Michaelmas

A Poem about the Michaelmas Daisy:

The Michaelmas Daisies, among dede weeds,
Bloom for St Michael's valorous deeds.
And seems the last of flowers that stood,
Till the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude.


Today is the day the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, and my first Michaelmas bloom was yesterday, in the pouring rain. What a brave little flower! As you can see from my patch of Michaelmas Daisies, they are in all stages of bloom; some are still tight little green buds, and some you can see the tightly folded white petals, and some the petals are on their way out.

I wasn't always a fan of St Michael the Archangel, not that I ever didn't like him, but his feast day has come and gone without me noticing it, until my brother Michael's death. Sometime in that first year of bereavement, I came across the habit of the Michaelmas Daisy, and the knowledge that I had had Michaelmas Daisies ever since some time in the early 1980's, even before my brother's death!

So every year as the 20th approaches and I feel grief again, the 29th follows with Michaelmas Daisies that I have seen brave heat, cold drenching rain and howling wind. They are an inspiration that usually endures to the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude on October 28th.





And this is how our biodegradable bag of Sun Chips is doing. A little dirty, a little faded, but still going pretty strong, despite drenching rains, wind and lots of 80 degree heat.

Just a reminder, tomorrow is the last day you can scroll to the Earring Giveaway post and post and become one of my followers to have a chance to win the earrings, donated by DiamondEarrings.org

The Agony Column, Part Two

From the last blog:

Dear Old Broad,

I have known my fiancee and his family for the past five years. We met in college and became engaged last year. My fiancee George is very close to his younger brother Bill and really wants him as Best Man at our wedding. Bill is in high school and is very into football. Because George really wants to have his brother in the wedding party and because Bill is really into football, I coordinated the date of my wedding so that it would not fall on a "football" day.

The invitations have been printed and sent, the hall is reserved, the caterers hired. Everything is set for that day, except now Bill isn't coming because some other football game thing is happening. It isn't a scheduled game, I really have no idea what it is or why it is so important for Bill to attend it instead of being best man at our wedding. As a double whammy, George's parents won't be attending our wedding either, they'll be watching Bill play football.

George wants to change the date of our wedding, which means that we'll lose money on renting the hall, same with the caterers, photographer etc and we'll have to contact everyone with the new date. George really wants to have his brother as Best Man, but he will abide by my decision.

My parents are livid, and my friends while trying to be supportive (and having to potentially change their schedules) are rolling their eyes.

The thing is, I want this beautiful fall day to be my wedding day. I want to spend my anniversaries at a Bed and Breakfast in New England picking apples.

But I don't want to start my married life at odds with this family.

I try to remind myself that it is the marriage that is important, not the wedding. But the wedding is important to me too!

Signed,

Totally confused and starting to hate Football


Dear Totally Confused,

Your letter has me totally with my mouth hanging open. You made sure to schedule your wedding on a non-football day for your brother in law. You've sent out the invites. You have everything reserved. And despite this, not only your future brother -in-law, but also your future mother-in-law and father-in-law won't be attending, unless you change the date?

And your husband -to-be who should be your protector, wants to cave in? Or will allow you to be the "bad guy" in his family's eyes, if you stick to your guns? You're not even married yet, and he can't stand up to his family?

My advice is to run!! Call off the wedding and have a "It Was A Narrow Escape" celebration party.

There is more than football going on here Cookie. You are being shown your place in the family, and it's way behind Bill, and most probably the parents also. If and when Bill marries and/or has children, your status will decline again. Your fiancee George knows this, whether it is consciously or unconsciously, I can't say. What I do see is a future of either kowtowing to George's family, or standing up to them alone.

Not much of a future.

Count your blessings that this happened before the wedding instead of after. And have a piece of celebration cake for me!

The Agony Column

In the US it's called the "Advice Column." I only know that it's called the "Agony Column" in England because Agony was my favorite Brit Com in the 1980's, and was about an Agony Columnist.



Do you like the "Advice Columns?" I do. It's kind of like a soap opera without having to sit there for a half hour and endure commercials at the same time. It's kind of like being the listener at gossip over the back fence or by the water cooler, without looking nosy.



Sometimes, nah, often, I don't agree with the advice that is given. I feel like the columnist just doesn't really understand what is going on. You know what I mean?



