Autumn

This morning on my morning walk/run with Otis and Riley (they practically dragged me to the park), I noticed the leaves were changing.

I brought some home with me. It's always fun to decorate with fall leaves.

A craft and a tag

I have this old hand written cookie recipe of my grandmother's that I kept through the years in a cookbook, and I decided to preserve it in a way that I could display it and look at it as often as I wanted to. My grandmother was very, very special to me and I love seeing her handwriting. I remember when we baked these cookies, many times, how much fun it was to mix the ingredients, the wonderful aroma of them baking, and what a treat it was to eat them. But most of all just the warm, loving, caring feeling of being with her.

So what I did was paint a small canvas with a creamy colored paint.




Next, I mod podged the recipe on to the canvas, and put several coats on top, left it dry, and that's it ~ a little piece of art!


Now I have her cookie recipe displayed where I can look at it often, and remember what a sweet lady she was.

I've also been tagged!

by sweet Donna at madeinheaven.

I have to list lots of things about me. Here goes.

7 Things I plan to do before I die.

~watch my granddaughter grow up

~take a road trip cross country

~travel to Italy

~take a cruise

~win the lottery

~renovate another house

~watch another sunrise at the beach

7 Things I do now.

~paint

~garden

~read

~thrift shop

~take walks

~blog

~get up at 5:00am

7 Things I can't do.

~sleep through the night

~open packaging

~have a day without hot flashes

~read when tv is on

~public speaking

~algebra

~edging

7 Things that attract me to the opposite sex.

~a man in a uniform

~nice smile

~honesty

~good manners

~loves dogs

~dark hair

~tall

7 Things I say most.

~I wonder...

~luv ya

~are you kidding

~where are my glasses?

~oh my gosh

~I need a cup of coffee

~where's my makeup bag?

7 Celebraties that I admire.

~Martha Stewart

~Princess Diane

~Beatrix Potter

~Jackie Kennedy

~Charles Faudree

~Anthony Hopkins

7 Favorite foods.

~caesar salad

~peach pie

~mashed potatoes

~broiled scallops

~mac and cheese

~chocolate

~coconut cream pie

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people. I'm going to tag everyone who reads this, so if you've read this, you're tagged! Have fun and play along.

The storm

Irregardless of the storm that was heading our way yesterday, since my daughter had a scheduled day off from work, she and I decided to get together as planned and went shopping, hitting the thrift markets and having lunch. It was raining and windy on the way over to her house (about 40 minutes away) but not that bad.

We had a great day together even though the rain continued all day long.

This morning when I left Otis and Riley out, I walked out into the garden and couldn't believe my eyes! The storm was worse than I thought. Our back yard was flooded.

This is the walk way out to the garage.



The butterfly bush was blown over and laying in a pool of water. Otis is here checking it out.



More standing water in the back of our yard.

All the mulch is washed away. Riley's toy is soaked.

What a mess. The good thing is the sun is shining brightly today and hopefully some of this water will dry up.

In the meantime, I've got lots of work to do!

Fall flowers

It's time for mums and some fall decorating.



I picked up a few mums at the garden center the other day.


When I got them home I thought I'd put them in some pretty pots.



Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.

This one I put by the back door.

This one looks pretty on the screened in porch.

One for the table in the garden.

And one for the table on the patio.

I also stopped at Goodwill after going to the garden center and look what I found. Some bright colored bottles...

for my glass bottle art tree!

Quirkiness

Karla and Karrie over at the summerkitchenjournal tagged me for 7 quirky things about me. Hmmmmm....

1. I must have a hundred pair of reading glasses (maybe not quite), all different colors, scattered all over the house, on the back porch and in the car. Funny thing is, half the time I can't find a single pair.

2. I don't go anywhere without makeup.

3. I have weak ankles. Always have. That's why I could never ice skate or roller skate (my excuse).

4. I crack my knuckles. Bad habit I picked up from my best friend in elementary school.

5. I always do the crossword puzzles in the evening newspaper.

6. I could live in sweat pants and sweat shirts.

7. I like to read my horoscope every day and am fascinated with astrology and also feng shui.

And there you have 7 quirky things about me! I would like to tag anyone that wants to play along and reveal something quirky about themselves!

Napping

Research shows that naps can lift productivity and mood, lower stress, and improve memory and learning. Shouldn't we all be taking naps?

Otis and Riley love to nap...

Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. Barbara Jordan

A September day

We're finally getting some relief from the heat, and this morning was a great day for a walk. Otis and Riley were raring to go! The cool morning air felt SO good and we walked and ran and meandered our way to the park and back. Love this weather!


