Some Random Photos

In no particular order  here are some photographs taken recently.

First or second fire in the woodstove.

Earlier this Fall at local cemetery.

Looking out at our neighbors lawn and trees.

Across the Green. Township crew has come at least twice to rake and vacuum leaves from these trees.

Thursday's garden chores - almost last ones for this year.

Day lily bed before.

After.  There is so much grass in there I'll always be pulling it out.

Herb garden bed before.

After.

This is what's in there: right to left - walking onions and lavender

lavender (from above photo) thyme, lemon balm and savory

Savory, oregano and open spot where cilantro and basil gets planted.

Finally chives, sage and another lavender.  This bed is riddled with creeping charley.

sage and lavender from above photo.  There had been another walking onion but when I thinned the shasta daisies I pulled out the onion.  It will probably return.  I've never used the walking onion in cooking. Anyone ever used it?

Come spring all of these will get a good haircut.

Used the vivid setting for this photo.

Vivid above and normal below.

Our sugar maples are almost leafless.

High only in the 40s today and very cold tonight. 

As I prepared to post this the hills behind the house were white with wind whipping clouds, rain or sleet across.  Turns out it was sleet.

Funny thing is I was just thinking this morning about when we'd get our first snow.  I think sleet counts. 

It was today!

A Day Trip South

This day trip went a lot better than the last one - see post!

I've had on my travel list a trip to the Bookmill in Massachusetts.  I'd read about it in Yankee Magazine ages ago.  It's a used book store in an old mill.

Wednesday was the day to go.  Weather was going to be fine.  Leaves would be gorgeous.  There was even a place to have lunch in the mill.

We entered across the bridge to its second story.

This was the room full of books by category including history, biography, memoirs, etc.  I found my first book here: Where We Lived: Discovering the Places We Once Called Home.  Living in an old 1839 house I figure I may learn something of how it came to be.

Another couple of steps up was this room dedicated to art and

and off it this one dedicated to more topics i.e., parenting, psychology, languages, and more.

To get to the lower level required heading down these steep stairs.

Even more books filled this room and another side room.  My second book was on counted cross stitch projects.  I was over whelmed by the fiction room and decided I'd continue to use the library for fiction since those are books I don't need to hold on to.

We got lunch in the cafe and ate in this space.

I could hear the water as we ate rushing by outside.  So when we left the cafe I got this photo.

Another view of the Bookmill front door and where we entered up top.

Here's the building from another vantage point.

with a huge deck.

Dan got three books: one on Irish ghost stories, another a compilation of writings by Will Rogers and the third a compendium of history by dates.  As we ate lunch he looked up what had happened on October 14th in history.  Did you know that it was the date MLK got his Nobel Peace Prize or that William the Conquerer won the battle at Hastings?

We took the slow road home enjoying the leaf colors.  We learned from Alexa about the three kinds of maple trees and what colors their leaves are at this time of year: red maple- bright red, silver maple - bright yellow, and sugar maple - mix of yellow, orange and reddish all on the same tree.

A good day!

Link to Yankee Article

Here's a widget Blogger offers.

Rainy Day

 I've been busy on this rainy Tuesday....

... making Christmas cards.  I'll stamp the message inside at another date.

These are all the same pattern, I just used the variety of Christmas papers I had.  Some were newly purchased from Stampin Up this year but most are from years past.

Another craft I've recently started is a counted cross stitch for one of the granddaughters.  I hope to make all 4 of them something to hang in their bedrooms over the next year or two. Yesterday I worked on this for the first time while we watched a football game.

I purchased this from a vendor on etsy.  It was my second purchase.  The first was a printed cross stitch and much too detailed.  The vendor refunded my money and I found this one from another vendor which incorporates two things the granddaughter likes: cats and reading.

Making a pot of three bean soup for dinner tonight.  Perfect for this rainy day.

Just Plain ...

 I probably watch or read too much news.  

In the morning after Connections, Strands and usually Wordle, I read the headlines in the NY Times and sometimes listen to the audio of What's Happening with Tracy Mumford.

I read The Contrarian daily, Heather Cox Richardson whenever a new newsletter arrives in my email box as well as NPR News and Scott Dworkin.

I'm getting tons of requests for $ support from candidates all across the country and have donated to Pappas here in NH running for the Senate, Jamie Davis running for Senate in LA.  I've supported Faithful America, Americans of Conscience, and Common Cause.

But I've recently come to a conclusion about our president.  Despite the critique of mainstream media for sane washing what he says and others saying that the man is on his death bed, or suffering dementia, both of these conclusions are really giving the man an excuse.  The mainstream media doesn't call out the lies, the grift, the tragedy behind what he says. They clean up what he says. Those calling him sick give him an excuse for all those same behaviors as any of us would excuse a relative with Alzheimers who has taken to swearing profusely.  The president knows exactly what he is doing because:

HE IS JUST PLAIN EVIL!

He knows exactly what he wants to do.  He has many hates and acts upon them. He wants money and is greedy and will stop at nothing to get more. He doesn't care who he tramples, who he deports, what he's done to the environment, or who he pushes into poverty.  I'm sure you can think of many more examples of his nature. Everything is about him and what $ he wants and it is all evil.

I pity the MAGA faithful who think he is wonderful. Some have had their eyes opened as loved ones get deported, or as they open bills and see how much more things are costing or as the read about the grift. Many of them think he has their interests in mind, but no, it's all about him.

He is EVIL!

What are we to do?  The only thing open to us is vote all Republicans out.  They have fallen under his spell or are to scared to go up against him.  

We need the Congress to flip to Democratic control to impeach and convict this evil man and all his minions including those on the Supreme Court.

I will be voting the Democratic ticket on Nov. 3rd (no early voting here except absentee voting).  I hope you and all your family will be too.