Like a column from a couple of months ago. We're going to pretend that I am an advice columnist, and that the person wrote to me for advice.



Let me know what you think at the end.



Dear Old Broad,



I have known my fiancee and his family for the past five years. We met in college and became engaged last year. My fiancee George is very close to his younger brother Bill and really wants him as Best Man at our wedding. Bill is in high school and is very into football. Because George really wants to have his brother in the wedding party and because Bill is really into football, I coordinated the date of my wedding so that it would not fall on a "football" day.



The invitations have been printed and sent, the hall is reserved, the caterers hired. Everything is set for that day, except now Bill isn't coming because some other football game thing is happening. It isn't a scheduled game, I really have no idea what it is or why it is so important for Bill to attend it instead of being best man at our wedding. As a double whammy, George's parents won't be attending our wedding either, they'll be watching Bill play football.



George wants to change the date of our wedding, which means that we'll lose money on renting the hall, same with the caterers, photographer etc and we'll have to contact everyone with the new date. George really wants to have his brother as Best Man, but he will abide by my decision.



My parents are livid, and my friends while trying to be supportive (and having to potentially change their schedules) are rolling their eyes.



The thing is, I want this beautiful fall day to be my wedding day. I want to spend my anniversaries at a Bed and Breakfast in New England picking apples.



But I don't want to start my married life at odds with this family.



I try to remind myself that it is the marriage that is important, not the wedding. But the wedding is important to me too!



Signed,



Totally confused and starting to hate Football

A little apprehensive

So son number two and I were talking, and he made reference to my blog content. I was a bit surprised since ...

"Now how would you know that, since you aren't a reader of my blog, are you?" The look on his face said "Crap!" as he admitted that no, he wasn't one of my readers.



I was curious, so I asked him "Why don't you read my blog?" It's not an unusual thing, I can safely say that more people don't read my blog, than do, and in my family, the ratio of don't read to do read is even higher.



He started by saying "I get home from work pretty late, and I'm pretty tired. Most of the time I don't even read my e-mail and I just pop into FaceBook for about a half an hour or so to see what it going on there." And then he said it: "And to tell you the truth Mom, I've read your blog, and that's not your best writing. I've read your other things, and your blog just really annoys me because I know your writing is much better."



Thank-you .................... I think?

Spotlight Saturday 9-25-10

Spotlight Saturday is when I pick out one of my favorite blogs to read. This week, I pick the blog "Ask Sister Mary Martha." If you have any questions that you'd like to have answered from a Catholic point of view, this is the place to go. Nothing is off limits, and although Sister Mary Martha isn't cruel, she doesn't pull any punches either.

Don't let the fact that you are not a Catholic or even a lapsed Catholic keep you away. http://asksistermarymartha.blogspot.com/

Want to check out more Spotlighted blogs? Follow this link:

http://www.betweenthelines-kel.com/2010/09/spotlight-saturday-blog-hop_25.html?utm_source=feedburner

Shine On, Shine On Harvest Moon!

Today we say goodbye to Summer of 2010. If there was anything you wanted to accomplish during the summer, you only have hours left to get it done. At 11:04 (ish) tonight, the summer is over, and autumn begins. Yes! Autumn, my favorite season! The season of greens turning to reds, and yellows, bronzes and gold! The season of pumpkins and Jack O'Lanterns.

The cold is coming, but first we must celebrate with Holidays!

Tonight is also the night of the Full Moon, but not just any full moon! No, the night of the honest to goodness Harvest Moon, on exactly the day (night) that it should occur!

Here is more information, and you'll see why I am soooo excited!https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/22sep_harvestmoon/

HREZPV7BSS5J

Is it Friday yet?

Well, I guess that's a pretty silly question since it is now Sunday and the DREADED MONDAY is only hours away.

This past week, my IPod touch died. Yes, just died. I had it on my computer recharging, and the screen went blue. The Ipod wouldn't turn on, no matter what trick I tried. Finally the ITunes icon showed with the little cord thing requesting me to plug it back into my computer, where I was told that it was wiped and needed to be reset to it's factory settings. I did, and every file, that wasn't an App, was wiped from it's memory.

