Say Hello to the Great Pumpkin!

 ...the effect is pretty good. Colorful 12-pack boxes of soda, like Sunkist orange, Dr. Pepper, etc...

 ...found in the Dominicks grocery store in Mt. Prospect, Ill. It's been done before, but it looks pretty cool in person...

...as a Happy Halloween to myself, I finally read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving; both certainly entertaining yarns. Don't stay up late with the rest of the essays in the Sketchbook, tho! No, they are not scary, they seem trite and contrived! I like to finish books I've started, but I could not with this. Currently, I'm high and dry with nothing to read that I'm loving.

Little Project: Completed...

...finally.

...not easy to photograph.

 ...but it was harmless fun for me to sand, clean, design and paint.

..it's in the front entry area, an awkward spot with the cold air return. When / if do more projects, I may put them on craigslist. 

Really, It was Just an Excuse to Enjoy the Sunshine...

 ...I rambled thru the yard with the camera on Monday afternoon, recording what may have been our last warm and sunny day for a while...

...most of what was left of the garden produce was brought in already, the sky was cloudless, deep and blue; the sun was comfortingly warm....

...one of the neighbors' hydrangea plants was showing lovely tones as it prepared to sleep for the North American winter to come....

 ...my own front door, viewed from a romantically unfamiliar angle. This pine tree on our right is likely to be our Christmas tree in a couple of months. It has gotten so big I can't work around it in that corner of the yard with out getting stuck by pine needles--I seem to be allergic.....

...Winter...It's On! Yesterday, the first juncos were seen in the yard, so we are committed now. The feeders are hung up and our little birdy well-fare clients are lined up for their meals. The deal is, we feed them and they entertain us with their antics all winter. Pretty good trade if you ask me. I should add, these are Goldfinches at the feeder, not the juncos.

Vegetable Garden, Sweet Winter Dreams....

...Dear Garden,
      It's been a slice of Heaven this summer, hasn't it? With Hubsy's help, you produced 300-and-some pounds of lots of good things: peas, beans, too many cucumbers to count, lima beans, tomatoes of several different times, eggplants and the peppers, along with some zucchini and some volunteer little pumpkins, chives, dill and whatever else I forgot. The edemames were a wipe, since the chipmunk found and devoured them, that was too bad. Soon, the plastic tunnels will be put in place so that swiss chard, carrots and so on with be available to meals into mid-winter.  Thanx, little garden. I'll see ya' next spring!

Well, Hello Roger...

...this was unexpected. We did some quick shopping at our local Sam's Club the other night, when to our surprise, in the parking lot, we saw this display on the rear of a motorcycle. Who knew? This is what you do with that old Roger Rabbit toy! We have one, you know. He lives on a shelf in my office; I need to sew one of his arms back on. Otherwise, he's in great shape. He's just hangin' out with me now--maybe a little sad because his Little Boy grew up and found a pretty red-headed girl and moved away....such is life.

For All My Family and Friends....

who've bonded with the St. Louis Cardinals--This is pretty good--and fun!!

Autumn Comfort Food....

It's a variation on Stuffed Green Peppers. We had a surplus of green peppers in the late garden this year, but they were funny sizes and shapes--not stuffable, if you know what I mean. So I par-boiled about half a dozen of them, after cutting off the stems and seeding them. I cut the peppers into nice bit-sized chunks; buttered a 9 X 13 inch baking dish and layered them in with alternating strata of about a lb. browned ground beef, half a chopped onion, a couple of cans of Campbells Tomato Soup concentrate, salt, pepper, about a cup of cooked rice, about a cup good shredded cheddar cheese and some old bread or cracker crumbs. Everything is cooked, so heat it up in a 350-degree overn for 30-40 minutes. Yummy--the taste of stuffed green pepper without the committment! And plenty of left overs if you are an empty nester!! Or use your favorite stuffed pepper recipe. The Campbells Soup seems to be important, however. It never tastes right if you mess with that. Don't dilute the soup.