first day of fall

Happy first day of fall! While summer is my favorite season, I do admit that fall can be beautiful. 

Fall gets a little depressing for me though because my oldest son, Philip passed away on September 25th (2009). My dad, grandpa and mother-in-law also all passed away in the fall. I also hate seeing all the flowers dying and perennials withering, packing away all the summer yard decor and covering up the patio furniture...all reminders that the dreaded winter is right around the corner. (Ignore the bag of potting soil, plant pots and gardening gloves lying on the porch. I repotted several houseplants today.)

But back to the good stuff: Brian bought wood and stained it, and built a raised bed in back of the house for an herb garden. I had herbs back there in the ground for years, including mint, which I was always having to prune and dig out. The little area served us well during the past years, but with the french drains being put in the ground a few months ago (you can see one of the drains behind Brian), the area was looking scraggly. And I was sick of taming the mint. So Brian dug out all the herbs except for what I wanted to save ~ chives and red veined sorrel. I'll plant other herbs next spring.

Some color still abounds around the yard. Black-eyed Susan in the butterfly garden is drying up, but still lovely.

Plenty of color on the north side of the house with hosta blooms, coleus and impatiens.

I picked the last of our tomatoes today ~ even the green ones ~ and roasted them until they were saucy. Added to my pot of chili for dinner.

Another snapshot of my day: Clementine is my loyal companion. She follows me all over the house. I was making dinner, so she had to supervise, of course.

Even though it was warm and sunny today, I was craving chili. I don't use a recipe. This is my own creation. I taste and add things as I go along, though I do use some basics: half ground turkey, half ground beef (organic, grass-fed), onions, red and orange bell pepper, poblano pepper, garlic, a can of black beans, tomato sauce, dark beer, a little chicken broth, seasonings (chili powder, cumin, Mexican oregano, salt, pepper, chipotle red pepper), a tablespoon of cocoa powder. I doubled my usual recipe so that I could bring a container to a friend whose Significant Other just got home from the hospital.

Whatever you choose to do this weekend to celebrate the Autumn Equinox, I hope it brings you joy.

PS ~ still having trouble with my blog header. Designed a simple graphic through a website (can't even remember which one now), but I can't get it to center. That's what I get for using a freebie site, I suppose. I'm still not wanting to pay for a photo editing site since I will rarely use it, but I might have to bite the bullet.

it's still summer

Hello, friends! 

I know Labor Day weekend signifies the final hoorah of summer, but I like to keep in mind that we have another three more weeks of this beautiful season.

Give me all the days of warmth, sunshine, bright flowers, and patio sitting.

I would never get tired of spending Sunday mornings barefoot on the patio with my iced coffee and newspaper (it's the only day we get the paper).

My pots of veggies have been giving us beautiful tomatoes...

and I just harvested the first of our red onions. (Why are they called red onions if they're more purple? 🤷)

Evening walks to the lake to see the sunset are a bonus to living in this neighborhood, but the sunsets are getting earlier by the day. I hate having to close the blinds in the house at 7:30 now. Though in the throes of winter, I'll only be wishing the sunset were as late as 7:30. Aack, my mind can't even go there.

Our little town had their annual weekend fest in August, which always ends in a fabulous fireworks show over the lake. Thousands of people from all over come to see these fireworks. We stay home and watch them from our side yard. I don't like crowds or loud noises. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of fireworks in general because of the trauma from the noise to our veterans, cats and dogs who are usually terrified from the noise, and the terror and damage to wildlife. I saw online that some cities are choosing to do drone or laser light shows, and I'm all for that.

My birthday is in August, too and we spent the day in Chicago. One of the places I wanted to visit was St Michael Church in "Old Town". I'm not Catholic, but this place is rich in history and architecture, so I wanted to see it. It's one of the only handful of buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. 

The interior was breathtaking. I got goosebumps when I walked in and saw this view.

Two violinists and a celloist were playing soft music, as they were getting ready for a funeral service.

It's been so dry here in Illinois this summer. The leaves on the neighbor's maple tree are already turning red on the top. And this photo was taken at the end of August! Way too early, that's for sure. There's also dried leaves all over our property. Another sign of dryness. I love the low humidity, but we desperately need rain.

It's supposed to be in the 90's the next few days, so we'll be firing up the grill tomorrow. I'm going to make a mayo-free potato salad. Not sure which recipe but it's between this French potato salad or this dill pickle potato salad. Either of one of them perfect for summer.

PS: totally unrelated subject, but for those of you who do your own blog header, especially if it's photographs, what photo site do you use? I'm more interested in a free one, but haven't had any luck with a Google search. I used to love PicMonkey, but it's no longer free and I wouldn't really use it except to change my blog header once in awhile. Would that be worth it?Thanks for any suggestions.