You probably don't understand who awful this is for me. It probably seems like audio files are the casualties, but that is the least of my problems. Right now, my husband, a daughter, and I are going to a bunch of different doctors. Many of them are new to us. Many, I don't know the names of, only where their practices are, sort of. So, not only do I need to deduce the doctor's name, and then find their telephone numbers by calling the referring doctor's office, I also have to find out when the appointments are.

Thankfully, my previous PDA, a Palm Pilot, still has files on my computer (to the best of my knowledge, IPods don't do that with your calender or contacts) from pre Christmas 2009, so the damage isn't as bad as it could have been.

From now on, my handy dandy IPod will be for playing games like Bejewelled and listening to audio files. But for serious matters? My trusty Palm Pilot, that I bought when it was already a late model, and now I've had it for five years.

I have to say, I'm really surprised that my earring give away has only one entry. According to my counter, I've had a bunch of visitors. So what is going on?

Tomorrow is Scary Monday, which I always look forward to. Thanks so much Wendy for putting it together, and thank-you Lily for pointing me me in that direction!

Monday is also the 20th anniversary of my brother Michael's death. He was only 17 at the time, exactly a month away from his 18th birthday. He had graduated High School the previous June, had a girlfriend and loved computers. He was also one of the early, dedicated gamers and loved Metal. He and a friend had tracked down Dio in Connecticut and got his autograph. Michael was buried with it. He had wanted to get Ozzy's autograph also.

My Michaelmass daisies buds are starting to swell, and they will bloom soon, usually in time for Michaelmass on the 29th. They always make me think of Michael. I wonder, if he had lived, what would he be like? Would he have "sold out" to society, and cut his long blonde hair? Would he be married? Would he have children of his own? Would he still be a gamer? Would he have still loved computers?

I often wish that I knew someone with an age-progression computer program. I would love to see what Michael would have looked as an adult.

Instead, I remember him as my baby brother with long blond hair that flowed behind him, as he did his "rock star gait,' with a light sprinkling of freckles across his nose. Still and always, just a kid.

Super Give Away!

There are give aways, and then there are give aways! I just found out about this one at Garden of Daisies blog, so I apologise for posting this at the very last day. But the prize is sooooo superdy, duperdy, you have to hurry over and enter!!!!!

Refining Silver, a new post on Cancer Catholic Cured

I thought this post might be a blessing to someone who is suffering from a chronic, debilitating, or fatal disease.

http://cancerstagefour.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/refining-silver/ ‎

How to win the neew earrings ...

I've finally decided how I will pick the winner of the new earring from Diamondearrings.com.
This contest is open until the end of September, so that is two weeks from now.

1st You must Follow my blog on Google or Blog Frog

2nd You must make a comment on this post. If you follow my blog, but don't make a comment, then you are still not eligible to win.

3rd I will pick the name on September 30th and announce it on this blog, though not on this post. You have until October 7th to e-mail me your address. If you don't, I will pick another winner, and they will have until October 14th.

Just to make sure everything is clear, these are NOT real diamond earrings, they just look like they are. A great BIG thank-you to Diamondearrings.org for supplying the earrings!



Best of luck to everyone! :)

My House Is Going To Be Blue

or strategies for how to afford the siding your house needs

As I was just walking back from putting NetFlix into our mailbox, I looked up at our two story, white house and thought "Soon our house is going to be blue. With white corners." What color the shutters will be, is any one's guess. My husband seems to think that the dark green shutters that we have now will work perfectly fine, and they are in great condition. I have my doubts, on the shutter color. They are in great condition, but I think they'll be going to FreeCycle before they ever return to our house.

And to be perfectly honest, our house is going to be Harbor Blue, not Baby Blue, or Military Blue or any of those other blue - blues that houses are colored. In fact, our blue is the 5th color from the bottom on the swatches I have posted. May-be green shutters will work.

This is how it all started: I was going out the door because I
thought I heard my husband's car in the driveway, and I wanted
to welcome him home. Yes, after thirty years
I still do that. As I went out the door, I scared the salesman coming up our front steps half to death. He hadn't expected me, I hadn't expected him; it's good that neither of us have faint hearts.

"Uh, uh, uh...." he said.

"Uh, uh uh.." I said, wondering who the heck this
was, and why my Labrador hadn't sounded the alarm first.

Well to cut to the chase, he was a pre-salesman with Power Window and Siding , and would we be interested in a free estimate?

