Home Again, Home Again

Midge and I made it back to Chicago last Friday.  Once back to her home ground we put together the things needed for her charity event on Sunday.  It was a pancake breakfast at her Church after Sunday Mass.    For a $5 donation folks got pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and a fresh fruit cup.  Orange juice and coffee too.  Plus, everyone was encouraged to donate canned goods or dry goods for the food pantry. All the money received was also being donated.  My sister's company donated all the food that we made plus lots of canned goods.  We served around 90 people, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food! Not sure I want to eat or see bacon or sausage again for a while! 

 We set the room up with the colors of fall.

This table was set up to receive the donations of food.  It was a lot of work, but you felt good knowing that food would be provided for people in need.  These are tough times for families, and the shelters and food pantries really appreciate donations.  Once everything was done on Sunday we went back to the house for some R&R.  I don't know about where you live, but the weather was turning more Christmas than fall!   A big snowstorm was heading into the Chicago area.  I was scheduled to head back home yesterday and was a bit worried about the snow.

We woke up to this on Sunday with more on the way.  I watched the weather channel closely, but Monday morning came and the worst of it had passed.  I decided to go home and prayed the roads would be good.  They were a little dicey at the Indiana border but after that it was clear sailing all the way back home.  So, I was happy to have the time to be a help on that project but also very happy to be home.  Annabelle and Jack seemed happy to see me back too!  The cold is still hanging on today but a slow warm up is coming and by the end of the week we'll be in the high 50's.  That will feel like a heat wave!  Now on to preparing for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.  Not sure how many we'll have for dinner that day but on Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day, my oldest son will be 50!  Yikes!  We're going to celebrate with him and his family on the 25th.  It will be crazy to do two celebrations in the week but that's a big milestone birthday.  I'll blog more about our son Jack in a few weeks.  I hope all is well in your neck of the woods and you have a wonderful week!

It's "NO" vember

 I read that it's NOvember and we should say NO to whatever doesn't bring us joy.  Like cleaning? Like dieting? Like people who make up crazy things like NOvember?  Well, my fave month of October came and went in a big orange flash.  It was full of beautiful weather.

The colors on these trees are amazing and this photo doesn't do it justice.

The barn is red and the trees are complimenting it!

Orange as the sun goes down. The dry weather was broken up with some rain, thankfully, and a mix of mild as well as chilly days.  The kiddos here in Ashland had trick or treat on the Thursday before Halloween.  It did rain and was pretty chilly.  Many of the little burbs around here changed the trick or treat to November1st but the kids here are tough, I guess.  Of course, some folks were not happy, but the kids didn't seem to mind!  After my Halloween trip to Chicago, Midge and I headed back to Ohio and she was able to spend the week with us. We didn't do anything really crazy but we did enjoy just hanging out together and visiting some shops around town.  We took some nice walks with Annabelle and hiked through the Creepy Woods enjoying the crunch of the leaves, the colors of the trees and peace and quiet of the day.  However, one bad thing happened after those hikes.  Midge got a tick on her neck! It was pretty embedded, but we did get it out.  I really hope no problems happen because of it. It's been a bad year for ticks and I feel awful that she had to experience it.  This morning we took off early and headed back to Chicago so she could be home for an event at her Church on Sunday.  I'm helping her with that and then I'll head for home on Monday.  That's the day our area is supposed to get our first snowfall.  Figures, I'll be driving in that!  No good deed goes unpunished!  I'm still enjoying being with her though so no worries.  I do miss Jack and Annabelle as they stayed home.  So that's about it for the first week of our November.  One thing I failed to mention last week.  Midge and I didn't just dress up for some Halloween fun.  We also took a pic for the Sunday Today Show for their Mug shots segment.

We don't know if we'll make the cut for the show but maybe if you watch it this Sunday you'll see us in all our glory! Ha!  Wish us luck! Have a good weekend everyone.

Halloween Wrap Up!

 October 31st...it's here and now almost over.😔 I went to Chicago and did the trick or treat fun with my sister, Midge and her family.  My niece, Amy, did makeup for us and turned us into the bewitching grannies!

Make up? Check

Add costume...Check

Mix in a sweet sister witch! Check!

Combine niece, Amy, and her hubby, Eric for more fun

Put us all together and you have a witch trifecta!  It was a beautiful day for trick or treat.  A bit chilly but we had a blast with our suped up witch mobile.

Everyone loved our set up as we handed out candy from a cauldron loaded with candy and magic!  I hope everyone had a fun Halloween day and a wonderful, best month of the year, October! Over too soon.  Booo all!

Ghoulish Fun!

 This gal is excited! 

Why?

Because she's riding shotgun with YaYa on her way to Chicago for some treats and a few witchy tricks! Stay tuned! Happy Hallows Eve!

