My bay window

This is the view from my bay window in the dining room. It looks out the south side of the house so it always has great light. I love this time of year when the trees lining the driveway are almost neon yellow. I love fall/Halloween decorations. I love the cool temperatures. I love the orange pumpkins. I love FALL!

Fall

I absolutely love fall.
Here are some pictures from around my farm yard this past weekend when the trees were still holding onto some of their color. The vibrant reds and yellows were amazing.

And of course the leaves are falling rapidly which makes a thick blanket on the green grass. They need to be picked up and disposed of or they will kill the grass for next spring. We will fill the snowmobile trailer 3-4 times and take them out to the compost dump before winter hits. We haven't started to rake yet because there's still so many left to fall. I'd like to just let them blow away on the prairie wind but they don't seem to go anywhere. They get stuck on the south side of the house and really pile up. Soon.... we'll be raking and mowing and hauling.
And the apples are picked. They weren't sprayed this year either so they are damaged with bug and worm holes but will make really nice crisps and pies and fresh apple cake with butter sauce. Hmmmm... my mouth is watering already.

Birthday Coffee

This time we celebrated Teri's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is but I will tell you she's half way to 88! Again we settled into our favorite window seat corner of the Stray Cat Coffee Shop and had a great time chatting and enjoying everyone's favorite coffee! Can't wait to do it again!

We have a dog again

Our Maddie

And Gretta

On Wednesday, September 24th, my friend at the Vet Clinic called and said I needed to come and see this German Shepherd that they had there. She had just been spayed and was about a year old. I went right away! The dog had been brought to the dog pound as a stray and had been waiting for ten days to be claimed and no one had come forward. She was now owned by the Humane Society. I know. I always said I'd never get a humane society dog because my boss is in charge of it and I was afraid she'd always bug me about the dog. I loved the dog when I saw her, she was mellow, didn't jump and had a beautiful face. I went to work at noon that day and my boss actually mentioned her to me. I told her I'd have John stop out that night to see her. He also liked her and the next day we went to get her. So far she likes us and we like her although the cats have a different opinion entirely. At least she doesn't try to eat them. They named her Gretta and I guess we're keeping the name although we'll never know what her first owners called her. It feels funny to not call her Maddie but that wouldn't be right either. We miss out Maddie terribly but it feels so good to have a dog here again. Maddie died in March and we've been looking ever since for a German Shepherd puppy.

Hopefully Gretta will stay with us awhile.

End of the season picture with Coach Adam.
Coach's huddle after the last match is played.
Group hug for the coach.
Group picture with Chrissy, the foreign exchange student from German.

More funny pictures courtesy of Macy's friends. I love digital.

A cold night for tennis and a group of bored teenagers

and you have some interesting pictures of tennis...



and other things. I gave my camera to one of Macy's friends and she started taking pictures like a fiend. A girl after my own heart!! I love digital. It's so easy to delete pictures!!

More pictures from the last tennis match

Yes, it was that cold even if you were on court playing tennis.

Lots of girls had sweats on while they were playing.
Macy and Becca played doubles.

The end

was today, September 29th, 2008. It was the last Junior Varsity Tennis meet.
The last time I'll watch her play tennis as a sophomore.

Of course I was sad but everything comes to an end and we have to move on. It worries me how fast time is slipping by and how fast she's growing up. It won't be long and she'll be picking out colleges...
In case you're wondering what to wear to a late September tennis match.

Everything you can find... and wrap it all off with a nice warm blanket.

I'm not going to tell you who this is but I will tell you truthfully, it's not me!

Birthday Coffee time again!

Monday, September 29th, we enjoyed an early morning coffee at the Stray Cat.

Thanks, ladies for a great time! Let's do it again next year!

Then we found the fire eaters!

Down in Sherwood Forest which is a more colorful area of the Renaissance or maybe a bit off-color is a better description of it, we found the fire-eaters. They were a fun group to watch. I'm not really sure what was in the bottles they were drinking from but I bet it was over 100 proof. There was plenty of crude jokes and daring fire tricks but somehow no one went up in flames so I guess it was another successful show for them! I did notice there was a guy sitting on stage that never seemed to do anything, but I bet he knew right where the fire extinguisher was!

See, you're wondering what they have in those bottles, too. Aren't you?

Please bear with me

but I love these pictures. Like I said, there's interesting people everywhere at the renaissance. I thought these street musicians were especially interesting and I love the color pictures but I also really, really like the black and white. What do you think?

You see a lot of musicians at the festival,
fun performers - this is the "Fool's Theatre". Click on the picture. They are wearing chicken costumes and don't speak English, only chicken.
I think this instrument is called a dulcimer and is played with little hammers. It produces a very beautiful, unique sound and he was very good at playing it.
The Tortuga Twins. Yes, there is three of them.

And one of them is black.

Yet, somehow they are twins. Surprising.
We never really figured out what, I mean, who this is. Could be the queen. She, I mean he, I mean... I don't really know... is pretty decked out and was followed around by "helpers". Everyone seemed to want a picture taken with her/him/it, oh I don't know, whatever.

Renaissance Festival

I took Macy, Emily and Emily's boyfriend, Jonny, to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday, September 28th, my 45th birthday. We were walking along and stopped at a booth called "Vegetable Justice" which is a tomato throwing booth. There's a large sign that warns that this is an insult game. If you are easily offended, don't play! I couldn't help but noticed how interested Jonny was in the tomato throwing. I finally convinced him to play (yes, I had to pull on his arm) and his first throw hit the guy in the head! He didn't want to play beacuse he was afraid he'd look like a fool and people would laugh at him. Hello!! It's the renaissance and people look weird here and besides, nobody knows you! He threw very well and a gentleman standing close by asked him if he was a pitcher.... he replied that he used to be.
Cool - Macy took a picture of the tomato in mid-air. Love pictures like this.
This guy was really good at hurling insults. He told a little boy that the next time his mom cuts his hair at home, hide the tequila bottle... then there was a blonde haired lady and he gleefully yelled "Look, it's trailer trash Barbie"... which is really rude and mean but she laughed it off and it was kind of funny... That's the spirit of the Renaissance!!