Good morning, evening to all, come into the FBC where we are preparing for Halloween and decorating for fall.
About The Author
diane101
Mother and Grandmother, living in Orange County, Ca. Full time blogger, ex antique dealer, avid gardener, tole painter, writer.
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Recent Posts
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Recent Comments
Hi, the cafe is open for business.
BTW it’s hard to think ‘fall’ in SoCal. where all seasons are the same, just some warmer than others.
I get so nostalgic for those beautiful fall colors most of you have and rememberances of my youth in Pa.
Well, we’re having that crisp clear weather here in PA, and the leaves are turning yellow and brown (and falling! more work!). I’m not holding out much hope for vivid color this year, though , because the weather has been unseasonably warm, and we haven’t had that snap of cold air that you need to get the really brilliant reds and golds.
But I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m just happy to see the sun after a 10-day run of Seattle-style murkiness.
<YaAWWWan!> Mornin’ folks.
3/4 of the the year is Sprautumn — with lots of mizzle, morning temps 50 and afternoon 60. We have a few weeks of winter sometime around January, with temps running 40 to 50 and sometimes adds snow to the mizzle, and a few weeks of summer between July and August, which ranges 60 to 70 with no rains, clear skies with incongruous fog patches, and some days that could use air conditioning.
Up here we don’t track the price of crude oil–we monitor coffee beans and tea leaves.
Which reminds me–Time for another cuppa Earl Grey.
One more view of our yard’s Great Leaf Turning:
AndiF and you easterners–we’re counting on your color shots now.
But as a former Ohioan, you must remember that there are actually only two seasons in the midwest: winter and road construction.
Maybe by next week, I might get some shots from this year but I’m beginning to think that this is one of those years where the trees go directly from green to brown.
Back in the late 70s folks up in central Alaska used to say they had 3 seasons: June, July, August, and hell. I didn’t do an Alaska winter until the early 80s, but found out fast that they weren’t doing much exaggerating.
File under “finding the bright side”: I guess now, though, with all this global warming, I might consider moving back up there. By far and away, it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.
Granted I only lived there for two years, but I’d say that Puget Sounds has all four seasons; spring, summer, and fall are all beautiful…problem is that winter, where it rains (mizzly…that’s a good word) everyday and you don’t see the sun, last about 6 months…
Here in Rochester, NY we have all four seasons also. Only spring and fall are nice here…cool temps and beautiful budding/color changing trees. Problem is that spring and fall last about 2 weeks each.
Then we have 3 months of summer….85 degrees and 90% humidity every day. Then the other 8 months are winter…below freezing temps and an average of 10 feet of snow each year.
I choose Seattle (but for now have to live in Rochester)
Don’t mention the beauty. I let it slip a few times but I think I got away with it. 😉
We came here by choice, at a large economic sacrifice, and while we still intend to cross the northern border, we’re in this part of the world for keeps.
One of those Iceland/Greenland type of things, right?
The closest we come to fall color in the Silly Con Valley is the liquidambar trees turning; I’ll try to get a shot of the ones just outside our apartment sometime today.
Some good news; all the furniture the spouse and I want/need can be ordered online, so looks like we won’t have to venture back to IKEA for a while! I’ll put through the order once the space where the furniture is going to go frees up…oh, in a couple of years or so. 😉
Spouse was up for an hour, now back to bed for a bit…and wants me to join him, so more later…
Only two weeks to go.
The youngest asklet is quite excited about it – but also a bit apprehensive. The asklets have gotten themselves into an agreement with ask, whereby they have promised to not eat candy until the new year in exchange for cash (deal made in August). He has been negotiating for a waiver – which he obviously will get, having managed very well so far.
Oh, good. Yes, there should definitely be a Great Pumpkin Waiver of some sort for Halloween…
Your pumkins have nice smiles. So sincere….
We eat some that night. 🙂 Share with mommy!!
And I’ve found a new thrill. They can save some of it and use that to make Christmas Leis. Take colored saran wrao, roll candy in it and tie off each piece with curling ribbon. 🙂
They know they can’t eat it all. They pick out their faves and then the rest is for the leis for class handouts.
