Autumn Lunch

I took time to savor my lunch of butternut squash soup, half a croissant, and a Fuji apple. I hadn't eaten a Fuji in quite some time and had forgotten how good it tastes. I was trying to jolly myself out of my crabby mood. It took me twice the usual time to complete my grocery shopping this morning.

Yep, the Owens/Kroger store is moving everything around again. I knew they had laid new flooring in the produce section and were painting walls throughout the store. Some of the shelving is empty so they are not done yet with rearranging things.
The produce clerk tried to help me find specific things, but even he wasn't sure where some things were located. In the past, they have had a "helper" at the end of the center aisles to tell people where to go, but none today; I guess because they are not done. 

I went to Fort Wayne Wednesday to make the last installment payment on our winter cruise. Then since I was in the city, I spent some time at the mall and at Costco. Bought another batch of croissants. I did put most of them in the freezer because they are quite addictive, especially when warmed slightly in the microwave. At Costco I bought my first Christmas gift though I have been reflecting on what to give others. 

My husband does woodworking projects with a man from our church. The man asked if he and his wife could come to our house to watch the World Series first game. They only have antenna TV.
I am not a big fan of baseball. Too slow for me, but I thought well at least I can root for the Dodgers, my hometown team. LOL. It turns out Em, his wife, attended Red Sox spring training camps in Florida as a girl. Her aunt, an artistic person, had created a poster of Ted Williams pitching with the ball large as if in your face. She had all of the Red Sox players autograph the ball in the poster. She had also drawn a picture of Ted Williams, and he signed it for her. Em was wearing a Red Sox pin on her blouse when she arrived. She had baked brownies and brought to share. Fortunately for me, I am not a big baseball fan because the Red Sox won handily. 

A Beautiful Autumn Day

Wow! What a difference a few cold nights make. As I drove King's Highway in Winona Lake and towards Warsaw on Center Street the trees were bursting with color. I said thank you for the sharing of the fall beauty. 

I had some donations for Goodwill to drop off. When I browsed the books, I found 6 paperbacks and 1 hardback. Two decorating books will be perused for photos for my decorating folders. The cherry on top is that this was Senior 50% off day, and I didn't even know it. 

$4 for 7 books and that included rounding up for a donation to the Work Center. 

I am especially looking forward to reading this book by Ellen Stouffer as Thanksgiving approaches.

It is illustrated short stories.

I even have some time to play Qwirkle and Text Twist on my ipad before dinner. A great day.

A Merry Lea/Pisgah Kind of Day

I made the effort to get up by 7 a.m. this morning so we could drive to Topeka, Indiana, to eat breakfast at Tiffany's. As we headed east we viewed a colorful sunrise. Too bad I was riding in a car so that I couldn't get a good photo. I tried to shoot thru the windshield as we approached a traffic light but by that time the dark reddish pink had lightened up a lot.

Tiffany's is an Amish-run restaurant. The food turned out to be pretty mediocre but the plate was piled so high I barely ate half of my scrambler (scrambled eggs with onions and shredded potatoes all mixed up together). We had eaten the lunch buffet here years ago, followed by pie. The pie is really the star of the place.

We drove to Merry Lea Environmental Center southeast of Topeka. Last year we experienced a sorghum pressing. This year we parked on the western edge of the property as we only explored the eastern part on our first visit. I guess we really weren't supposed to be hiking in this part. It is for educational programs. There was an old gravel pit and a geodesic domed building. The few marked trails petered out.

Not much fall color yet. The spell of hot weather we had in the first half of October slowed down the changing of the leaves.

Though we had a few moments of sun, the cloudy setting didn't make for good photography. 
We drove west to Indiana 5 and headed south. We saw the sign for Pisgah Marsh and decided to stroll the boardwalk. It has been a few years since we visited Pisgah.

There was a little bit of fall color but not much yet. We saw hundreds of birds flying and lighting on trees making such a racket. I'm not sure what kind of birds they were. We had run into this racket at Merry Lea as well in one spot. Were they massing together readying for a migration? Usually you can see sandhill cranes at Pisgah; we saw two in a harvested cornfield north of the marsh, but none at the marsh. We did see way off in the distance Canada geese in the marshy pool.