Have a fantastic weekend!

totally random ~ catching up

First and foremost, the 13-year anniversary of my oldest son, Philip's passing was September 25th. When you're a parent, it doesn't matter how many years it's been since your child has died. The pain of that day will never fade. I had a headache and basically moped around the house all that day. I could finally exhale a bit on the 26th. 

I love this photo of Phil with his bedhead, unshaven face, wearing his comfy worn out hoodie. It was Christmas 2008 and he was 20 years old. It was his last Christmas with us. He's checking out his new phone with texting keyboard. Hard to grasp the reality that he's never seen a smartphone like we have now.

Fall is here in full force with a beautiful color change and leaves falling like mad. As I do every year, I'm documenting the color change of the gorgeous maple across the street.

The leaf blower can't keep up anymore. It's like shoveling during a snowstorm.

The patio table got taken apart today, covered with a tarp, and put up against the house. We left the two rockers out for now because we're hoping we can still sit outside on the patio at least a couple more times before the end of the month. We'll see. The weather here in Illinois can fluctuate anywhere between the 30's and 60's during the day. 

The glider finally bit the dust this year. It still works, but is falling apart, as you can see by all the wicker pieces that are falling off. We've had this set over 10 years and it was given to us by friends. I don't know how long they had it, so this set has seen good use. We'll possibly be in the market for a new patio set next spring unless we decide to stick with just the two rocking chairs for now.

Back in June, I wrote a post about stray cats that were hanging around our property. I'll update you about the female (Goldie) and her kitten another time. Spoiler alert: that news is all good but there was a little surprise. 

The feral male, Blanco, is still coming around. He's gotten friendlier towards me, though I still can't get within 10 feet of him. He shows up at my house most every evening for food now. 

Sometimes he doesn't show up 'til late at night and I see him out my front door, waiting patiently for me on my porch. He's such a beautiful kitty. The minute I open the door, he takes off. I then set a bowl of food for him on the porch and he eventually comes back to eat it. Long story short, I've been in contact with the county Trap, Neuter, Release program and I'm hoping to be able to trap him so he can at least get neutered. I'm sure he was the daddy of Goldie's kittens. Who knows how many more he's fathered around here. 

I also purchased an outdoor feral cat "house" from a local shelter this past weekend. Volunteers made them out of used ice chests and lined them with straw. They have a flap door where the cat can go in and out. I read online that it's to be put in more of a hiding spot and put up on bricks or pavers about 6" off the ground so that the "house" doesn't get wet from rain or snow. I hope Blanco ends up using it, especially in the winter. I worry about him.

My house is cozily decorated for fall and it'll stay that way til the end of November. You can see Clementine curled up on the throw on the sofa. She's is still hanging in there, though she's now in stage 4 of chronic kidney disease. She's showing more signs of decline with UTIs about once a month and now constipation (which is due to dehyrdration, even though we give her subcutaneous fluids). But she still eats all her food, uses the litter box, grooms herself, interacts with us, and plays with her toys. 

Little touches of autumn decor in the living room and "fauxyer"...

and in the kitchen...

Spent a day antiquing last weekend during the 2022 Midwest Shop Hop. Fun to look around, but only a couple of small things came home with me.

Surprise, it wasn't these cats!

It was almost this mirror, which I initially thought would look above my nightstand. But after taking measurements and also realizing it wouldn't go with the modern prints above our bed, I passed.

It wasn't this lovely chandelier either, as I have nowhere to hang it.

If I had a grandchild, I might've purchased this 1970's dollhouse. I had one just like it when I was growing up. I still have the plastic furniture that came with the dollhouse!

Sorry for the bad quality photo - I had to close the blinds on the kitchen door because the sunlight was so bright. See the two vintage wood pieces in the doorway? That's what I bought. I'm not sure I like these pieces here. I was trying to add some interest to the boring builder grade opening from the living room into the kitchen. No big deal if I decide to move them: they're attached to the wall with Command strips.

Here's where I tried the pieces at first. Big nope.

That's it in a nutshell. More I could talk about, but this post is already too long. Life is busy and it's hard to keep up with blogging sometimes. Other times, I'm simply not in the mood to post. Thanks for sticking with me.

💓

buncha random

Some new things for the house...

A large wine rack from Amazon that takes up less space than the two small wine racks I had before.

The two empty spaces on bottom were filled today with a Malbec and red blend I found at Trader Joe's. I love crisp, white wines and roses (ugh, that's not roses as in the flower...it's "rohzays"...I don't know how to get the foreign accent marks in Blogger!) in the warmer months and then heavier reds in the cold months.

Last Friday, I took a drive out to Woodstock, IL ~ the town famous for the filming of the movie, Groundhog Day. It was a beautiful day, I wanted a little escape all by myself, and the town square is a beautiful place to take a walk and stop in some independent shops. Besides, a few of the shops were participating in a Vintage Shop Hop.

