Happy Halloween

Trick-or-Treating 2010

It's elementary, my dear Watson.

Boo!

A-Mazing!

Jed, his friend Grace, and I went to a corn maze today - and it was a first for all of us! And, it was just a few miles down the road from our house. And, it was free!

And it was cool out, and there was the smell of wood smoke in the air, and there was pumpkins and hayrides and cider.

And it was a great afternoon.





















































The End.

Showers of Blessings

I was blessed to host a wedding shower last month for a widow in our church. She's been through a lot of difficulty, and it is such a delight that the LORD has given her a husband.

This was a dessert affair, and I was pretty happy with how things turned out, except for the cake. The wedding colors were pale turquoise and peach, like sea glass, and I tried to make the cake to match. I think I'll leave it to the experts next time. :)



These young ladies were quite the show-stoppers. They were flower girls in a family wedding the day before, in these matching dresses. So sweet!

Signs of Fall

Missouri Trouble is one of my favorite blogs, written by my spinning, weaving, knitting, gardening and letterboxing friend Jenny. In addition to her artistic talents, she is a gifted storyteller with an ability to spin a magical yarn.

She had one such post recently that included a fascinating photograph of spiderwebs down by her pond (click here to see). I am enchanted by the picture and the story Jenny wove around it. I'm also grateful, because I'm sure it heightened my awareness and appreciation when I discovered my very own spiderweb yesterday, glistening with raindrops in my kitchen window. I'm not sure I would have even noticed it before reading her post.







While I had my camera out, I took a couple of other pictures that highlight the changing season in our neck of the woods. This is the scene in my favorite corner of our backyard.






And these are my favorite plants ever - Japanese lanterns. I have a huge bunch of them in a metal container in the living room and have enjoyed them every single day. I harvested the seeds from a few dozen of them that didn't make it into the arrangement, and I'm looking forward to growing my own next year.

Happy Birthday Brad

Eleven days after Jed's birthday, I'm remembering another birth day that is close to my heart.











This boy made me a mama, and he stole my heart from the first. I never knew I could find that much joy in another human being...and he continued to be a joy to me all the years he was growing up.











Now he's going to be a daddy. I can only hope he will enjoy his little one as much as I did him.











Happy Birthday, Brad. I love you the most!

A Little Piece of Paradise

We discovered a cute little park near where we live now, complete with playgrounds, picnic tables, a creek and rocks. Life is good!

It Takes An Office

We made the annual trek to Waterville recently for my medical check-up. As usual, Jed sat on the floor outside the exam room while I was with the doctor. Not an ideal situation, but these are the things you do when you don't have family around. And it's good training for Jed, I think, in sitting still, being quiet, and being comfortable in unusual surroundings.

What my doctor and I didn't know, though, was that the entire office had congregated around Jed while we were in the exam room, oohing and aahing over his Think-it-Through tiles from Discovery Toys. The picture only shows 2 of them, but the rest were there, outside camera range.

Who knew a child's toy (albiet an ingenious one) would be enough to entertain an entire medical staff? :)



In their defense, it really is an exceptional toy. And considering I picked ours up at a garage sale for just a couple of dollars, I'd say we've gotten our money's worth and then some.

Wrong Side of the Line - Mason-Dixon, that is

We've been reading the book Lentil recently, written by Robert McCloskey of Make Way for Ducklings fame. It's part of the Five in a Row curriculum that we have just been loving.

Lentil was written in 1933 and is set in the small fictional town of Alto, Ohio. McCloskey's trademark charcoal illustrations feature Lentil walking around Alto, past all the common small town sites of drugstores, barber shops, libraries, parks and monuments.

The FIAR history lesson suggested we visit a monument in our own town and learn about it. There probably isn't a town in the country that doesn't have a monument of some sort, and Union is no exception. Our monument is in the middle of town, on the Common, and we went to have a look at it.

