* YIKES, IT'S NOVEMBER *

As most people my age seem to say these days.....

Time is flying by way too fast.

I can't believe it's ________ ! (fill in the month)

Why can't time drag by, the way it did when we were kids?

I certainly say all those things and more. One of my favorites is:

Poster from the 1966 movie, "Stop the World. I Want to Get off."

Alas, that's not possible, and besides, if it WAS, where would I go?? I guess I'd just float around in space, and that would be awful. That wouldn't accomplish anything! So, I've learned to stop thinking (too much) about the passing of time, and just enjoy the Here and the Now as much as I possibly can.


Below are some photos I took about a week ago along the boardwalk where Vern and I go for our strolls. I'm so happy that I did, because the leaves were at their peak! Since then, it's been rainy and windy and the leaves are falling....and I love to walk through them, making crunching noises! Yes, I'm still a kid at heart!

* If you click on each photo, you'll see a much larger view.

"Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” - -  Lauren DeStefano, Wither

* A LITTLE BOOK NEWS *

Have you read any good books lately?

What are you reading now?

 

 

Although I still need to write reviews on my blog for two books I read recently: The Flying Circus, by Susan Crandall, and for Adventures of a Chilehead: A Mini-Memoir with Recipes, by Sharon Lippincott...I did leave reviews for them on Amazon. Loved them both!

I'm currently attempting to read a couple different books, which I've never been good at, especially if I'm really involved in one particular book! I'll have to decide which one to stick with for now, finish it, and then move on...

One of those books is due to having a fantastic day at Dollar Tree a week or so ago. If you're like me, you stop there for one or two particular items and end up spending more than a couple of dollars! I bought FIVE books and they all look like they'll be great reading material. I'll post more about them soon, including the titles and cover photos!

A couple of notes about my memoir, From Pigtails to Chin Hairs: A Memoir & More...

Have you heard of The Fussy Librarian? My memoir is currently highlighted on it: $3.99 for the Kindle edition.
http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/for-readers/books/size/25?GenreID=18&ContentTypeX1=1&ContentTypeX2=4&ContentTypeX3=8


I'm also having a Goodreads give-away which ends October 26 Please stop by and enter if you'd like to win one of four free paperback copies of my memoir. https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/157880-from-pigtails-to-chin-hairs-a-memoir-more 

* DO YOU LIKE TO READ IN THE BATH TUB? *

found on Google on various sites



I've never been able to understand how anyone can possibly read a book while soaking in a bath tub...and actually enjoy it! I tried it a time or two, always with unfavorable results. Maybe I should point out first that I don't even LIKE to take baths. I much prefer showers.

Even if you have a "book holder," what about turning pages? Aren't your fingers wet? And after you've been reading for a while, don't you want to get out of that lukewarm, or actually COLD water??

Call me nutty, but I just can't imagine that being a comfy, relaxing way to read.

SO, when I came across the above photo, I thought to myself, I've just GOT to find someone to make one of these for me! (and for it to NOT cost a fortune!) Since I'm so short, I'm sure I would fit nicely in it!

And it would be similar to a window seat which is something I've always wanted. I remember watching a TV show or movie, many years ago, as in my childhood, where a teenage girl lounged on a window seat cushion, eating a red apple, and reading a hardcover book! (yeah, that had quite an impact on me!) So, it was one of those material things I dreamed about and longed for that never happened.

Nowadays I have a daybed near a window and that would be such a close equivalent...but for now it's one of Vern's beds! Actually, when we moved into our condo, we placed the mattress directly on the carpet, so Vern could take just one step, and voila'. Previously, he'd have to get a running start and jump up onto the bed. So, it is HIS bed until the sad time arrives when it is no longer needed.

This was taken at the townhouse, when Vern was still able to jump up onto the bed.



What about you? Baths or showers?

Reading while in one or the other? J

 

Happy Monday, everyone! Have a beautiful, blissful, "autumnly" kind of week!

* YIKES - IT'S OCTOBER! *

Wasn't it just five or six days ago that I wrote about it being September 1st ?? As I've said before, sometimes I wish I could lasso the earth and slow it down...a lot! But, since I'm not Superman or Superwoman, I guess I'll have to skip along the treadmill of life with everyone else! (I don't jog...I skip! It's much more fun.)

So if life must rush along, then I'm glad it's autumn again...my favorite time of the year, and October is my favorite month for various reasons: birthdays, football season, the St. Louis Cardinals in the playoffs! J  Go Cards!

I just love this comic strip. I think it came out in 2012 because that's when I first posted it.
Thank you, Patrick McDonnell, creator of Mutts!

Below are some of my favorite quotes about autumn:

"Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, we have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!" - Humbert Wolfe

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot

 

"Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind. Their leaves are telling secrets...." -- Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration 

 

 

 

* I LOVE INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES *

Yes, I love inspirational quotes, and I've definitely been in need of some new, fabulous ones. I'm thrilled to have found Twyla Tharp and to share two quotes that really knocked me out this morning...in a really good way!

~~~

“When you're in a rut, you have to question everything except your ability to get out of it.” -

Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life


“I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things: the people you meet and the books you read.”  -

 Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life            

 

~~~

* DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST.....*

Due to my lack of interest in most everything at the moment...I have nothing to post.

P.S. I'm sorry I forgot to mention I disabled the comment thing.

* A HOME IS GONE, BUT NOT THE MEMORIES *

This is a photo of my Grandma Louise & Grandpa Harl Dorsey on the left, and my Great Aunt Grace & Great Uncle Albert Foster on the right. (Louise & Grace were sisters.) It was taken near the side of my grandparents' house in Greenfield, Iowa. I still love that small town, and visit it often, where I spent magical vacations as a little girl during the 1950s and early '60s.

Greenfield, Iowa - 1950s

It's the only photo I could quickly locate, but hopefully I'll come across a few more later. I'm so terribly sad and have actually shed some tears, because I learned this past Tuesday, Sept 8th, that it BURNED DOWN. (No cause known at this time.) It had been bought, and sold, and rented over the years, and was in pretty bad shape, but I'd always dreamed of having enough money someday to buy it and renovate it back to the beauty and charm it displayed all those years ago.

I wrote about these four lovely ancestors in several chapters of my memoir, "From Pigtails to Chin Hairs," and how much they meant to me. The following is the last paragraph in the chapter, "A Timeless Journey."

       The furniture, pictures on the walls, and old-fashioned knick-knacks were always the same: crocheted doilies here and there, roller shades on the windows, white sheets on the beds that smelled like sunshine, and Grandma’s quilt with the little, yellow sunbonnets on it. This was a place where time stood still—no matter how long between visits—and always surrounded me with feelings of love, comfort, and home.

The next time I visit Greenfield, I think it will be difficult to not drive along SW 2nd Street, the way I've always done before, looking for that familiar home, but I'm also sure it would be very depressing to see an empty lot. Only time will tell.

* IT'S THE 1ST OF SEPTEMBER *

Do you remember the song, "September" by Earth, Wind, & Fire?

I never could understand the lyrics in the chorus, and before the days of the internet I had no idea what they were actually singing...Turns out, I was singing along the same "words" that they were! Ba de ya! Who knew?!

I just love that song. It's so joyful to sing and dance to:

♪ Ba de ya, say do you remember
Ba de ya, dancing in September
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day ♪

Happy September!