Glad Tidings

Today's the fourth Sunday in Advent! This month's flown past us like "leaves in a wild hurricane fly". I've been busy with a couple drawing commissions, and piecing together quilts, decorating, baking (mostly cinnamon rolls) etc, etc. My niece, Kathy, from Texas, spent two nights with us last week, between business meetings in the state. We crammed a lot into her short stay, including a visit to my parents' home, making gingerbread cookies and dinner with the whole family at the Whole in the Wall in Binghamton.
Best wishes for a Great Christmas Season and a Healthy New Year to all, filled with many daily blessings!


Aunt May's wheelbarrow.


Aunt Sherry's wheelbarrow.



Celebrating Mom's Birthday


Thanksgiving Football!


Feast


BU Quilt Show


Afton Christmas parade


First SNOW Day


Mom and Dad's tree


D cutting our tree


E and me


K with Grandparents

Mid November

Well, it's almost mid November already! Finished planting a few bulbs for Spring, mainly crocus and tulips. (I'm hoping squirrels, chipmunks and mice don't read my blog so they won't go searching for a tasty treat). J was elated Yankees added another Series' win to their record. D, J and I enjoyed a walk around the lake at Cole park last Sunday. We are enjoying a relatively sunny week and a pause in the chilly temperatures. Tomorrow, I'm delivering train calendars to four of my Pennsylvania Aunts. I think it will be a nice day for a mini road trip!







This is Starbuck, my grandkitty.

NaMoWriMo November

Hope you have a sunny November! I signed up for NAMOWRIMO again this year (to help you write on a daily basis the great novel that lurks in each of us) but haven't participated yet. We are supposed to write about 1,700 words a day in order to reach the goal of 50,000 words by month's end. Maybe I should concentrate my efforts on blogging more? I wonder if it'd be within the rules to rewrite a previous attempt? Just checked-rules state it must be all new writing! NaMoNoNo! I do enjoy receiving NaMoWriMo's encouraging emails by published writers!

Pumpkins and Posies

Halloween is almost here! My favorite part of Halloween is porch pumpkins! My kids gathered on the porch Sunday to carve a few faces. J even used a power saw to carve through the thick skin of his pumpkin.











It's also the season for tabletop bouquets!

Cousins

Had a nice visit with cousins from Alaska this week!They are retired now and do a great deal of traveling. Their last visit was in 2005. My brother, Gary, came down to visit for a few hours, too.



Last week we had our first dusting of snow.

Quilts and Quotes

Went to a nice quilt show in Oxford with three friends on Monday. We enjoyed seeing all the creations, and had a fine lunch, too! I really liked this quilt of golden autumn leaves someone made for their college bound son!

Yesterday had my first oil change for my Elantra. The dealership also quoted me a price of $340 to replace my shattered rear view mirror, which I accidentally broke two weeks ago on a tree in my own driveway (which I've successfully navigated around for thirty years, but crunched in my haste to provide the local convenience store with $5 of needed nickels. Don't worry, the tree is fine!). I really just wanted the glass replaced and not the whole unit, but evidently big business is out to make as much profit as possible and operates under the motto, "Replace, not fix". Of course, these days power-adjustable rear view mirrors aren't simply bolted on with three screws... to make a long story short, I decided to see if I could find a mirror at an auto store to superglue over the old one.

Imagine my delight when I passed a family-owned plate glass business as I was wending my way through town from one side of the river to the other and saw two homemade signs out front that advertised, "We repair rear view mirrors!" Saleeby and Son- what a great place! They made a pattern on cardboard, traced it onto a thick, copper-backed mirror, deftly cut it out by scribing the glass and knocking away the excess, ground down the sharp edges, applied adhesive and attached it to my car! All this, plus lively chatter in a genuine workshop environment, with every inch covered with tools, old calendars, frames, etc. for a modest $30.24- 10% of what the dealership asked for, plus I got to watch and be amazed by real craftsmanship.(They have been in business since 1923). I'm tempted to smash the passenger side mirror so I can go back again!(Just kidding).

Tonight I finished making an Autumn-inspired quilt to spruce up the bed upstairs, since my Alaskan cousins may be visiting next week. That's more fun than dusting cobwebs and changing sheets, what I really should be doing!

Sneak Peek Preview

Pat Stone, editor of GreenPrints, a gardener's quarterly filled with illustrations and stories, approved my Winter assignment, shown here. Whew! Now if you want to find out what this illustrates, you'll have to wait until the Winter issue hits the shelves!

Peeking at Autumn's Peak

Today may be the peak for Autumn colors! Took a walk outside with my camera this afternoon.

This is Jazz looking statuesque.


And this is one of the last marigolds in bloom in my garden.

The sunflowers have been exuding cheer atop our kitchen table.

I cut strips for a new quilt this morning. The colors ring of Summer yielding to Autumn.




Little porch pumpkin nestled near pansies.

Our home is dwarfed by the old, golden, maple sentries.

October Light

We took a day trip on Saturday to visit R at New Paltz and took plenty of snapshots to document the day. The morning light looks different to me, especially when the sun's shining. It says, "Autumn is here in all its fullness and glory. Don't miss out! Look! Look at the textures of the colored leaves on the hills! Look at the way the sun shines through the leaves and makes patterns on the ground! Look at the clouds!"

R looked happy and great, and we enjoyed seeing her projects! I had fun looking at the art studios, the still lifes, the sculptural space, the random painted patterns on the floor, even the labeled pipes overhead. It's exciting to be around a place where creativity is encouraged.

We picked apples in an orchard, trees barely supporting the weight of ripened fruit. They were overly abundant. It bordered on overwhelming!

Flowers,Rainbows and Honoring Loved Ones

The windowboxes are still giving us pleasure as September gives way to October. I didn't have very showy boxes this year, but still enjoyed them anyway, even the stray tomato plants that grew from the compost soil.



Participated in Rec Park's annual Lung Cancer Awareness Walk/Run (helped make the pink T-shirts to honor the memory of a recent lung cancer victim, Wendy Howie, the daughter of my line dancing friend, Dot).



I've actually finished this drawing, since this photo was taken. I gave a copy to my folks, and it's already hanging near their front door. Eventually, I'll tint it. This picture is the way I like to remember my oldest brother, Jack, who died in 1989.



We went to Norwich after school yesterday and watched a rainbow grace the sky nearly all the way home. At times, saw portions of a double rainbow. Stopped to marvel at the complete arch as we neared Afton. It's always magical and memorable!



Mom and Dad came up today and we had a tea party next to the woodstove with freshly made brownies, Afterwards, i trimmed Mom's hair, an added service that many diners don't offer!



A few weeks ago went the wedding of a friend's daughter and just completed this small log cabin quilt for her (appropriate since her new last name is Plank). I always know a quilt is a success when someone in my family would like to keep it (in this case,my youngest son, and okay! okay! I confess- I'd like to keep it, too).