In CA

Tomorrow we will have been in San Francisco for a week.  The last three days G and I were alone with the grand kids. Their parents headed to Vegas for a getaway.  I always forget the high level of energy that they have. We have had a great time.  Saw the movie "Big Hero 6", went for a long bike ride, and have played lots of games.  They are happy just making up a game, like choosing a word and thinking of as many rhyming words as possible.  Pictures will follow after we return home.  K (granddaughter) said she was really looking forward to Thanksgiving when she saw the desserts that I have been making.  G has been doing a few repairs around the house.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Music to work by

Today I spent a couple wonderful hours stripping the leaves from the dried herbs while I listened to piano concertos by Yuja Wang on Youtube.  I do get a little sidetracked in watching.  I cannot fathom how they play from memory and how fast their fingers move.  It is such a treat to be in the front row of the concert.  The rest of the day was more routine: defrosting the freezer and spreading straw on the perennials.  But even that was fun for me.  G would never understand that!

Book Club

Book club met at my house on Monday.  There were 18 members here.  My responsibility was to have enough room for them to sit and provide refreshments.  I made tortilla roll sandwiches and a pumpkin cake roll which has a cream cheese filling.  At the end of the meeting I offered to cut fresh herbs for anyone who wanted some. I know a killing frost would be here any day and there still were a lot out there.

The book we discussed was Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior. I found it an interesting read, others felt it was too wordy.  What interested me was the interaction between a young women from the hills of Tennessee and scientists who were there to study the Monarch butterflies.  Besides the plight of the butterflies due to global warming, it showed how people are sort of locked into their ways of thinking if they are not exposed to the outside world.

Happy Halloween

Since we live out in the sticks, we do not get any Trick or Treaters.  Each year I do not bother to even decorate for Halloween, sometimes not even for Fall.  This year was different as I decided to throw a party.  There were 18 guests, plus G and myself.  We encouraged them to come in costume.  Here are a few of the guests:

Beauty and the Beast

Flapper and  The Scream

Cowboy and Arab woman

Flashers

Black Eyed Peas and Cereal Killer 

Carol Burnett's mother and an aviator.

Keep in mind these guests are between the ages of 65 and 90.  You can never say we are "old foggies".  We played some games, had great snacks and plenty of wine.