Fun with fall and other random things…

1)  I am sure enjoying falling into autumn.  We are a far way from peak here where we live but the trees are turning and it is just beautiful.  I love it and the little fall tidbits.

2)  One morning when I had to get up early, I walked Olive the pug down to the pond.  The air was pretty chilly but the pond water was still warmish.  So the result was a nice mist rising off the pond.

  Just beautiful!

3)  Can you believe it?  I signed up with Twitter again.  I swore I wouldn’t do it but one night I wanted to respond to something while we were watching a Red Sox game and I couldn’t because I wasn’t on Twitter.  Now, I can tweet baseball to my heart’s content but I haven’t felt strongly enough about anything to tweet about it.  Another of life’s lost opportunities…

4)  I’ve been going to water aerobics at the Y with a friend this week.  The jury is out as to whether or not I will become a water aerobics fan.  For one thing, it starts too darn early in the morning and for another thing, you have to get into the water.  I have to admit, though, that it feels kind of good while I’m in there, but the minute I leave the pool I feel like I’ve gained 85 pounds.

5)  Olive is still in the running on the TripAdvisor Facebook thing.  Here’s the link if you want to stop by:  https://www.facebook.com/TripAdvisor?v=app_448952861833126&rest=1  No pressure from either Olive or me.  Voting ends on the 30^th.  This link takes you to the home page for this contest.  If you click on "View Entries" and then click on the drop down menu "Sort by," you'll see "total votes."   Once you go there, you will see the running pug in all her glory.

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My Friend's Dog (and a little shameless begging)...

“Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. ” 

~ Roger A. Caras

Last week I got the opportunity to go to my friend Kristen's house and photograph her dog Rorie.  What a great time I had!  Unlike my pug dog Olive, Rorie posed quite nicely and never complained.  I guess I stick the camera in Olive's face a little too frequently and she's tired of it.  I am posting some of the fruit of my "labor."  You will see that Rorie is absolutely adorable.  

Now for the shameless begging part.  Olive, the pug, and I have entered a photo contest on TripAdvisor's Facebook page.  Here's the link:  https://www.facebook.com/TripAdvisor/app_448952861833126  It's a contest about taking your pet on vacation.  Here's the picture we entered:

We are currently in third place, but with a little help from my blogger friends, maybe we can move up.  You can vote once a day and there don't seem to be any ulterior motives by TripAdvisor.  Thanks in advance!

I just realized that the link I posted takes you to the home page for this contest.  If you click on "View Entries" and then click on the drop down menu "Sort by," you'll see "total votes."   Once you go there, you will see the running pug in all her glory.

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TUESDAY MUSE!

Here's to autumn...

Happy first day of autumn to us here in the Northern Hemisphere!  It got off to a good start here in Central Massachusetts.  Seems like overnight, the leaves have started to turn.  I love it!!

Seven Mile River, Brookfield, Massachusetts

Random day…

1)  Have you ever noticed that many people don’t know to use an apostrophe?  There is a restaurant we go to often and like a lot.  The food is good and reasonably priced.  The wait staff is friendly and efficient.  In general, I have no complaint.  They have a specials menu that they print weekly.  Whoever puts it together just doesn’t know how to use an apostrophe.  I’ve been collecting these little gaffes.  Today they were serving a “French Dip sandwich with fries & a side of auju’s.”  One day not long ago, they had “Spinach & Artichoke Rangoon’s.”  They’ve also served “Korean Taco’s (5) served with Pineapple Dipping Sauce” and, on the children’s menu, they have “Virgin Colada’s; Daquiri’s and Shirley Temples.”  Oh, my…

2)  Yesterday, I went out in the yard to find something for my Flickr 365.  I found a few dead and dried up flowers.  I am not sure what is so appealing to me about such things, but I managed to use them two days in a row.

3)  It’s apple season here in Central Massachusetts.  Here is what I did to celebrate.  These beauties are Honeycrisps.  They are a good apple to eat with cheese.

4)  Well, who am I kidding?!  I would probably eat darn near anything if there were cheese involved.