Great punpkins! I’ll take a picture of ours when we make em. 🙂 Mine are always EVIL looking. Vampire pumpkins.
The road we live on, strutting its stuff (2003)
McCormick’s Creek State Park, late fall (2000, I think).
Are your leaves turning now? I’m just wondering how far ahead/behind PA and Indiana are from each other seasonwise.
We are way behind where we should normally be. Some of the tulip poplars have just started to turn but almost nothing else has.
The road shot is from a normal year and it was taken on October 13, 2003.
Out here in the high desert mountain west, the aspens are turning altogether, which as we all know, they do because their roots grow in clusters.
/creepy
Did you know that a stand of aspens is thought by some to be the largest living organism?
(re-post due to glitch, sorry if double-post)
I did know that! (The exclamation point is there to show how proud of myself I am for being acquainted with this random piece of arboreal trivia.) Did you know that if you stick your face into the bark of a ponderosa pine it smells just like vanilla? Even more on a hot day.
Hey, I knew that the ponderosa pine one too. I keep trying to collect pine, spruce, and fir identification tricks because they’re so much harder to figure than hard woods. How about this one — lodgepole pine needles come in bundles of two so they look like an “L”.
are only found, healthy ones that is, above 8000 ft. +- elevations;
prized by the Native Americans for their straight, narrow trunks and highly valued as Tepee poles, hence their name.
Peace
I still have tell them from larches and whitebark pines and douglas firs and hemlock and limber pine and jeffrey pines (okay I cheated, I can always spot those).
Guess I’ve lived at ‘altitude’ too long…:{)…here’s a quick guide to the native evergreens; off the top of my head, so watch out; that may help [specific to the Rocky Mtn West and similar latitudes]
6000-8000 ft (40-50N Lat).: Ponderosa Pine, Scrub Oak,
Juniper, Pinyon Pine
8000-10,000 ft. (50-60N Lat): Lodgepole Pine, Doug
Fir,[Aspen, since it’s
in the news]
10,000-11,600 ft.[treeline] (60-66N Lat): Englemann Spruce,
Alpine Fir, Limber Pine.
Peace
so I guess the solution is to hike with an altimeter instead of my field guide to western trees.
Just trying to be helpful…your USGS Quads and GPS will locate you altitude wise, this just eliminates certain species from consideration…no offense meant, if one was taken.
Like I said, I’ve lived and recreated at altitude for 35+ yrs. and you learn a lot that’s sometimes difficult to pass on, especially within the confines of electrons and binary code…:{)
Peace
at very low altitude.
I really did appreciate the comments.
Let’s see….larches needles come out of the branch in short clusters of many needles; Doug Fir is a cinch if you can find a cone, the cones all have little triads coming out from between the cone leafs (not leafs but the blades of the cone—sorry, I’ve forgotten the proper term for these); hemlock in easy because it’s very soft looking, viewed from a distance the tops tip over gracefully. That’s all I can remember for now.
I did not know that! (This exclamation point serves to communicate my delight at learning something new, just like my old Sesame Street days.) (And um, in case anyone was wondering, no, I don’t have the foggiest idea which particular neurosis is compelling me to over-explain my punctuation use today.)
All that decadence makes me wish I had some other great tips for you to riff on.
I’m really good at identifying hard wood trees but I don’t think they’re sexy enough to foment rampant punctuation titillation.
I won’t even touch that with a ten-foot pole…ten-foot pole?…I won’t get within a mile of that one either…
Largest living organism? What became of the mushroom cluster found in Michigan (I think) that extends all the way to Minnesota?
Maybe I’m losing it. I shouldn’t post after a day’s work at WORK.
4 multiplied by the square root of -1, an imaginary number for our imaginary governmental reality.
It’s a good thing that didn’t take, Gooserock, because imaginary numbers are the exact chapter that caused me to nearly flunk out of Algebra II in high school. I tried to argue that I’d never use them, and now look, Bush has proven that even a monkey can learn them. Le sigh.
It is really an off year for color around these parts as well. There are some trees turning, lots are still green, and quite a few have lost their leaves already. I’ve just started finding mushrooms, about a month late. I’ve picked and eaten wild mushrooms since I was a kid… there are 3 varieties that I know enough to pick and eat freely. I love autumn. Nice shots, Andi.