I'm Not The Only One

If you've been a follower here at the Pines, you know I love October and Halloween and decorate crazy for the holiday.  Maybe I'm weird to do this but I find it fun. Until I have to take it all down anyway! Well, I know I'm not the only one.  Driving around town has shown me there are crazier people than me! I'm already planning for next October when we have a family reunion here and have some wild things in store.  Last week we drove down to Mohican State Park to visit my friend, Kim, who's family goes camping there every October for 2 weeks.  They, and all the other campers, put up elaborate decorations for the annual contest.  Kim's done some pretty crazy ones and has won many times too.  We noticed the other campers have upped their game this year.  It was fun seeing what people dream up!  Kim's family did an Egyptian theme.  We saw it in the daytime, but I saw a pic of it at night, and it really was pretty cool. Here's a shot of it during the day:: 

They built a pyramid!  Skeleton mummies abound!  At night it's all lit up with a black light inside the pyramid.

The skeletons were pretty cool!  I'll find out next week at work how they did with the contest.  She said I could borrow a few of here decorations from past times and I might take her up on that!  One year she had a castle with a fire breathing dragon!  Do you decorate?  Living in the country we don't get trick or treaters, so my outside is more sedate:

A few ghosts hanging around.  Ignore the green giant garbage can!

Pumpkins and mums.

I thought this mum was cute!  In a final note, I finally got my 2024 blog book printed!  I've always used the blog to print or share book company.  However, they don't do it anymore and I went with Pixie books.  

They did a great job, and the photos inside really came out nice! I highly recommend them.  I have been blogging for 17yrs and have all the books that are my way of keeping a journal.  Not sure what to do with them but I figure my kids may want to read them after I'm in heaven...if I make it to heaven! Ha!

Continue to have a fun, happy, beautiful, October!  Make some silly treats! Enjoy!

Hocu Pocus

 No, I'm not talking about the movie.  We saw the Hocus Pocus house when we were in Salem, Mass this past Summer.  Believe it or not that movie isn't a favorite of mine. 

Hello Hocus Pocus house!  So why the title of this post?  Well, yesterday we had the family over for our annual Halloween/Fall gathering.  I mentioned before that our Chicago group would not be here, but it was still fun with just our gang.  The weather was fabulous and I'm praying that God will keep this weather in his YaYa files for next year when we have a family reunion here in October.  So here are some familiar faces of the day:

Our son Phil and his girls, Alexis and Rae.  Yes, dear Phil is our grayest haired kiddo...our silver fox! Ha! His girls are getting so old now too! Lexi, 19, Rae 17.

Jordan and Phil.

Jordan and is girlfriend, Britteny watching the Ohio State game...which Ohio State won.

Jack, Jackie, Cameron, and Anthony and who's the witch with the green face? No, not me but our good friend Bryn! She had another party to go to but we were glad she was able to come here first.

This little vampire is our little Hazel.  She's my daughter-in-law's daughter's daughter...huh? Well, I could say our son's step granddaughter and our step great granddaughter.  But I really don't like the step part..they are all our grands!  Great and really great! Ha! And we just found out our oldest granddaughter, Driana and her hubby Jonathan, are expecting their first baby!  They've been trying for a long time, so everyone is super excited for them.  They couldn't make it yesterday so hopefully we will see them in November. 

Our son, Jack, with Hazel's little sister, Tatem.  Or Tato as we call her. She's enjoying her finger sucker!

Daughter-in-law, Evelyn with the girls and of course, grand dog Kip. 

Anthony and Cameron throwing the football around.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect with cool and dry and so comfy out!

I had a few little crafty things for the littles to play with. Hazel was coloring her masterpiece!

This is Lexi's boyfriend John with Rae on the other side for a photo moment.

We had a table set up in the living room so whoever wanted to watch the game could also eat and enjoy it. Worked out great! Britteny liked it! She's a big Ohio State fan!

Everyone eventually made it outdoors and enjoyed playing with the littles,

Catching a football,

Eating on the deck,

The gang made it up to the fence to pet the neighbor's alpaca, Beano. This was Hazel's first alpaca pet and she thought he was sooooo soft!  The day was fun, and the food turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!  We had my special Greek chicken, sloppy joes, pasta salad, mac n' cheese, witches' fingers..aka bread sticks, fruit salad, chips, chocolate cake that turned out so cute, but I forgot to take a pic of, apple dessert, and then some brains for good measure:

Pumpkin brains anyone? (actually, orange Jello, not pumpkin but it was tasty anyway!) So that's a wrap for this year.  We still have a half of a month left and plenty of time for more fun.  Our trees haven't reached peak color because of our earlier warm temps and the drought that still holds us hostage.  I was sure that having an event here at the Pines would break the no rain time since it usually does when I try to have an outdoor activity.  Well, I'm grateful for it being so nice.  I hope everyone has a good week. Go out and crunch in some leaves, carve a pumpkin, see something spooky, and get that candy ready for trick or treat! We don't get trick or treaters out here in the country so I'm going to Chicago in a few weeks to spend it with Midge. We have some treats and a few tricks that hopefully will be blog worthy.  Might have something to do with a golf cart and a couple of witches....stay tuned! 

