I have to say I am not unhappy to see Summer going away even though I do love some warm sun and all the flowers and swimming occasionally in the pool, but Autumn is really my favorite time of year. It has always meant new beginnings to me as the children went off to school and we got back on a regular schedule. Now with no children at home I am hardly ever on a schedule anymore and that is fine, too. But Autumn days meant new clothes, warm sweaters, fires in the fire pit, and it use to mean going out in the woods an cutting wood for our wood stove we use to have. Oh, how I loved doing that.

When we first moved down to our present home almost fifty years ago, David aquired an old red truck from some guy he worked with. It was a beat up old truck, but it was nice to use to go gather wood in. We would pack up the kids and go up to Camp Atterbury where they would let you cut up the down trees for firewood and we would spend an afternoon watching David saw up the wood and then helping him to load it in the bed of the truck. We would have all five of us in the front seat of the truck which would be frowned upon today, but there were no child seats requirement then and we were more free back then than we are now. When we got the wood home we would have to stack it or rather, David would stack it. They say you get warm three times when you cut your own wood. Once when you cut it, once when you stack it and once when you burn it and that is certainly true because stacking that wood is a real chore and makes you sweat even on the coolest of days. But I loved being out in the fresh air with David and the children and I cherish those memories. And I love a good wood fire. It is so warm and cozy on a cold day. David and I still burn wood in our fire pit. I hope we do that this weekend.

I have told you about the Country Neighbors Tour we have gone on in southern Indiana where several ladies and a couple of men have things for sale in their little stores or in their homes three times a year. They had their Autumn tour this past weekend. This is the tour where I had won coupons at each store so I had to go to most of them and I did buy some neat things.

I found this wonderful clock that looks like an old scale. It looks really neat on my mantle with my Halloween decorations. I got those up early this year. Usually I don’t decorate for Halloween til closer to Halloween, but I wanted to enjoy them for longer so I put them up a couple of weeks ago and I am enjoying them immensely. I also bought that little wire lady by the old witch. It looks like an old mannequin and I just love her. She didn’t cost much either so I snatched her up as soon as I saw her. This sale is so popular that if you don’t buy what you like right away, you just might lose the chance so if I saw something I really liked, I bought it. No regrets later. I did have a budget and I kept well within it. Things are not too expensive in this sale so you can get some really lovely and fun things.

I got these three bird pictures for a song. Tra la la! When we got home David looked up the painter’s name, Arthur Singer, who painted a lot of birds and wildlife in his day. He painted all the birds in the Northern Wild birds book which we have had since the seventies. He was very prolific and very popular in his day. I just liked the pictures and again, they didn’t cost very much, so I got all three.

There is a man on the tour who specializes in light fixtures and other things. He puts Edison bulbs in some of his creations and they are so wonderful, but I zeroed in on this scary looking guy made from an old bucket. His shop is where I got the bird pictures, also.

I will hang this on the wall in my workshop where I make quilts and other things. I haven’t sewn much this year after sewing continuously last year for my Christmas sale I had, I was burnt out on sewing, but I am getting the itch again and Christmas is coming up so I have a few things in mind to make for others. David and I spent yesterday cleaning up my shop and rearranging things and it looks so much better although there is still a lot of organizing to do. And it needs a good cleaning. When you have three dogs keeping you company while you are sewing you get dog hair all over, but I love having them with me and they love being inside with me so I will deal with it. I want to go through all my tubs of fabric and I have a lot of them and see what I have and get it all organized, but that will have to wait as I am working on another project right now that is almost completed and I cannot show anybody until after Christmas.

On our tour last weekend we, of course, took back roads. There are hundreds of back roads in southern Indiana we have not been on, but we were on some new ones this time and discovered a covered bridge we did not know about.

Out in the middle of nowhere we found this beautiful, old bridge. It was a long one, too.

It was here.

You couldn’t drive a car over it, but you could walk over it. There are a lot of these old bridges scattered all around Indiana.

Right by the bridge nestled in some weeds was this grave marker. Mr. Cash lived to be 74, the same age as I am now! I hope he had a wonderful life. I just wonder why he is buried all alone in this hidden grave site and if anyone comes to visit him. I paid my respects. Speaking of dying, I had my pacemaker checked today and the nurse said if I didn’t have it in my heart rate would be 20 beats a minute which is just about the walking dead, so I am thankful for pacemakers. She said they are working on new pacemakers all the time trying to find one they can recharge without the patient having to have surgery. I hope they discover how before I will need a new battery in seven years. Or maybe I will have a new heart in Heaven. Who knows?

We went through the little town of Story, Indiana where there is an old inn where you can eat and stay if you so wish. We have never eaten there, but every time we go through Story there are a lot of tourists and that weekend there were two artists with their easels set up painting the old inn. I wish I had taken a picture of them and their paintings.

Something else you see a lot of on the back roads.

Horses. It seems like every other house there is a horse in the field. I love horses so much. I had an appaloosa horse then I was a girl. My older brother, Fred, helped me buy him. In fact, we bought two horses, my horse, Tornado, and an old Clydesdale we called Charlie who came as a package deal. We finally sold Charlie, but I rode Tornado for several years. He was pretty wild and unbroken when we got him. Daddy had him gelded so he would not be so wild and I learned to ride him and he and I went all over the country roads and up to the little town a mile from my house to see David at his Grandparents’ house. Tornado did not like David and one time he bit him in the stomach so David stayed clear of him most of the time. One time I was riding and some neighbor boys, the brats, came screaming out at Tornado and he swerved and I fell off him and hurt my wrist pretty badly. I walked him, crying all the way back home where Mom called a nurse friend of hers who came and checked me out and it wasn’t broken, but I had a scar on that wrist for years afterward. When I started dating David, I didn’t have as much time for Tornado and then I went to college and got married and Daddy had to sell him because he was biting the cows. I feel really badly that I neglected him those later years. He was a good horse and I loved him.

I’ve rambled on enough for today. David is going to get us some tenderloins tonight for supper. I am so thankful for David. He has been my rock all these years. I had to have another shot in my eye this week and he waited with me for three hours in the doctor’s office before I got it and didn’t complain. Too much! There was a nice group of people in the waiting room and I told David next time I am going to take treats to give out because everyone has a long wait in this particular doctor’s office. He is a very busy man and there seems to be a lot of people with eye problems. I am thankful he is trying to save my eyesight, so I will never complain too much about the wait.

Here’s to Autumn and cool days and glorious skies. Bye.