Intentions – What will I do different in 2023?

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At the end of 2021, I wrote down 4 intentions – things I wanted to be different in 2022:

  • Releasing myself from some of my daily ‘metrics’

  • Look for the unique

  • Reverting to a cleaner/neater house

  • Moving to life closer to my daughter

The last one was the most finite and the only one to be marked ‘done in 2022.’ The others are continuing. I was least successful in releasing myself from the daily ‘metrics.’ It worked well for me to do a mid-year assessment of my intentions…so I’ll do the same in 2023. My intentions for 2023 are:

Reliably spend a week of each month supporting my parents in their home (Carrollton TX). My sisters and I are determined to keep them as comfortable and independent as possible…honoring their wishes.

Restart volunteering. The pandemic caused a pause in my volunteer activities. At this point, I have tentatively identified where I want to volunteer…am hopeful it will be as rewarding as my previous volunteer gigs.

Update and maintain my yard. Our first summer in Missouri we hired a yard service. In 2023 I will use my (new) electric mower and mow it myself. I will also begin my project to reduce the amount of grass by planting several native bushes (I am thinking Beautyberry, Oakleaf Hydrangea, and maybe Ninebark). I also will start some perennial beds…maybe a ruff of day lilies around the base of maples in the front of the house.

Make some birding/hiking road trips. We were so busy moving in 2022 that we didn’t do the usual ‘vacation’ travel that we did pre-pandemic. We probably won’t do any airplane travel…but our location in the Missouri is a great starting point for road trips. There is a lot of Missouri that is ‘new to us’ too. The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis will probably be part of one of the road trips.

Attain and maintain ‘normal’ weight. I am close…but a few pounds too heavy. I’ve got into the normal range during 2022 but didn’t maintain it.

Decorating for the Holidays – Part 2

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Once we made the decision to not have a tree this year (see part 1), there was only a little more decorating to do before we declared it ‘done.’

We hung a wreath on the door with a magnet hook (since it is a metal door). The hook worked very well and will be easy to take off when we don’t need it. This wreath worked well on our Maryland house, but its lights are not dense or bright enough to look good on our Missouri house with its covered porch. We opted to turn on the front porch light in the evenings and the wreath looks great.

I continued to add decorations to my office: a garland of silver bells around pinecones from the tree in our back yard, some red glittery swirls in a tall vase on the hearth, old Christmas cards attached to the frame of the fireplace with magnets, and a garland of red bells on the door to the outside!

Oranges!

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This time of year, I always look for (and usually find) a bag of organic oranges….and then proceed to use the whole fruit (peel and pulp)!

Usually, the first way I enjoy the oranges is to eat the pulp then process the skin in a small food processor and dry it to enjoy later.

This year I have already used some dried orange peel as an addition to the loose tea in the filter of the ‘coffee’ maker. My office smells of tea and citrus (and the flavor is good too). I can always use it as a seasoning in mulled cider or a stir fry…it’s not possible to have too much dried orange peel!

The recipe I like for cranberry orange relish uses the whole orange. I cut the ends off and any large areas of pith…but most of the orange is cut in chunks and put into the food processor along with cranberries and a little sugar. The relish is good on its own or combined with other things:

  • With tomatillo salsa and heated…used as a sauce for meatballs or stir fry

  • With some oil to make a dressing for salads…particularly for salads that include other fruit

  • In muffins

  • In soup

Cold or hot…cranberry relish is one of my favorite winter foods (I sometimes prolong the season by freezing cranberries and sometimes the cut up oranges as well)!

Oranges are one of the great flavors of winter!

Kittens! – Month 4

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Month 4 with our 3 kittens…..they are still kittenish but beginning to make cat noises…and always trying something new. Here’s my notes for what’s happened with the kittens over the past month.

Two of the kittens (Sooty and Puma) like the cat hammock that we kept from our first cat. It’s been in storage for almost 20 years because our next cats didn’t like it!

We tried putting up our Christmas tree…gave them time to adjust to it without ornaments. They climbed it, knocked off branches…then got sick. We opted to forego a tree completely this year even though we think now they were sick from something contagious that they all got and then recovered.