It's dedicated to the men of Union who were killed in battle during the Civil War. That's nothing unusual...I've seen plenty of Civil War monuments in my day.

Except that there is something unusual about this one after all, which didn't occur to me till later...it's the only monument to Civil War veterans I remember ever seeing that was for the other side.

When I realized that, for a few moments I really felt like I didn't belong here in Maine. But, not being one to dwell on unpleasant things most of the time, I've decided not to hold it against the Mainers we know and love so well.

Aren't y'all relieved? :D

Tennis, Anyone?

When Brad and Jennifer were here in July, Brad brought along his tennis racket and played solo a couple of mornings at the courts down the street. Then one morning he agreed to take Jed along, and a love affair was born.

Not between Brad and Jed...between Jed and tennis.









So Jed was pretty excited when we found out the Mid-Coast Recreation Center in Rockport was offering free tennis lessons for homeschoolers for the month of October.













Stay tuned to find out what next month's free offering is...you won't want to miss it, I promise. :)

Getting a Good Reading

Andrew Guerette, a Maine guide, taught a group of homeschoolers last month how to read a compass.

I was so looking forward to this class...I knew it would remind me of the fun times we had letterboxing in Missouri.

But Jed didn't really need the class...that boy's been reading a compass since he was two. :)

Looking for the Pot of Gold

We were in Augusta last month for dentist appointments, and since my favorite store ever, the Christmas Tree Shop, is right down the street, we popped in to have a look around.

It was an unusual afternoon, mostly rain with occasional peeks of sunshine. I had a feeling we might be lucky enough to see a rainbow. I was right. (I love it when that happens! hehe)

It was the most incredible rainbow I've ever seen...the colors were intense, and I don't remember ever seeing so much arch before.

We got to enjoy it all the way home, too, 45 minutes away. Jed was convinced that the end of it must be in our backyard.

He's still looking for that pot of gold. :)

I LOVE E-BAY!

See this adorable wool pea coat from Gap? The one I paid $15 for on clearance a couple of years ago? The one Jed never wore because...well, that part I'm not sure about....it's complicated.

But now it's too small. So what to do?

E-bay to the rescue!

I've been thinking about setting up a seller account for a long time now, and I finally took the plunge. I set up 9 auctions this morning and the bidding has already begun!

But this coat takes the cake - I started the bidding at $10, and in just THREE BIDS it's already at $20.50!! The FIRST DAY!

I don't expect it to go much higher, and I certainly don't expect the other auctions to do as well, and that's okay...I love getting a bargain on e-bay, so I don't mind giving someone else one. But I have to admit, it's pretty exciting. I'm already starting to look around the house to see what else I can sell. :)

Union Fair Take 2

Saturday morning at the fair started off with an old-fashioned children's game time, so we took Jed's friend Grace with us to enjoy.

The fun started with bouncy ball races. Do you remember these balls? I do - and I loved them.




Grace loves horses, so she was delighted when she saw the children's horse races. It didn't seem to bother her that the horses weren't real.













Having fun in the fun house.








Grace's favorite ride - the merry-go-round.














Jed's favorite ride - another try at a bungee thing...only this time the attendant gave him a little help, and he was flying high.

Be still my heart! :)

Fair Days

I've never lived in a town with its own fairgrounds before!

Apparently Union is the go-to place around here. :)











Ferris wheels have never been my favorite rides...too high off the ground. The only thing that enticed me to get on this one was the beautiful colors of the cars.










And a certain little snaggle-toothed boy. :)












But the view was totally worth it.










The Flying Wallendas were incredible.

It's been a long time since I've seen a tightrope act, and this one literally had me on the edge of my seat.









The older gentlemen is the fifth generation of circus performers in his family, and the others are his children. His 8 year old granddaughter is beginning to train with them, the 7th generation.







It seems like a hard life, but it must be a good one for them.
















Jed's favorite performer, also part of the Wallenda family.

Maybe he's afraid of heights? :)