Fall Like Weekend

A chill was in the air this weekend. Even the animals at the zoo could feel it. Fall is knocking at the door here in Louisville. I'm sure we will have a few more warm days to come, but it sure does seem like summer is really over.

The farmer's market was full of "fall". Fall flowers, squash and apples. Maggie really lucked out. The people that sell smoked dog bones were there and we picked one up for her. The thing must have weighed five pounds and it pretty much kept her busy all day.

The first thing that I like to do when "fall" arrives is make granola. Don't ask me why. I just do. It's one of those traditions that keeps me moving with the seasons. I posted the recipe for my Great Aunt Mary's Granola last fall under "I Love the Taste of... at the top of my blog. It's my favorite.

I made two big sheet pans.

Some for me and

some to share.

Hope you had a great fall weekend.

Sally

A Happy Birthday

I turned 49 yesterday and boy did I feel the love. I'm blessed in so many ways and grateful to all of my family and friends for keeping me in their hearts. You would think that by now celebrating a Birthday would not be such a big deal, and usually it isn't, but for some reason 49 seems like a significant year. I'm not one of those people who puts a lot of thought into the "number". It's all about how you feel, how you choose to live your life, right?

I am a goal setter as most of you know and I set some goals a few years back that I hoped to achieve before I turned 50. (because back then it seemed a long way off) I have one year left to get the jobs done and that timeline is a little scary. So, my goal for this year is to get out of procrastination mode and put forth a little effort. What will be will be, but I like to think that I have some control over my life. It is the BEST life and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the BEST is yet to come.

Sally

Quiet Weekend At Home

It was a quite weekend for us, remembering 9-11 and watching more sporting events on TV than I can name. Well, that's not exactly true. I know we watched a lot of football, including watching our beloved Hawkeyes loose to Iowa State even though we had our flag of support flying. We watched a lot of tennis and I stayed up way past my bedtime to see if the only

race car driver I follow, Jeff Gordon could make it 2 in a row. He came in 3rd, but I think he was sabotaged. One of my clients LOVES NASCAR so I kind of have to keep up so he and I have something to talk about. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Sally

Table for Two

It's back to just the two of us. Time to make the dining room table smaller. It's funny how easy it is to forget what "quiet" sounds like. Not that Grace is a loud person by any means, just that having one less body around can make such a huge difference in the dynamics of a house. I find that I rather enjoy the "quiet" at times, and then I begin to miss hearing her laugh. I think I kind of went through this empty nest feeling last fall too, but I was so busy with the new house and the new city and the new job that it must have just felt a little different. I'm sure within a week or so this will all feel quite normal again. Until then I think I will just have to make my own noise. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sally

Grace Living It Up In Spain

If you have not had a chance yet to check out Grace's Blog about her adventures in Spain, here is a quick link to get you started. El Camino Mio . People keep asking me if I'm missing her. Of course I'm missing her. She and I spent a lot of time together this summer. Going to yoga class at 8:00 in the morning is just not as much fun without her. The girl is just "fun". She has a witty sense of humor that I'm sure she gets from her Dad. She takes just about everything in stride and has perfected this whole laid-back attitude that I keep hoping will rub off on me. I know she is enjoying every second of Spain. Over the weekend, I sent her a text saying that her Dad and I were drinking wine from Spain. She sent me a text right back that said "so am I". Seriously, some things I just don't need to know, but it made us laugh so hard. So, yes I miss her, but as long as she keeps in touch with us so that we know she is well, I think I might be able to survive her absence. Maybe.....

Sally

Cumberland Falls Through Alan's Eyes

Decked out in his new hiking shoes and daysack Alan decided to explore the park on foot, while I stayed back at the "rustic"cabin keeping an eye out for the mouse.
The first full day he hiked 8.5 miles on the Eagle Falls and Blue Bend trails and the next day he hiked 10.3 miles on the Moon bow trail and trail number 2 (great name for a trail don't you think?) He took some beautiful pictures along the way. Hope you enjoy looking at them.



Sally

Our Labor Day Weekend Getaway To Cumberland Falls

When we first moved to Kentucky, I kept seeing license plates with a picture of a waterfall on them. I told Alan that one day I wanted to see that waterfall in person.

So way back at the beginning of summer we reserved a "rustic" cabin at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. I've yet to figure out the "resort" part of the name, but as state parks go it was a pretty beautiful spot in the hills of Eastern Kentucky near the Tennessee border, a mere 180 miles from our house.

The first thing that we did after checking in at the park lodge, finding our cabin and unloading all of our stuff, was to head out and see the falls. Mind you it was something like 104 degrees that day and even though it was nearly 5:00 it was still very steamy.

Our first glimps of the falls was exciting, but on day 2 of the trip we got there earlier in the day and we were able to see the rainbow at the bottom of the falls. It was also about 20 degrees cooler, so much more enjoyable.

We being the tent campers that we are, staying in a "rustic" cabin seemed really up-town, especially a "rustic" cabin with a full kitchen, nice bathroom and a TV. We spent the first day joking about

what the "rustic" part was? We found out the evening of day 2 while we were watching the LSU vs Oregon football game. We were snuggled down on the "rustic" sofa when all of a sudden a tiny litttle field mouse ran out from the top of the chimney and zipped his little self behind our "rustic" sofa. I did the typical lady thing, screamed and jumped up onto the nearest chair. Alan grabbed a shoe and we both just stood there and waited. A minute or so later that dang little mouse ran back up the chimney and back out the little hole he came in. I wish that I could say that that was the last we saw of him. He seemed to think that our "rustic" cabin was really his "rustic" cabin, so he came back every night to check out our garbage can and who knows what else. We took some long naps during the days because there was not a lot of sleeping going on at night. (Click on the blue '"rustic" cabin and you can watch someone else's little YouTube video of what our cabin looked like on the inside.)

We ate some great food on this trip. I'll share more about that another day, but the night we grilled burgers we also made s'mores. We pride ourselves in toasting the perfect marshmallows to go with the perfect chocolate smushed between the perfect graham crackers. They were perfect!

On the way home from our little getaway, we stopped in Corbin, Kentucky, home of the first KFC. It was like going back to 1940. The sign out front calls Colonel Sanders the most famous person from Kentucky and that he was responsible for making Kentucky a household name throughout the whole world. I guess some people think he's actually more important than Abraham Lincoln.


I ordered the original meal with 2 pieces of chicken, 2 sides and a biscuit. It was finger lickin' good for sure.

Tomorrow I'll share some of Alan's beautiful scenery pictures of the falls and the park. There's a bunch of them, so it will probably be more pictures and less chatter from me.

Sally