Early Signs Of Fall

A few little fall-like touches have begun to pop up around here.

A cute new welcome pillow for the rocker, sunflowers, real and not so real.

New dish towels that were on super sale at the store. I think I paid $1.69. I would have paid $2.00 cause I love them.



All little reminders that Autum really is a season of change. Are you ready for the change?

Sally

Inquiring Minds

Just in case you have been holding your breath waiting for me to up-date the Books and Movies page at the top of my blog, you can now breath easier. If you want to see what we've been watching and reading since May today is your lucky day. Enjoy!

Sally

These Boots were Made for Hiking

These are my new hiking boots/shoes. We are officially in training for the Grand Canyon. Well, I'm in training and Alan is my trainer. Today we hiked the Orange Trail in the Jefferson Memorial Forest. I thought we were starting off easy. You know, to break my shoes in and all.

Alan told me that we would start off with a 2 mile hike and work our way up to longer hikes. What he didn't tell me was that our little 2 mile hike was ranked as STRENUOUS. Did you get that? Strenuous means lots of ups and downs, not just flat and easy. I think maybe a moderate hike would have been a good one to start with don't you?.


I made it with a little huffing and puffing but boy was I glad to have my new hiking shoes. They must have some super grip on the bottoms, because there was a lot of slippery stuff to walk through.

It really is a forest, so mostly trees. We saw a few little blooming wild flowers, and we did run into one other couple that appeared to be doing some form of "speed hiking." No thank you.


I have to say, what probably kept me going was knowing that at the end of the trail we would enjoy a little picnic lunch. You know how much I love a picnic. This one was perfect and ended with the best apples of the season so far.

Sally

Meals for 12 Days....

Right before our Borders book store closed I picked up a book called Meals for a Month by Linda Larsen. You know the idea. You spend one whole day cooking and you fill your freezer with enough meals to last a month. The idea really appealed to me, but I was not willing to spend an entire day in the kitchen, so I adapted the plan. I made meals for half a month instead.
I decided to stick with a Mexican/Italian theme and was able to make enchiladas, chili, chicken tortilla soup, goolosh and pesto, enough for 15 dinners in less than 3 hours. I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself. My freezer is full and that makes me one happy camper.

I started off with a bunch of ingredients.

Chopped about 6 large onions, 2 large bell peppers and 3 good size jalapeno peppers. I made the chili in my crock pot, the soup in my big red pot and everything else in my extra large frying pan. I only had to wash 3 pots. That was the best part of the whole morning.

I think I will try this cooking method again with

some different dishes but I have to wait until I have some more room in the freezer.

Sally

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