Fall is coming on....

We were out last week, and I noticed the briars really starting to turn...

Goldenrod has been going quite a while here, so it is in full bloom for the most part.  Of course I see it and think:

The golden rod is yellow,

The corn is turning brown,

The trees in apple orchard,

With fruit are bending down....

you know the first verse of the poem September by Helen Hunt Jackson.

  The other day going to my dermatologist, we passed this sight.

Luckily for me, we were at a stoplight and I got to zoom in a little bit.  I bet this lady had no idea she would be pictured on blog on the world wide web.
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Speaking of dermatologist, I had a spot removed from my ear....it was benign, thank God.  I feel like I have been so blessed by God to not have any more after the first two spots that were cancer.
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We are planning to try to get out to the strip pits to see the lunar eclipse/blood moon.  Have you got plans....or can you see it just fine from your house?  I could probably see it from here, but just not as good as from out there.  And beginning to wonder about it at all because it is back all clouded and overcast as I type this.  

Love......

When Rosie gets tired, she is all about finding a warm body to sleep on.  And once she is asleep, she does not want to get up.

She had Lorelei pinned down and did not want to get up.  Lorelei laid a little bit with her, but eventually did get up.

A little bit of randomness...

1.  I cannot seem to get it together to finish anything...I did finish one hot pad but have had this second chicken hot pad ready to finish for days.

2.  To add to the one above, I have started a couple more...these look the same but the center of the leaf was put in two different ways.  One is a bit bigger than the other because of that.

I did use my rotary cutter and ruler to cut strips with straight edges but I did not measure to cut the width.  Just did it random.
3. Autumn is slowly approaching in our neck of the woods, just little spots here and there of brilliant color.  Too bad I don't have a single photo to prove it.  However, I did snap a photo or two of my wisteria's leaves.

4.  Most of you are probably tired of seeing this spider, but I find it fascinating...I am wondering what it will do when we start to have hard frosts.  (This was taken today...I also told Roger I bet it gets tired of me coming and looking at it.)

5. I don't think I have posted this pic...though I can't believe I haven't.

I have had a hard time coming up with 5 things tonight...how about you?  Do you have times when you cannot concentrate?

Linking to Willy Nilly Friday 5...

Just thinking....

The other day I was telling Eileen that I bet it would be fun to scroll through her photo archives.  That got me to thinking about a couple things I have wanted to ask/say/talk about.

If you were given the opportunity to look through a fellow blogger's photos...all their photos, not just the ones posted...who would you choose?

I would probably choose Don's at Slackwater.  But others would be a close second.  EG at East Gwillimbury WOW almost always has photos I wish I had taken.  There are others, but I am not naming them since some of them have things going on in their life and are not blogging much at all right now. 

And what one thing do you wish other bloggers would do?

There are two things right at the top of the list.  I wish people would post photos big enough for me to really get a good look at them if I click to expand the view.    I am all the time wishing I could see things better and click to expand the view and only to find they are the same size as they are on the blog.  

This makes me so thankful for those of you that do give bigger views...

The other thing, I wish people would always use the pop-up comment form.  It pops up so quickly generally.  And I love the fact that I don't have to keep clicking to go back if I am behind in my blogging. Plus, it is easy to make my comment if I can have the post open behind the comment box.  I guess I am just lazy.

Do you prefer blogging or Facebook?  I much prefer blogging...I have not been on Facebook in at least a couple days, maybe longer.  But I pop into blogs off and on all day if I am here. 

Well, that is it from my little corner of the world...its about time for a good snack...but I don't know what that will be.

On US-41

As we headed north, no one was behind us and Roger paused in the road for me to snag a half decent picture of this barn.  At one time it was in need of some TLC and the owners gave it a lot of  love.

If you will look close, you can tell that it is an old, old barn.  Built in 1867!

 And one more barn from the road...

America....

I love it when I find flags in unexpected places...

I love it when they wave high above their surroundings...

or even on the street corner.

One of these years I am going to take the time to go get a picture of at least one of the cemeteries that put out a bunch of little flags every year at 9-11. This one takes a whole big area at the front of their cemetery and covers it with little American flags to commemorate the innocent lives lost that day.  I hope you will take time to see the link...I always wonder how long it takes them to put all those little flags out.  And how do they get them lined up so precisely?

I don't fly a flag, but I tell you since that day, I have often thought about it.  And I still may do it.  Or at least get one to fly at holidays.

Even with that happening, people are willing to go to great lengths to live here.  
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Roger has  been working on plumbing all afternoon.  It ended up that one of the fixtures he got was torn up to begin with.  He ran down to our local hardware and the guys were already leaving, had locked the doors and were headed to their trucks, but turned around and let him in to get what he needed.  This time he paid, but another time, they just sent him home with whatever it was, and said pay the next day or whenever he was in.  What can I say...small town living can really be the way to go. 

Since I have not had water all afternoon, I have dishes waiting on me, so guess I will go take care of them before the football game comes on!   Also The Voice starts...I am recording it...so can watch one then the other. 
 