5)  We are having a nice warm spell right now, but I am prepared for the winter.  I just finished crocheting this warm shawl.  I have found over the years that if my neck is warm, I am warm.  This will help.

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RANDOM 5 FRIDAY!

Gathering fire...

I know I’m jumping the gun and we have three or four more days of summer left, but it feels like fall here today so…

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TUESDAY MUSE!

Thanks, Nancy!  I used your Sakura texture when I process this photo. 

Simple reflections....

Earlier this week while it was still really hot out, Olive the pug and I walked down to the pond early in the morning.  I like the pond in the morning.  Often it is very flat and  therefore gives good reflections.  We were rewarded that morning and got a few nice photos.  The one that I am posting here was one of my favorites of the day.  It is a section of Wells State Park across the pond that has a circular aspect to it.  Why the trees have grown like this, I'm not sure, but I like it a lot and I often stop to look at it.  It is a little world reflected upon itself like a nice phrase stuck between parentheses.

Today, I am linking up to Simple Things Sunday.  Stop by there if you have the time.

Fall is coming and other random stuff…

1)  The worst day this week was Wednesday.  It was terribly uncomfortable.  I had to get up early that day and when I went out with the dog, the hazy, hot and humid conditions that had already arrived made for some very nice visual effects.  I posted one of these pictures on Flickr and one of my contacts asked me if I had put in the rays using Photoshop.  Well, no, I didn’t.  The funny thing about that is I am not adept enough at Photoshop to do stuff like add rays in the woods.  I have to depend on Mother Nature.

2)  Walking around the other day in the heat and muggies, it was hard to believe that we are close to autumn here.  But looking around I saw evidence in the woods.  It seems like the little bits of red out there are indications that we are headed in the right direction.

3)  But this morning I got up and it was in the 60s and quite pleasant out.  The pond was flat and I managed to take advantage of that.

4)  Enough about the weather…  We are excited here that the Red Sox are doing so well.  We are big baseball fans and it has been just such fun to watch them this year after that fiasco of a year last year.

I know this picture has nothing to do with the Red Sox, but I like it anyhow.

5)  My last post about Olive, the pug, and the yard sale got some really lovely comments.  I appreciate it when people stop by.  But my old friend “Anonymous” left a comment that said point blank, “What an ugly dog!”  Can you believe that?  To me, that statement is akin to saying “What an ugly baby!”  All I can say to that is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Olive the pug is such a loveable little being that it is impossible for her to be ugly.  Anonymous’ mother must never have told him/her that if he/she didn’t have anything nice to say, then he/she should just shut the piehole!

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RANDOM 5 FRIDAY!

The Life and Times of Olive the Pug: Yard Sale Edition…

Last Saturday, we got up bright and early for our yard sale.  It was a beautiful day.  Knowing it was impossible to let a pug sit inside when there would be lots of people coming to the house, we let her come out to be the official security detail.  She took her job very seriously checking out each and every person who came along including cute kids who just had to pet her.

She even took a look at some of the merchandise that was for sale.  She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw that we were selling this beautiful velvet painting that has been hanging in our basement for years.  A couple people seemed interested.  One even asked if we had more…maybe one of Elvis.  No, this was the only one.  Eventually, a nice man decided to take it home with him and seemed pleased with his purchase.

At one point, this silly looking dog with big ears came up the driveway.  He was a little bit excited and wouldn’t calm down long enough for a decent picture.  He and Olive saw eye to eye because he was short, but they didn’t seem to get along very well.

As soon as the people stopped coming and all the leftovers were packed up, a dog finally got some well-deserved rest.

If you saw my post last Friday, you will be pleased to know that the mismatched glasses and the huge martini glass sold.  The mismatched glasses went to a neighbor kid who was buying them for his parents.  Wasn’t that nice?  And the woman who bought the martini glass was quite happy with her purchase.  She said that it will be much appreciated when she has a bad day.  We were glad it went to a good home.  But the green beaded trim is still available.  Any takers?

Is revelry enough?

I worry a lot about bees and the bee kills that are happening these days.

Lucky for Emily that she didn't have to worry about such things.

