our sing-alongs. we played a real nice home wednesday and it’s so fun.
in order to be an active master gardener you have to put in at least 10 hours of volunteer time and 6 hours of continuing education. i turned in 20 hours volunteer time and 4 education yesterday and picked up a ticket for their seminar at usi so i can complete the education requirement. luckily, i don’t have to take the “soil” lecture and found some on interesting stuff.
cuzn lana, her friend vicki, and i have tickets to see “the producers” 10/19–pretty good seats, too.
the garden is ready for the season. we’ve brought in all the veggies except the bell peppers and watermelon. the herbs are in pots and i’ve added plenty of mums and pumpkins. husband is bringing the wood up to the porch and we’ve turned on the gas to the library fireplace. i’ve moved the summer clothes out and the warm clothes in. there’s change in the air.
we attended a special birthday party last night: berkeley will turn 4 this week and her grandmother (mimi) turned double 5 sunday so they celebrated together. all of sister’s family were there, of course, and it was a boisterous time. happy birthday to both!!!
while browsing through celebrity gossip sites i came across this picture. 
yeah, that’s rod stewart and i think we all agree he looks better with his clothes on. and we thought we wanted to marry a rock star……..
so i was crafting an exciting story about some stupid teenager (redundant) who drove up the bank of our front yard, did some tricky driving across and back down the bank taking out several yards of mud. he must have been freaking, but he managed to miss mailbox, trees, etc. and had no injury. it was at least a diversion and we got to meet our neighbors, renew old acquaintances (his dad and older brother had been involved with scouts), and try to figure out how the kid managed to go off the road (we are not on a curve).
however, the biggest excitement has really been that wink found a frog on the back porch and thinks he’s a cat. we saved the frog, thank-you; if the next plague is locusts, wink is ready.
i wrote quite a lengthy sad note about this anniversary and then lost it when i navigated away…..i suppose it was meant to be. you are spared a real crying spell and i’m too weepy to start over again, just believe me when i say that 5 years ago was just plain sad. out of the tears there emerged strengthened faith and love that will see us through anything.
i went out to the bluegrass creek dulcimer festival with sister and cousin last saturday. it was a beautiful day and the people were incredibly friendly. one of the members of the Shade Tree Players is a shirt-tail relative of ours from over in albion—she’s with the autoharp above. i learned a lot about dulcimers in general and am pretty excited about joining a group. of course, i’ll need to buy a dulcimer, mandolin, and banjo….
saturday’s weather was cool & wet so i couldn’t force myself to the races, despite the presence of the birthday-boy. in order to hold off a guilty conscience i made 5 lbs of mashed potatoes, 3 cups of gravy, a mini-casserole of green beans and a roast beast tender enough to cut with a fork. husband topped it off with a dutch-oven cobbler and ice cream. sunday we were off to the races under beautifully sunny skies. my only winner was mr. michael (really), my last bet. happy birthday, boy-child. many, many, many more. thanks for coming to see me, sweetie.
the kids left yesterday evening. today i met lana & charley back at the track and started off with 2 winners in the first race, decided to quit while i was ahead and came home to do chores around sonnystone. the last race of the season is kinda sad……