Today is a beautiful late fall day and probably one of the last in which I’ll be able to work on my screen porch all day. I got out here by 9:00 at fifty degrees with fingerless gloves and a stocking cap, and I’ll stay through late afternoon. The leaves are gone from about half the trees in the park behind my house and I can once again see the campus a few blocks away. The cats are almost as happy to be out here as I am. or maybe more so, since they don’t have a five inch stack of paperwork to get through. I’m going to go for fantasy tea today since I just had a diet cola for caffeine. Assam Satrupa Green from the Tea Source, one of the best tea supply shops anywhere in the US.
Oooh. I am having chai this morning… looking at the sunshine down the street from my ninth floor window. Just the tops of the trees starting to turn a little.
. . . for my favorite online tea vendor, Upton Tea Imports. They have an outrageous variety of loose teas. The Extra Bergamot English Earl Grey is quite yummy. And they actually have multiple varieties of my all-time favorite, Lapsang Souchong. Black teas, greens, whites, flavored, herbals, tisanes. A little slice of tea heaven.
A friend of mine sent this link…
She says, “This proves how insane some people can be. At least they were wearing hard hats. Video taken on the beach in Gulfport during the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina. Shows first hand how devastating the surge was.”
Incredible footage.
This shot is for AndiF, who asked for more pics of my horses. Taken this weekend during one of the few moments of sunshine, this is my husband’s horse Trigger. I call him “Cuddles” sometimes because he absolutely loves to get and give kissies. Andi, you’ve created a monster, you know. 😉
Thanks for the pic. What a sweety. I think it’s really “neat” to have created the monster.
I was a horse-crazy kid (I used to watch “Spin and Marty” just for Rocket) and I’ve kept that love all my life. Ironically, my younger sister who I literally forced to go ride with me, is the one who has ended up having horses.
I also was horse crazy as a kid. Having horses is the fulfillment of a childhood dream for me. I love caring for them and just being around them. I hope your sister at least lets you ride when you get the urge.
but she lives, unfortunately, 2 1/2 hours away.
I have plenty of room for horses but I travel for work and it never seemed fair to stick my husband with the work. Maybe once I retire (if I can ever afford to).
Me, too….horse crazy, that is. Corn breath and horse sweat, are there any better smells? Sign. My nose remembers….
Sorry. Gooserock says to always preview before posting. “Sign” should have been …sigh.
Painted cow, Prague Cowparade
Equal time and all that…
Peace
What a patriotic cow. Thanks for sharing. Around here (Raleigh NC) we have random, imaginatively painted wolves around town. Um, I’m not from here but I think it’s for the NC State Wolfpack? Unless they just really like wolves.
Don’t ask
Peace
What a gorgeous guy! Beautiful head! Is he Arabian or at least part Arab? Keep those horsey pics coming. I’ve been away from horses for far too long.
Here in New York’s Hudson Valley, the leaves had some nice color but then 9 straight days of rain ruined much of it. Many leaves were just knocked off the trees. Now it’s getting cool. California sounds good to me about now.
Ca. is very good and we had a nice, actually rather hard rain last night and more coming today, a nice surprise in our arid section of the country. Temp is 62 deg. at 9 am….so we are lucky here, our worst weather would be considered the best in many parts of the country.
Back from vacation – mountain weather was awesome! Asking myself why I’m here at this desk instead of watching the autumn leaves fall in the early afternoon sunshine. The temps were mid 70’s during the day and low 30’s at night. The Aspen and Poplar leaves had turned last week…picture perfect….
More pics tomorrow – today it’s the 100+ emails at work to wade through….hmmm….why does stacking 2 cords of firewood sound more reasonable? ;^D
Beautiful picture. You’ve got me ready to go.
why does stacking 2 cords of firewood sound more reasonable
Because it looks so fine when its all done and the dogs are happy because it’s a great place to find mice.
