Need your prayers, again...

not having a good day...

been in the bathroom so much...

need to really change it up in there...

praying that this passes from me quickly...

if you have time...

ask for better days for me...

thanks...

crunch time...

the colors become more intense every day now...

and with all the clutter...

there is not sneaking up on someone...

but it's the crunch...

even if it's been in the 80s...

it's finally starting to look like fall...

Bebe was having so much  fun...

rolling and running...

the railroad has been very busy here lately...

the crops are coming in...

and good  news on the beans up  north...

65-70 bushel an acre...

that's good, real good...

after being dusted off...

yeah, you know someone got a bath before bed...

this tree is special...

we planted it when my mom died...

17 years ago the end of this month...

and it was a fall like this one...

late with tons of color...

and the drive to the cemetery following her body was the most magnificent fall scene...

the road twists and turns on its way back to a little church with the grave yard next to it...

and the woods were ablaze...

and sky was the most blue...

so, I went out and bought this tree...

a red maple...

to remind me of that ride...

that moment...

funny how things can take you right back to a specific place...

and my memory is pretty good...

but I remember sitting there, just absorbing everything...

the colors...

the breeze...

so I would never forget that beautiful day...

this tree was one trunk...

planted it and it made it through the winter...

that summer and fall...

but the next spring it had died...

this is the shoots that grew up beside it...

it is reborn...

a second coming...

and it marks the passing of time between then and now...

17 years...

now, let's get back to the topic I started off with...

fall crunch time...

but with so much fading...

there is still brilliant life...

that is a falling walnut caught in the air before it hit the ground...

crunch, thud, crunch, thud...

that's what we heard out there...

and there is one happy boy...

loving the weather...

the leaves...

the crunch...

the fun...

he had a good day...

well, here it is...

almost 5am...

got up way too early...

had fried potatoes and eggs...

and need to head back to bed for an hour or so...

got more sorting and purging to do today...

and of course...

I want some outdoor time...

got rain coming in tomorrow...

mostly cloudy today...

but still crunchy...

doing fall...

bringing some color in today...

bought the apples...

but the rest is from the yard...

nothing like waiting until October is a third gone to get started...

so much sorting and purging today...

just taking a short break and then doing lunch...

not sure what else we will get done...

but will be in the kitchen, I am sure...

not sure how long this is going to last...

cats, you know...

they have a thing for natural stuff...

Tori already shredded a leaf...

had to sacrifice one so she would leave the rest alone...

the windows are open and it's about 70 in here...

nice breeze blowing through...

and the humidity was like 27 last night on the news...

I was so surprised to hear that some of you all were scared by the headless horseman tale...

I am so sorry!

I always thought of it as a comedy...

really...

I know I am warped...

but Ichabod was such a scardey cat...

and I thought it was funny how a silly little man...

who thought a little too highly of himself...

could scare himself so!

Brom Bones made up the horseman to get his girl back...

a man of more brawn than brain is able to outwit an educated socialite...

and a moocher...

I loved it...

I always felt sorry for Gunpowder...

having an idiot on his back and all...

anyway, half of my hamburger is gone so I better get it finished and get back to playing...

ahem...

cleaning...

Love is...

I have been eating supper in 2 stages...

one in my normal eating time...

and then whenever DH gets home from the elevator...

he had yesterday off, but was so tired we didn't do much...

we did get a small drive in as the sun was going down around town...

just to see the trees turning and fall decor...

Marydon has more...

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow...

I am sure at one time or another...

we have all read this story...

it is one of my  favorite fall/ halloween stories of all time...

and I would read it every year...

and though it has been printed so many times...

with so many covers...

for me, it never gets old...

Washington Irving was born on 3 April 1783...

the youngest of 11 children...

and during a yellow fever outbreak in Manhattan in 1798...

his family sent him north to live with a friend in Tarrytown, NY...

close to the Dutch town of Sleepy Hollow...

full of Dutch customs and ghost stories...

as a teenager...

he made many trips north up the Hudson River...

getting his setting for another story...

Rip Van Winkle...

he was an ambassador to Spain...

he wrote biographies...

including one of George Washington...

he was very successful as a writer...

and made a fine living at it...

encouraging other authors of his time...

if you want to know more about him...

look him up...

he died 28 November 1859...

and he was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery...

Sleepy Hollow, New York...

with his head...