What did we have to lose? We knew the house needed to be resided (unfortunately, we only seemed to notice how badly it needed it done, after we bought the house. I think Barnum wrote something about us, something about a sucker?)

The next day, a salesman came to our house, to show us samples, to measure the house, and to tell us why the product that Power Windows and Siding uses is superior to what we would have bought at Home Depot, for instance, because that was where we had pretty much decided to go if Nate was going to do the work.



That is Johann Manss, our salesman in the picture above showing the three layers that are going up on our house. The green layer sheds water, and yet is breathable. The second layer is insulation with bug killer (think termites) embedded in it and the third layer is our siding. Not only will that keep our warm air in the winter, in our house and our cold air in the summer in, but it also makes the siding more durable to random things like little boys throwing baseballs and lawn mowers tossing stones.

Then Johann gave us a little class about where siding comes from. Our siding has never been formed before; being our house siding is it's first incarnation. Now you know I am nothing if not a re-use, recycle and re purpose girl, but when Johann showed us the demonstration about Power Windows and Siding's material (Jar A) and other siding (Jar C), I made an exception.
Because for the whole appointment, which was about 4 hours, the powder in Jar A never mixed with the water. I even stuck my finger directly into it , and pushed the powder into the water. It still never mixed, and my finger, where the powder had been, remained dry also. The contents of Jar C however, became one with the water. The reason for this being such a big deal is that when water becomes part of the equation, so does mold. Ick!

The frosting on the cake though, is not only are we getting a lifetime guarantee with this siding, but the guarantee is transferable to the people we eventually sell our home too! I was pretty impressed with that. Actually, I was impressed with the whole thing, which is why I am blogging about this in the first place.

And then there is the question of : How on God's green earth will we ever be able to afford this? I'd like to share a few thoughts and tips with you. As I mentioned before, my husband and I knew we were going to have to replace the siding on our house before the salesman ever called. We knew it would be expensive, and not something we could afford easily. We also knew that it was to the point that we couldn't think about it any more, we had to act on it pretty soon.

We went to both Lowes and Home Depot to see what was available, how much it would cost (at least in a ballpark estimate), and we looked online to see tutorials of how reside the house. We knew we could never afford to hire someone to do it.

The trips to Home Depot and Lowe's were downright depressing. At best, we could only afford their least expensive, so no fancy siding like we wanted. The job would be a drudge job; an expensive drudge job. Actually a big, expensive, drudge job with little pride to it except to be able to say that we did it ourselves.

Yet, as depressing as those trips were, they were necessary and informative. It didn't let us have any false hopes about how much we'd be spending. We took out a home equity loan. Joy of joys, it wasn't something that we wanted to do, especially since we are trying to live debt free, but it was necessary.

At the time that the pre-salesman came, he told us that if we signed for the work to be done in the month of September, we would be getting two discounts, one was offered by the Warehouse Club we belong to, the other was a matching discount offered by Power Windows and Siding.

Another thing to consider is this: if you are among the first to get siding or window work done in your community, your house can be an advertising billboard for that company. Is that worth any money to the company? For Power Windows and Siding, it was. We agreed to have pictures of our house taken before and after, along with having a small sign posted in our front yard. The sign in our yard is self explanatory. The before and after pictures will go into the company's "brag book." And it shaved money off of the bottom line.

Being able to pay cash for the job also shaved money off the bottom line.

Lastly, and this is only offered this year, the government will give us a $1500 tax credit (not deduction) on our taxes.

Another thing to ask is if may-be your salesman would consider less of a sales commission and lower the price, if you agree at the first meeting to sign a contract for work? Be aware though, not all salesmen work on commission. Ours didn't.

See if any of these strategies work for you.

* I have not made a penny writing about my experience with Power Windows and Siding. I have only written because it was a good experience, and I wanted to share. If you'd like to talk to a salesman because of my blog, please e-mail me with your name and telephone number, and I could earn an $100 gift certificate.

1022 Evergreen Place

When you lose someone, it is devastating. Their absence is so poignant that you live with it every day. You never forget them, but that sharp, knife edge is always with you. That is the way it is with my cousin Bernadette. Long time readers of this blog know that my cousin left this world in May of this year. It's been more than three months now, and life has resumed it's rhythm the best it can.

