The Years To Remember

Susan, Peggy, and I set off to hike Sleeping Beauty on a gorgeous fall day. We unintentionally met up with several of our hiking friends who were doing the same hike, so it was an impromptu lunch gathering at the top.  Peggy, me, and Susan were first to the summit. 📷: Amyjean It was fun to meet up with them and catch up on each others lives.  Margy, an 80 year old  woman I met on the Norway trip, was happily climbing still. As one of the hikers pointed out, we range in age from 62 - 80 and this is what makes us happy! The three of us are introverts, so we discussed that on the hike down, and found out that Peggy has not read Quiet, by Susan Cain . I'm adding a copy of that to her gift at tonight's party. She is a classic social introvert.  I'm happy that all I have on my agenda today is making meatballs for the party. As I do, I will be making a giant batch so I can stash a few in the freezer for future me. Halloween decor has started popping up lately, and my neigh...

A pretty wildflower and pumpkin display at Saratoga State Park. I made a couple of loaves of pumpkin bread on Sunday, and now I'm seeing pumpkin everywhere! I am not a fan of pumpkin spice everything, just baked goods like pie, muffins, or bread. I used some of the free pumpkins from Home Depot that I froze last year to make this bread. It tastes great and my nephew and his girlfriend got a loaf when they stopped in for dinner. The rain is falling quite regularly, so pumpkin colored mushrooms are popping up regularly too.  What made me stop and take a photo of this caterpillar was it's bright green head against it's pumpkin colored bristles. It's not a great photo because I had to crawl on the road to take it, and a car was coming. I have been looking for a large bird bath all summer for the backyard. This one appeared on the curb two houses down from mine, for free, on Saturday. That is my favorite price, so I lugged it home. It is heavy terracotta but is deep enough h...

  Neighbor Annette stopped by the garden and while chatting, we decided to taste my nasturtium flowers which are edible. They were terrible and we both spit them out. I'll stick to just admiring the flowers with my eyes! Monday - A 20 mile bike ride with the girls, followed by groceries and errands, left me exhausted and good for accomplishing little else. I did watch The Emmy's for the first time in - ever. I was mildly entertained.  It's getting late in the season for these Monarch caterpillars - I found three in the garden. They are going to need two weeks to change into butterflies and I hope the weather holds out for them. Tuesday  - It's apparently homesteading day. I took a bag of glassware to the Doors Of Hope thrift shop, which is my self imposed entry ticket to shopping there. I have to get rid of more than I buy. I bought 4 jars to store my tea harvest - lemon balm, tulsi, peppermint, and lavender.  I donated crystal bowls and wine glasses I've been stor...

Colby Lake was the setting for our trip, but we were so busy that we never got the chance to kayak. Our little trip in the mountains was not without bumps in the road, but the easy going nature of the group meant we all had a laughter filled four days. First was Susan's cold which meant she missed the first two days of the trip. The rain Wednesday was the other hiccup, but we managed beautifully. Anyone who knows me knows I love all things rock related, so I had to crawl into this hollowed out one in the town park. We met around noon in Saranac Lake and walked about town, had a bite to eat and explored the shops. I ended up getting some polished stones at a store going out of business. My thought is to use them as garden accents, but who knows? They were pretty and the price was right. We had a late lunch/early dinner at the River Trail BeerWorks and the Cowboy pizza was perfection and huge. I ate off of it for 3 days. We got settled into our very rustic rental and proceeded to pla...

  Bean flowers are quite pretty! I'm about to head off on a late summer getaway up in the mountains. We will have bikes and kayaks and lots of evening activities to fill the four days. It will be a fun time even if it rains a bit on Weds. as predicted. I've taken a few bike rides, worked on putting certain garden plants to bed, while picking absolute boatloads of green beans. My freezer is stocked with them and I'm kind of tired of eating them, no matter how fresh and tender they are. My second crop of beans are about ready to pick - what was I thinking? I haven't been taking too many pictures, but I'll let these tell the tale of my week. A bike ride with friends ended with lunch at the quaint Window Box cafe.  They bake their breads on premises and the sconewich I had was scrumptious. Amyjean outdid herself with her butterfly cake for our book club lunch. Flight Behavior by Kingsolver was the subject of our discussion.  All of my monarchs have emerged and flown, ...