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TUESDAY MUSE!

Thanks, Nancy.  I used your Chris texture when I processed this photo.

Random Stuff…

We’re participating in a neighborhood yard/tag sale tomorrow.  In preparation for the sale, Greg and I have been gathering our stuff together that we no longer want or need.  We don’t have a lot really but what we do have is choice.  Here’s the story of some of our stuff.

1)  Look in the cupboard where you keep your glasses.  If they all match, you deserve 50 points.  Seems 90% of us have odds and ends of glasses hanging out in our cupboards.  I have decided to look through mine and get rid of some.  Here’s a variety of wine(ish) glasses that haven’t been used in a long time.  Of course, that's mainly because they were on the top shelf and I couldn't reach them.  But we have enough so these can go.  In reality, I actually like having mis-matched wine glasses and use them when we have a party.  That saves me from having to buy those wine glass charms.  For the ones that are the same, I just wrap the stems with different colored pipe cleaners and voila!  A regular Martha Stewart, that's what I am.

2)  And speaking of glassware, what do you think of this honker??  I think I won it as part of a basket of goodies in a raffle.  It’s shaped like a martini glass.  But if you drank a martini that big you’d be face down in a ditch somewhere.  I don’t know what else to use it for so it’s going…I hope!

3)  These crows fit into the category of “What the heck was I thinking when I threw these dudes into my shopping cart?”  They must have been pretty inexpensive for me to have picked them up in the first place, but they never quite found the right place to roost in this house.  I think that that's mainly because there isn't a clear surface anywhere.  I kind of like them, but someone else can let them feather their nest.

4)  A few years ago, Sturbridge was home to the Wright’s Factory Outlet.  This place was fantastic.  It was full of reasonably priced gimps, trims, ribbons, buttons etc. as well as silk flowers, stencils, quilting gewgaws, fabrics and tools and other fantastic stuff.  I loved wandering around in there.  When they announced that they were closing I think half of the women here went into a funk.  I have yet to find another store like it with such good prices.  That’s where this trim came from.  I bought it at the end and I think I bought it for purely sentimental reasons.  There is almost nothing in my house that is green.  I am ready to let it go now.

5)  It seems that it’s inevitable when you are going through old boxes that old pictures surface.  I found these old pics of me that were packed among random junk.  I was probably in kindergarten or first grade in the pic on the left and around 20 in the one on the right.  Man, where did the time go and why the heck do we accumulate so much stuff?!  Here's hoping that it's true that one man's trash is another man's treasure.  By the way, the photos of me are not for sale.

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RANDOM 5 FRIDAY!

Oh, the humidity…

After three days of rain, Olive and I were happy to wake up to sunshine this morning.  It would be a good day for picture taking for a change.  Off we went and here’s what we saw.

There is a great abundance of Jewelweed around.  Here’s what I can tell you about it.  It’s also called Spotted Touch-me-not.  Hummingbirds love it.  The juice from the stem is said to relieve poison ivy and athlete’s foot.  How about that?

It’s obvious that the bees love it.  Here’s a bee going about his morning business among the Jewelweed blossoms.

Here’s an interesting plant called Lady’s Thumb.  It’s not the flower that gives it its name.  There is a dark green splotch in the middle of the leaf that supposedly resembles a lady’s thumbprint.

This little beauty is a plant that for many years I thought was a common dandelion.  Seems I am wrong about that.  This is either a Rattlesnake Weed or a Two-flowered Cynthia.  I really want it to be a Two-flowered Cynthia because I think that is a very nice name, but I fear it is a Rattlesnake Weed.  I have to take a better look at its leaves the next time I spy one.

And of course, the woods are full of White Wood Asters now.  I read that the young leaves of this species can be cooked and eaten as greens.  Problem is, how do you know when they are young?

There are signs of fall in the woods these days, but I’m not complaining.

Within an hour of returning to the house, the sky clouded up again and the sun was gone.

  Olive and I got lucky.

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TUESDAY MUSE!

Thanks, Nancy, for the textures I used in a few of these pics and for hosting Tuesday Muse.