And then, I get bludgeoned with her loss again when I look on the back of the current Woman's World magazine and see that one of my favorite authors, Debbie Macomber had just published another book in her Cedar Cove series. Previously, my cousin Bernadette would know way before the rest of us that there was a new book in the series or in the Blossom Street series and tell us. Often, she bought the book in hardcover first, and then we would pass it through our family to Debbie Macomber's other fans. Finding out about the new book just brought it home again, Bernadette is gone.

I bought the book a few days later when I conveniently, accidentally on purpose was near a book store. Buying the book was bittersweet, since usually my copy was my cousin's hand-me-down. Reading it is both enjoyable, and re-uniting me with the past. I love the Cedar Cove books, and I love Cedar Cove even though it is a fictional place. This is the tenth book in the series, and over the span of five years (I played catch up in 2005) I've come to know and care for the characters. I'm not done with the book yet, which is pretty unbelievable , since I usually read these books in two days at the very most. Right now, Rachel is newly married and pregnant. She's having such a tough time with her teenage step daughter Joleen, that she is afraid to tell her husband about the pregnancy. While at another address, MaryJo has found WWII love letters under the floor boards in her bedroom.


So, I'm going to stop blogging, and go back to reading. If you have never read the Cedar Cove series, there's no better time to start!

Scary Monday - From The Haunted Bookstore

Taking them to the Haunted Bookstore was a last resort, but ultimately it had worked. The Twins didn't seem to be bored any longer.

"Is it haunted really, or is that just it's name, Aunt Mary?"

"I really don't know Misty. I know it's name is The Haunted Bookstore, and I know it looks like this year round, but, if it is haunted, I don't know."

"There are a lot of black cats around." Misty observed.

"Yes, they lounge all over the place."

"I see a Witches hat." Colby observed. "It's just decoration."

"Maybe not." Aunt Mary replied. "May-be it's just to high for her to wear comfortably inside the shop, so she left it out here."

"That means she might still be in the Shop!" Misty answered with a shivering thrill.

"Oh bro-ther!" Colby said with disdain. "I'm not afraid to go in!" But even with all her bravery, Colby's feet weren't heading toward the Shop all that quickly, and it was actually Aunt Mary who led the way.

9/11 Budweiser Tribute

Cleaning Up The House

At the moment, I'm watching Sunday Morning on CBS. The subject is, the dreaded bedbug! Apparently, and I'm not sure why, bedbugs are becoming an epidemic at hotels (luxury or economy), clothing stores (Victoria's Secret was one shown on CBS), and - gulp! - our homes!

For people who have a can-do, entrepreneurial spirit, bedbugs have even become a business. Believe it or not, there are dogs that can sniff out the location of bedbugs, and people that train dogs on how to sniff out bedbugs.

When people hear bedbugs, they often think "ugh! dirty house!" But this is a common misconception, because bedbugs can be carried in on furniture, upholstery or cushions; or they can crawl from one infected room or apartment to another. There isn't much that you can do about bedbugs once you get them, it seems. Aside from hiring an exterminator that is. Prevention though is the key.

Dirty house got my attention though, so I surfed the internet after the bedbug report, and came across this wonderful quick article about cleansers that are both organic, and probably already in your home, things like white vinegar, lemon, baking soda and borax among others. Here's the link:
http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Shelter/Organizing-Cleaning/10-Alternative-Household-Cleansers.html?cid=yhoo











Homemade Cleaners

A Day that Will Live in Infany

America has had some days that "will live in infamy." Luckily for me, for most of them, I have only known about them through word of mouth and studying history.

Remember the Maine! Only learned of that tragedy through history classes, and I have no idea when the memorial day for that is.

Pearl Harbor. V-J and V-E Day Learned because of history. My parents were both children/older teen during that time, but neither spoke about it.

The assassination of President Kennedy. I was alive, but too young to know anything.

Challenger Disaster - Sadly old enough to have full knowledge. But after the disaster. I heard it on the noon news.

The bombing of the World Trade Center was a whole different event. Perhaps because I saw the whole event practically from the beginning.....