When they were sick, my husband let the kittens have the run of the 1st floor (except for our bedroom) during the night rather than sequestering them in their suite….and we’ve continued now that they’ve recovered – keeping the main bedroom and bathroom a kitten-free zone at night. We hear them at the door occasionally. I am the first one out and about in the mornings. I got my camera and photographed the kittens right after I emerged earlier this week: Pooky as in the hallway near a scratching pad, Sooty was comfortable in a pile of jackets my husband had left in a chair after the kittens knocked over the coat rack (damaging it a bit), and Puma was already waiting for my husband at the bedroom door.

It didn’t take long before all three were at the door…Pooky got nervous and retreated to the scratching pad. As soon as the door opened, they all streamed into the bedroom as if they had never been there before.

Sooty is the only one that likes the bathroom sink…and he doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone needing the sink.

When I was in Texas, I noticed some ‘space cats’ catnip toys. The cats will be getting them as part of their Christmas.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, week 1, week 2, month 1, month 2, month 3

Crocheting Again

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I learned to crochet early on, probably when I was about 10 years old. My grandfather taught me! He didn’t crochet himself, but he read the instructions and taught me the basics. I can remember the setting: on the couch in his living room as my grandmother looked on. It was several years after the accident that had caused one of his legs to be amputated; he wore a prosthesis (primitive by today’s standards). My memories of him before the accident are vague, but I remember his interest, attention, patience, and kindness to me and my sisters all the years afterward. As I’ve started up crocheting again…thinking about how I learned…I realize that I was the only grandchild that he saw all the way to adulthood.

I don’t remember anything I made early on…I picked up crocheting again when I travelled with Up with People my junior year of high school. There was a lot of time on the bus between shows. I made slippers to use for rehearsals (wore them out very quickly), a hat and scarf. The hat and scarf were dark blue to match one of the colors from the tweed coat I wore then. I still have them but haven’t worn them in a long time. I tried on the hat and discovered that the yarn had degraded somewhat…making it less stretchy, too tight to be comfortable.

I made crocheted stars for Christmas tree ornaments in white shortly after I married…and then in red more than a decade later.

In my early thirties and before I had my daughter, there was another burst of crochet activity. I made some yellow dollies. I don’t remember why I chose the color! Around the same time, I was still making my own blouses for work and crocheted ecru or white pieces to sew into the neckline. I remember being very pleased with the results and wish I’d saved the crocheted part when the blouse fabric wore out.

I also made three crocheted scarves in red and green (wore them together for Christmas then separately at other times) and variegated pink with black. I’m not sure when I made them…probably about 20 years ago since I remember wearing them during my career and I’ve been post-career for over a decade.

Now – I am crocheting again. My initial project is to make a series of cotton scarves to keep the sun off the scar on my neck so that I don’t need sunscreen all the time while the scar fades. So far, I have made ecru and black scarves…am working on a white one. Light green and turquoise crochet threads have been purchased! It feels good to be crocheting again and making something that fits my need (cotton, colors, length) exactly.

Another aspect that pleases me about this new crochet project is the wooden bowl that was given to me in the 1970s by a friend I’d known all my life. I hadn’t used it for salads since its finish was damaged, but it is the perfect size and shape to hold the thread and my project….and reminds me of the good experiences I had growing up with her.

Through all the years and projects – crocheting has been an activity that I can do some deep thinking while making an item I need. Maybe that’s why I restart crocheting all over again.

Colorful Outdoors Plants in December

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After the leaves have all fallen off the deciduous trees, plants that retain their color in the cold of December stand out against the background of browns and grays. Here are three of my favorites:

Kale lasts into the winter – particularly in protected area around houses.  The plants I photographed were in a location where frost covered the grass nearby…and the water droplets from an overnight rain were probably icy. I like the color transitions on the leaves…from the new leaves that are all purple/pink…the older ones with the purple/pink near the stem then the gray/green around the edges. The oldest leaves are all gray/green..

Conifers are the dominant greens of winter…and the cones that remain on the tree are interesting too. Is this a pattern from nature that we follow when we decorate our Christmas trees?

We have some hollies in our yard, but they are young enough that they don’t have a lot of berries. The hollies at my daughter’s house are large trees and are full of red berries. While the berries last, the tree displays Christmas colors! At some point there will be enough freeze/thaw cycles for the birds to decide they are edible – sometimes the berries disappear very quickly. Note that these hollies are varieties that don’t have the prickly leaves of the wild American Holly.

