Oh, Frabjous Days!

The halcyon, golden days of Autumn are upon us. Summer ends tonight. It seems like a dream that happened long ago. So much happened and yet, I felt we should have done more. Picnics, walks, auctions(not one) were in our plans. I did the walking. Two 5ks under my belt. Now that the weather is cooler, I know I will walk more. Especially since I have another dog to walk.

Speaking of dogs….

Molly Marshmallow is growing by leaps and bounds. She doesn’t nip at our heels as much anymore and has learned to sit for her treats and has been on a one mile walk with me. She is learning to behave on the leash. That said, she has managed to do some damage.

Let’s just say Molly tripped me up a bit and I fell on the steps and got bruised. It looks worse than it is. I was just glad I didn’t land on her when I fell.

Miss Belle has been doing a good job training Molly not to bite. Let’s just say Molly has yipped a few times after nipping Belle on the nose. Belle would have been a good mother.

Getting several of these butternut squashes from the garden. Since I don’t eat them very often, I will store them and cut them up for the chickens this winter.

We’ve picked nine of these from the garden and there are another nine or ten still ripening.

It was nice to be able to decorate our porch with our own pumpkins this year. The best year I have ever had for them. Usually, if I am lucky, I will get one good one to grow. It’s all that chicken poop, I’m telling you.

Tis’ the season to burn candles. Our house smells like this right now. Delicious. Makes you think I’ve been baking all day.

I’ve made twelve of these mini loaves in the past two weeks. It’s pumpkin bread and it’s addictive. I will not be making it again for a while. I cannot walk that much.

Into each life some rain must fall and we had to bite the bullet and buy a new furnace this week. Our old one was eighteen years old and would have cost half the cost of a new furnace to repair. Funny, when we replaced our first old furnace eighteen years ago, it had been in our basement since the 1950’s. Now we are told a furnace’s lifespan is about fourteen years. They sure don’t make them like they use to.

I managed to fit in a porch party before it got too cold. Our Sunday school class came for a candlelight dinner of lasagna, homemade garlic rolls, salad and angel food cake with Cool Whip and strawberries. A good time was had by all I think.

This gal brought some of the best salad dressing I have ever eaten. She gets it in Georgia. Her husband, the fellow on the right, plays softball in Florida every year and they go down there often and she found the dressing in a store on the way. I am going to ask her to buy me a case of it the next time she goes!

I love fixing food for people. Everyone cleaned their plates.

These are friends and he is our Sunday school teacher. Last time I had everyone over, I fixed fried chicken. He went in the hospital the next day with a heart attack. I felt so bad, but I think it was going to happen anyway. I haven’t heard anything bad yet since this meal, so I think he survived my cooking once again.

I have been going through some old National Geographics that we have had for years dating back to the seventies. I quit taking it years ago, but after looking through them, I think I want to subscribe again. Anyway, I had been looking for one particular one for years that had an article about Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland. So funny, but when I brought a few in from our shed where they were stored, the very first one I picked up was the one I had been looking for. Eureka!

I so enjoyed reading about Lewis Carroll or Charles Dodgson which is who he preferred to be called.

He remained a bachelor all his life finding himself more comfortable around children than adults. He made up whimsical stories and nonsense poetry for them I have always loved his poem Jabberwocky. The tongue twisting lines were fun for me to read as a child. He made up words, frabjous being one of them meaning wonderful, elegant, superb or delicious.