It was a beautiful, September day. Really one of the nicest. The sky was just a gorgeous blue, and today there was no need to have the air conditioner on. All of my children were living at home, and meals were a wonderful family affair.
Breakfast had gone without a hitch, and the younger children were loading the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher, while the older sons were bringing a lumber delivery from outside to downstairs in the basement in case of rain later on in the day. Soon they left to catch the bus to college and the younger children gathered around the table to start their schooling. Everyone was perfectly settled, instructions not only given, but understood when my telephone began to ring. I didn't want to interrupt the flow, so I let the phone go to my answering machine figuring that I would collect messages and return any needed calls at lunch break. The caller was my mother, and she insisted, absolutely insisted, that I put on ABC RIGHT NOW!

I didn't. Things were going so well that it would take more than something on television to make me interrupt it. The phone began ringing again. When the caller was again my mother, I was mightily annoyed. What was with her today? She knew how busy I was!

I answered the phone this time, feeling pretty irritated, when my mom demanded "Have you put on the news?"
"Why?"
"Just put it on, you'll see!!"
I turned the television on, just in time to see what had to be a film clip of one of the new adventure movies.
"You interrupted schooling for me to see a clip from a movie?" now I was really, mightily annoyed at my mom. It had to be a movie. The plane had just flown into a building in New York City.

That's right, even with the evidence right in front of me, I couldn't believe that America was under attack. I was sure it was just Hollywood doing it's thing.

Of course, I did get it eventually and the older boys were still around. I called all of the children in front of the television, and they all saw the second plane hit the second tower.

School that day was over. My son made it to college, which was closed, and he almost didn't make it home, because the buses were all taken off-line. He caught the last one, and I had to drive a town over to pick him up.

A day that will never be forgotten.

Read other memories of this day at
http://www.mommymoment.ca/2010/09/never-forget.html

Spotlight Saturday

First, I'd like to thank Lily from Never Fading Wood for spotlighting me this week. She has a wonderful blog that when you read it, you instantly realize how well educated, and yet readable her writing is. She reviews books that you have no idea ever existed. She tells us all kinds of library secrets. But it's her thoughts that draw me in the most. She makes you think, without making your brain hurt.

But I'm not spotlighting Lily this week.

This week, I am SPOTLIGHTING Katlupe from Homesteading on the Internet This is another of my favorite blogs. This blog is both artistic and informative. The photographs are genuinely beautiful. Kat's thoughts are both introspective and informative. Kat sees things that we all should be seeing, but don't because we are too busy. I hope you will visit her blog soon. You'll mark her as a favorite once you do.

Some Knicker in a Twist Posts

My knickers are in a twist. I admit it. It's just one of those days. Of the children that I have left home, the majority are sick. I had the d#*^l of a time trying to get out of bed, and I'm still tired. My computer is just lagggging as I try to read my e-mail and blog mail.

More things that get my knickers in a twist:

Having to type in CAPTCHA letters to comment on a blog. When your computer is grinding as it tries to change windows, or renew windows, this just adds to the pain. If you are going to review your comments before posting them to your blog, how about removing the CAPTCHA?

More Knicker Twisters, I have CAPTCHA and with the grinding of the computer, I can't find where to remove it, because I do read my comments before posting them. I apologise here to my readers.

What gets your knickers in a twist?

Diamondearrings.org

A wonderful thing came in the mail a few days ago, a pair of free diamond earrings! The owner of Diamondearrings.org had written to me about a week ago and asked if I would like a free sample of their earrings to review on my blog. Of course I said yes!!!

Well, a few days ago they came. Of course they aren't real diamond earrings, but the case they came in was crushed velvety and nice. In fact, that is what has taken me soo long to write this post. I wanted to take a picture of them and show how sparkly and pretty they are, but not one of my photo's did them justice! I think this blogger needs to go to photographer's school.

I want to give these earrings to one of my blog readers. This is where I really, really need your input. How should I decide who gets the brand new earrings? I really haven't a clue! So please comment, and give me some ideas!

September 8th

Today is a very special day for my family and I. It is the day that my Church has set aside to celebrate the birth of the mother of our Savior. It isn't celebrated like the day of the Savior's birth, nor should it be, although it could be argued that without Mary, there would be no Jesus. Think about it. If at any time Mary wasn't careful while carrying the child Jesus in pregnancy ..... Pretty deep thinking, and not what I want to do on a birthday.



Today is beautiful, bright, sunny, not too hot. I'm tempted to bake a birthday cake, but wonder if that is really a good idea any more? When our house was filled with children, a cake slice was pretty thin, and the cake didn't last too long. Now, we must consider blood sugar numbers. I think, we will celebrate today with a good dinner, not one of my every day recipes.