The joys of early winter….

Decorating for the Holidays – Part 1

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Decorating the house for December has been different this year. It’s our first season in our Missouri house (old decorations in a new situation) and keeping the kittens safe is causing us to reconsider some of our decorating.

I decided that the pinecone wreath one of my sisters made for me more than 20 years ago needed to be refurbished; it was beyond my skills, so I took it to Carrollton and my sister stabilized the cones with wire and hot glue. We opted for simplified additions beyond the pinecones; I bought a new bow, and she attached it. When I got it back home, I realized I didn’t have any place to hang it that would be safe from our 3 kittens (the glittery bow would be too tempting them to chew).

It’s now hanging in my office in the basement…a kitten-fee zone.

My daughter and son-in-law helped us set up the tree on Thanksgiving. We didn’t decorate it right away…waiting for the cats to get bored with it. The kittens never got bored with it…climbed up through the center of the tree dislodging some of the branches. We took the tree down after 6 days when it appeared that the kittens were nibbling on the white plastic.

On the plus side, the old Christmas cards are not drawing the kittens’ attention. I have giant scrunchies with cards on the pantry door, the door to the basement, my office door, and one of the upstairs bedrooms.

There are also cards (with magnets taped to their back) on the two metal doors in the house (the doors to the garage and front).

Since we’ve turned off the gas fireplace completely, I put cards around the metal frame of the upstairs fireplace as well.

There are still a few other places to put old Christmas cards. I am glad I collected cards over the past 30 years…realizing that there won’t be many new ones; few people send cards any more…including me.

We have a wreath that we’ll put on the front door. My husband bought a magnetic hook as soon as we realized the door was metal! More on our decorations in a week or so…..when we decide to declare them ‘done.’

Ten Little Celebrations – November 2022

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Ten little celebrations for November. Some of them weren’t so little: a 91st birthday, a grandnephew, and Thanksgiving. There was a lot of food involved too. Celebrating November foods is probably my favorite lead up to the crescendo in December and then the beginning of a new year.

A mini-pumpkin – perfect for 4 servings. My sister bought small pumpkins for a table centerpiece; we decided to cook one of them for lunch along with meatloaf. The oven was nicely full. I pricked the skin of the pumpkin before I put it in the oven since I was cooking it intact. After about an hour, I took it out of the oven, lifted the stem off, cut it into quarters, and took the seeds out from the center. Everyone sprinkled cinnamon and added butter to melt into the pulp. All that was left at the end of the meal was the skin! Yummy!

Cranberries. I like cranberries in just about everything: stir fry, sauces for meatballs (combined with tomatillo salsa), chopping as an addition to stuffing, sauteed with apples + butter + cinnamon + honey for dessert. I used to make cranberry relish on the stovetop because I enjoyed watching the cranberries pop as they cooked, but I don’t like the relish as much anymore (too sweet) so now I enjoy cranberries pooping in stir fry or when they are sauteed. I celebrate both their flavor and their color!

Getting 141 bulbs planted. It took multiple sessions in the yard…and I celebrated when they were all finally in the ground. I hope most of them survive the squirrels and bloom next spring!

Leaves – raked, blown, shredded. Mowing is adequate for the leaves at our house but not my daughter’s. She has very large trees and the leaves were thick enough to kill grass. She and I spent an afternoon focused on leaves…and celebrated our accomplishment! The weather cool and crisp for a traditional fall activity …. always helps get me in the mood for the beginning of the holiday season.

A 91st birthday. Both of my parents are 91 years old as of November. Our family celebrates these milestones…enjoying that we still have them with us.

A grandnephew. Celebrating a baby in our family…the 1st one in over 20 years…adds a another facet to our joy during the holidays.

Walnuts. Not sure why…but walnuts have become a favorite this year. I am celebrating all the ways I’ve found to add them into food I am preparing!

Ritter Springs and Neighborhood Ponds. Celebrating the crisp air outdoors…the color of leaves…the frost on the grass.

Thanksgiving. Celebrating a day to appreciate all the recent events of our lives…a prelude to the family events/gatherings of December.

Leftovers. It’s a treat to have great food in short order… prolongs the celebration. I ate too much on Thanksgiving…did better on the subsequent days and maybe enjoyed the food more.

