Second Look--October 19, 2011

This week during a Second Look, I focused on the few flowers that are still blooming. Most of these kinds you've seen before; however, you are going to see a few of the late bloomers among them. Also, even though big pots of mums have been in the stores for weeks, this is the first week of them blooming in my yard.  I also found the pleasant surprise of a few violets peaking through the grass and leaves. They bloom primarily in the spring.

Here's what I saw.

Balloon flowers, Platycodon

Zinnia

Mum

Fleabane

Violet

The ever faithful marigold.

Sedum, Autumn Joy

Blanket Flower, Gaillardia

Mushroom

Ponderings from Theodore--The Early Years

Theodore has always been a thinker--meaning long after I have moved on from a subject, he is still pondering it. Occasionally, we are going to visit some of his questions and observations from his earlier years. Some are serious and others are humorous.

 

Policies 

Theodore approached me one evening, when he was eight, 

with the following idea.

“I think we should have a family goal for each month. For this month, I think it would be good for us to have no more electronic entertainment such as TV, computer, and video games.” 

He then went to the next room, turned on the TV, and started watching cartoons. I came into the room and asked what happened to his new plan. He looked at me and said, “Well, you know, it's not policy until it's in writing.

Food Waste Friday--October 14, 2011

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.   

Here it goes for this week. 

 Forgotten Good Intentions

We did pretty well with our every day waste, so I decided that it's time to start cleaning out the cupboards. I got rid of anything that is at least a year past its expiration date. From my first two shelves, I found several unrealized recipes. The instant tea was going to go into a tea mix for gifts, the crushed pineapple was going to make a relish for the holidays, and the evaporated milk was going to be used for making holiday fudge. Somehow, the bread crumbs just got missed. So as you can surmise, last Christmas, and maybe the one before judging by the dates on the cans, was not quite as tasty as I had planned.

But, this is a new year and hope springs eternal for very tasty holidays.

Second Look--October 12, 2011

This week during a Second Look, I continue to see changes. See what I found.

The farm behind me has added some new cattle

There seems to be a different looking mushroom every week.

Oak tree leaves that are starting to turn red instead of straight to brown.

Wild cherry tree that is starting to change.

Sweet gum tree that is in its peak of color.

Notice how this maple tree started losing its leaves from the top.

Like the leaves, the squirrel is getting redder this fall.

Silly Dreams

I don't know about you, but my dreams can rarely be explained after I wake up. In my dreams, scenes morph into other scenes, but the same people are there doing the same things until they turn into other people but are playing the same role in the dream. In other words, they make no sense when explained in the light of day. Occasionally, I will have a theme that continues through each dream even when they are distinctly different dreams. I had one of those last night. Throughout the night, I was given an assignment to write a poem. My attempts at this kept getting interrupted, so I guess the need to pick it up again in the next dream. By the end of the night my poem was completed and this is the silly ditty that was going through my head when I woke up.

Dishes

Dishes, dishes how are you

Dishes, dishes what cha gonna do?

Dishes everywhere on the floor

Dishes spilling out the door

Wash them, rinse them, dry them too

But wait, they're paper, silly you.

 

(By the way, I don't try to analyze my dreams. If they really mean something, I don't think I want to know what that is.)