Glorious Fall Day

Just when I thought the fall colors were through, the rain came and now the colors are more brilliant than the last few weeks. I didn't get any photos yesterday, but I will post a couple from our trip to North Carolina last month. Lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant and a movie was in the works today with two of my favorite girls. I also am enjoying some alone time in my own house. What woman doesn't love that?! Having my retired husband around is a joy--most of the time. There are times; however, when I would just as soon have him gone for a few hours. To wish and hope for such times fills me with guilt. I have friends who have lost their husbands and to have those husbands under foot for one more day would be pure heaven for them. So, I am going to enjoy my day, but I will look forward to seeing him open that door. I have been having nostalgic moments lately, thinking particularly of my childhood. I lived in such a wonderful time in history and in a loving community where we all knew one another. It is about the time of the year that my grade school would have their annual pie supper auction to raise money for the annual Christmas tree. All the schoolgirls and our mothers would fill a box with picnic food and a piece of pie. Some of the women would just wrap a large pie. We wrapped the box with beautiful wrapping paper and ribbon bows making them like beautiful presents. Whoever won the bidding would then share the food with the person who made it. My mom would demand my dad remember which box she brought so he could bid on hers and win it. The men delighted in running up the bidding of other bidders knowing full well that the husbands were instructed to win their wives' box no matter now high the bidding went. It was all in fun and raised more money for the tree. We girls were at the mercy of the bidding of the grade school boys. None of us had a boyfriend but in the 4th grade I really thought that whoever bought my box secretly wanted to be my boyfriend. Nothing was further from the truth, they just wanted to eat. How exciting it all was until it was time to share the food. I was a very shy girl. While my "boy"friend would eat the sandwich I had fixed, I would just hang my head. Took a long time for me to win the battle with shyness. More memories in another post.

Zoo Day

Today was beautiful. No wind! Rare for Oklahoma. Just ask anyone who has ever even driven through our state. What better day for a trip to the zoo and that is exactly what I did with my youngest grandson, Logan, and his mom. Did I say perfect? Can't say that word too much, but it would have been more fun if Blaine, my oldest, could have been there with us. The leaves were still beautiful and some had not turned yet. Got off a couple of shots. I sure wish I had the talent of some of my family members with a camera. Tonight we were outside just about dusk and there is a definite change in the air. It feels like winter even though it was only 63 degrees. Summer is a memory now. Retirement is made for days like I had today. I thank God I still have my health to savor these fall days.

Trying This Again

I have not posted anything for a year, but decided today to try it again. Lots and lots of things have gone on this last year, some not so good, but overall, not bad. I can tell you that retirement is time for reflecting and getting one's life on the right track. You have one more chance. This blog is just a place to put down my thoughts and some pictures of various things. I would love to have a nice blog like one of my favorites, http://www.apioneerwoman.com/; however, I don't have anything that interesting to post nor do I have the computer skills involved. How cool would it be to address retirement issues and have a large following? Perhaps not so cool since then one would be obligated to update it and keep it fresh. I do have an occasional recipe to share, but since you, Shawna, are the only one reading this, you may have the recipe already.

Today I will try to post a picture of my boys, my GRANDboys! They are now 6 and 3 years old. We are so lucky to live on 5 acres where they can run and play, scream and yell. At the back of our property is a little pond which occasionally hold water. We walked back there on Sunday and they thought they were on the other side of the world. To them, we were at least 5 miles from home and probably would never find our way back. It was a perfect fall "windless" Sunday. A rare treat in Oklahoma.