Fall Already ???

It seems like just yesterday that I was getting the lawn decorations, and the lawn chair our, and yesterday I was putting them away.

It seems to have gone from 70 one day, to a high of 48 today! I am really not ready for the cold weather. I want more warm sunny days to sit outside read a book and enjoy the day. Can't do that today in addition to the cold, it is raining! 

Friends north of me have seen snow flakes already, now that I am really not ready for. As soon as Halloween is over I will start putting up the Christmas decorations. This year I am putting them on the gazebo frame with zip ties. That will make them easier to take down. and since they will be zip tied to the gazebo frame, they will not be buried in the snow, if we get a lot of snow.

Silly thing is with all this drop in temps and the cold and rain, the leaves have hardly turned, they are mostly all still green and on the trees.

Extra Time

 This year I find myself with lots of extra time, the shutdown last year gave me time to get a lot of things done. It also gave me time to reflect. 

Do we really need to take all that stuff on a vacation, after all it is supposed to be a time of relaxation, not a time to be bogged down with all kinds of things that we take "just in case" we might need them. I had a 4 page packing list, that now is down to half a page. That page does not include my list of clothes. I determine how much I take by how many days we are gone. Never want to run out of underwear on a trip. But the rest, well I really do not need all the stuff that used to go along. 

I discovered the the secret to packing light is to only have one person do the packing. I listen to what others want to take, but now I just do it my way. IF we really need something I did not take, there are stores to get it.

The other thing I discovered is that duffel bags are easier to manage and carry than tote boxes, plus they take up less room in the vehicle, and when we get their they can be folded up and out of the way.

So when we go on vacation again, it will be a much lighter load.

Is It Really Spring?

 It seems we are in and out of some cycle. Three to four days of beautiful warm weather, and then it drops to where I need a winter coat to go anywhere.

All my flowers seem to be up, not blooming yet, but up. I hate to tell them, that they could wake up one morning and be covered in snow! I remember years when we had snow on Mother's Day.

I have my spring decorations up, but so are my Christmas cards. I have a plan for those cards, so at least I know where they are. 

Today was t-shirt weather, as it has been for the last couple days, tomorrow the rains come, and they are supposed to be here for a few days. They are bringing colder temperatures with them. I have been enjoying having my morning coffee, outside in the warmth, hate to give that up.

Getting Warmer?

 There is so much snow everywhere, there seems to be no more places to put anymore. But now it seems to be getting warmer. Hopefully warm enough to melt the snow, but not warm enough to snow more.

Maybe this is the January thaw we never had. Which will then just give us more room for more snow. The snow I can deal with, but the cold temps we have had. -10 is not a fun number, especially when I need to go somewhere.

I must say I have gotten a lot of sewing done, during this cold, and also a lot of sitting under a big blanket watching TV, when it is just too cold to sew. My machines do not like the weather anymore than I do.

Christmas Decoration

I finally found a Santa that would complete my Christmas decoration. My daughter-in-law crocheted the "reindeer" they are long tubes that she slid over candy canes to give them shape. I took off the real candy canes and substituted glass ones, so I could use them year after year. The sleigh I found years ago. For years it was just the sleigh and the reindeer, then I found just the right santa. This year when Christmas rolls around i will make a "harness" for santa, so it looks like he is pulling the sleigh.

I had often thought of painting the wooden sleigh, but still can not decide on a color.