I think my favorite Halloween memory is the year our middle son dressed up like an old old man.  He wore a bald head we had bought at an auction.  It was in a box with a bunch of other stuff.  We still have it somewhere.  He was maybe 12 or 13 at the time.  He stood all hunched over with a cane.  We went to a contest at the fire station and he won a prize.  When he came back to sit by me I had to remind myself that he was my son and not an old man.  He was that convincing.

I never did like gross or scary stuff.  I think it goes back to when I was a little girl and my dad would listen to mysteries on the radio at night.  There was only a curtain between my bedroom (which originally was a dining room) and the living room.  He listened to programs like "The Shadow."  I still don't like scary music.

So I never dressed in a scary costume for Halloween.  Mostly I went dressed as a gypsy because that's all I could think of.  I always had full skirts and peasant blouses to wear, and my mother let me borrow her jewelry.   In those days all the kids went trick-or-treating.  It wasn't a dark holiday like it seems to be now.  I have mixed feelings about Halloween now.  Regardless, I bought some candy, and am hoping to see some of my grand-kids tomorrow night.  We live kind of out in the country, so we don't have any neighbor kids come.

I didn't even carve a pumpkin this year.  I have a big one on the front steps, but it wouldn't sit up straight, so I cut a bit off the bottom, and of course, it started to rot.  I started to carve the little pie pumpkin, but it was so hard I gave up.

This leaf picture was blurry. I played with it on Picasa, and this is what I decided on.
Happy Halloween to all my friends.

This was not for Halloween. The girls were at a Fall Festival/Craft Show with their mom. She crochets hats and other items, and sells them at Farmers' Markets and craft shows.

Here they are with their undecorated faces.

They love this marble-run toy.  They built it themselves.  It was taller than the older girl so they were quite proud of it. I would have loved a toy like this when I was their age. I also would have loved Legos, but there weren't any then. The only problem with marbles and Legos is when you step on them in your bare feet. Ouch!

See our piano in the background? It is 100 years old. It needs new hammers and felts, but that's an expensive fix so it will have to wait. The old record player works, but we hardly ever use it.  The piece of furniture in the middle is an old radio cabinet.  It doesn't work.  The picture above the radio is a puzzle of Avalon, Catalina Island from the 1950's.  I found the puzzle at an old second-hand store.  I worked it several times, then decided to glue it before I lost pieces.  I don't usually glue the puzzles I do, but I especially like this one.

I like many things about the change of seasons here in Indiana.  Others, not so much.  For instance, it's a hassle to have to take the summer clothes down to storage in the basement before winter, and bring up the winter clothes, then switch them before summer.  Plus you always have to leave a few clothes from the previous season, because as soon as you think winter is coming it gets warm again, and vice versa.  I do like the distinct beauty of each season.  In Calif. people seem to think that good weather is their natural-born-right.  Here in Indiana when we have a rare good day, we appreciate it.  People go around smiling, and talking about how nice the weather is.  In Calif. they just take it for granted.  Even so, I'm not looking forward to winter.  If I didn't have to go anyplace, and none of my family had to drive anywhere it would be OK.  But I do, and they do.  Here is a picture of our first frost, a few days ago.

A foggy morning.

Calif. has Real FOG. This is just mist, but it scares Indiana natives just like snow scares those who live in warm climes.

And before I say good-night, I'll show you a picture of the Queen, observing her royal Queendom.

My mother is freaking out about wasps and spiders.  We've had some of those "dog spiders" in the house.  We've killed most of them.  She thought they were coming up the vents.  I tried to explain to her they're coming in from outside to find a warm place before winter.   She insisted I call the pest control people so I did.  They came out to give us an estimate.  They were going to do the outside of the whole house, and the inside of her part.  (That's where most of the spiders were.)  She was so worried trying to think of everything she should do first, and what would she do about the dog, etc, etc.  that she decided she didn't want the inside done at all.  So I phoned and cancelled that part of it.  They're due to come tomorrow morning.  She is so worried about it!  She never lived in the country until she and my step-dad moved here.  The pest control guy told me he was surprised we don't have more little critters since we have so much nature all around us.  She's also worried about the wasps that have a big nest in the tree by her porch, so they are going to knock that down too, though he said the wasps would soon be gone, and they won't use that nest again.

