Happy Halloween!!!

A little photo montage of the day...

Bread in the oven.

Roasting squash

Note to self: remember to check them often, they're not keeping well!

But squash makes yummy bread!

A beautiful sunny day. But windy!

Pumpkin carving time.

A classic shot....

Pumpkins deployed

Boys set to go.

I12 as a doctor.

K9 as an early morning pirate.

And the scariest of all!!!

Regardless of whether you celebrate Halloween with parties or trick-or-treats or are celebrating the older festival of Samhain, have a blessed evening.

A lovely, relaxing day.

I had a fabulous day. I had a lovely, peaceful drive, a wonderful lunch with my Dad, got to see several of my relatives (Aunt, Uncle and several cousins) and my 3rd grade teacher! I had several hours to visit with my parents and got a laundry basket about half full of pears. And I get to keep the basket!

I feel refreshed, more than a good nights sleep would have given me. It's a totally different type of refreshment.

I ran a few errands on my way home, swinging through Kalona again to pick up some Lebanon Bologna from the cheese house there. Lebanon bologna is made near V's hometown in Pennsylvania and he grew up on the stuff. He was thrilled a few years ago to learn that they occasionally carry it out here. So I stopped in to pick up some for him as a surprise.

I also drove past several lovely barn quilts. These have been growing in popularity here and are quite beautiful.

This picture doesn't do it justice but at highway speeds, snapping photos one handed out the window I was lucky to get my camera out in time to snap it at all. I'll try to make a tour to get better photos of some in this area and post them. I saw some lovely ones on my way through back roads to Kalona but by that time it was SOOO windy that I didn't want to try to get any pics while driving.

The sad part of the trip was seeing all the flooding around here. We've gotten 5 inches of rain this week. The farmers have a record setting crop in the fields and can't get in to harvest it. Even though I grew up in a farming family, I'm not a huge fan of industrial agriculture. But it still almost makes me sick to my stomach to see an entire field of corn, ready to harvest, standing in several feet of water.
Another out the car window shot. Fortunately the portion of this field nearest the highway had already been harvested. This shot is taken probably 150 yards before the highway crosses the river. This is the Skunk River, well outside its banks. The other side of the road had water standing in an unharvested field but I couldn't get a good shot.

Dad thinks that this will probably be a year where the crops don't come in until the ground freezes. He says he remembers harvesting into January because of rain. I don't remember that late but I remember having them in the field on Thanksgiving Day because they could.

Here's hoping that it dries out a bit here. Five inches of rain in a week in October is a bit much.

Road Trip!

I'm off tomorrow for a day trip to my parents farm. I'm really looking forward to this! I get to pick up some wonderful pears (the trees have been huge for longer than I can remember and they are SOOO good) and I get to spend some quality time with my parents. My Mom is working to serve lunch at the community center tomorrow so I'm going to go down early enough to have lunch with Dad while Mom works. This is a fund raising event that rotates through community groups, they take turns making meals on Fridays to serve. Not quite like a senior dining center- but close. My parents live just outside a town of about 250 people so having a social event like this is a big deal for them. I'm hoping to get to see one of my uncles there as well. I'll probably be the youngest person there! But it should be fun.

I'm also looking forward to the drive- as crazy as that sounds. It takes a little less than 90 minutes to get there and for some reason, after the past few weeks, the silent drive time with only my ipod for company sounds great. I could use some decompression. And it will be nice to have some time where I don't have to think about work or house or garden or canning or.... The weather isn't supposed to be great- it's been raining all day, much to the dismay of area farmers- and is likely to continue tomorrow- but it shouldn't be too bad to drive.

Oh, and in case you didn't know- the Phillies won the first game of the World Series last night 6-1. HA!!

Can't do it

I'm a bit frustrated. I really wanted to watch the documentary on PBS of Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire. But I'm stuck here waiting for I12 to finish his Wednesday evening confirmation class. sigh. And then, I'm sure that the TV at home will be playing Game 1 of the World Series. But I guess that's OK. The Phillies are playing.

I'm at least glad that I've got my laptop and there is wireless service here at church (and that I know the password!) so I can at least keep up with everyone here. But then again- tonight is my 'therapy group'. It's really nice to get together with the other 'choir moms' who have all become good friends IRL through the years that our children have been singing together. It's a great time to vent about love, life and children.

Oops, gotta go- It's about time to head home.

What are you reading?

Read any good books lately? I'm looking for something new to read. I've discovered the lost time to read and that's what I'm posting about today at Homemakers Who Work .

I'll welcome reading suggestions, too. I finished a book last night so for the moment I'm 'bookless'.

Independence Days- Y2, W25?

I'm going to call it week 25, not that it really matters. I'm sure I could go back and count again if I was motivated to do that- but I'm not.

It's been a weary, weary week here. Busy and with little sleep it seems, so I'm beat. V has got the crud and has been hacking and coughing, keeping me up at night. He says he feels better so here's hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.

But it's Monday and time for my IDC update for the week, although I'm not sure what there is to report. Here goes:

1. Plant something- no, but I did gather pine needles to use as a mulch around the blueberries. I figure that they will acidify the soil while providing a mulch to keep down the weeds. We'll see how they do.

2. Harvest something- Nope, nada, zip, zilch.

3. Preserve something- my sanity, that's about it for the week.

4. Waste not- nothing extraordinary here

5. Want not- picked up a few packs of canning lids at the store. I want to try to build up a supply slowly over the course of the year to spread out the cost. Also got some more sugar for the fall baking season and some chocolate chips, walnuts and almonds for the stash.

6. Community food systems- not much here either. Supplied snacks for the Halloween party. I made eyeball cookies. They're really easy and not at all made from scratch. I dipped Nilla wafers in melted almond bark and let them set. Then I put a small dollop of blue frosting in the center, topped with a mini chocolate chip for the pupil and then painted tiny 'bloodshot' streaks with thinned food coloring. Instant hit for kids at a creepy party.

7. Eat the food- this is one category I've done well in. Spanish rice with home canned tomatoes and some frozen pepper bits, frozen sweet corn, home grown smashed potatoes, all yummy.

It's settling into be the slow part of the year, we'll see how it goes from here on out.

Time to recharge

It's been a crazy-busy week here. I worked 6 days straight and then ran straight to help out at the haunted house for the Halloween party yesterday afternoon. I was drafted to serve as the semi-dead alien in the haunted house since some of the high schoolers who were supposed to be there weren't able to make it (illness and SATs). That combined with all the usual business of cooking, laundry, cleaning house, etc. made me a bit cranky. So, this afternoon, since it was a gorgeous Fall day, K9 and I took a walk around the property. It was a lovely chance to recharge my mental and emotional batteries. Here are a few sights from our walk that I thought I'd share. I hope you don't mind pictures of fall colors.

Down in the valley....

K measures the depth of a pool (about a foot deep!)

Sitting on his bridge.

Yup, he built this one himself!

He calls it Toad-Oak bridge.

It's a lovely spot for listening to the running water.

The leaves are lovely!

A view from the courtyard.

Looking up the hill.

North, over the fence.

BEAUTIFUL!

I hope you all have a peaceful week. Halloween is creeping up on us. I've got to find time sometime to make a trip to my parent's farm. Mom called and said they have pears for us. Yummy. Maybe Friday, I've got the day off since I worked yesterday- we'll see.