It has been awhile since I have written a blog. I guess not that much has been happening. That is good is some ways and not good in other ways. We returned to Michigan in mid September in good shape from our trip out west. Easy drive home with the feeling of fall happening as soon as we got to the UP of Michigan. We had several beautiful sunny warm fall weeks and then a few rainy weeks. November is here now and there are days when you can feel winter coming. That is what Mike and I love about Michigan...the changing seasons.
We have raked lots of leaves and picked up thousands of walnuts from the trees in our back yard. We usually have lots of walnuts, but since we installed a sprinkler system several years ago they have increased, but never as many as this year. Some people say that means a hard winter, a long winter or a short winter. Who knows...we are just glad they are all down and picked up. The squirrels loved it.
Halloween is always a big holiday at our house. We decorate with enthusiasm and love to scare the little ones with Mike's skeleton that he drops from one of the trees out front using a pulley. Lots of screams and laughs. We had rain, rain, rain this year and the numbers were down a bit but the costumes great. The best was a group of Halloween carolers who sang original "scary songs". Very original and entertaining.
Here is the pumpkin patch family. Finnley was not too sure about the whole thing and it even started raining again as they stood there. She trick or treated for a block or so in the rain and then was done.
She loved my witches pot that I use to hand out candy.
I have not seen Seamus since August but Timothy and Casey post pictures on Flicker which is wonderful. I finally figured out how to get them into my computer and had to include this one from a month or so ago. He is a happy baby who smiles and laughs a lot and looks just like Timothy!!! We can't wait to see them at Christmas.
Mike has been on a mission to plant trees at the cabin. We saw a story about Ginkgo trees and were fascinated by the history and endurance. It is a Japanese/Chinese tree that dates back 270 million years ago according to fossils. It is fairly disease resistant and grows tall with yellow leaves in the fall. It grows well in poor sandy soil and develops deep roots. Seemed like a good fit for the cabin. We found one at a nursery in TC, got a good price since it is the end of the season, and decided it was our Christmas present to each other this year. Planting a tree makes us feel very positive about the world.
Mike is going steelhead fishing tomorrow..his third trip this fall. I get to play with Finnley tomorrow.
Life is good. We hope all is good with all of you. Kathy and Michael
