A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

Fall colors, especially these in my own yard, are one of life’s little pleasures for me.

Yes, that’s an apartment building across the street and to the north of the little house.

I live in the low rent district, on a cul de sac of modest homes, on a street otherwise occupied by apartment buildings and duplexes.

[Lily&Me]

I’ve had a few private comments of late about the sometimes infrequency of my posts here, and watching an interview with Tiffany Haddish the other day...what a strong, talented and extraordinary woman...she answered a question about her social media philosophy by saying essentially that she posts things she loves/feels passionately about or thinks may help others.

Period, not the daily drivel of her life, where she is, what she’s doing, etc. I agree.

Feeling that my daily musings and chronologizing life were not perhaps as needed and relevant for me and others as they may have been previously, this is basically the philosophy I have adopted here the past year or so.

No one suggested I close this thread, stop posting, shut up and go away, etc., but have only encouraged and thanked me...other than a few criticisms re controversial content , those who do feel the negatives...and I’m sure they are there...have kept that to themselves.

I will not have being a “widow who lost the great love of her life suddenly” become my primary identity and what I most embrace, however.

It’s not, and tho some days I feel it more palpably than others it is only a piece of me, and what I feel is important, and I want that reflected here.

So, I write more or less, depending on what’s going on and what moves me.

If nothing moves me, nor begs of me to share, I don’t write here.

There, for those who have asked, and those who haven’t.

Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

That makes perfect sense.

As one adjusts to the new ebb and flow of life the landscapes changes also.

I like to say there is nothing constant but change.

Those trees are beautiful. This is my favorite season. Although we don't get much of it here in AZ it for us our respite from the almost intolerable heat and it is so appreciated.

Happy fall.

[rosewoodtx]

Maggie - If you are in Texas in January, our WBCCI unit - Texas Alamo Unit - has our monthly rally in Caldwell, which I don't think is too far from Mimi - maybe y'all can slide over for a visit. Mimi has been to me and hubby's spring rally in Johnson City for several years. We'll be at Brazos Valley RV Park.

[Lily&Me]

Thank you for that kind invitation, roaewoodtx, and I will keep that in mind.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

My neighbors across the street took this picture of the little house today...they love the red leaf maple almost as much as I do.

[mimiandrews]

Maggie - If you are in Texas in January, our WBCCI unit - Texas Alamo Unit - has our monthly rally in Caldwell, which I don't think is too far from Mimi - maybe y'all can slide over for a visit. Mimi has been to me and hubby's spring rally in Johnson City for several years. We'll be at Brazos Valley RV Park.

Hi Rose! I missed your rally last Spring because my new house completed at the same time and I had to be here for the final inspection. Next time, for sure.

Yes, Maggie, Caldwell is just up the road from me. Rose and Bruce put on a great rally in the spring at Johnson City (in the Hill Country). I'll bet the one at Caldwell is just as much fun.

[Lily&Me]

Sounds good, Mimi, and if Vince is there then we’ll rope him in to go as well.

Maggie

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

. . .
So, I write more or less, depending on what’s going on and what moves me.
. . .

Your thread is one of the best features of AirForums, Maggie, so hopefully you will continue posting, and saying whatever moves you.

Cheers,

Peter

PS -- Not sure why anyone would suggest otherwise, but for what it is worth this thread is in the "Off topic" sub-forum, so pretty much anything goes, and standard Internet courtesy and respect should allow the poster free reign IMO. If anyone does not like a post, it is a simple matter to move on in silence.

[Lily&Me]

Statements like that seriously astonish me, Peter, but thank you.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

My maple tree leaves deepened even more fully in color the past few days, to that dark red-orange that signals they are ready to fall, and so they have.

I spent a substantial amount of time Saturday clearing them from the beds and the front yard, and into relatively tidy piles by the curb, only to wake the next morning to wind and rain that had blown most of them back into the yard.

Repeated this morning, and will have to do so once more before mine and neighboring trees have fully dropped, but it is an outdoor chore in my favorite season of the year that I don’t at all mind...tho another that Doug and I did together that I now just haul ass into myself.

Hauling firewood, schlepping large bags of dog food, moving furniture, flipping the mattress, etc....good for my aging bones, and I am stronger for doing them.

Life.

I’ve barely touched the leaves in the back, as there are many still on the trees back there, and tho I do some raking their substantial removal will be done eventually by my yard crew...hauling all of those to the front curb is a tad bit more than I am interested in.

We are looking at highs in the 30’s and lows possibly into the teens later this week, unusually cold for this time of year, and I wonder if this predicts a harsh winter overall.

Hopefully not until I am safely south.

I am already yearning to get in my little buggy and return to some favorite places.

Lily and I have been trekking regularly in what suffices for woods here in central Illinois, and I am looking forward to doing somewhat more adventurous hiking in my travels around the country. More time outside, good for both Lily and I.

I’ve even bought a pair of hiking boots...being in need of more serious footwear that provides a bit more support than my Reeboks.


I finished this book the other night, and it was very, very good. A bit fluffy for my usual taste, but set in New Orleans and the Alabama gulf area, so it had called to me...

https://www.amazon.com/Hideaway-Laur...+hideaway+book

[rmkrum]

I can just see you in the yard in a few days, shaking your fist at the last leaf on the tree that refuses to fall so you can put the rake away...for the season

Even in CA, the liquidAmbers are starting to turn all colors in my side yard. They are looking pretty already. The neighbor will be having fits—they don’t like to do yard work. No appreciation for changing seasons. Sad.