Unique Aspects of Days – November 2022

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I had a hard time picking the top 10 unique aspects of my November days. There seemed to be a lot of firsts happening during the month!

New electric lawn mower. I made a few turns around the yard with my early Christmas present before our yard crew showed up. Next year I will be doing the yard. I will probably do some spot mowing on a warmer afternoon as soon as all the leaves are off the trees – mulch the leaves into the grass for the winter). What a luxury to have clean air (i.e. no gasoline motor fumes) while I mow!

Cooking a big pumpkin. I’ve always bought pumpkins small enough to fit in my oven previously but the one this year was a left over from my son-in-law’s pumpkin carving event and it was large. I had to cut it in half and then cook each piece separately! I baked and made soup with some of the puree but most of it went into the freezer.

A gaggle of Greater White-fronted Geese. The group was migrating through Hagerman on the day that I stopped on my way down to Carrollton. It was my first time seeing this species.

Pumpkin Custard Quiche. I used some of the pumpkin puree from the large pumpkin to experiment with a high protein dessert/breakfast. I used 2 cups of puree, 8 eggs, pumpkin pie spices, sugar, milk, 8 ounces of Swiss cheese and walnuts on top. Each of the 6 servings were about 21 grams of protein….and my parents ate their whole serving! This is an experiment that will likely become a favorite recipe.

1st snow at our Missouri home. It happened while I was in Carrollton, but I enjoyed it vicariously through pictures my husband sent.

2 Bald Eagles soaring above the highway in Oklahoma. What a great sight driving home from Texas. One was an adult and the other a juvenile. No fighting….just graceful flying back and forth above the highway.

Learning to use a blower to create a pile of leaves. I’m very adept making leaf piles with a rake…but was overwhelmed with the leaves in my daughter’s front yard. She had a new battery powered blower. There was a trial-and-error period but then I managed to move leaves around trees and under bushes…and into piles for her to vacuum up with the mulcher. I depleted 2 batteries (good thing she had 3 that worked with the blower).

Rice Pudding Quiche. After the success of the pumpkin custard quiche – my next experiment was with rice pudding. I used the small carton of rice left over after having Chinese takeout to make rice pudding (with milk, eggs, raisins, drizzle of molasses) with Swiss Cheese (making it more quiche like). Next time I will use a bit more milk since it was a little too dense…but it was still tasty (I drizzled some honey over it to make it sweeter). It’s a good way to use up rice!

Cranberry and tomatillo salsa sauce for Impossible Burger meatballs. Our appetizers for Thanksgiving were Impossible Burger meatballs (purchased frozen…heated in oven). I had barbeque sauce and marinara for dipping…then made a third sauce with chopped cranberries (heated in microwave) and tomatillo salsa. All the sauces were warmed just before we tried them. Everyone agreed that the cranberry and tomatillo salsa was a great flavor with the meatballs – and it looked festive too.

Experimenting with Christmas tree decorations. The kittens are changing our thinking about decorating this year. We put our artificial tree up in the center of our living room using an outdoor umbrella stand for the base (to keep them from knocking over the tree). Right now, we are letting them get bored with the tree, but they’ve managed to dislodge lower and middle branches (they climb up around the center of the tree). We don’t want to use hooks to attach ornaments. I experimented putting Beanie babies on the branches and the kittens knocked them all off as they move around the inside of the tree. So – a series of unique experiences that isn’t over yet!

Happy Thanksgiving 2022!

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We are at home for Thanksgiving. Our daughter and son-in-law are coming for the midday feast. I started cooking on Wednesday – making rice pudding and pumpkin custard (pecans on top) for the desserts. I hadn’t planned the rice pudding originally, but we had leftover rice from Chinese takeout…and I decided making pudding was a good way to use it! It was a full oven!

The appetizer this year is Impossible Burger meatballs (with a variety of sauces). This is a first – an experiment to see if they are good enough to be one of the “heavy hors d’oeuvres” for my parents’ 70th wedding anniversary later in the year.

The meal with be brisket (our tradition since my husband does not like turkey), sage dressing with added cranberries, Waldorf salad (apples, celery, raisins, walnuts).

There will be mulled cider – to drink and to make the whole house smell wonderful.

I made a mosaic of Zentangle tiles under a clear plastic mat for the center of the table.

