Oh, Canada!

I have way too much to say to enter Friday Fragments, but I'll have to read everyone's Frags when I get home and have time.

We have spent this week on the road. We visited with good friends in Troll-land where Good Guy taught school. That was a fun time catching up on all the news.

Then we left the country, via the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, for several days of enjoying plays at Stratford, Ontario, and visiting with our good friend in London.

We saw Grapes of Wrath, Camelot, and The Homecoming. All of them were well acted, and beautifully staged and we enjoyed them. All were thought-provoking and have held up well over time.

We have experienced some unsettled weather. As we traveled on Monday we were warned of upcoming wind, cold, and raid. But mostly it held off until today, Friday. Today we had a rough crossing on the ferry to Manitoulin Island with all three predictions coming true. We were lucky with the rest of the week, though.

My baseball team begins post season play tonight meeting the Mighty Yankees. Que sera, sera.

I will post faithfully when we return home. Cross my heart. Thanks for dropping by.

Friday Fragments

I guess if I can't get my act together enough to post a proper cohesive entry, I must be a good candidate for entering Friday Fragments hosted by Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin Time. Thanks Mrs. 4444.

I love the ads for the Venza, which feature the dull kids worrying about their parents who are out having fun. I especially love the daughter who moved away. " What are they doing? I'm their only child------except for my sister."

I have no idea why that cracks me up, but it makes me laugh out loud every time.

Do you remember the month you commented so I could send a goat via Heifer International? I get mail from them now telling stories of the livestock and the education Heifer International provides, plus the policy of having the donation paid forward to others. It is very heartening to me to read of the success stories. Part of the Kiva loan has been repaid already too.

Since no two economists seem to agree, I am happy there are grassroots movements to give help to people we will never meet. Our economic picture seems pretty bleak if you look at it from the point of view of the world scene.

I can not believe the number of people---even men I thought quite sensible, who sit all day in front of the TV watching the stock tickers. People!!! The stock market will do what it always does anyway. Fluctuate wildly! It's all a shell game. Go outside, take a walk, plant some bulbs. Get a life!

Our leaves are finally showing some lovely colors. As soon as it quits raining, I'll venture out with my camera. Note to self: Don't forget.

Another job I have to do today is find the travel alarm clock that begins to beep at midnight every night and continues for about a full minute. Not long enough to find it, in my groggy return to consciousness------just long enough to rouse me from a good dream.

I am excited and delighted that one of my kids is moving closer to where we live. We haven't lived near one another for a couple of decades. Now to the task of finding lodging that will accommodate her critters. Hmmm.

What cartoon character used to say, "That's all, Folks!" That's my message. thanks for the visit.

Ennui

I guess it's a good thing----when real life is way more interesting than virtual stuff. And that's where I am right now.

It's fall and many changes are afoot that aren't mine to share, so I don't have much to tell you about. Plus it's Fall (in 48 hours) and it's grand to be outside, rather than inside tapping away on a keyboard.

No commenting for charity this month, since many charitable "obligations" came due already this month.

Hoping for the best in blogland. Thought I'd better post something so you weren't worried about me.

Books, Books, and More Books

I spent the afternoon with my reading friends and I can officially report to you that we unanimously agree---and we do not encourage you to run out and read our latest book.

It is a good book, and it is well written, and thought provoking----and it even won a Pulitzer Prize.  However in our experience, we tended to nap during the middle of our reading sessions.  Unanimously.  

Shhhhh,  our book was Gideon by Marilynne Robinson.  It is a fictional memoir written by an elderly father to his son, who is a child.  It is not a page turner.  

Our next book will be "Cutting For Stone", which was highly recommended to me by a reader I respect very much.  (Stay tuned.)  Another feature of our afternoon was a nice book grab when our hostess found an armload of books for us to read for fun and then swap around.  

My library books this month and last have all been knitting and craft books.  I enjoy them but there isn't much plot.  I will fall far short of my goal of reading 100 books this year.  I can't claim to have "read" a book a sock patterns, for goodness sake. 

For once, Good Guy is way ahead of me in reading at 74 books already this year.  (But, on the other hand he hasn't knit anything at all!)