Recognize this gazebo in the town square from the movie?

I came home with a couple of small things ~ this tin bird bath...

and a vintage bowl in one of my favorite colors.

I follow a young woman on Instagram that I used to know from when she was a teenager and we went to the same church. She's now married with a baby and living in the Portland, Oregon area. I've been enthralled by her macrame work ~ she's so talented! ~ and she's now selling it through her Instagram account. I finally decided on this piece for my guest room wall. So pretty, right? She uses driftwood that she finds on the beach.

If you're old enough to remember, macrame was all the rage in the 70's. I took a class with my mom and made plant hangers and even a purse with a Lucite handle. 

I love supporting independent artists, too. If you're interested, her Instagram account is @heatherswebbs. 

Some freebies for the house...

An elderly woman down the street recently passed away. At least, that's what I'm assuming because I haven't seen her and her house is up for sale. A few days ago, Brian and I were taking a walk and there was a Dumpster in front of the woman's house. It was filled to the brim with relics of her life: old-fashioned lamps and torn lampshades, rusty toolboxes, a huge stereo console, a couch that looked like it was from the 1960's with that stiff, brushed polyester finish, lots of junky odds and ends, and ooh, some old ladders.

I also found a huge, vintage pottery crock. The only marking on the bottom is "USA". It has a couple of small chips on the back, but I don't mind. (I found a vintage bean pot too, but it's currently in the dishwasher so it hasn't been photographed yet.)

I guess I officially Dumpster dived! Though I didn't go INTO the Dumpster. Ick. These items were on top. Made me kind of sad though to think this lady lived her life in this house all these years and had all this furniture and things that made her house a home and perhaps made her happy, just like we all do. And then she's gone and all her stuff is relegated to a Dumpster and hauled away. She's gone, her stuff is gone. Like nothing ever mattered. I silently promised the elderly lady that I would take care of her few things and thanked her for them.

My sweet Clementine...

She was diagnosed with kidney disease a few years ago. It's unfortunately very common in cats, especially as they get older. She was young to be diagnosed - only eight or nine years old at the time. She's been doing pretty well since the diagnosis and has been on medicine for high blood pressure which helps the kidneys and a prescription diet. But her latest blood tests show that certain levels are climbing. It's time for subcutaneous fluids. The vet said she needed them one - three times a week to start out. I panicked because of the time and money involved. Long story short, I talked to the vet and we agreed she could start with one treatment per week. From what I've read about and heard from other cat owners, you can get the supplies from the vet and do the IV fluids yourself at home. That way you don't have to keep taking the cat to the vet plus, of course, it's much cheaper to do it yourself at home.

That's all fine and dandy except that IV needles ~ and the thought of sticking them into the cat's skin ~ totally freaks me out. I honestly don't know if I could handle that. Last night as I was lying in bed, I was picturing the whole set up at home and trying to insert the needle into Clementine's skin between her shoulder blades. And it actually made me feel like I was going to vomit. My anxiety was skyrocketing and I couldn't fall asleep. Brian said he couldn't do this either. So I don't know what we're going to do. We certainly can't afford anymore than one treatment per week through the vet. But as she progresses with her kidney disease, she's going to need more treatments. Has anyone out there been through this with their cat?

Gorgeous weather...

We've been blessed with a warm-up in temperatures, plenty of sunshine and brilliant blue skies. As I do every year, I photograph the maple tree across the street almost every day. It's amazing how quickly it changes. This photo was taken today in the late afternoon. 

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."
(John Burroughs)

Brian had the day off work yesterday and we went for an afternoon hike in the State Park. We are so lucky to have this gem close to our house.

If you look closely, you can see a sandhill crane taking off out of the water.

Getting ready for the new couch...

Last month, I told you that we finally bought a new couch from Crate and Barrel after looking for one for over a year. It had to be built - they didn't have the couch we wanted in stock - and it will finally be here on Friday. I'm so excited! The other day when our furnace tune-up guy was here (the son of a friend), he helped Brian move our old couch out to the curb. Luckily, it was snatched up within a few hours.

Our old couch was up against the wall where you see the now-blank space. I packed up the books and pottery from the black shelves, took the two big pictures off the walls and we moved the black shelves and the white table into the basement. Our plan for the new couch is to put it on an angle with the back facing the corner. If that arrangement doesn't work out, we will put the couch in the same place the old one was. 

I love this coffee table. It was my grandma's and it's made by Lane. It's a high-quality, solid (heavy!) piece of furniture. It's too big for our small living room though. Eventually, I want to move this coffee table downstairs into the family room and find a smaller coffee table for the living room. There's other plans I have for the living room too, but one step at a time.

Enjoy the rest of your week. Stay safe and healthy and wear your mask!

💓