There is so much to be thankful for this year….some of the ones I think of immediately are below but there are so many more. 2022 has been a good year.

  • The addition of a grandnephew to our extended family…the first baby in over 20 years

  • My elderly parents enjoying some recent changes we made to their garden room and the flower bed just outside --- their health and well-being

  • Adding more face to face activities with our daughter now that we are living in Missouir

  • Realizing that we successfully made a long-distance move…enjoying our new house…home

  • The waning of the pandemic…and our improved understanding of mask wearing for avoid respiratory infections

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the flurry of celebrations for our family: my birthday, my parents’ 70th wedding anniversary, Christmas, New Years, our 50th wedding anniversary….a lot to look forward too!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

First Snow in Missouri

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I missed our first snow at our Missouri home (we moved there in June) last week since I was in Carrollton TX. My husband sent pictures, so I enjoyed the event vicariously! We were a little surprised that snow happened so early in the season.

I am consciously noting the differences between the seasons in Missouri and Maryland during our first year living in Missouri. The summer here was much drier in Missouri than I ever experienced in Maryland – at least this past summer. And then the fall in Missouri happened very abruptly in October with two nights of temperatures in the low twenties. Some leaves didn’t turn before they fell off the trees! It was very different than the falls in Maryland that happened more gradually….or maybe this was just a different fall for Missouri too. In recent years, we didn’t get snow in Maryland until December although in the 1980s there were some notable snows (the one I remember the most was in 1989 at Thanksgiving…my daughter’s first snow).

Bulb Planting

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I planted 141 bulbs in the back yard of my Missouri house in the 1st weeks of November: 16 iris, 20 allium, 30 hyacinth, 35 crocus, and 40 daffodils.

It was a harder job than I anticipated:

There is thick black cloth under the rocks in the defined beds near the house. I only planted a few bulbs there – in the area where a small cedar had died (I took it out, cut the black cloth, and planted the bulbs!

The areas under the pines were a good place for a few bulbs but I only planted on the sides that would get at least some sun during the day. It turned out to be not a very large area and I discovered there were more rocks in the grassy parts of the yard than I expected. My bulb planter broke partially under the strain.

There was one area that I particularly wanted to plant….near one of the windows I look through while I am at my computer. The soil was rocky there too. I opted to use the shovel to dig trenches then plant a mixture of bulbs. That worked well but it took me two days since my back bothered me – the contortion of digging and planting made it hard to keep my back aligned; I shortened my work times and the weather cooperated…got the job done.

I had thought when I started the project that I would plant some of the bulbs around the trees in the front yard…or the beds close to the house. But the defined beds have rocks over black cloth the same as the ones in back and the area around the trees is very hard. My alternative plan is to put a significant layer of mulch around the trees in early spring and then plant day lilies to make a ruff around the base of the trees like I had in Maryland. I don’t want to bump the tree trunks with the lawn mower or have to use the weed eater around them either.

I got a little sidetracked when I was looking for places to plant bulbs in the front yard: a very tall dandelion puff near the mailbox

And some Virginia Creeper than was protected by the bushes in one of the front beds….the red leaves looked very festive.

It feels great to have at least the fall bulb planting part of my plan for the yard completed!

Cooking a Big Pumpkin

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One of the 10 pumpkins my daughter and son-in-law bought for their pumpkin carving event was not used.

My daughter volunteered to bring it over for me to use as decoration for Thanksgiving or to cook; I decided to cook it. I had cooked smaller pumpkins whole…but this one was too big to fit in the oven. I cut it in half.

I scooped out the seeds and put the bottom half in a large pan.

After cooking, it for 1.5 hours at 350 degrees (the top half was covered with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator to cook another day), it was soft enough that the pulp could be easily scrapped off the skin.

I filled two of my larger Pyrex containers with it and planned to use some in recipes the next day.

The next morning - I processed the pulp into puree in the food processor. It was a good color…more a yellow orange than a deep orange.

I made 3 recipes and used about 3 cups of the puree: pumpkin oatmeal muffins, pumpkin quiche, and pumpkin peanut powder soup.

I froze 2 cups of the puree, and another two cups is in the refrigerator. I’ll make a pumpkin custard with the refrigerator portion….and then I will cook the top of the big pumpkin. I am going trying a lot of pumpkin recipes over the next couple of months!

