Winter, but thinking of Spring

I will start with a picture I took through the screened window because it is cold and windy.  This is the view out my dining room window.  I just put up the bird feeder yesterday, but the birds have not found it yet.  I think I have all the garden put to bed.  The garlic is planted and has come up about two inches. It is now covered with straw.  The asparagus is cut and also covered.

When I was in the garden at the end of the growing season I came upon these seeds.  They are like gold to me.  I saved and dried three of these pods, which I will share with our local park district. They have a program to plant milkweed to give food for the Monarch butterflies.  They are having a difficult time surviving from lack of these plants.  (I will save a few seeds for myself to plant.)

Gerry just shook his head when he saw what I was doing and how excited I was about finding them. To him they are just another weed.  You can be sure that when we have some visiting Monarch butterflies next year I will point them out to him.

Thanksgiving week

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  The leftovers are all eaten except for some cranberry relish. Renee Michelle and Ada (her dog) visited for a week.  We had the actual Thanksgiving dinner with friends. It was wonderful because all I had to prepare was a pecan pie, sweet potatoes and dinner rolls.

When Renee Michelle visits I walk Ada twice a day.  It is a wonderful way to get exercise.  The type of walk that makes Ada ecstatic is being off leach and running in our woods.  Apparently there are many wonderful smells that I miss as a human. Ada has made friends with the dog who lives next door so she runs over there.  However that dog has an invisible fence so cannot run into the woods and fields with Ada.

There was a request for bonfire which will probable be the last of the season.  Not the best picture but you get the idea.   The next fire will be in our wood stove in the basement.

Preparation to Vote tomorrow

G and are voting early tomorrow, instead of waiting until Nov 8. I printed out the ballet for our township and have spent a couple hours online researching candidates.  I am not talking about the positions of President or Ohio Senate or House.  I am looking at people who are running for the Justice of Supreme Court in Ohio, for State Board of Education or even County Coroner.  It was hard to find good information, but at least we are not just guessing.

On another topic, Fall has arrived and we are outside as weather permits to do the last minute jobs. Two days ago I talked G into using a borrowed backhoe to remove a small tree by my garden shed.  It just keep sending up suckers and looked a mess.  I feel like I have a clean slate to plant things now.  I think he doesn't mind helping with gardening if he can use a machine.  But heaven forbid doing it with a shovel by hand.  The only Fall planting I do is to plant garlic.  I am hoping I did not get them in too late.

Thanks RM

My daughter introduced me to the "KonMari" method of simplifying and organizing.  My current category is picture frames, with or without pictures in them.  I do not have the courage to post a picture of the "before" picture.  And the "after" will take some time. A couple "before" pictures were taken so I may post them with I am finished.   I have moved every picture frame I have into a spare bedroom.  I stopped counting at 125.  I am beyond saying to myself, "What was I thinking". Obviously I wasn't.  I am trying to picture how my space will look after sorting and getting rid of many.

The title"Thanks RM" may sound like like sarcasm, but I actually appreciate it because it gives me a framework to use.

On another note, Gerry and I have joined a book discussion group.  Our current book is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.   We heartily recommend it.  A good summary is here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23692271-sapiens   We attend twice a month.

Gas please

We ran out of gas with the van. Coasted into the parking area of this abandoned gas station! Thank goodness for AAA.

A new way with tomatoes

My daughter has dried tomatoes for years in her gas oven where she has it at the lowest setting for many hours.  This was my first attempt. I have an electric oven with a convection setting.  This is what happened in five hours.

Yesterday I used a recipe from online where you put some olive oil on it.  That did not work, just would not get crisp.  The picture on top actually is what I have to do tomorrow or Sunday.  A friend has a basket of Italian tomatos that I will pick up tomorrow. Most of these will go to daughter because she had a dismal tomato crop this year.

Eighth Annual Pig Roast - Survived

This year one of our guests was an expert at shredding the cooked pork.  He brought along his own tools too.  

Thankfully we had a tent as it did rain some.  Was beastly hot too so the shade was appreciated.

As you can see in this picture, the wind had blown the top off the small tent we had before the event even started.

After the event was over the wind really picked up so G drove his tractor and trailer on the grass and tied the tent to it.  It is always helpful to have an engineer around.

There were about 85 guests here which meant lots of great food.  We roast the pork and everyone brings a dish to share.  We end up with lots of leftovers and a few serving bowls and utensiles too.

Today we put the roast to bed,which meant a trip to the waste management with all the garbage, a trip to the airport at 5:00 am to get my sister back to Minnesota.  

 Can't forget the tradition of the haircut!  

The whole event went very smoothly but I am breathing a bit easier now that it is over.

Green country side.

As expected we have had some taking days. But the green fields are beautiful even when it is overcast.

Trinity College in Dublin

200,000 books, very old looking. 50 busts of famous educators and scientists.

Forgot to make sacrifices

My b-in-law has given frequent warnings that one must make a sacrifice to the magical unicorn pony travel God if one wants smooth travel. I won't forget to do that again. Cleveland to Philly was great. But in Philly we were in the plane on the runway - where we sat for three hours.  After that we were invited to go back into the terminal for snacks. Which by the way was closed for the night. All because the toilets were malfunctioning. I can see the wisdom of not flying for six hours with several hundred people and no restroom.

I arrived safely albeit tired. Picture is of a street scene in Dublin from a bus window in the rain. This post will be my test in posting from a phone.

