October

Here it is again. Another October.  Where did the summer go?      

The family and I went to the mountains and shut down the RV for the winter.     Matt repaired the generator and fixed the steps to the screen room.      The kids helped load up things to bring home, and helped with all the projects.       With the weather being so warm this late in the year, the park kept the pool open until last week, when it started to cool off.      

Trevor and some friends went to an art exhibit on my b'day at the junior college.   There is a really nice gallery there, and the show was inspired by prose and poetry.     Right up my alley, but I didn't know about it in time to enter anything.     Sam and Pepe has a piece in it, and Caroline Henry did too.   I didn't know the others as many were from distant places.      Very interesting show with some really nice work.      Matt was acting quite nervous about the timing of our gallery hop, and I promised him we'd be back long before dark.    It was unlike him.   I thought it was because we were planning on having a family pie party in the back garden when we returned and he said it might get dark.       I was so busy I didn't think anything more about it.     Then when we got home, Trevor suggested I walk throught their house to the back garden.   When we went outside, the girls had set up the pies and plates.    How fun to have a little family time.     And then they presented me with some gifts.     Awesome gifts.  First was a metal and stone ant for the garden.   I love garden art, and they had picked this one out knowing how much I'd like it.        I thought that was more than enough, but then they had me uncover something that was covered with a black sheet.      It's getting closer to Halloween so I figured they had unpacked some of their stuff and just set it there.    I was wrong..   It was a lovely concrete fountain with a little girl on top.   Reminds me of Candis when she would play in my garden.      I love it.     I"ve been wanting one for ages, but could not decide on one.      This is perfect.    I have not quite decided on it's permanent location, but in the meantime I'm using it - and enjoying it. I'll post pics later.   

I usually work in the garden in the late evenings.   The Mexican Sage is now about 7 feet tall.  This means when the rains come, they will bend and probably break.     This is the tallest they have ever been.  The pic is from last year.     Now it is getting dark so early my whole day gets rearranged.     I've moved my late evenings into the studio where the dogs curl up in their little beds while I paint or collage.    I started painting people in an old atlas.    Roberta is doing that with one, and I liked the look, so I'm following her lead.   We'll meet next month and compare!      And swap ideas.      I thought I was one of her mentors, but I find she has grown so much I'm probably learning as much from her......   Cool.