In a short amount of time, we will have the full moon back. I have the moon chart on my blog if anyone would like to take a peek. And if you'd like a moon chart of your own, just click on it, and then follow the easy directions, and you can have one too. You can put it on your FaceBook or My Space account, or your blog if you have one.



Then comes the start of my favorite season, autumn. To temper that though, is the 20th anniversary of my brother Michael's death. Just nine days after that is the Feast Of Saint Michael the Arch Angel, and the flowers known as Michaelmass Daisies usually bloom shortly before or on that day. Seeing them usually cheers me up. Now, I just have to hope that the deer don't use them as a salad bar!

Deadly Gift by Heather Graham

Labor Day weekend is over, and summer has about two weeks left to run before the coming of my favorite season, Autumn. It's time to get out the sweaters and jackets again, and before long, it will be time for the heavy duty clothes.

Now is the time to start piling up some really good reads for the darkening, more chilly days.

Deadly Gift is a book that I really recommend, but since it takes place in December, if you are a "season reader" you might want to buy this book now and stash it away for December.

Now, how do I tell you enough about this book so that you will want to read it, but not enough about this book that you know so much that you don't need to read it?

Hmmmm.......

Let's start with Eddie, he took one of the company boats out. The boat was found, anchored. Eddie was no where to be found.

Let's add to the mix Sean. He's old, and he's worked hard all of his life. He has money. And a young trophy wife. His daughter Kat is sure that Amanda only married her Dad for his money. Until Sean becomes deathly ill on a flight from NY to Ireland. Then Kat is sure that Amanda is ready to kill her father for his money.

Add an old Irish aunt that lives with Sean, Amanda and Kat in Rhode Island and believes in banshees, an Irish nurse who isn't being quite honest about her duties toward Sean, a suspicious PI family friend named Zach, a mysterious man named Michael, partnerships and betrayals that you would never expect and you have a real page turner!

Have I convinced you?

Scary Monday 9-6

I made this pillow around 2005. I drew the inside panel, and then hand embroidered it. Yes, it is terribly stained, but that is common for the Prim style. Is anything more Halloween - ish than a full moon, a black cat, a crow and a pumpkin?

Go see some more scary Mondays!
http://candydelane.typepad.com/

Photo Challenge - Begin the story

Begin the story - I was starting the laundry, when I got the uneasy feeling of "I'm not alone. Something is watching me!" I soldiered on, putting in the clothing, starting the hot water, when with a little purr, Jack jumped onto the edge of the washer, braving the hot water cascading in, just to be pet by me!

For more Begin the story

http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/2010/09/lens-photo-challenge-begin-story.html

Because I can't seem to blog enough today ...

Are you interested at all in who you descended from? Do you know all about your family history, or is there more for you to learn? Well if you would like to learn more, but the price has put you off, Ancestry.com is free for this Labor Day Weekend. Don't miss your chance!

And we'll just hope that Hurricane Earl keeps degrading to a tropical depression instead of a Hurricane or Tropical Storm!!!

Bag it Forward

This opportunity came to me through Lily at Never Fading Wood. I encourage you to visit her blog also!! (I do, often!)

This is the site http://bagitforward.org/donate-a-bag/

Expires : September 10th


HOW CAN YOU JOIN?
It’s easy.
Participate in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward by giving away a virtual bag of school supplies and creating a blog post or Facebook note with specific rules described below.
Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom.
You can give as many virtual bags as you want.
The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward will officially begin at 12 AM EST on July 22, 2010 and end at 11:59 PM EST on September 10, 2010. Blog posts submitted to us before or after that time period will not be counted.
The blog post link has to be submitted in the comment section below for your participation to be counted.


In addition copy and paste the following text into your blog post:

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

Copy and paste these rules into your blog post or Facebook note.
Create a post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
Link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
Elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by September 10,2010).
Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

I am bagging

Sister Mary Martha http://asksistermarymartha.blogspot.com/

Sunny's Day http://sunnysday1941.blogspot.com/

Wendy http://candydelane.typepad.com/

Stacy http://moderatemeans.blogspot.com/


Please make sure you visit their wonderful blogs! I'm sure you WILL enjoy them as much as I do!