So, my dears, if you have any good recommendations for our reading group, don't hesitate to suggest them.  The worst I can do is ignore you, and the best I can do is love the book and hope everyone reads it!

Spending Time With the Shredder

Yesterday morning I tackled one of those jobs just slightly above oven cleaning on my hate to do list. Did you know that once you relegate papers to a file cabinet you are unlikely to ever look at them again?

Well, at some point the whole thing gets so crammed with stuff that you can't fit one more "dead papers" file in there, and somebody has to cull. (I'm not complaining that it will have to be me, but Good Guy would just go buy another file cabinet.)

So I situated myself in there with a mug of coffee and the shredder, and a timer and I shredded old check registers, and a couple hours worth of useless papers. I probably could devote another morning to going through the rest of the stuff. I got a little sidetracked in looking at old pictures I found, and reading letters from people no longer among us.

Gone, the warranties and directions to appliances long gone. Gone, duplicates of pamphlets of wise advise about retirement. Gone, old dental bills and insurance info from years ago.

Now I will feel that the job is completed when I drop off the bags of paper and shredded stuff at the paper recycling center. Indulge me with a pat on the back. Please.

(About the header------I fiddled around endlessly making a new collage, which turned out to be a tiny thing instead of a full across the top header. Back to the drawing board, or Photobucket, as the case may be.) I must be a very slow learner......

I'm Hopelessly in Love

This handsome creature is my new friend, Cooper, the Bernese Mountain Dog. They are bred to be handsome, sturdy, affectionate, good-natured, and gentle. And Large. Quite large.

He was one of the pack that Jane was tending at her house/dog sitting gig at her friend's house. He's also the youngest and most recent of her friend's dogs. He would wrestle with little Daisy, who's about the size of his head, and he was so gentle and sweet with her. When they were done "fighting" they'd lie side by side and his put his leg over her side and they'd take a nap.

We had great weather all weekend-----though somewhat warm, and I got to visit with my nephews and see their kids, and dogs, and hamsters, etc. So I had a grand visit, but headed back home this morning because I was missing Good Guy and the Fuzzies.

I missed you too, since I didn't have much chance to connect up and read what you've been up to. Are any of you having Blogger troubles? I got the question about why comments wouldn't post. I've never blocked anyone that I know of, and wondered if anyone is having the same issue.

That's all for now because the yarn arrived for Carole's Knit along, and it is seriously gorgeous! Thank you, Kim of the Woolen Rabbit. (I paid for it and am not receiving any remuneration. It is just plain beautiful and I can't wait to work with it.)

What did you think about the tributes on 9/11? I was very moved by almost all the remembrances I saw.

More tomorrow.

Friday Fragments

Fascinating (facetious) Friday Fragments. I was really going to call this collection by this title and then thought of all the typing to link it..... Nahhhhhh! No way.

But, if you would like to write down all stray snippets of this and that, and link up to Half Past Kissin' Time with them, you could do it too, by just clicking HERE.

This was a busy week for me beginning with a visit from my son and his family. Samuel is now taller than I. That's always a big milestone for kids to get "taller than dad" or taller than grandpa.

School started this week, so our morning walk is now 45 minutes later. We had one cool morning but the rest of the time we were almost too warm in sweatshirts. By the time we got back home, anyway. (Yes, I know that's a sentence fragment. I don't care.)

My nursing classmates reunion was great fun and good eats. We heard the exciting tale of Maria frightening a large bear away from her bird feeder using her voice and a fly swatter. Her husband told us this with a wry smile on his face. We aren't sure if she's brave or crazy. Sometimes they coexist, I suppose.

I finished a mitten and a prayer shawl, and am trying to decide what to bring along for the weekend with my sister. She's house and dog sitting and craves company so it's a good chance for us to hang out and talk. Her dog, Daisy got a short clip at the groomers and her skin spots are showing through. Jane said she looks like a dalmation (in the shape of a teddy bear.) Sound like a photo op to me.

And the NFL real season has begun. Woot! Talk about an offensive treat to watch those two teams last night!

Good Guy has golfed three days this week. It's hard for him to fit in the testing his doctor thinks he should have. I consider that a good sign. Let him get some exercise, doc.

Please go wander around and read other fragments. There are a great many interesting and funny folks there.