And The Rains Came Down..Finally!

 We got rain!  It started in the early hours this morning and it's just for today but holy cow, I'm so glad to see it.  What a dry spell we've had.  The summer temps that have bled into October are supposed to go also.  Again, I'm so glad!  Now, I'm not wanting snow or anything, but a cool 60de during the day will be welcome.  We still have a couple of outdoor projects to finish before it gets too cold.  We did start to gather some wood for the furnace that hopefully won't be needed for a bit yet.  We don't usually burn wood until it's below 30de.  The electric furnace does a good job until then. 

We order the wood from the city, and they bring the dump trucks full. It's $85 a load and well worth it. The blue tarp behind it has wood too that some friends gave us. Last year we went through 6 loads. This is 3 loads here and depending on how the cold gods blow, we'll probably need more. The splitter gets a workout as well as us!  In the vein of October fun, this past Saturday we took a little ride to Butler, Ohio to go to the Prairie Peddler

festival.  The weather was warm, so we went as early as possible, but it was really jammed packed with folks like us just wanting a nice fall adventure.  It was a little overwhelming with the crowds and there are over 200 vendors!  I didn't even take one photo.  Shame on me!  It's a cute and fun time but I wasn't feeling super good that day.  But we did enjoy seeing all the crafts and things people have created.  The food is usually good too, but we didn't even try that.  Just too hot and Jack and I weren't that hungry.  I did manage to buy one thing though.  Did I need it? Well, probably not, but anticipating our family reunion next October I caved in and bought it.  Jack agreed it was a nice purchase.

It looks cute here and its metal and will last long and it's flat so hanging it in the garage for storing will be easy.  (I hope!)  This Saturday we're going to have the family over for our annual fall get together. This year my sister and her family aren't coming.  We'll miss them but hopefully we'll have a fun time with just us.  So much going on and not enough days to do it all! (Even a long month like October!)  Finally, I'll end with the fullish moon from last night. Getting a moon shot is hard but I'm trying to learn how to capture a good one!

Zeroed in on just the moon.

But the rain clouds were just moving in and the sky looked more like this.  Have a good week and even though I'm a few days late, Welcome October!

Untitled

 I wasn't sure how to title this last post of September. So untitled it is!  It was a mixed bag of emotions this weekend.  It started out just great.  Again, beautiful weather.  Sunny and a bit warmer than I really like it but it's cool at night and that's a blessing. Last week we did get some rain finally, but we sure could use more.  I guess I'm never really satisfied! Saturday we went down to Malabar Farm state park for the first festival of this fall season.  A friend from Church came with us.  She's new to Ashland and hadn't been here before. There weren't as many vendors as in the past, but it was still nice to walk around and see what folks were selling and also enjoy the reenactments going on.

The civil war group getting ready to shoot the cannons.  This is the reason we don't take Annabelle with us.  Those guns would have her in therapy for sure!

                                                 

The French and Indian war was also represented.  The setups are always fun to see and the folks doing the reenactments take it pretty seriously.  We walked around, took a horse drawn wagon ride to different parts of the area and I think our friend enjoyed it too.   Later in the day it was time for pictures for Ashland High School's homecoming.

My Granddaughter, Addy, with her boyfriend, Gage. Thankfully it was a lovely warm evening.  I'm not sure I'll get used to those short, short dresses. I'd hate for anyone to freeze! But hey, I think my generation helped invent the mini skirt, so I'd better not comment!  Then Sunday morning as I was getting ready for Church, I heard that the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away   Those that have followed me for years know that I'm a member of this church that many call The Mormon Church.  President Russell M. Nelson was 101!  He was very vibrant, active man until the end of his life and we sure enjoyed him as he took the church in different directions that focused on Jesus Christ, Temple worship, and family.  He was also a world-renowned heart surgeon who helped invent the heart lung machine that saves so many lives.  It was just after our church service was over that we heard about the horrific act of violence in Grand Blanc, Michigan at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  4 have died and many injured as a man rammed his truck into the church, open fire with an automatic weapon on the innocent people inside and also set fire to the church and it burned to the ground.  They fear more victims will be found once they can get through the burned remains of the church.  All these shootings can make us numb to this hateful violence but this sure hit close to home knowing how many feel about our religion and the fact it could easily happen here.  Prayers are needed for those families that are hurting from this and more compassion for everyone no matter their race, religion, or political stance. I guess I could have titled this post, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love"...lets help spread that!  My favorite month is just a day away.  I sure hope October can be a good one for everyone.

The Creepy Woods last evening as the sun was setting.  Not so Creepy, just peaceful.