Fall is officially here

Fall  is officially here.  Colts Football, a trip to the orchard and beautiful trees.  What more could you ask for?

Oh yes, and there's our upcoming Halloween party too which means shopping at Goodwill Stores for costume parts and getting the Halloween decorations out of the attic.  We decided to recycle old costumes this year.  Last year Mike worked months on his Iron Man costume; this year we built a porch instead.  The party is Saturday night, so more to come next week...


I moved all the houseplants (too many) back into the house, and I cut the beautiful hydrangea blossoms in anticipation of a frost warning for tonight.  I love the crisp weather but am slightly dreading the long winter ahead!

Hydrangea blossoms drying

I've re-opened my studio after it sat idle for much of the summer while we were busy on the porch.  Somehow I have a sewing bug these days, but of course I need to combine several hobbies with sewing.  Namely painting fabric, sewing on beads and then sewing into pillows.  Here's my first attempt, which is a DIY version of a pillow I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog.

My own version of a Peace Pillow

Mike canned habanero peppers last week in anticipation of salsa making this winter.  And he's been busy with his part time professor job.  Seems that four groups of lab students increases the work load much more than the usual three groups.  He's always busy grading papers, putting together information for the students and checking in on their progress.  I have a new respect for all the work that goes into a teacher's job!

Habaneros anyone?

Here's a quick glimpse of a beautiful drive near Shades State Park last weekend.  It was a cloudy, quiet day, and we had the road to ourselves.  A stanza from the Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening",  came to mind...

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

We enjoyed the sweet revenge of the Indianapolis Colts beating the Cincinnati Bengals 27-0 at Lucas Oil Stadium.  Yes, we yelled until we were hoarse (finally got my voice back today).   One of the reasons this game was so enjoyable is that last December we saw the Colts play the Bengals in Cincinnati in a freezing blizzard.  Let's just say that the Colts lost, and the Bengals fans were a slight bit obnoxious about it.  So this time the Bengals fans sitting behind us at the game quieted down considerably, and they left early to boot.  Go figure!

And I only have one question:  When did I become a football fan anyway?  After a lifetime of saying "football is a brutal sport", I'm yelling "sack him" like the rest of the fans.  What is the world coming to?  Could I blame this on retirement? That's my excuse for sure.

Pre-game festivities

Before the game

Game in motion.  Photo by Mike

Hope you are having a good week.  I'll end here with a cute puppy picture.  Ginger (Kevin and Kathy's new dog)  found her new home in my shoes...

Ginger.  About the size of my shoe...

Laughs and surprises

It's been a strange week of snowstorms (12 inches on Monday), sub-zero temps(-40 degrees windchill on Monday) and getting caught in a traffic jam on Tuesday caused by all the snow. And 4 days later came the rains that washed away most of the snow.  No one could make this up you know...

But with the week of crazy weather came some laughs and surprises...

Mike had his first snow day as a teacher, and judging from his "YAHOO!" reaction, he was just as excited as those snow days we remember as kids.

We turned off the outside Christmas lights, put the decorations into storage, and the big plastic snowman and Santa are resting comfortably in the garage.  The house is clean and spiffy, and I'm already dreaming about what decorating task to work on next.  I've been reading decorating magazines, and Mike is getting nervous.  I thought he was going to hyperventilate this morning when we were driving to breakfast and I mentioned changing the family room with new floors and furniture.  Hey, when weather forces me inside, I naturally think about creating a warm, comfortable environment around me.  That's just normal, right?

And way too much time this week was spent on health stuff for my liking.  I continue physical therapy on my fractured elbow.  I think it's greatly improving until I try to lift with that arm, and the pain reminds me of the orthopedic doctor warning me "do not lift until you have full mobility".  All I really want is faster healing. But instead I'm learning that if patience was not one of your strengths before retirement, it will not magically appear in retirement just because you have more time on your hands...

I had a follow-up visit with my new doctor, an internist highly recommended by Mike and another friend.  We talked about my elbow, my new calcium supplement and my "good" blood tests (except for the cholesterol).  You know,  I'm not really sure he has much of a sense of humor.  I told him I was hoping to talk him out of cholesterol drugs.   He didn't even acknowledge this comment, but he just kept on typing on his laptop.  Later when we were discussing my long-running sinus infection/cold, and I made a comment "I'm a real mess, aren't I?" he didn't miss a beat.  Just kept on typing.  And then it occurred to me that he might be typing his own commentary about me...like "she's a real whiner" or "she think's she funny" or "what is her problem?" or "why is she talking so much?".  What can I say, I get nervous at the doctor's office, and couldn't he at least smirk a bit at my comments...

And we were all prepared for the Colts game last night.  Our friends Chuck and Melanie came over to watch the game.  And all decked out in our Colts attire, we watched an exciting but disappointing game against the Patriots.  And "it's only weird if it doesn't work" comes to mind as we had my little mascot, Blue, in the family room for the game.  And the Colts lost...

This morning Mike mentioned being at the pharmacy yesterday when a woman asked him to help her read the small print on some document.  He told her he could do better than that, and he whipped out his Swiss Army knife with the magnifying glass on it.  Here's our conversation:
He said the woman was "very impressed!"
I said "was she an older woman?"
He responded "no she was rather young".
I'm not sure why but I said "she was probably hitting on you".
He said  "A lot of women hit on me that can't see very well".
I am sure I laughed for a full five minutes on that one...

And on a day when the U.S. Olympic skating tryouts are on television, I was delighted to see nature's version of skating.  We were driving by a frozen lake, and a Canadian goose came in for a landing.  Wings extended, his feet hit the ice and he glided across the lake.  Maybe not a triple axle, but beautiful really.

So, I'm trying to get healthy but still noticing the laughs and surprises all around me.  Maybe I am getting better after all...

Take care and have a super week!
Diane