It's Halloween

I did carve a jack-o-lantern but it still didn't feel much like Halloween. I don't get trick-or-treat kids at my home, so I have no excuse to buy bags of chocolate, no cute little ones or obnoxious teenagers at my door either. Actually I had grown weary of trick-or-treat especially when I was taking classes and trying to study in the evenings, but I do miss the chocolate. My poor pathetic jack-o-lantern got moldy inside thanks to the wet October. It started out as a good pumpkin, home grown by Dale and I did enjoy the carving and the glow on my patio. It's had a good life and I saved the seeds to plant in the spring.
Happy Halloween!

River Trip

Saturday turned out to be a sunny fall day so Dale and I decided that it would be a good day for a road trip. We had a couple of ideas but were not sure how far we would go. It was a good road trip and we ended up at the Mississippi River in the far southeast corner of Iowa. We had not been to this area together before so that means we found several county seats and Dale photographed the courthouses. We even visited the one county that has two courthouses, Lee County. That's the reason that there are 99 counties but 100 courthouses.

Burlington is the home of Snake Alley, known as the crookedest street in the world. It's on the list of 100 places in Iowa to visit, so we found it, walked on it, drove down it and photographed it from both ends.

On the way home we realized we were very close to another destination on our list of 100 places. It was dark when we drove through Columbus Junction but decided to check out their swinging bridge while we were there. The bridge is actually very cool and quite long. It's in a wooded residential area and there was some light so Dale and I braved the dark to walk on the bridge. It did sway lots as we intentionally moved side to side. We were out there in the dark, laughing and coughing since we have both recently had colds. When we got off the bridge and headed to the car, I realized that I had "sea legs" then felt dizzy! I felt fine on the bridge but felt queasy as we walked carefully to the car. I am glad that we took the time and ventured into the dark. It was a fun find. Maybe we will go back again in the daylight sometime.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread may be considered a family tradition for some of us. I think I first made pumpkin bread when I was a teenager and got the recipe from my mom. I made it for my kids. Jay and Ashley both liked it. It then became a Thanksgiving food at my house. My nieces and nephews seemed to look forward to it and I would have to make more loaves each year. When Jake was just a preschooler he asked if we could make "brown bread" together. I used to send an extra loaf home for Jeff after he got older because he liked it so much. I made the batter into mini muffins for Ashley when she was at ISU and I once mailed a loaf to Jay when he was at NIACC. On a cool fall day baking pumpkin bread makes the house smell great and makes me feel quite nostalgic.

Ledges State Park

Last Sunday Dale and I drove to Ledges State Park to enjoy October and fall foliage. The skies were grey and it was chilly, not the usual weather for our October outings. The leaves did have some vivid colors but there were also lots of green leaves falling to the ground after the freeze that weekend. The colors are not as brilliant this year but we still enjoyed out time in the park. I always love being in the woods and October is the best! We did not make it over to the Mississippi River this year but we will do that again soon.

Annual Convention Visit

Every fall I look forward to the Iowa architecture convention. I don't attend, but Ashley does and that means that I get to spend time with her during the work week. She came to Des Moines on Wednesday evening and left on Friday afternoon. We cooked together, hung out and relaxed after our work days. I got to look at some of her photography and she got to watch me knit. It seems silly but it is so fun to say good-night and good-morning. I loved picking her up at her conference and heading home from work together. It was a treat!

Chili Season

I do have a seasonal appetite for a few things and it is now officially chili season for me. Saturday after we got an inch of snow then sat though a chilly afternoon college football game, it was time for chili. I made sure that there would be leftovers for Sunday too. Several years ago my friend, Linda suggested baked potatoes as a good home for leftover chili and she was right! As the chili cooked on Saturday my mind was moving ahead to Sunday and leftover chili. I baked a couple of potatoes and diced some green onion and the pathetic little tiny tomatoes I got from my garden. Shredded cheese and sour cream added some extra calories and flavor. For me Sunday dinner was even better than the Saturday chili.

