Good Grief!

 It's the great Pumpkin!  And a squirrel's eating it:

Scenes from a Fall

Growth spurt

12 July 2007:

Today:

Both the other signs are long gone, but this is the one that's left.  Frederick doesn't gambol like this any more, though:

I don't know what it is...

but I know the ducks do not like it:I looked out the dining room window to see something snuffling up all their food. Were it a squirrel, they would have chased it off in short order but this new comer gave them pause. I suspect it was a gopher which was totally harmless (to them, not their food) but they obviously didn't know that--they watched him (or her, difficult to know) make himself quite at home in their backyard. After he was gone they had plenty to say, and let me know immediately that they expected me to top up their bowl.

Update: he was back again the next day and didn't even run away when Jimmy walked through the yard:

Halloween

This year Frederick asked for a dinosaur costume, bit didn't specify the specific type of dinosaur, just that he wanted LOTS of spikes, plates and horns. Thus instructed I set off for Walmart as they have the widest selection of inexpensive sweatshirts, hoodies and matching pants. Normally I have to content myself with black or blue (though last year there was grape purple for a change) but fashion this year requires neon clothing. This was a pleasant change not only because I am tired of working with black (which is hard to see), but also because it's nice to be able to see Frederick after dark. Then of course, over to Joanne's Fabrics for neon fleece (head swimming from the smell of cinnamon pine cones--those who have seen Sponge Bob Square Pants will know of what I speak): Here's the tail. I had a brainwave when making the tail. Normally I attach it to the back of the sweat pants but that creates problems both for sitting down and also, the pants start to drag a bit after a while. So this year I attahed velcro to the pants and tail so the tail is detachable.Here is the back of the top, hanging from a chair in our dining room. Frederick's Halloween party is Monday, so then I will get pictures of him all dressed up.

This is how things are and were always meant to be.

Sylvester is happy with the furniture choices. He's still waiting on that window ledge he was promised and has yet to see arrive. (His internal dialogue: "You have money for two chairs when you could simply have gone to PetSmart and gotten a windOW perch? I see...")

New chairs!

We've never been happy with the chairs in our living room, both because they were not particularly attractive but also because they were uncomfortable (or so Simon claimed---"Oooh, my back!" he whined incessantly). Unfortunately, all furniture in all nearby stores were similarly ugly and uncomfortable, so it seemed we were stuck with suffering. Then, I discovered an online furniture store that offered funky looking furniture which you could custom build, picking out the fabric and wood stain of your choice), and also offered free delivery. After we placed the order, we got daily updates on the furniture--including emails that said things like "Juan cut the Apple Spice fabric for the Hughes Penthouse ottoman today." Finally, after much to do, they finally arrived. And here they are!

They are unbelievably comfortable.

We'll never fight for the spot on the couch at tv time again!

Now, of course, the rest of the furniture on our living room looks shabby. The couch doesn't deserve to be in the same room as these chairs.

Three trees lose their leaves

I have done a single tree before, so now I wanted to do a set of three that I've noticed in the past lose their leaves at different rates (the one on the right first, middle one next, left one last) presumably because of when the sun hits them.  But they weren't that good this year for whatever reason.  And they lost them very quickly, as you will see, whereas my tree of past years still has all its leaves.  Oh well, here they are:

September 3rd.

September 11th (no significance intended).

September 24th.

October 2nd.

October 8th.

October 12th.

October 15th.

October 22nd.

For Mar...again

Frederick and I had time on our hands yesterday, so we took a quick trip around ForMar. As Simon mentioned a few entries ago, it's suddenly autumn.

I never see anything swimming in this river. It's weird.

Like his brother, Frederick moves as a quick clip. That's Thomas's old hoodie. I hope he doesn't mind Frederick wearing it.

I love moss and I love looking at it. Frederick has no interest whatsoever and grew impatient with my constant talk of "lovely moss".

So now it is time to get serious about Halloween costumes.

Autumn colo(u)rs if not temps

 It's been an odd mix of weather recently.  Some days are perfect (see above) - chilly but cloudless.

 We've had some rainy days

 And then yesterday it nearly got up to 80, but was "migraine weather" - hazy with a storm brewing.

The colors are nice, though.