Those are birds not dark leaves in those skinny trees above, but big swirls of them were moving around. 

October Bloom of the Month

Picked these up today.

Autumn Touches

We have had some crisp nights but mostly sunny days recently. It feels good to snuggle beneath the electric blanket. 
I finished this afternoon the jigsaw puzzle I bought at the North Webster FOL sale.

It is a nice fall scene and not too big, though I did have to use a TV tray to hold the sky pieces to begin with because I worked on my little glass patio table in the sunroom. I did it all by myself since hubs was busy with woodworking.

We had our first slices of the pumpkin pie last night. Very good. Some pumpkin pies are not seasoned the way I like, but this was just right. Had with Cool Whip on top. The streusel was a little messy. Lots more slices to eat up yet.

I put my autumn kitchen towels out again. I had them out a few weeks back, but now they have gone thru the laundry cycle and are clean to use again. I should look for a few more.

Tonight we had our first practice of the Christmas choir at church. We will sing December 9th.

The Grace Village choir looked at two Christmas pieces last Monday. We will probably get more tomorrow at practice. That concert is December 14th. 

Roller Coaster

I took the thermal blanket off of my bed this morning. Too warm now that we have days in the 80's. I had it folded to the side the last several nights anyway. I put on a flannel sheet that serves as a light blanket if I need more than my regular sheet. We were in the low 60's several days, now a run of 80's until Thursday when we will be 30 degrees cooler. Then it will be time for the electric blanket at last. Maybe bake some zucchini bread, too. The ups and downs should be about over.

My colossal Costco mum is in full bloom now. 

With the cooler weather this weekend, it will be time to plant my winter aconite bulbs/corms. They look like large dried-up chocolate chips. I had to order these on the internet. They are the little yellow flowers I saw last March under an apartment window. I have given up on crocus.

This week is swap shop at Grace Village. I saw a purse, a necklace, and a shirt last Friday when I brought my contributions in, but they were all gone by 9:30 a.m. when I arrived this morning for the taking part.
I did take a couple of tops that aren't perfect fits, but they will serve my purpose of garden/house work. 

Almost every time I put my weekly pill minder in my purse when we eat out at restaurants, the lid has come open and I have to dig around in the bottom of my purse to find the pills. No more. I have a new pill minder with tight lids from swap shop. Easy to see color, too.

The other item I took to play around with is a container of curlers. I have been toying with the idea of curling my hair occasionally, especially as it grows out mid-way thru my haircut cycle.

These look unused and come in several sizes. I still have some ratty old ones from decades ago; these will replace them and be better.

Punky

I awoke at 3:30 a.m. Thursday feeling like I needed to throw up. I was supposed to go with my husband to Fort Wayne after my Y Silver Sneakers class ended and I had showered. I never made it out of bed except to visit the bathroom several times.

I felt well enough around 12:30 to eat a light and fairly bland lunch, but about two hours later my stomach felt upset again. I went back to bed to sleep a few hours. 

By dinner, I managed to eat some leftover chicken/pasta casserole without any after effects. The rest of the evening I felt OK.

I learned Wednesday at Winona Literary Club that one of my key officers isn't just suffering mental confusion because of an UTI as she told me, but has been diagnosed with dementia. 

She can no longer drive so her daughter dropped her off at the meeting site. 

I have contacted the daughter and I'm working with her to have her mother write a note of resignation. I supposedly will receive it next week. Then I have to find someone to replace this officer; it was a struggle finding a nominee for this post last spring because nobody wanted to take it. I am praying I can find someone willing to serve. Then she will have to go with me to the bank to present her driver's license and sign an authorized signature card.

The person who was to give the book review October 3rd contacted the Program Committee chairwoman because the Literary Chair is gone for 3 weeks. She said she never agreed to do a report. Some misunderstanding/miscommunication there. Since I have been reading some of the new Amish fiction books I bought for Grace Village Library, I said I would do a report. I only had one week's notice, however. 

I doubt I will continue in the club once my term expires. I am burned out already and we have barely started. It is pleasant to come and be entertained and informed and have fellowship over refreshments. I haven't been in that position for several years, and this year I have about reached the breaking point. The club may not survive after this year anyway since few members are able or willing to fill positions of responsibility. The club has become a burden for me, not an enjoyable experience.