Autumn Color

I love taking an October road trip to enjoy Autumn color. We talked about going to the Mississippi River for the weekend but decided to stay closer to home because of the weather forecast. It was cloudy much of the weekend and we did get over an inch of snow on Saturday so it was probably a good choice to stay closer to home. Sunday we took a short trip to Ledges State Park and took our cameras. I will post more photos soon.

Drake Bulldogs Win

Saturday after the snow melted Dale and I decided to brave the cold at Drake Stadium. I took two blankets and wore my winter coat, mittens and scarf to watch the football game. It actually was quite comfortable even though it was about thirty-nine degrees. It was Drake homecoming and the Bulldogs won easily. Dale takes lots of photos and I borrowed his camera and big lens to take a few of my own. I like the action shot, especially the player who is faking on the right. I am often faked out in this situation and watch the wrong players until I realize that the football is moving the opposite direction. Oh well, I still enjoy a football game.

Fall Garden Clean-up

Three days before the first freeze and snowfall it was a sunny seventy degree afternoon. I decided that it would be a good time to do some garden clean up and enjoy the sunshine. I left work a little early, put on some jeans and started to pull up the flowers that were still blooming. I knew that they would freeze in a couple of days and it would be less fun to deal with wilted dead plants. I enjoyed the chore and all the colors so I got my camera out to play around with my manual settings. I think I may be getting better at it and I know that I am learning more about how it all works!

Our Fall Harvest

Dale picked these pumpkins in his yard on Friday night. This Spring I brought him a couple of packets of seeds. One filled with pumpkin seeds and the other was giant sunflowers. It was my contribution to his "sunken garden." It was a huge success. It was fun to watch the progress all summer. The growth brought back memories of growing these crops with Jay and Ashley when they were little. The harvest was always fun for show-and-tell. I remember Jay getting on a school bus with a sunflower, stem and all that was much taller than he was.
Dale got three giant sunflowers this summer that were well over six foot tall. There are more green pumpkins in the garden but these were ripe and ready to go. I look forward to carving jack-o-lanterns and roasting pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in the near future.

Snow on October Tenth!

Although it was forecasted it was still an exciting surprise to see a good amount of snow when I woke up this morning. The fall colors are beautiful and the snow adds a gorgeous glitter! It's like the best of fall and winter combined in one day.



Of course I do expect that this will melt and we will have more gorgeous fall weather with beautiful colors and sweatshirt temperatures. For today I will dress in layers and bring mittens and blankets when we head to the Drake Football game later.

Knitting Big

This is my biggest knitting project ever! I have made prayer shawls with three skeins of yarn but this new project should require about fifteen skeins and uses smaller knitting needles. I am making a blanket for Ashley to use for her newborn baby shoots. She wanted a knitted texture in a neutral color. I love the idea of helping her with the photography so I decided to tackle the project. The plan is for the finished project to be about a sixty inch square. It's taking me about 16 minutes a row and I have about 14 inches done. I have started the fourth skein. Although I have six more, I am still searching for more in the right dye lot. It's going to take weeks (and weeks) but it's still fun. Now I wonder how I will find time to finish the quilted Christmas tree skirts that Ashley and I started in January!

Home on the Range

Dale and I have spent the last couple of weekends pretty close to home. We hung out at his house or mine after dealing with my car repairs and my dying refrigerator. Yes, after I had dried my tears over the car problems and paid the bill, I came home to find that freezer was no longer working at my house. When the repair man arrived a couple of days later he pronounce it "not worth fixing!" It was less than ten years old but giving out quickly. So this weekend Dale and I got to move appliances together for the first time. It went smoothly but I am still sad about my refrigerator. I really did like it.

So what does that have to do with buffalo? Not much but we did leave the city for a while this Saturday. After watching the Drake Bulldogs win a football game we headed to Prairie City which is just a short drive east. First we went to check out the newly named "Best Tenderloin in Iowa" at Goldie's Ice Cream Shop. I think that the Iowa Pork Producers chose well. It was a great tenderloin and a wonderful small town establishment. Since we were so close to the Neil Smith Wildlife Refuge we took a drive out to see the buffalo herd. We have been out there many times but this was the first time that I saw the buffalo so close to the car. It was sunset and the colors of the prairie grasses were beautiful. The animals are huge and it was amazing to see them up close. I just love Saturday!