A Wet Week

Not the whole week, but almost.

David and Michelle did not take the Sunday rain with them when they returned to Florida, instead it stayed, and stayed, and by Thursday, most of us were mighty sick of it. January in Vancouver came to mind when I would just put on a raincoat and go walking. Yup, that's what I did here too.

So what do you like to eat when it is chilly and rainy? If you said soup, so do we! DAnna's neighbor grew far more potatoes than they could eat, so she shared the wealth with me and I made chowder. Take a gander at these home-grown potatoes, not something one sees every day of the week.

To tell you the truth I wish I had more because the taste of the potato/corn/poblano pepper chowder was exceptional and I'm thinking it is the potatoes. 

Plus it made enough for two meals which I don't need to tell you is an added bonus. 

As you know, I have been working on a new queen sized quilt and I finally came up with a backing which is quite colorful, perhaps a hallmark of mine? This isn't exactly how I made it, but I'll show you the changes once it is quilted which should take me at least a week because we are so darn busy going here and there, even in the rain!

In the living room something much more significant is going on as Mr. Peck has begun working on the built in bookcases that will flank the fireplace. So here's a glimpse of what it looked like...

Taking measurements,

and checking the fit.

He's much further along than this but I will wait for a week or so to show you the progress. To say that I am excited is putting it mildly!

The sad thing is that the wind and rain did not help those who were here for the color; leaves and paths were wet and slippery, littering the ground rather than showing off their beauty on the trees. That said, I decided, as mentioned above, to go walking. One thing about photographic subjects being wet is the photographs can be moody and what's the harm in that?

Walking through the small cemetery, I kept thinking of all the previous Octobers these headstones have witnessed. 

Many amongst you are new readers who have no idea that I wasn't always just shooting pretty pictures. I am actually a fan of a little bit out of the ordinary.

These two were one of the handful of people I came across.

Every now and again, in my two hours of walking and photographing the sights, it rained hard but mostly just a miserable drizzle.

Another rainy day, walking into town, my favorite trees looked mighty sad.

What a difference sunshine makes!!

Your preference? Both have their merits, don't you think? 

That same day I stopped into the new Murphy Paper Company and what a neat store it is. Owned by the same folks as the popular Rare Bird here in town, Bruce had been in and said I was going to love it. He was right.

Anyone who loves clocks is got to be good in my humble, clock-loving opinion. Especially when they are antiques.

My mission was to walk the same way I had in the rain to show you what it looks like. Well, let's be honest, I wanted to see it for myself and because you are a captive audience, you are coming along on the walk. Which reminds me, this summer I was lax on walking because it was warm at the time of day when we had it scheduled. I'll be back at it now that it is cooler.

Are we lucky or what? To have this free entertainment every day of the year. Priceless, as they say.

I bought some shoes for walking before we came but it turns out these old Clarks are the best. Stayed dry in all of the rain.

Woo hoo! I am getting out as often as possible before all of the color has disappeared; fallen on the ground or blown away

Oh how we love this little town.

Everyone is thrilled that the pavers are going down. Not quite as thrilled with the mural as you might imagine.

Today we drove by and the street lighting is going in, so we are getting very close.

Back to a rainy day, because there were many, the wet boardwalks make me a little uneasy, enough so that I have turned around on occasion, preferring to walk on the gravel.

Rain=mushrooms.

And all manner of lichen and moss.

So back to the wet boardwalk....I ran into two ladies who looked pretty confidant, unlike your uneasy blogger. I started chatting, (!!!) and they showed me how to walk with confidence by using a marching technique. Furthermore, when I asked here if she had gone to Maine,

to check out the Maine Cabin Masters, indeed she had, although much to their disappointment, none were at the shop that day. All was not lost though because they went across the street to a stained glass shop and had a nice chat with Ryan's mother. If I had to describe him I might say, he's the scruffy one, married to Ashley and cheerful. Do you watch that show? We have in the past because we do love home renovation! 

But you knew that already, didn't you?

Back to the sunny day which folks, Halloween was when the sun finally came out to play! Sunny but very cold which actually did not materialize until the sun went down much to our relief.

I believe I mentioned in another post that we were going to participate in Trunk or Treat for the first time, and after our fun experience, we hope it won't be the last. Murphy folks show up in great numbers downtown and I do mean great. Everyone getting ready in our soon to be parking, lot adjacent to the church.

Because it was our first time doing it, we joined up with David and DAnna and it worked out well. The trunk was put together in a hurry because there was a misunderstanding as to the time so by 4:00, instead of 4:30, the kids were lining up already.

For probably the last twenty five years plus we have not had the pleasure of seeing everyone dressed up for Halloween for a variety of reasons, but now we have in spades. Estimates varied, but there were at the very least 1,000 children and families that came by our trunk. This was the calm before the storm!

There were challenges getting the tape to stick to the car and get the decorations to stay put, but now we know for next year. Truth be told, the candy was given out at such a rapid pace, they probably did not notice. DAnna found the witches hats on a trip down to Atlanta, finding one for both of us along with some other cute decorations. 

At the same time a food drive for those losing benefits was held and when we were walking back from dropping off our donations, the crowd was dense.

Kids and adults alike dressed up.

All of the downtown merchants hand out candy, there are bands playing, and the mood is super festive. 

There were so many cool costumes I hardly know where to start.

Rather than do a trunk the three witches handed out treats from a decorated table.

Her makeup! Her Mom did it. 

Bruce and I were like, "we could do that costume". How hard can it be to find an apron and hat? The children of that family were so darn cute.

This little one was worn out.

And check this one out....finally a homemade costume and a clever one at that.

Because I was constantly refilling the candy bowls I did not get as many photos as I might have liked. The smile on Bruce's face shows you how very much he enjoyed the evening. While Michelle was here she suggested we get fairy lights, which arrived on Thursday evening. Whew. The only thing is, we did it so early it was only near the end that they showed.

The tape was not ideal but it was the only thing that would stick so you do what you have to do.

I just found this of both of us. 

You might be wondering about my lack of costume but perhaps you are not noticing my bat socks? 

Gosh it was a lot of fun and very little trouble. We bought a ton of candy as did everyone, and those who were not doing the trunks donated beforehand. It ran so smoothly, we will definitely put it on the calendar.

All that aside, I think this is the cutest of all.

Can you even believe our little Christian? Good night he is so cute I can hardly stand it. He turns one on Thanksgiving!! Wisely Fallon is having a very low key celebration because she feels, and of course I agree, he will never remember his first birthday! That said, we will do something when we head down to Orlando, mid-December.

Seriously, those big eyes!

Lastly, I saw that Crafted Dough was having cronuts on Saturday and I just had to try one. Oh my, oh my!

It's nearly dark outside now, at 5:45. I'm not much of a fan of the early darkness but with no choice in the matter I'll try not to complain too much.  Bruce is at a Big Brothers meeting and speaking of which two of our friends decided to become big brothers after seeing how great Grayson is. Because of all the rain, his soccer games were canceled but finally tomorrow is the championship game! 

I'll let you know how it goes!

your friend,

Gail