Bittersweet

I admit I was envious of dear Lynne's secret patch of bittersweet.  Every year Lynne and pal Barb would post photos of gloriously abundant cuttings of wild bittersweet vine.  Finally, my own vine is producing it's own gloriously abundant cuttings.  I decided to try and make a couple of wreaths.  First I cut the vines and tried to wind them into a wreath.  Not as easy as it sounds, it's like wrestling the vines.  Then I let them dry, which in this humid weather we've been having was not working that well.

 This is the little wreath we got from all that vine...mostly leaves.

 But, isn't she lovely?  Thrilled to have my own vines!

 The berries are green on the vine but pop open and turn orange.

 My assistant :-) pitched in. (the things he does for love!)

 The only bad part, the earwigs that seem to hop out at you, yuck!

 Two beautiful *autumn icons, from my very own vine! (*That is if you've loved Country Living Magazine for years and years!)

 Did a little decorating for the season...

Does anything not look better under a cloche? A fallen branch of oak leaves and some old books bound with an old leather belt.

 Burlap leaves...

Happy Dance!

 This is the pillow that Amanda, Mikey's girlfriend made for me.  She is just learning to sew.  She choose such a beautiful fabric, and did a great job.  Thanks sweetie.

And so it goes, Summer into Autumn.

On a bittersweet note, we missed Charlotte's Grandmother's funeral because of car trouble.  We got onto the tollway headed to Indiana with our frequently repaired vehicle, and it was great for the first hour. Then, the truck started to make these awful noises.  We had to get off the highway and take the long way to get home. We missed being able to share in Charlotte's family's celebration of Grandma Charlotte's wonderful and full life. Our love to you Charlotte and to your family.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope your week is filled with happiness.  Enjoy this beautiful day.

Can we have a little traveling music?

We did a little traveling.  Kris, Doug and Penny were going out east to visit family and on their way home were going to stop and visit Mike and Amanda in Ohio.  Mike's days off are rare, so we hatched a plan to surprise Mike with a quick visit too.  We got up at 4am and hit the road.  I see many sunsets but it's rare to see the sunrise.  It was beautiful and a wonderful start to the day....

 until a few of these clouds started raining on us.

 but even that wasn't bad.  We did get stopped by a Ohio State Trooper, but thankfully we got off with just a warning.  See I really had to...let's be grownups, pee pee ;-)  "Leadfoot", aka my sweetie wanted to get me to the rest stop ASAP.  They are about 50 miles apart on the Ohio turnpike.  Anyway, the kind State Trooper probably looked at my advanced age and had sympathy for me, (maybe he has a mother with a small bladder ;-) he warned my hubby to slow down and stay safe and that the rest stop was one mile ahead. We could not have been more grateful and said a prayer for the trooper's safety.  What a difficult job, walking up to the window of a car and not knowing what you'll find.

Well, the surprise was a great one, Mike had that same look I had when he surprised me... and now we are even. We arranged for Kris to tell Mike that they would be there at noon, so we had time for lunch together and lots of hugs!

 These two are very sweet together. Amanda is learning to sew and made me a pretty pillow. It's really dark here this morning so I'll make sure to show it in another post.

 We headed to a beautiful park along Lake Erie.

Five minutes after this photo they cleared the water because of a rip tide.  You could see the water moving in a parallel motion to the shore.

 SO great to see our baby boy.

 Lake Erie is surprising beautiful, Lake Michigan snob that I am.

 Actually Ohio overall is quite picturesque.

 So sweet to have a quiet moment.

Henry

The fun really started when a small girl showed up at Uncle Mikey's.  We didn't tell Penny that Grandma and Grandpa would be there too.  Penny came in all excited about meeting the cats,  Henry, Luna and Oden. I hid around the corner and as Penny looked for another cat, Grandma meowed.  Our babygrand was so happy to see me, jumped into my arms and hugged me tight. Sigh.

We stayed at the same hotel for the night and for the first time our little one hit the water.  Literally, in fact. She earned a new nickname, Cannonball! Grandma even got into the water.  Like Penny always says, girls just wanna have fun!

Mike and Amanda, Kris, Doug and Penny all ended up in our room for pizza.. It was almost perfect until I face timed Jon and Charlotte, then I was happy.  For a few minutes we were all together joking and laughing. Family.  Doesn't get much better than this.

On Monday we had a little Labor Day barbecue.  The cousins came and made Penny very happy.  Penny hugged her cousin  and said, " I've missed you so much!"  They pretended and ran and watched Frozen and built a nest with all the couch cushions.  Jonathan manned the grill while I took care of the food inside.  We had the best sweet corn and a near perfect watermelon.  The best of the summer.  A nice visit with my bro Greg and SIL Elizabeth. The only problem we had all evening was trying to get the girls to leave. TEN MORE MINUTES, each one took a turn asking for more time together.

