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.