No Assembly Required -

October? 

Impossible!!!

Where has this year gone?

Where have I been you may ask...not far!

Travel far has not been possible due to Bob being tethered to the hospital and cancer center...just a 15 minute drive from home. Our car hardly needs a driver, it knows the way there unaided!!!!

Our only travel has been within North Carolina to visit longtime friends, or other medical facilities. Our hotel stays have been to use up free nights earned before they expire, usually within 25 miles of home as that's where those friends live, and some nights we've checked in downtown where we enjoy an overnight 'staycation' with a nice restaurant meal and a hotel breakfast...a welcome change from cooking for me!

Yes, we certainly do miss 'happy travels' to lovely places, and especially

 miss crossing the pond to my home and family in England and France. 

I'm now a Great Aunt as my niece in France recently had a beautiful 

baby girl - hoping we'll be able to go meet her some day soon.

The arrival of Autumn is probably my favorite time of year. Here in our area many start decorating very early for Halloween. My outdoor decor is now minimal, a knobbly pumpkin on the steps, yellow mums to replace Boston ferns in my porch hanging baskets, an Autumnal flag, and lots of lanterns. No major assembly makes decorating much easier!

As our neighborhood changes with smaller homes being sold and multi-million dollar mansions (the latest build has a sale price of $6,250,000!) replacing them in this now 'hot' area of the city, the Halloween decor changes too. Perhaps you've seen them...........gigantic, larger than life terrifying skeletons clambering out of shrubs or sitting on the porch, spiders in webs stretched across an entire lawn area, huge ghosts flying through the trees.  All very costly. I want to know where the heck will they store those 15 foot tall skeletons the remainder of the year? Perhaps in one of the three car garages which come with those big homes.

A glimpse of my indoor decor. The still much loved older paper pumpkins,

a few new fresh pumpkins from the farm, and Diana the Huntress now

 sports a witch hat. Pardon me Diana!

Wishing you a happy Autumn season.

I''ll try to get back here again soon.

Mary