Yarn Bombing

Bloomington Indiana has the warmest, coziest trees around. They surround the town square and are part of a charitable cause called Knitting to Heal at http://www.knittingtoheal.org/. The trees have been Yarn Bombed and you can vote online for your favorite---proceeds benefit victims of violence.

Hoo Hoo Hoosier

Why go anywhere but Indiana to see fall color! It's the prettiest I've seen---peak color. We made our annual trek to the Hoosier state and had a lot of fun. Wine tasting, birthday cake, fall color, and lots of special people. The view from our hotel room in the heart of the IU campus was an extremely old graveyard. And by the dawn's first light a gaping hole was visible in the middle. Hmmmmm---what evil lurks. But it didn't concern the Indiana students who were excited about Hoosier Hysteria! Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!

Message

Sometimes small surprises can make-or break-a day. But this made mine. This is a dry erase board at work that our surgeons use to confer with families. This morning-someone left a beautiful message on it. Don't know who-maybe someone waiting for a loved ones surgery-but whomever did it--thank you! Too bad I had to erase it to make way for diagrams of bowels, bladders and gallbladders.

Back on Track

I spent the first part of the year getting fit--running, losing weight, eating healthy-and the last part of the year--not so healthy for various reasons. But today I laced up the running shoes and went to the park and it felt wonderful. And I counted all my weight watcher points and even have 1 point left over-which will go unused. Oh---and I lifted weights at lunch in our work gym. You heard it here---if you see me with an ice cream cone, slap it out of my hand!

Market

Our farmers market is still bustling with all the fall produce and autumn smells --like doughnuts. Apples-apples-apples!!! Nothing like our local Midwest apples! We had stopped at a farmers market in Michigan this week for apples and stopped and turned around when we saw the crates stacked up that said Washington Apples. Not that Washington doesn't have good apples but when they are in season here---? Anyway--we bought a LOT of apples and pears for jam. And spaghetti squash, Osage oranges for the color and mums!

Preserving Summers Beauty

I accidentally planted a zinnia plant that I ended up loving-more so than any zinnia I have bought. So when my mother in law mentioned she saves her zinnia seeds with great success-I decided to try it too. It's a simple process-just plucking the dried petals and the arrow shaped seed is visible . Then store in a paper bag----marked with the date and flower and next summer we are good to go. Because next year I am planting a raised bed just for cutting flowers. I've always loved fresh flowers in the house but lately I have enjoyed seeing them in the flower beds too. So a bed just for cutting hopefully will eliminate the guilt of cutting them for the house!

Bees

Last year we had one beehive--our very first venture into beekeeping. It was fun-an adventure! Next year, we told each other, we will have more---lots more! Our bee club laughed and said "one hive is fun, 2 hives is a hobby, 3 hives are a lot of work". We didn't listen. We told each other 5 hives would be 5 times the fun. Well----we lost 2 hives and now we are harvesting the honey from 3 hives. We are both tired and medicated with lots of Motrin for our sore backs. Dan is laying on the couch with ice on his swollen bee stung ankles. Our garage, floor, door knobs and clothes are dripping with honey. And we still have more frames to remove from a hive. Are we having fun? You betcha! Will we do it next year? Yes. Will we add more hives----definately!!!