The nest is way up high. I had to zoom and crop to get this picture.

How many of you played in the leaves when you were a kid?  I never did because I grew up in So.  Calif.  My kids did though, except for the 6 years we lived in Africa.  When I was babysitting last week I called another grand-daughter who lives next door.  She just turned 13.  She came over and helped a lot with the little ones.  Her friend came with her, and helped too. They all had so much fun playing in the leaves.

Well, they are not exactly babies, they are 7 and 5.  This week is fall break in our school district, so I volunteered to keep my grand-daughters one day while their mom is at work.  The 7 yr. old is extremely social, extremely quick and extremely intelligent, and her 5 year old sister is learning from her.  All of which make this tired old grandma even more tired.  They are experts at saying "Grandma, can I?" and while I am still thinking whether they can or not, they are off doing whatever it is.  They are downstairs now putting together the marble run, after I told them they couldn't play on the puter yet.  Which means I'd better quit playing on the puter too.  Talk to y'all later if I'm not too tired.

This is our daughter and her husband. She is our 3rd child. We had a girl, boy, girl, boy, girl. Then we waited several years and started over with a girl, then a boy.

Her husband is the pastor of the English congregation of a Chinese Christian Church. This means that the service is conducted in English. Most of the people speak Chinese as well as English. Our daughter doesn't except for a few words, and their 4 children don't either. The people who attend the English service are younger.  There are also some families where one spouse is Chinese and the other isn't. Sometimes other Asian people come, and even Indians (from India). Of course, everyone is invited to come. The Chinese service is composed mainly of older folks, many of whom speak little English, or people who have just recently come from China. I enjoy seeing and hearing people sing and worship God in different styles and languages. Here is a picture from the English service. It's not very good, as I didn't want to disturb anyone.

When M and N were first married, his parents were not at all happy about it. Then she gave them 3 little grand-sons, so they decided she was all right. A few years later she had a little girl. She's a beautiful girl, and to look at her you wouldn't know anything was wrong. She's 20 now, and has multiple problems. She goes to a Catholic special education school in Dallas. One morning I took a picture of her before she left for school.

I'm glad we were able to go visit, but I think next time I'll fly. I'm still tired from the trip, so I'll say "Good-night" now.

Watch out, a storm is coming.

Can you see the partial rainbow?

The red tree is one that we had planted after a storm knocked down the yellow tree that had been there. It was just outside our daughter's bedroom window. She was not hurt when it fell. That's when we had the old house that was 10 or so feet in front of the newer house that we live in now.

I think those are sassafrass leaves. Have any of you ever made sassafras tea? I understand it's made from the bark, but I've never tried to do it. I do often make tea from our mint. It's good hot or iced.

These are just a few random pictures.  I don't have any of the whole Texas family.

Our daughter and her youngest grand-baby...3 months old.

My husband with the older grand-baby.  (Our great-grand.)  She is 1 yr. old.

M. babysits to earn extra money. The double stroller has 2 little boys in it. She has cared for them since they were babies. They call her Nanny. Behind her is the momma of the youngest baby. She and M's youngest son are engaged. The weather was kind of cold when we first arrived. After a few days it warmed up a bit and was pleasant walking weather.

Yours truly with baby S. She is so cuddly.

They have 3 dogs, a big one named Brutus, and 2 little ones, a mother and daughter. They mostly stay outside. They also have 3 hens, and were getting 3 eggs a day, but now are down to 1 egg a day. The hens have a nice house and a little yard. This last picture is one of the littler dogs waiting hungrily for her food.  Or maybe she's just finished eating and is cleaning her face.  I don't remember.  Their backyard is full with critters.  Their house is full with people.  Their 20 year old daughter lives at home, since she is special-needs and needs lots of help.  The middle son and his wife live with them .  The youngest  son and his girlfriend and their baby also live with them.  The oldest son and his wife live a few blocks away, but they bring their little girl over often to be babysat.  It's a good thing they have a big house.  It's also a good thing they like babies!

Thanks to all for your kind comments before we left for TX.  We had a good trip, and an even better visit with family there.  We got home Thurs. night, and I spent yesterday washing clothes, putting things away, and just generally catching up.  Even got a short nap.  Today I will be babysitting in the afternoon, and getting ready for family Sunday dinner tomorrow.  I hope to post some pictures of our trip soon.