This and... that...

A little bit of fun ...

with the Title borrowed from Sandra's blog. After all, it was a This and That sort of day.

I took my Mini-me and Mini-Charlie along with me on our hike on Thursday. I thought it would be fun to show us looking for Fall colors.

Well, Charlie loves to investigate what I am doing. This time he photo-bombed the shot. I didn't mind, he was just checking things out.

I finally did get the shot.

In between cleaning the pasture and other mundane chores, I stopped to do a Halloween photo with my creepy doll head and a Lego Pizza Zombie.

After all, I have to stop once in a while and have a bit of creative fun.

This morning I went to the Farmer's Market. It was the last one for the season. I'll have to wait for May now to get all the goodies I used to get.

I got to see Ruth, she is a Mennonite who has a bake shop in a town about an hour away. Rich used to send me each week for some of her cinnamon rolls and pie. He loved his pie. Her pies are not super sweet but are absolutely delicious. Last year I purchased enough of her fruit pies to get us through the winter so Rich could have his pie!

Ruth was so happy to see me and asked how I was and how Rich was. I hadn't been to the Market most of this year.

I told her that Rich was gone. She stopped packing up the Apple Pie I was going to purchase ... she came around her table with tears in her eyes.

I got one of the longest hugs in the world.

Her hug was real. By that I mean it was long and it felt more than a pat on the back. There was true emotion and feeling behind it. She has never met my husband, but knew what he loved from her bakery. It was all I could do not to start sobbing when she did that.

I pulled out my wallet to pay when she finished putting the pie in a bag. She waved my money away and said it was a gift. She understands loss as one of her sons passed away last summer. She sighed and handed me the pie. I will treasure each bite.

Another vendor is a woman I used to work with as a Security Officer. We've known each other for many years. I purchased some of her wild looking gourds. We've had a booming year for squash, gourds, pumpkins, and anything from that veggie family. She bagged my gourds and then proceeded to add some more to my bag with a wink.

Things that are different now that I no longer feed the Meat and Potato man. My supper consisted of fresh squash along with beautiful yellow cauliflower, red onion, pea pods, kale, little turnips, and other veggies tossed in. I just have a taste for all the vegetables these days. Toss the veggies in a pan and sauté everything then put it over something else. Tomorrow I'll add some bacon to the mix to get my protein. 

The rest of my day included picking up logs and piling them to burn along with cleaning up more garden debris. 

The mules sorted through the garden debris and ate what they wanted from it. They are my garden recyclers.

Tomorrow looks like a nicer day than today. Charlie says he wants to go hiking. I guess we will take care of that. 

Here are a couple pictures of the really cute and gnarly gourds.

They are so pretty and interesting.

Tomorrow morning I may try and take a few shots of them lit up with candle light.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with some of the ornaments Ariel and I did last weekend. I finally got some acrylic glossy spray for them and ... Viola!

They are so pretty!

 

Uff..dah... that cold!

Yup. Monday evening the slightly sore throat I had all weekend turned into a wonderful feverish cold. I had a temperature and everything.

The general feeling of being run over by a dump truck is pretty sucky. 

I confined myself to the porch or to an upstairs bedroom. I knew rest was needed. 

I told hubby that he and Charlie were 'on their own' for the afternoon while I hid out upstairs. I slept for hours and hours. When I got up, ....

someone...had fed Charlie his supper, let him out and brought him back in. He was also able to make instant oatmeal for supper and he was able to remember to take his meds!

I ate some jello and headed back upstairs for the night. 

By morning, the fever was gone but the head cold settled in to make itself a nuisance.

I went out for fresh air and found those beauties in the pasture. Pumpkins and gourds! I generally toss pumpkins and squash innards out in one of the fenced in areas near the house. The mules eat pumpkins and squash also. I imagine the seeds were stomped into the ground over winter and viola! I have gourds and wild looking pumpkins from last year growing hither...thither, and yon.

I guess I'm going to save seeds from these exotic looking things again for next year! I paid $10 for a warty pumpkin decoration last year and it looks like I'll have several more on the vine.

I'm a seed saver so I can plant my favorite things over and over. My seed table. Each container is saved and reused. Some of the seeds need quite a bit of time to dry out. I use silica packets that come with hubby's meds to keep the seeds dry again until spring. This is my mess.

Favorite flowers to gather are, sunflowers, nasturtium, 4 o'clock, zinnia, blue cosmos, orange cosmos, and
morning glories. This year I'm going to add some seed heads from the Bee Balm and see if I toss them in another garden they will grow!

I'm going to order a large packet of bachelor buttons for one of the spots I have for next year. I have some volunteer Malva coming up alongside the house that I will relocate.

I think I am ready for a makeover of the gardens and a clearing out of what is on the west side of the house now that the trees are gone.

But today? 
I need to get all those errands done that I put off. Including getting that flat tire fixed!

Hopefully, I can take the Out of Order sign down and get back to business.