Goodbye sweet October days -

Autumn. October. Birthdays.

Always a busy month around here, October arrived and was full of 

occasions. Many family members and friends have birthdays. . . . and 

of course my own was tucked in there on the the 26th. I thank you all 

who sent such kind greetings. No matter how old we get it's always a

pleasure to be remembered, don't you agree?

This weekend we will say goodbye to what for me is probably the best 

month of the year. I'm staying close to home - including time in this chair

which is comfortable for my current back and leg issue. Still going to PT 

and doing exercises at home. Still waiting for the leaves to change color 

and soon begin falling. . . . . yes autumn is a season of slowing down

 and just waiting.

My birthday brought some enjoyable and unexpected gifts.

A new beautiful cookbook, SOUPOLOGY, from granddaughter Jasmin

 who knows exactly what excites my taste buds and gets me into the kitchen!

We do love soup around here and there are some tasty sounding ones

in this book.

The beautiful Voluspa candle from Anthropologie accompanied it, along with

 other special gifts. We love these candles in the the patterned glass jars -

this fragrance is a new one to me, Santiago Huckleberry (Ripe Huckleberry, 

Vanilla & Crushed Sugar Cane) in a Coconut Wax Blend. It smells just 

right for fall and the color is so beautiful.

I have lot of cookbooks (even after sharing some with others to make more

 space on my kitchen bookshelves!), but there's always a new one popping

up which I feel will be interesting to read, and perhaps glean a few new can't

 pass up recipes. THE FIRST MESS I'd seen online, even tried a couple of 

Laura's great plant-based recipes. This one I bought myself for my birthday

gift - I am going to enjoy it!

Everywhere looks clean after more heavy rain last night, and beautiful sunny

cooler weekend days are promised - nice for the children to celebrate

 Halloween if they venture out for Trick or Treats as the sun goes does

on Sunday evening!

This morning the bluebirds are back in the the now bare fig tree, always

a thrill. Other birds are returning too - probably as we're feeding again. 

Expect bird photos, along with the usual suspects, squirrels, soon!

Enjoy your late October weekend - I'll catch up with you all in the coming

November days.