Our Missouri Yard – November 2022

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When I arrived home from my late October trip to Carrollton, TX, one of the red maples in our front yard had already dropped its leaves and the wind had blown them away. The other tree still held a few leaves but most of them were on the grass. The arrangements of the leaves on the grass were more interesting than the scraggly ones still on the tree!

I took pictures of the pokeweed fruits (the plants were in inconspicuous places in my back yard so I had let them grow). The fruits that were ripe before the frost (purple, rounded, and plump) are probably still edible by the birds but the immature fruits probably will not be eaten; I am leaving the plants with their wilted leaves standing…to see if that is what happens.

The roses that were blooming before the frost still had some color…although the draped petals are fading and brittle. The new leaves are red before they turn green, and they seem to have survived the frost just fine.

I’m looking forward to the changes coming as the days shorten and the weather is colder!

Kittens! – Month 3

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Month 3 included a big milestone for our 3 kittens: they handled minor surgery well; Sooty (the male) was neutered and Puma and Pooky (the females) were spayed. They were a little less active for a few days after the surgery but resumed their more boisterous activities within a few days. We had our big cat tree turned on its side and put away the wand toys that encourage jumping until the females got their stitches out a week after the surgery. All three had their claws trimmed before their surgery; that might have discombobulated them more than then surgery…they couldn’t grab onto carpet as they raced around the house or their scratching posts (or things they are not supposed to grab onto!).

My husband is still enticing them into their suite for the night with a late evening snack. Restricting their access to 2 rooms has helped keep the odd thumps in the night to a minimum. They adjusted to the time change without incident although my husband updated a lamp in their suite that was on a timer to not change to new time which might have helped.

Sooty (the male) is still the largest of the three. He is the only one that likes the cat bed that my daughter gave us since her cat didn’t use it.

They all like to sit (sometimes nap) in upholstered chairs – usually one at a time rather than sleeping in a cuddled group as they did when they were younger. Pooky is shown in an old rocker recliner. She is the only one with different colored digital pads.

Pooky and Puma weigh the same…but Puma looks bigger because her fur stands out more.

Puma might have the loudest purr; I hear her more often than I do the others.

I am trying to train all three kittens to not jump onto the kitchen counters. I have a magazine that I used a few times to gently nudge them off….and usually now I simply pick up the magazine and they exit the counter. They still seem to enjoy watching the action in the kitchen from the back of the couch!

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2022

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Ten little celebrations for October 2022 – selected from the ones I logged throughout the month. About half the little celebrations are from my trip to London, Ontario!

Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory. Our only sight-seeing stop on our road trip to London, Ontario was at a conservatory. It was just right – interesting for botanical photography and history….close to our route…and the weather was perfect. I celebrated that the stop was a great as I expected it to be!

French cheesecake. I celebrated that it tasted as good as it looked (and the Lactaid tablet enabled me to avoid a tummy ache).

Harvest festival (outdoor and indoor music at Covent Garden Market). A crisp fall day…an outdoor picnic court decorated with winter squashes…country music ---- then indoor for a salad at a bistro table on a balony above the market shops and music from a strings duo. Celebrating fall with my daughter!

The fall color in the first 2 hours of our drive (the Canadian part). The very first hours of our drive toward home from London, Ontario were the best fall foliage of the trip: maples and sumac were at their peak redness in the morning sunshine. Another celebration of the season!

Being home again. Returning from more than a week away….always brings a celebration of home….appreciating where I live.

A sunny day at home. We had two very cold days – but they were sunny. I celebrated the sun streaming in the windows…realized there were certain times of the morning that the sun shines onto my hands on my computer keyboard if the blinds are raised --- vowed to enjoy that as many mornings as possible this coming winter (and celebrate how great my Missouri house is!)

Finding a large bag of daffodil bulbs. The first place I looked for bulbs only had small bags….so I celebrated when I found one with 40 (and many of them were doubles). I am planting them in flowerbeds and around trees in our Missouri yard.

Haircut (short and neat). Celebrating my first haircut in Missouri…I should have done it earlier.

My new floaters are evidently not anything serious….probably just some normal aging. I had a scary experience --- noticing a flurry of new floaters in one eye and some of them seemem to be very bright. They were already reduced by the time I got to an eye doctor a day later…and he confirmed (after some testing) that they were probably normal and would continue to decline. I celebrated that they were not caused by some serious eye problem.