EEEK -we stacked 4 cords- its a new record and its in four different places- this year ,next year, dry and drying. Dammit- it rained like crazy the day it was delivered.GRRRRR
is a damn lot of wood to stack, especially when you get it all at once. Hope you spread out stacking it over a lot of days or if not, that you know someone who is very good at massage.
Good afternoon, folks. We spent the weekend in the North Carolina mountains and making a college visit to the university there. I think the boy’s conclusion was that the campus is just a little too intimate for his tastes even though the town of Asheville is really neat.
The weather was gorgeous and the hotels and bed and breakfasts were packed, but no color yet. It’s running a couple of weeks behind due to hot weather all summer and lack of really cold nights so far this fall.
Here’s a picture of the boy just doing that guy thing of waiting outside of the shop where his girlfriend is trying on skirts. Yeah, she came along, and Mom was a little jealous (yes, I’m speaking about myself in the third person) because she envisioned this as a chance to spend some time with the kid during his last year at home. Boo hoo.
What a great pic! I love that-typical, ‘Can I get outta here pretty soon and go eat?’ male pic. Seen that often on hubbo’s face. Teehee.
Hi Laura, how are you today!!!!
I was just thinking today about how my son’s (who is 25)”girlfriend” who stayed the first night she came over and never left for over 3 years….not that she never left the place, but you know, she moved in and then my son had to get another apartment so he could be alone and now spends about 3 nights here and 4 at the other place, so I am now left with her.
We have totally separate areas, so that helps, with separate entrances, but I was thinking how much fun my son and I used to have. It was a special time while he was a young adult so we were able to relate on a really good plane, not so much the mother but more friend. We are still close and still have fun, but it’s not the same with the “girlfriend”. He had lived with his father for the previous 8 years so it was really a chance for us to catch up on a lot we had missed in those years.
Funny when I had all my kids I never envisioned the extended family we would someday be….or that I would have to share them with other important people in their lives. My daughter and I have pretty much decided that you really only have your children to yourself for about 3 or 4 years…and they start to move away from you when they start school. The sadness of a lot of women..me included….
Hey Diane, I’m doing fine. It’s nice to be back home and sleeping in my own bed after two nights at a hotel. I’m such a homebody these days.
This is my third child to leave home and I only have one remaining, so it’s hitting me pretty hard this time. Plus, Colin and I have always had such a companionable relationship; he shares my cynical nature and rather dry sense of humor and we have had some really great conversations over the years. He is caught in a tough place because he’s been going steady with this girl since he was 15 and he really loves her, but you can tell lately that he’s just itching to be free before it’s too late. For my part, I have often let him know that I think exclusive relationships in high school are a bad idea, but I have allowed him appropriate time and freedom to be with her without trying to restrict him too much, because you know how that can backfire. She goes to school at another college in Asheville, and I think part of his deciding not to go there is to distance himself from her, as she seems to have his future all planned out. I tried mightily on this trip not to be the jealous, possessive mother, and I think I let the mask slip once or twice,but quickly made a joke out of it. I’m so schizophrenic sometimes. And I am someone’s mother. Jeez Louise.
He’s adorable.
He’s indeed adorable. Thanks. Here’s another picture from this weekend with me and my two youngest sons. I am not flicking my kid off, it was devil horns gone bad…I promise.
Is that Sly Stone or Jimi Hendrix?? I have a JImi one almost like it.
Oh, you’re all adorable! And you look quite impish as well, Second Nature — which must be some sort of mistake, since around here we all know you to be very straight-laced and so serious all the time. ;p
You’re just getting carried away now with polite accolades which I do not deserve. Adorable? Impish? For an out of shape, bitter old hag these words do not compute. Where is your picture, Indy? And, BTW, I thought the “Indy” was for Indianapolis…what a doofus. Apparently I DO need everything spelled out for me.
You are not the first person to associate me with the Hoosiers due to this screen name. I have some family in Indiana but have only driven through myself. I grew up mostly in Florida, partly in Alaska, now live in Arizona, and am planning to fight evil in the belly of the beast next year with a move to Ohio.
I actually just built myself a new computer, and I am still transferring files and working out how to use all my new software, etc., so I’m going to cop out on the picture thing today, but I will post some in a future Cafe so you can put a goofy-looking face to my goofy personality.