September....

Just a few shots

from the cornfields

out by the strip pits.

Can't you just hear the rustle of the leaves as the winds stir through them?

I think of them as being 'at ease' like this...like their work is done and it is time to relax.

Knife

My husband recently finished this knife...it is stainless steel.  A working man's knife.  It is a rubberized type handle.  What it actually is made of is the mat that you buy for horses to stand on.

If you would like to see more knives he has made, you can look here, here, and here.

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Just so you know, this spider is still there and still growing!  I am going to miss it when it is gone!

Random 5 Fall Photos...

I had several thoughts about what to use to name 5 random things, and then hit on the idea of fall photos.

1.  This first is just a typical Indiana scene...love that curve in the road, the barn, the fall colors.
                                       Don't forget to click to expand the view.

2.  Next we have a photo from 2008....I don't think this color has been repeated since.  All the color was just simply breathtaking.

3.  This one is from up in Michigan...maybe even Mackinac Island.  Taken in 2008.

4.  Another from Michigan....wherever we go, we like to go for drives on back roads.  And this was from one of those drives.

5.  This from just across the state line in Illinois.  Soybeans ready for harvest.

6.  And a little bonus.  A scanned slide.  Prior to my digital camera, I loved Velvia slide film!

I have been slow to participate in the Willy Nilly Friday 5 because things kept happening, but going to give it a whirl this time.  It is one of my favorite memes!

Look what was given to me this afternoon!

It's an oil painting!  A night-snow scene with a covered bridge and the moon reflected in the water.

The story is this.  Remember me telling about my husband going to the hardware store and meeting a guy that needed a small welding job done and they have been friends ever since...that has been at least 4 years ago.

Roger was out for a walk today and ran into H. and H. wanted another small welding job done.  So a while after Roger got back, in a while here came H. with this.  I thought he was just showing it to me, and he said, no I could keep it.  I still cannot believe it is mine.  It is not small...12x18 at least.  He has only started painting within the last year I think.
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Another beautiful day today.  I am trying to sit outside as much as I can.  That is what I miss so bad in the cold days of winter.  I didn't touch my sewing machine today.....

Seen in a yard a few weeks ago...

We saw this on Route 1 in Illinois...I have no idea what it is made of.  I think it is made of some kind of plastic but I am not sure why I think that.

Not too much going on at our house...nothing interesting to tell.  Just sort of waiting.  The kids have the house sold as long as the financing and home inspection goes through okay.  I have hesitated to say anything because you just never know what is going to happen.

The past couple of days have been just wonderful...no humidity...low 80's as far as temperature.  Who could ask for more.  It is supposed to warm up a little but it has been nice to have this break.  Later in the week we have a chance of rain...

Sky show....

We left Spring Mill State Park late Saturday evening...we were sure in for a sky show.  I am not going to say much with in them...other than that my photos in no way does justice to the sky.  It was just glorious.  It looked every which way...like we were going to have a storm...like we had just had a storm, and just straight out beautiful.

Go ahead and click on them to get the expanded view...no more comments after this.

Fun times....

First of all, I have been absent from the internet since late Friday evening....the 'new to me' modem they sent just last weekend totally quit.  They sent a guy out here this morn, he ran a test on the line outside and knew by that that it was the modem.   He did come in and run some tests on it to be sure.  He was so apologetic because he did not have a modem to replace it with....he was from another town and said they used to let them carry extra modems but had stopped.  So he apologized several times, and we are telling him he can only do what he could do.

So, he told me to call the support back and what to tell them and have them ship me a new modem.  He left, only to come back in and tell us he was going to go up to the office here, and see if they had one that would work laying around.  And that he would be back within ten minutes or so.  So he left, but was back in about 3 minutes at the most.  I thought sure that he had not even been able to get in, but instead he had run into one of the local guys and this guy had a modem.  So he came back and hooked it up and we are good to go once more.
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Now to the subject at hand...FYI, this is Jackson, one of Lorelei's cousins.

We had a family picnic yesterday--just us brothers and sisters that could make it.  And our kids and grandkids.

Well, Lorelei's little cousin, Jackson, from Tennessee came with his mom and dad and his Mamaw and Pap--he calls my brother Pap instead of Grandpa or Pappaw.

Talk about having a good time...they really enjoyed playing being together.

 You can just tell from the look at their faces....I bet if they were together all the time that it would be a sight at what they would think of to do.

Here is one last photo of Lo.

It is cropped from a bigger picture...

How about a chicken potholder/hotpad...

I saw the link to this tutorial on Sew Inspired on Pinterest.   I just had to try one...and may make more later. I showed it to my sister-in-law/best friend and she made one before I even started.  And her daughter suggested the chicken have an eye...so thank you Holly for that idea.  Hopefully tonight I will set and do the hand stitching on the binding.

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It has rained a lot here today and really cooled down some.  But get this, when the cats first went out this morn, two of them went out on the sidewalk and sat a few minutes in the rain.  The heat must have been really getting to them because I have never noticed them doing that before.