More October Pics

Today is so dreary and drippy that I've decided to post some more pics of blue sky and warmth to cheer myself and maybe you (if you're having some icky weather where you are) This incessant grey and damp is getting to me! arrghh!!!!

Anyway, these are my 2 daughters. . .Lindsay, history buff, book worm, mom, on the left and Kalyn, music major, organizer, girlie girl on the right. They're so used to me documenting our trips they just reflexively go into pose formation. lol!



Robbie and the grandkiddies, posing in front of one of the classic cars. Don't ask me what this one is. . . Rob would know. It has some wicked chrome and perhaps fins? Cars then were sleek, mobile works of art. What happened?? Eri looks so animated in this shot! It was such a great day.
















I adore cows, they're such tranquil beasts. When i look at them i can almost feel my blood pressure falling. They have beautiful eyes, fringed with outrageously lavish lashes. Can't believe that their bulk can be sustained by grasses & grains! Cows & pumpkins -- pretty much tied for first place in my affections. City girl didn't see enough crop or livestock in her earlier years?


James is having fun! He's such a speed freak, I'm surprised he didn't find this ride too wussy! The fair, up until the 'midway point' (the point at which the midway began!), was sheer torture for this kid. We sauntered through livestock competition areas and agricultural displays before we got to the fun zone. All the while he was as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof, exclaiming frequently and testily: "Can we go to the rides now? This is BORING!"

October fun!

me, Mom and KK at the fair! Lindsay and James were lined up for the gigantic ferris wheel *see below!* Rob and Eri took our picture through the bars!












Eri's dejected cuz we ran out of tickets before she could go on the "honeybee ride'. . poor kiddo.




















Lindsay and James are up there!!! look up . . . look waaaaaayy up!




Me and my beautiful girlies at The Cupcake Store! Back - Monika. Left - Donna. Middle -MaryLynn. Right -- me. We loved our treats! The Cupcake Lady let us behind the counter. . . ooooh!!!!

i don't have a pumpkin

What kind of self-professed lover of pumpkins doesn't have one in late October?!!!

I'm ashamed to admit that I don't -- though this afternoon I passed a gigantic pumpkin patch - the kind of patch The Great Pumpkin would be proud to rise from! It's been pretty bleak and cloudy here the last couple of weeks solid. It's driving everybody bonkers. So, the sight of that shabby brown field dotted with happy, orange orbs. . . lifted my spirits. How can i say why i love them so much? The sight of them gives me joy. All the childhood memories of carving . . the smell of the pumpkin, the feel of the cold, stringy pulp. . drawing on the face with a marker, cutting out the triangle eyes and nose, slicing the wide grin on "Jack's" face. . the excitement of seeing him all lit up for duty on Halloween night!!! Roasting those seeds and crunching those salty nuggets. What a treat!

I used to have a plastic jack-o-lantern candy holder. . i loved that thing, its smiling face, its black handle. I loved the way my voice echoed when i yelled into it. Once I got older/more greedy i tossed my beloved pumpkin aside for a pillow case!! What a fondness I have for those round cuties. In school I loved story time in the fall. Naturally there would be stories about pumpkins!!! *this thrilled me to no end* I can still see the teacher sitting in her chair, while we sat cross legged on the floor at her feet. She turned the glossy book pages neatly and efficiently, after holding them open for just the right amount of time. Her voice was pleasant. The stories were seasonally magical. We sang this little French Halloween song , "La Citrouielle". I loved it, not because it was a particularly good song, but just cuz it was about a pumpkin! Not to mention that the memories it conjured were a far sight better than the mournful "Have You Seen The Ghost of John"? (long white bones with the skin all gone. . ick!)

This October has been the stinkiest, dreariest one in a long time. . and November. . it is so nasty that it just makes me wanna stick needles in my eyes. I think I need a SADD light?! Soooooo, yeah, I'm wishing i was lying on a warm beach somewhere where the sun is actually visible for longer than 1 hour, 1 day a week. I still hold out hope for some sunshine. Am I naive?! Nah, on second thought - don't tell me. .naive works for me now.

I haven't bought the Halloween candy yet. . cuz we'd just eat it all and then have to go out and buy more! Maybe if i was on the ball i would buy stuff we hate?! Gotta stop buying those chocolate bars!!!! they might be fun size in the wrapper. . but when they all get together to gang up on my body - there ain't nothing fun sized about that! When i was a kid and still had a metabolism, the chocolate bars were like 'gold'. . the more you got, the more successful your night was. The big mistake was sorting out the haul in front of your family. . cuz you just know they were doin' mental inventory!!!! You guarded your stash - in vain - everyone knew your hiding places. Ever wonder why when you got back from school your count was off? Oh, the memories. . and the cavities!!!