So many good books. I appreciate the online sources of books – particularly Internet Archive. This October it seems like every time I finish a book – or a series of books – there is another one that is just as interesting. I celebrate the ‘stacks’ in virtual libraries that are so huge they would not ever fit on a night stand or even in my house (much less be affordable to purchase). There is always something on hand to read these days!

Zooming – October 2022

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17 images in the zoom slideshow for October 2022. They are from Carrollton TX, Detroit MI, London ON, and Nixa, MO…maybe more locations than any month since before the COVID-19 pandemic!

October is a transition month with leaves beginning to turn colors and fall…more to come of that into November.  For now – enjoy some late blooming flowers and animals active on warmer days.

Our Missouri Yard – October 2022

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We had two mornings with temperatures in the 20s last week after I took some pictures of the yard. The frost didn’t seem to impact the oak or river birch in our neighbor’s yard very much.

The rose petals are all limp now, but the leaves are unchanged. Some of the buds might still open now that we are going to have at least 10 days of temperatures well above freezing.

The pokeweed flowers and berries survived very well but the leaves or limp. The berries that are already ripened will probably be eaten by birds, but the immature fruits are probably not going to develop further.

The oxalis triangularis that is growing on the east side of our house survived the frost unscathed! Maybe it benefited from being close to the brick wall of the house and getting sun first thing in the morning when the temperature was the coldest.

Now that is it warmed up again – I am planting bulbs: daffodils, hyacinths, allium, and crocus. The previous owner put landscaping fabric then rocks in the flower beds, so the task is very difficult. I removed a small cedar that had died and planted bulbs in the space – filling in the bigger hole I made in the black fabric with cedar mulch and rocks. Over time, there might be more and more of that…until there is not as much of the black fabric in the beds.  I am probably going to plant the rest of the crocus in the lawn since they will come up and bloom before the grass would need to be mowed!

Our New Neighborhood – October 2022

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It’s our first fall in Nixa, Missouri. The trees around the ponds in our neighborhood are full of fall color although they may be more muted than some years because of the dry summer we had. Still – there are plenty of reds and yellows that have been added to the greens still left from summer.

I am glad that there are maples around that are as brilliant as the ones we left behind in Maryland. My favorite time is when the tree has a lot of different colors!

At the edges of the ponds, I noticed some honey suckle blooming…and seed pods.

In the water there were two different turtles. Ones was a red-eared slider.

But I’m not sure what the other one was. It was larger than the red-eared slider…had very different markings and shell. Too bad I didn’t get better pictures. It’s good to know that there are at least 2 kinds of turtles in our neighborhood!

Kittens! – Month 2

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The second month with our 3 kittens has continued the small adventures within our household.

The kittens had their first visit to the vet…which confirmed our suspicion that Puma was a female rather than the male her foster family had thought. The kittens took the visit in stride, traveling together in a large cat carrier and not being too traumatized by their first shots. They will have more shots in the coming month and are scheduled for surgery in early December (we don’t want more kittens!).

Their favorite toys often have dangling (snake like?) parts….like my husband’s shoes. They are hard on feathers (note the white fluff on the blue rug from the toy Pooky is clawing and knowing). My husband is on the hunt for toys that are more durable than feathers.

They are big enough to not generally sleep in a pile like they did when we first got them. They often are in the same room for their naps though. In the picture below Puma is in the blue chair, Pooky is in the box and Sooty is curled up in the gold chair. Note that my husband still leave things precariously perched on the end table….when the kittens play chase through the room, those items often end up in the floor!

The cats like high perches for both play and sleep. The cat tree is still popular (and shedding carpet fibers from their antics). Puma likes the bar stool in the big bathroom. She has to endure Pooky grabbing for her tail….but the height makes it worth the hassle.

All the cats seem to like being on top of the suitcase. I must always keep it zipped!

The unique aspects that we’re noticing at the end of the second month are:

  • Puma leaps the highest.

  • Pooky is the most vocal and will stay cuddled in a lap the longest.

  • Sooty is the biggest and can be the bully…maybe he’s feeling the pressure of being the only male. On the flip side, he enjoys being picked up more than the other kittens.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, week 1, week 2, month 1