We’re happily pruning roses and bougainvillea for winter, to get a burst of white roses and purple bracts in the spring

[Lily&Me]

I have shrubs still to trim, too, rmkrum, but now we are in a bout of days of rain and possibly snow so that will have to wait a bit.

Part of the joy of fall...readying for winter and the next spring.

Maggie

[mimiandrews]

Those of you with established lawns and landscaping are making me jealous. I'm still trying to convert a construction site into a yard--dealing with a limited budget, learning what will grow in which places, etc. One day it will be done.

Yesterday I did important stuff. The water faucet next to my Airstream is all hooked up and working--and insulated against what bit of winter we do get here.

[Lily&Me]

Yep, having the AS tended to is critical.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

And, we have snow...

The earliest “sticking snow” since 1991, according to the local weatherman...generally not due for another month...and predicted overnight wind chills into the teens in the next couple of days.

Lily had a wild romp in the woods yesterday morning, in one of the beautiful nature areas near here.

Heavily forested, winding and gently sloped trails...perfect.

[Lily&Me]

We’ve had overnight lows in the teens the past several days, currently with a windchill of 6 degrees ...plus had a new coating of snow and freezing rain yesterday.

Not complaining about the weather, as the horrific fires out west are a sobering reminder that precipitation and more wet climates have their advantages. Just reporting the experience.

What a terrible, horrible scene of devastation in California, and already horrific loss of life by those unable to escape. I simply cannot imagine dealing with such a thing, and my heart goes out to all of them.


I’m becoming something of a news junkie the last year or so, with so much going on here and in the world, it feels as if Nostradamus predictions are coming true...tho I haven’t looked at that book in many years, I recall that 500 years ago there were dire, dire predictions on many levels, and we seem to be living them.

Shootings, fires, unrest in so many places and on so many levels, much is certainly a frigging mess.

It feels like we are hurtling towards something globally cataclysmic.


Round four with the rake and leaf blower on Sunday got most of the remaining front and side yard leaves to the curb.

A lot of leaves in the back have come down green. Just one of those years.


Another pile of hats is completed, along with a prayer shawl. Fingers have been busy, and as long as I am changing up patterns they are not failing on me.


I haven’t checked the Interstate the past few weeks, but am going to go by there this morning while out, be sure tire covers remain in place and nothing else is amiss.

I’m feeling a bit antsy.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

A couple of inches of snow overnight, still coming down and predicted to do so much of today.

I’m going to have to shovel.

Under that snow, leaves remain, as weather has not allowed the yard guys back there this week.

It may be one of those years they’re not cleared til spring.


Local news is full of the coming 5th anniversary of the tornadoes that ripped through about 40 miles west of here, in Washington, Il.

Basically flattened much of this community...akin to the hurricanes elsewhere, but without the water and the washing out to sea.

I remember this storm vividly, Doug and I watching it’s path closely, and when it was over grimly realizing that there is no safe place in the little house where one could hope to survive a storm of this magnitude.

It was something of a life-altering experience for us.

Underground is the only safe place, and which saved many lives during this storm, but there is none of that here...but son’s house is a mile away, complete with a basement, and it is there we would head if such a storm were coming our way.

Life can change in an instant.


My friend in Ontario has recently been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and was started on chemotherapy within just a few weeks.

It is considered highly treatable, but chemo will be grueling and I feel so, so badly for her.

I’d thought last month about making a run up there, to give her hugs, cook a few meals, etc., but weather here turned so quickly I was afraid of getting caught in something and so winterized instead. She has a good husband, tho he has some health problems of his own, also a son nearby, so is not alone, but still.

So, I’ve been crocheting chemo caps and am going to ship a box off to her tomorrow. Hard to know what will fit a head you don’t have access to, and one which will be smaller once she has lost her hair, so she can pick what she likes and which fits, and take the remainder to her cancer center.

If we are fortunate enough to get older, health issues inevitably arrive for most of us, but it is still, always, a jolt.


Going to hunker down inside and make Cranberry-Pear Conserve for the upcoming holidays today, something I began making 20 years ago or so...but not the past few, as I’ve been clearing out what’s already in my freezer.

I think I’ve already posted that recipe.

Such a beautiful, ruby red jam for biscuits and rolls, and makes a great gift in a pretty jar, too.


Snow is still coming down at a good clip, may have snowmen at Thanksgiving for the first time since I can’t remember when...

[Hittenstiehl]

It looks lovely and peaceful. One could do a nice little montage of the changing seasons looking out that pretty window of yours.

We on the other hand have absolutely delightful beautiful incredible weather :-) come back and park in the driveway anytime it's manageable now.

[Lily&Me]

It is lovely and very peaceful looking out back, not so much in front any more as I have hacked out and cleared the driveway of 3”-4” of snow.

It’s very heavy, wet snow, so the kidlings will be out playing in it, having snowball fights and building snowmen.

It’s a bit disconcerting, this time of year, as I wonder if its early presence is a sign of a bad winter to come. There have been years snow and ice was hacked off the Interstate, and we crept south very slowly in frigid cold.

I remember the year we couldn’t wait to leave, and thought we would sit out a snow and ice storm in Missouri. Big mistake, as we were stuck in place for three days, finally hacking ourselves out with a hatchet and folding camp saw.

Doug-the-driver could drive anything, in any kind of weather, but I will be more cautious. We’ll see.

However, snow is precipitation, necessary for life, and something our farmers keep a close watch on through the winter months. Wrong to complain.


Conserve is made, this being about 1/3 of my yield, and the smell of cranberries, orange zest and pears permeates the little house.

Yes, my pear chunks are a bit oversized, but no one will mind.