Fall. . . so much to celebrate --an extra hour of sleep!, harvest abundance, flame-red bushes, golden trees, rust-coloured leafy sidewalks - corn stalks awaiting the combine, hay bales laying in the fields like giant shredded wheat biscuits. . drooping apple trees, heavy with fruit and yes beautiful pumpkins everywhere. Summer's freshness slowly decays, but with such grace and beauty, i almost don't mind. Autumn (usually!) is such a gorgeous, glowing time. If only i could enjoy it on its own, detached from the spectre of looming winter.

I think i'll visit the pumpkin patch. . there's something almost soul less about lifting one out of a giant bin in a fluorescent store. I want to see its little bed, see the earth and smell the field smells. .

Disconnected

Life has indeed been whizzing by -- celebrations, road trips, hen parties, family outings, dancing classes and I haven't documented them. . but i have definitely been living them and enjoying them!

The weather has been rather dreary lately-- blech. . more like bleak November drizzle than October colours and clear skies, though Thanksgiving Weekend's weather was the warmest on record since the 1800s. . and we wrung every drop of enjoyment from that singular weekend!

I had a bright spot at Chapters the other night. . Robbie and I go there once in a while - he's so gracious and sweet about it because he is really not a reader, but he knows how much i love soaking up the atmosphere and trolling the beckoning, brightly-coloured aisles for finds. I had a gift card still unused from my summer birthday - not to mention a $5 off coupon and my Chapters/Indigo membership card (10% off all purchases) - also not to mention 15% reduction on all hard cover books. . and last not to mention i promise - i got 3 out of my 4 books in the 'up to 80% off' section!!! My glee was absolute! My purchase, at full price, would have been $131.50 plus tax . . and i parted with only $20!!!!!!! i know!!!!!

Memory Keeper's Daughter (already well into this and it's pretty fantastic) Kim Edwards
Bed of Red Flowers - In Search of My Afghanistan Nelofer Pazira
A Year In the Life of My Kitchen Art Smith
Back to the Table Annie Bell

I've been working hard lately, which may account for some of my reluctance to sit down and type any more than i have to! By the time i hit my production quota. . i could absolutely fall into bed and sometimes do. One wouldn't think that banging away at a keyboard all day would be tiring. . but i think besides the unnatural sitting position, its just the mental fatigue. My muscles are knotting up and my arthritis is flaring up - so instead of yet another course of physio, acupuncture, drugs. . my doctor has prescribed massage therapy - which you'd think sounds dreamily relaxing? Not likely. . i've had one treatment previously - it was anything but dreamy. The therapist I talked to on the phone seemed warm and friendly. She explained to me they treat the spine and its surrounding musculature and all its attachments as a unit. . . not as isolated chunks. Makes sense, right?! I thought so too. . so yeah we'll see how this goes. Living with chronic pain is an interesting thing. . the body amazes me. My vertebrae are degenerating, so my muscles overguard to protect, how do they know to do this? The pain never leaves. The simplest of tasks hurts - working, even just looking down to see what i'm chopping when i cook, or sitting beside someone and turning my neck to look at them, lifting my grandkids, doing push ups. . I absolutely will not let this rule me, so i just live with it, you know? I won't take the drugs. . 1 drug has recently been banned and another has come under scrutiny, both for raising the incidence of heart and stroke occurrence. I had a prescription for the second one that i never filled. . thank God!!! I take glucosamine. . but not enough - i don't think to take one with every meal like i should be doing. .why do i not do this? I can't even say why! lazy? don't think of it?

But in a weirdly objective way i can look at all of this and marvel at how the body can adapt to even something like ever present pain - you become so used to it, you accept it as normal and you carry on. Being a stubborn, tough chick helps too!

Dance was great tonight. . . dancing with fluidity now. . . i've got the routines and patterns in my head now - my brain and body are working together. It takes half the session to get to this point where you can dance with finesse. . i love this point because it feels like the 'real deal'. . you don't need to count, you don't even need the instructor's cueing. . you just need the music and you go! It's liberating, even transporting. . what's not to love? I love the friendship and comraderie just as much - also love that my daughters come along with me - though it's down to me and Linds now that KK is at school. I'm especially loving the latin routine. . lotsa rhumba!!!

It is that time again, time to close my eyes and hopefully dream about some non-weird things. Dreams are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. Killer cliche, but true. Mine are just so out there. . I had a horrific nightmare the other night which shocked me awake, to feel my heart like a jackhammer in my chest. It took me a second to determine what was real. . i love that feeling when you realize that something that horrible is just a dream. I almost wanted to wake Rob up, but settled for just huddling next to him. I am hoping tonight for perhaps some uneventful, random craziness!

pictures are my words tonight