Happy Halloween! From me and Bill the Builder---a coworker at the hospital I work at. All part of the annual pumpkin decorating contest fun! A few days ago, Bill literally lost his head, but with some minor surgery, he is looking pretty good!

I meant to post this yesterday. Smack dab in the middle of campus---is a cemetary. Very peaceful and tranquil. I later found out it was the family burying ground of the farming family who donated the land that became Indiana University. I cannot think of a better final resting place. Some of the headstones were of people who were born in the 1700's.

We felt like college students last weekend---but instead of staying in a dorm, our lodging was the luxurious Biddle Hotel in the heart of Indiana University. So comfortable and so beautiful. The campus is what comes to mind when I think of the ideal college campus---especially with the Autumn leaves giving beautiful color.

We had a wonderful weekend road trip to Bloomington Indiana to spend some time with family. And seriously, how could a trip that started with this SWEET surprise in our hotel room, not be anything but special. One was Red Velvet, one was Spice and one was Vanilla and ALL were delicious. I know this to be true because I sampled each one---I shared them with others but I did get a taste of each one. More pictures to follow----but I had to start with the cupcakes!

My sister-in-law, Barb is lucky enough to have some great grandchildren. And when they were all together recently, they put their talents together and had a pumpkin decorating party. I think it was kind of clever on Barb's part, because at the end of the day, she had some great holiday decorations!

The Tiger's lost-------that is big, sad news in our household. We had this glimmer of hope that they would go to the World Series but not to be. So we drowned our sorrows at breakfast with waffles. And not just waffles, but waffles drizzled with Honey. And not just any Honey, but our own bee's honey. Sweet relief to a disappointing baseball game!

Happy Birthday oldest Baby Boy! 33 years and still going strong! Now if only the Tigers bring you a win for your birthday our life will be complete. Today is Matt's birthday but we celebrated yesterday. He is going to back to back sporting events with his friends!! Have Fun!!!

I am spending the evening with an old, very dear friend and also a newer one. I am re-reading one of my favorite books of all time---A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. And I love it even more the second time around---and for different reasons. The first time I read it, I loved the character who was around the same age as me when I first read it. Now I appreciate the writing style and the history of the immigrant family! And next I am going to re-read The Secret Life of Bees, another of my top 5 favorite books of all time. And the beverage tonite----hot tea with HONEY!!

Golden Honey against a blue sky! Time to stop admiring it's beauty and start wiping down the sticky doorknobs! And also time to start making Mead---Honey wine! Honey is my new favorite food. Cookbook to follow!

Yesterday was THE day!! We harvested our honey! My brother came from California with equipment and to help. We weren't sure what to expect---would we have enough honey? Would the bees be agitated? So many ifs------but everything went great! My brother had done a lot of research and decided the best method was to pull the frames out of the hive(while smoking the bees) and load them into tubs to bring home to process. The bees build the honeycomb on these hives and then fill them with honey and cap them with wax. That step went smoothly until a bee got irritated with my brother and stung him 3 times. Then all the tubs were transported to our garage where we took a hot knife and uncapped the frames and put the frames in a centrifugal spinner to extract the honey. Smooth process and with 3 people working, it went great. We let the honey settle and today we will bottle and pack up the wax. Nothing will go to waste. Candles and lip balm from the wax---honey in the bottles-----and frames back in the hive for the bees. And yes, we were kind to our bees. We left them an entire box of honey to feed them through the winter. Next year we are adding hives!

It's October and we are celebrating. There is quite a bit to celebrate this month. Let's see--1. It is our oldest son's birthay. 2. It is our dog, Magglio's birthday. 3. My brother is coming home to visit. 4. We are harvesting our honey this week. So we are celebrating with a bottle of Octoberfest beer? No, not really the reason. We are having a bottle of Octoberfest beer because we are nervously watching the Detroit Tigers in the World Series playoffs---