It's October!

Can you believe it?  I'm flabbergasted at the rate at which days fly by, how whole months zoom past in the blink of an eye.  I know it makes me sound old but, holy cats, time sure moves along.  I suspect that our penchant for faster and faster computers and electronic doodads is partly to blame, but still the speed of days lately makes me think I might be losing my grip.  Do you ever feel like you're coming unwrapped?  I did early in my "mental-pause" (which seems to have become a "normal-pause," at least those forgetful, spacey symptoms are hanging around) so I went to a psychiatrist--once.  He was loonier on any given day than I was on my worst day, so I didn't go back.  Besides, do you realize how much those guys charge???  (Maybe he isn't so loony after all.)  I cooked yesterday, both physically and accomplishment-wise.  I got a late start (talked on the phone to CH and DD for long times, but they're both worth it) and had to go to Walmart (and Festival Foods) for sugar and Sure-Jell, plus a few ingredients for my lunch soup and our supper.  Today's Photo a Day theme is "where you stood." (I was going to skip it this month but it's become such a habit that I quick printed off the list while I was making the bed this morning and snapped a couple shots; I wish I could slough off bad habits and acquire the exercise & not eating sweets habits as easily)  I have two shots that I like equally well so you're getting both today.  I stood in the kitchen most of yesterday making 30 jars of raspberry jam (30!!!) out of the 15 cups of berries we unearthed in the freezer on Saturday (that meant 21 cups of sugar, just over 10#--yikes!), I made some awesome paprika shrimp over cheesy grits for supper (I gave Durwood the day off from cooking, besides the football games, yes, I said gameS [he watched at least 3 of them] were on), then after supper I made a cauldron of chicken veggie soup for my upcoming work lunches (Durwood chopped all the veggies for me because by then I was fairly exhausted; he's a peach), so right there is where I stood most of yesterday.  But then I went out to pick up the paper around 7 AM and here's what I saw when I stood on the porch.  Evidently the maple trees on our street didn't get the memo from the county arborist that they're supposed to be pale and yellow-brownish this Fall.  He said that it's been so dry these last few years that shallow-rooted trees like maples are just giving up, have no energy to make pretty colors, and are just flinging their leaves to the ground in despair.  Not around here they aren't.  Yes, it's an earlier and faster display but it's no less gorgeous than previous years.  Take that, tree guy.

October 1 (OCTOBER already!!!)--Lyon & Healy, Pedal Harp.  It was cold in the music room.  Gale was happy to have the wool fingerless mitts that Gran has sent her for her early Autumn birthday.  They weren't too long like some she'd seen, those interfered with her playing.  When she opened the door of the music room the cold air rushed out to embrace her and draw her in.  She couldn't help huffing out her breath to see if it made a puff of steam in the frigid air.  "It's like a meat locker in here," she said, as she slid her music onto the stand beside the old harp.  "I wouldn't be surprised to see hams hanging from the rafters."  Her voice caught at the sight of a pair of men's shoes protruding from behind the brocade sofa.  Not just shoes either, there were feet in them, very still feet attached to a very still and very bloody corpse.

Ah yes, is it her hands-y music teacher?  The gardener?  Couldn't be the butler because the butler always does it.  Dun-dun-dunnnn.  And now that I've procrastinated so much that I've only got an hour to eat, shower, dress and collect my fabric, pattern, etc. so I can get to work on time-ish, I'll sign off and get moving.  Sayonara.
--Barbara Sue