On a sad note, our Charlotte lost her dear Grandmother Charlotte last week.  She was a amazing woman who lived a wonderful life.  She was 96 years old and just recently slowed down.  What a blessing to have had such a remarkable Grandmother.  She leaves behind a wonderful family and a amazing Granddaughter to carry her name.  We all love you Charlotte and Jon.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind comments.  Enjoy this beautiful day!

Try to Remember

I promised to show you my awesome thrifted treasures.  I went with my sweetie to a sale at the local thrift, bring a friend and everything is 50% off.  Since everything is usually so reasonably priced already, I really got some bargains.  Everything you see in these two photos was less than $21.00 total!  Two Yankee Candle jars,(A large candlejar in the store is about $23.00!) a Smith and Hawken Herb growing set, two ceramic measuring cup sets and a beautiful  lantern from Pier One.  All these items were brand new! (Tis the season to stock up on little gifts)

There are six Mexican style bubble glass glasses, just love their green coke bottle color. A terrific rose laden vintage tablecloth and several yards of what I think is a woven linen type fabric from Russia, it still had tags on it.  It will be perfect for dishtowels.  I was nearly giddy as I filled our cart.  This is more than I've spent at the thrift in a very long time.  Happy dance!

We went back to the apple orchard and we still were a bit premature.  There were only two varieties of apples and no pumpkins or gourds.  There were the most heavenly apple cider donuts.  Just a bite and nirvana.  I don't think I ever tasted anything so perfectly delicious.  Just warm from the fryer rolled in cinnamon sugar...let me tell you, it was sooo good.

 Two crazy  kids in love! (bliss... and this is before the donuts ;-)

We were dazzled by the many displays and many tasty offerings.  We ended up with a few things in out basket, corn salsa and raspberry salsa to name a couple.  I forgot to mention this is Edward's Orchard in Poplar Grove, IL. So worth the drive and it's such a pretty area.

Try to remember the kind of September where life was slow and oh so mellow... The first of September!
I woke up with this song in my head.  It's from a 1960's musical and I sang it in Glee Club in the seventies.
So many times I wake up to a song, not knowing how or why it came to mind. It could have been many songs today...September seems to have it's share of great songs.  There's also the September Song, a moody, slow and sad song I remember sung best by Sinatra... Oh it's a long long while, from May to December.  But the days grow short, When you reach September... How about the Happenings...See you in September, see you, when the summer's through... September is worth a song, as the days cool and the harvest comes in.  I'll miss the long long days of summer, but September is when I start to shine. Being home, entertaining family and friends. Cooking, baking, sewing, snuggling...count me in!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Enjoy this beautiful day!

A Little Bit of This and That...

 So sad when you come the day before the apple orchard is open...

Such a beautiful place. Don't worry, we'll be back.  It felt like fall most of last week.  This week summer will return, but I've got that Autumn feeling going already.

 Beautiful countryside.

 Sunday outing with my girls.  Love these burr oak acorns. I am thrilled by nature! 

We were at a festival celebrating the Monarch Butterfly called MonarchPalooza at the North Park Village Nature Center in Chicago.  So many fun activities for the kids, but sadly, Grandmothers had to push in among the children for her, I mean their fair share of the fun.

 There were plenty of butterflies that were tagged and released all day.

 I GOT TO PET A MONARCH CATERPILLAR!  I mean the children petted the caterpillars.  (Really I was thrilled to actually touch one, and so was daughter Kris.   Penny...not so much.)

 Have I mentioned how great it is to have my girls to hang out with? Thanks to Grandpa for driving.

This was a Monarch that was a wild catch (meaning it was caught at the nature center, not raised there) tagged and released.  

These tiny stickers help to track the butterfly's migration. It has all the info on where the butterfly was released with info so you can report on it's flight path.  Next year we will be trying to catch a Monarch to tag.  I had the best time and was able to send off Lila (that's what the kids named the released butterfly) with a prayer of Godspeed as it starts it migration to Mexico. So amazing!

Later, I snapped a photo of  the elusive fairy Tinkerbell...Yes, I do believe in fairies!  I bought this costume for $2 at the thrift. I washed it up, and it's our girl's new favorite.  I found the fairy wings and Mom found the sparkling shoes.  Penny flutters about and brings magic to this Grandma and Grandpa's lives. When we picked the girls up, I picked up Penny.  She grabbed my ears and said, "I just love those chubby earlobes!"

Oh to be loved for chubby earlobes!  :Love, pure love.

I also had the best thrifting score EVER on 50% off everything, if you bring a friend day.  More about that another time. The official last week of summer.  Go out there and flutter.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind comments.  Enjoy this beautiful day.

And the seasons they go round and round...

I have 5 years of photos on my computer, and I can pick a day and see what I photographed five years ago to the day.  It's amazing that a morning glory shows up today, almost every year.

Then the hosta in bloom.  Every year.

We can't return we can only look behind
from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game.
Joni Mitchell

Bet I wrote this before too!  All my life's a circle, and that my friends, is another song.;-)
Enjoy this beautiful day!