Where in Ohio will your goofy looking face be residing? I have people there. Lots and lots of people.
Dayton area. I’m both frightened and excited. Frightened for obvious reasons I suppose, since Ohio currently seems to be losing a tug-of-war with the fundies, but also excited because my medical care has been awful here and I’m looking forward to easier access to specialists and much better medical facilities. Medical care is the primary reason for my move.
It would suck to have to move for medical reasons rather than fun ones. I hope things work out for you there. Southern Ohio (Dayton, Cincinnati) are traditionally Republican and Evangelical Protestantism is growing there, you’re right. We need all the progressives we can get. Still, Arizona to Ohio…Brrrrr!
Heh, I live in Flagstaff. We’re over a mile high, right at the base of the San Francisco peaks. We have cold snowy winters — not as cold as OH, but much colder than most people think. And sometimes it snows in June.
Thanks for the good wishes. 🙂
almost neighbors (140 miles).
Dayton’s a bit of dud town, though. Yellow Springs is nearby and is rather nice if you will have some transporation.
Yes, I won’t be in Dayton proper. It will be one of the nearby communities, I’m just not sure which one yet. I’m moving with my roommate and she has family all over the area, thus knows much more about it than I do. I have been to Yellow Springs, though — don’t know if you read the post in one of the infamous recent Cafes in which I made a clown of myself, but Yellow Springs was where I was visiting when I nearly drank betadine instead of coffee. Loved that Young’s Dairy Farm.
Maybe we’ll eventually wind up at the same protest or something, AndiF, and you can regale me with fascinating tales of midwestern tree barks. 😉
but I missed that it was in yellow springs — with all that was going on in those cafes, my poor old brain cells couldn’t absorb everything.
Plus I was distracted by being somewhat puffed because I caused snortage.
What does betadine taste like, and how’d you get it off your teeth? 🙂
Young’s Dairy Farm. Milk from an all Jersey herd, right? Awesome.
often call it naptown* and try not to let anyone know that they ever lived there (except when communicating with nice women who have to bear the indignity of spouses who like mayonnaise).
So have I gaslighted you now by not being IndyLib but being Indy lib?
* In the sixties when I was in high school we liked to call it ‘village of the dead’.
Hey, I’m from Cleveland so I know about not wanting to telegraph where your roots lie. I’m thinking Indianapolis and Cleveland are twins separated at birth, minus the crooked river, of course.
can’t even come close to competing with Randy Newman’s ‘Burn on’ on the cool meter.
Yes, we will never live that one down…the poor, polluted Cuyahoga River with it’s burning, floating trash. It has inspired some cool songs.
of the Cuyahoga during burning river times. We could look down and see all the tumoured fishies. I think the river actually flamed in 69 as I recall.
I think Carl Stokes was the first black mayor of a major U.S. city.
Then came Mayor Dennis-the-Menace Kucinich and his nonsensical ravings about big business and banks trying to steal the city’s municipal light plant. I believe the guilty private utility is the very one that a year or two ago tripped off the big NE blackout.
Man, I love it when people speak about themselves in the third person. 🙂
And your kid does look great. Sorry he is flying the coop, but here’s to hoping his life will be remarkable.
Some stuff you may have missed yesterday:
Feel free to add your recommendations as a reply to this comment. These were a few that I pulled out from the recent diary list that had a few comments.
Spiderleaf’s Equal rights not a requirement for democracy — it’s gotten some recommends, but no comments; guess we’re all speechless that BushCo.’s “Democracy on the march” is going to grind Iraqi women into the desert dust…
weekend: anarchic fun working at the food co-op, spending time with my wonderfully normal housemate, monitoring our kombucha with same (it’s making a baby!), riding my bicycle all over town on errands in the cool and pleasant weather, meeting up with a guy who’s staging a production of a Frost poem set to music and dance from the Japanese medieval No drama (! it works!), fixing snacks at the temple with a jolly crew, catching up on all the Zen gossip with my friend Eric, playing in the yard, drinking a little local hard cider. Ahhhh….
work: 75 acres of grounds for 2 worker bees,one of whom is semi-literate and has an attitude problem, the scary bully mechanic is out here today and may harass us about some minor thing he sees (“the problem is YOUR attitude!”), my buddy didn’t come to take morning break with me (where is he?), the boss is out here too somewhere, my neck hurts already and I’ve only been here for a couple hours, repeat all and more for four more days…
Most Mondays I feel like I’ve been to another country, or planet, and back and have some sort of reality lag.