17 year cicada

They have arrived or I should say, they have always been here but have now emerged from the ground where they have been for the last 17 years.  One source said there could b 1.5 million per acre.  Our woods has its fair share.  One site said the sounds of all of them is akin to a chorus of chain saws.  

The nymph which comes out of the ground  and sheds its exoskeleton. You see they clinging to branches.

The adult gradually acquires this black shell with orange veins and red eyes.

I've added this picture with my fingers to show the size.

Iris Garden

The Iris is one of my favorite flowers. I have make an iris bed on the south side of my house. For the last couple of weeks there have been spectactular blooms. They are starting to fade, but it was a wonderful two weeks.

The last two days were spent with a young woman I hired to help with house and yard work.  We were able to do a lot of weeding and fertilizing of flowers so others should be showing up on the blog soon.  We have an Amish produce auction nearby which has a sale three days a week.  Tonight I bought six hanging pots and three flats.  So more color.

Decorating with what we have

My friend had a decorator come to her house to give her suggestions.  They stopped at our house for a couple hours.  One of the things we asked about was how to display some of Gerry's clock collection.  She laid them out on the floor and then Gerry transferred them to the wall.  He had to make a shelf for three, which he made out of steel and painted black so it would not be a focal point.

She also made the suggestion for the placement of the clock on the right.  She certainly had an eye for this type of thing.

Another week

I do need to post more often so my loyal readers know what us happening in the sticks.  First of all a bit of excitement when we returned to the Cleveland airport from visiting in California.  We had parked our car at a motel, that allows you to do so for $4.50 a day.  They have a shuttle to and from the airport.  When we returned I called for the shuttle, but no one answered.  Finally we took a taxi to the motel. We mentioned to the driver that we could not get hold of the shuttle.  He informed us that the police had shut down the motel because of drug trafficking and prostitution there.  It had happened a day after we left.  Needless to say, we were wondering where our car would be.  The parking lot had about a dozen cars in it, including ours and a police vehicle.  So it ended fine for us.

This week I saw the movie, "The Race" about Jessie Owens. Key issues were the rise of the Nazis in Germany and racism in the US.  Then I attended the script club by the Cleveland Playhouse where the topic of the play was the Child Protection system, and finally last night attended a program for Black History Month.  The speakers there were from the Cleveland YWCA.  They demonstrated a program they use to bring racial bias to one's consciousness.  This round able type discussion is offered to businesses and government departments including law enforcement.  So a week of heavy issues, but it was great in that it stretches my thinking.

Visit with family

We are visiting in LaFayette, Ca where we watched granddaughter and her Odyssey of the Mind team work on their project.  There are  using real tools like an exacto knife or sewing machine.  I spent the time in the back yard throwing the frisbie with my grandson.  It landed on the roof!  Papa G relaxed on the patio.

Lovely week of theater and concert

It has been an interesting cultural week. At Cleveland Playhouse, The Mountaintop which was a fictional account of the last night in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King where Dr. King examines his achievements, his failures, and his unfinished dreams. Powerful and shows his humanity. Thursday we attended a concert of the Akron Steel Drum Band. Amazing the music that can be made on steel drums. This band had 20 members, the ones in Trinidad have 400. I see a trip in our future. Thirdly we went to the play, Family Happiness by Tolstoy. Even though it was written in 1859 it had current messages. I am always amazed when I attend a play how the actors can remember all the script.

This is the front of the building in Oberlin where we saw the play by Tolstoy. To get the perspective, note the steps in the front. I only had my phone to take this picture.

Talking with strangers

I am reading a book about JOY and one thing the author encouraged you to do was to talk to strangers.  Today I went with a friend to the theater where we saw a streaming from the Metropolitan
Opera.  We saw Turandot by Puccini.  It was great as usual.  My friend and I had extra time before it started so we stopped at World Market.  In the checkout line I started talking with the man behind me.  He has worked as a commedian and speaks 5 languages. He could talk with great accents which he demonstrated to us.  It was just a special treat.

G is at the IX Center in Cleveland at the International Motorcle Show.  The joke here is that I tell him, "You can look at any woman you want but not at a motorcycle, because you bring the motorcycle home ."  He is late coming home and I am worried.  Just kidding.

What I learned

From my last post, I was asked what I learned about myself from taking the class on writing my autobiography.  What I learned was that for most of my life, I have not made "purposeful" decisions. I just sort of slide into things, maybe do what is expected without thinking about it, or do things because the opportunity is there.  That does not mean I have been unhappy about my life, but I think I may have been happier if I would be more aware of what I want and am passionate about and then be decisive about making it happen. So being aware of that, I now can make changes.

I just finished reading Then Comes Marriage  by Roberta Kaplan.  What a great book.  Roberta is the attorney who took the case to the Supreme Court that brought down DOMA.  Besides the legal explainations, it tells the personal story of both Roberta and the Edie  Windsor who brought the case. What an effort they made in time and energy to make this happen.

Writing about one's life

Gerry and I were students at a 10 week class where we were given direction in writing our autobiography.  It concluded in November.  Gerry got into this project much more than I did.  Our assignment was to write on a topic and share two pages with the group.  Some weeks he would write up to 10 pages.  He carries his note pad with him and if someone makes a comment that reminds him of something in his life, he makes a note of it and then is up at the computer for hours writing.  He has had long conversations with his siblings to learn what they remember.  A second session of the class has started and he is attending again.  I decided not to take the second session.  He says he doesn't know if it will end up a published book or not.

I am trying to do less this year.  So decided to not take take the second class and I have dropped out of one of the clubs I was involved in. But don't worry, my calendar is still full.  I am trying to exercise three or four time a week.