Some new blooms in the garden ~ they looked so pretty in the morning light.





I ran some errands, stopped at Goodwill (no good finds today), then came home and did some painting. My art table is in the study by the window and usually when I paint, Otis and Riley curl up on the sofa beside me. As you can see, they made themselves comfortable.

This is where I paint.

I must admit though, not a lot of painting got done today. It was too nice outside.




And look what I noticed at the bird feeder. This little guy fell asleep!

How cute!

Sisters

I love my sister. Living about an hour and a half apart, we don't get to see each other very often. This morning we chatted on the phone for almost two hours. We hadn't talked for awhile and we had so much to catch up on.

She's my first best friend ~ my second mom. She's always there when I need her.

We laugh, we cry

we make time fly.

Best friends

are we,

my sister and me!

The windows of my soul I throw

Wide open to the sun.

~John Greenleaf Whittier, My Psalm

More rain to come

With all the rain we've been getting and more in the forecast for the next week, it's been a good time for reading. I finally finished Maeve Binchy's "Evening Class" which was a delightful book, and "Good Dog, Stay" by Anna Quindlen, a really heartwarming story. Now I'm reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.

I took Otis and Riley for a walk this morning hoping the rain would hold off until we got home, and it did. They had such a good time running around and sniffing everything in sight. Their energy level is unbelievable!

I've decided the next painting I want to do is a painting of our house. I'm hoping to get started today, however, right now, the inspiration is not flowing, the blank canvas just seems to be sitting there staring me in the face. Hmmmmm.

A bit of sunshine in between the clouds is a wonderful thing. It calls for a cup of coffee and a short break on the patio to listen to the birds and soak up some of the bright rays. A simple pleasure.

I might even get to do some gardening today. The weeds are popping up from all the rain and the grass needs mowed. If the sun stays out a little longer, that's what I'll be doing.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Rainy gray day

Oh what a gray, gray day it is, and I should be happy for the rain but I'm just feeling blue.

It's been raining on and off for days and I'm just ready for some sunshine. I want to plant shrubs and fall flowers and dig in the dirt. I want to pull weeds and clean up the garden. I want to mow the grass and prune some bushes. I want to take Otis and Riley for a long walk to the park.

Maybe tomorrow...

Notes

I am one of those people that still likes to write notes and letters to friends, family or whoever, which in today's world, is almost unheard of. I think it's quite sad.




I printed off note cards yesterday from some of my original artwork. These are ones that I did.

You can find all of these and more on my etsy shop, whimsy two.

In an age like ours, which is not given to letter-writing,

we forget what an important part it used to play in people's lives.

~Anatole Broyard

An award

Many, many thanks to Deb & Tara who have passed on the "I love your blog" Award to me! I love your blogs too!

The "rules" are ...

~ Put the logo on your blog
~ Link the person from whom you received the award
~ Nominate at least 7 other blogs
~ Post a link to those blogs
~ Leave a message letting them know you passed the award on to them

I am passing it on to ...


Beverly at howsweetthesound

Rosie at rosieswhimsy

Pat at millefiorifavoriti

Jan at crazyladyonroad80

Catherine at catherineholmanfolkart

Lynn at thevintagenest

Kim at happyathome

Hannah

Tropical Storm Hannah has come and gone and, thank heavens, it wasn't near as bad as what we thought it might be. We had heavy rains but not a lot of wind. It seemed to take its course to the west and on to the north. We were lucky.

Saturday morning after the storm we went out for breakfast and I took a few pictures. It was very gray and VERY HUMID!
You can see some debris on the road from the trees.

Some leaves and branches on the patio. The yard was a bit soggy.

And then the sun came out! What a welcoming site!

Now our focus goes to Hurricane Ike. We hope and pray for the best.

Outside In

Today I moved some of my houseplants indoors. I usually take them outside over the summer months and they seem to grow twice the size by the time I bring them in come fall.


This is a huge philodendron I've had for years, and although it loses some of its leaves during the winter months inside, it grows twice as many leaves the next summer when I move it outside to the back porch.



The Christmas Cactus always seems to do better when it's been outside in filtered light during the summer.

This is a ponytail palm that has gotten so much healthier outside this summer. I keep it on the patio.

Did you know plants are healthy to have inside your home? They remove toxic air, and the healthier the plant, the more purifying. They are also known to bring about a calmer and more optimistic atmosphere, reducing fatigue and cold-related illnesses. So what could be better? You get beautiful year round foliage and a healthy happy home!

Now, I just have to find a place to put them.