Hello All,
How many members are we now?
2387 – UID Pericles
(I don’t have secret powers to figure it out, in case anyone was wondering. You can click this link and change the UID number in the address to figure out the highest value.)
You are The Man…eegee !!! But, I confess, I can’t figure out the highest value link thingy.
Consider yourselves all high fourved 🙂
Busy morning here. The Mr. is away on business (last one for these assholes) and it was a bit of a rough one for my son. And I was trying to get work done on the house since we have no idea when we are leaving and we need to get it ready. ACK. Also never rush witha Black and Decker Rotary Sander. It’ll give you such a peeench.
Been reading Persepolis – The story of a childhood
http://www.powells.com/biblio/18-037571457x-0
Holy parralellalallells! Fundamental extremism is NEVER good.
Fantastic book (Thank you Damnit Ryan!)
xoxoxox to you all!
Beauty of a picture Second Nature! 🙂
Or at least Silly Con Valley:
As promised, here are some of the liquidambars just outside our apartment (you can see the edge of the patio). The odd thing about liquidambars is that they all change at different rates; in some parts of the complex, there are some that are still mostly green, and in another part there are a few that have almost totally turned already. Quite odd…not sure why they do that.
One of these years I’m going to suggest a Yosemite trip during fall; I’m sure there are some beautiful trees up there.
Okay, back to work…
Sorry, I have been neglecting the cafe as I have been outside a good deal watching the delicious downpour of rain we are now having. Also Running around and gathering plants to sit where they can get a good shower, oh everything is looking clean and beautiful today.
Rain is so cherished here, we get so little. I have been totally energized by the postive ions the rain produces and have actually gotten all of my dishes done at one time and they were piled up…
Not good for the tree trim business tho and I am always torn between wanting the rain and ……thinking about the business. I hope it doesn’t get out that I am pulling for the rain….
Wanted to run the dishwasher today…
Today, I:
Yeah, doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually quite a bit — now I’m debating whether to do more cleaning, or just put away the dishes in the dishwasher and call it a day, since I’ll be cooking dinner in about 3 hours or so…oh, speaking of dinner, need to plan the week’s menus beyond tomorrow so better get the cookbooks out…
Housework’s sorta like painting in the rain, isn’t it? You get to the end of a wall, you have to go right back and start over at the beginning again…
now I’m debating whether to do more cleaning
That’s my kind of debate — one I can always win.
From time to time I see comments that appear to be “code” little squares with the only readable text scattered names of software programs and what appear to be file names.
Here is an example link
When I load a page that has these comments, it causes the page to load extremely slowly, and scrolling to read other comments is almost impossible.
Can a kind nerd please tell me if this is something I can change in my Booman settings, or is my computer just too rustic? (Windows 98, IE6 running on a vintage machine powered by a drunken squirrel tied to a stick)
they are trolls. If you encounter them alert me or Susan, or jpol or Catnip. We’ll make sure it gets deleted and the account loses it’s ability to comment.
Soon I will have to put in a 24 hour waiting period between creating an account and allowing people to post.
have to give the squirrel more guaro.
200+ comment cafe days, I’d say you’re getting popular enough that it’s time to consider it.
Congratulations!
Raising a tall frosty one to all you fine folks…
The spouse spotted a low-carb pale ale on our last visit to Trader Joe’s, and picked up a 6-pack. It’s actually not bad for a light beer; it’s called Coastal Light. Waiting for him to come home from work so I can put the sausages on the grill; we’re having Chicken Mushroom Asiago sausages (also from Trader Joe’s), with a rice pilaf and corn. He’s picking up potato salad, but we’ll have that tomorrow instead with our BBQ chicken sandwiches.
Have a good evening folks… 🙂