Outside My Window ~ 9.20.09

Outside My Window…is a beautiful almost fall morning.  We are at 65F with 73% humidity, sunny with blue skies.  The forecast is for a high of 78F with patchy clouds.  Beautiful.  The dogwood tree leaves are beginning to turn…..they are generally the first to turn around here.  I have noticed quite a few berries on mine this year.  It appears that when I get a lot of berries in the fall, I get more blooms the following spring. 

I am thinking…about how quickly summer seemed to fly by.  It doesn’t seem like that long ago I was stressing over Alanna’s prom dress and graduation.  Now school has started again and finished week two…and it is almost fall.  Does anyone else feel like summer just flew by?  I didn’t get to do a lot of things I had intended to do this summer.

I am thankful for…being able to celebrate my mother’s birthday with her again this year.  I prepared dinner for her and afterwards my sister and I cleaned up the kitchen.  The perfect gift according to her ~ she didn’t have to cook or clean up on her special day. 

From the kitchen…brewing some coffee this morning and to follow will be pan grilled chicken with some over medium eggs….maybe some hashed browned potatoes as well.  People always have steak and eggs, but have you ever tried pan grilled chicken?  Very tasty…..and a great alternative for those of us who can’t or don’t eat steak.

I am creating…some plans for my Christmas gifts.  I have several ideas floating around in my head about what I’m going to do this year.  Now I need to narrow it down to exactly what so I can get my supplies together.  And before you laugh boys and girls, there is only 96 days until Christmas.  Wow, that takes me back to thinking about how fast this year has gone!

I am going…to be reopening my web site later this evening.  I have decided to keep it open with limited items.  As much as I would like to carry mass quantities of soaps and things, I am limited by time and the amount of space I have to store products.  It is a little frustrating because I have so many ideas, but I think it will work out better if I keep it small for the time being.  I really enjoy creating and making things so I don’t want it to turn into something I dread doing…..which is what it was becoming for a time there, thus the vacation this past summer.  I have a little more tweaking to do on the web pages and hopefully will be good to go by this evening…..she said with crossed fingers.   🙂

I am reading…my H.G. Wells Book of Seven Novels.  I’m also looking at Stephen King’s Storm of the Century.  Did you know when Stephen King was developing this story, he fully intended to write it as a novel but wrote a screenplay instead?  After he got into it, it kept insisting it wanted to be a movie.  But he also realized to get the full impact of his story, it would be too long for a theatrical release.  He decided to write a novel for television and a mini-series was born. This was the first book he wrote specifically for the screen.  Other movies were first a book then they were adapted into a movie.  He wrote Storm of the Century using a screenwriting program; the book is actually an original screenplay.  I like Stephen King…….I like his books and I like many of the movies created from his books.  I also like how he inserts himself into his movies too, much like Alfred Hitchcock did.

I am hoping…to finish my list of “thinks to do” today.  It is quite a large one, but I’m still hopeful. 

I am hearing…the Weather Channel, the ticking of my many clocks….and the Blue Jays outside crying out to let me know the bird feeders are empty.  They are the keepers of the feeders I have decided.  They will cry out for a time until I refill the feeders.  Then they sing their throaty little bird song as they sit on the fence.  Remember last week I told you about how I was creating a place for birds…..it seems I have succeeded.  This past Thursday I was working from home.  When I went to my room to get something, I could see outside my sliding glass doors there were many, many birds enjoying the seed and the bird bath.  At one point, there must have been 8 to 10 birds in the bath.  I have been taking some photos of them since I put up the feeders…..not the very best of quality, but decent.  If I had a stronger lens, and wasn’t taking them through the glass, it may be better…..but working with what I have now.  I can’t resist sharing this one with you…..Bath Time……not bad for a “through the window from across the room” shot eh?

Around the house…is an incredible mess created from my fall cleaning.  Some people do spring, I do fall.  What started out as organizing my closet has turned into rearranging some furniture and changing things up.  Of course, one thing leads to another and before you know it, you are incorporating the entire house into the project. Pretty soon you have a big mess because you are moving and changing and cleaning….but it’s all good cause when you are done, voila ~ clean.   🙂

Plans for the week include…to continue my cleaning project, adding photos to my Flickr site ~ I have almost a month’s work of photos, and work on a Physics project with Cailin.  Now, before everyone gets too excited, we are not cheating here, I am required to participate…and I have to email it to the teacher by the due date.  Yea, as if they don’t give the kids enough to do, now they are assigning homework to the parents!  Those of you who know me well know how I feel about the mountains of homework the school assigns the kids ~ so you can just imagine how I feel about them now assigning me some.  Grrrrrrr.    😡

One of my favorite things…clean sheets……..cool, fall nights………down comforter…….a buckwheat hull pillow……..a kapok pillow top on my mattress…….and cozying down for a night of blissful sleep.  Soon enough this will be a reality.

Pictures I’d like to share with you…Have you ever felt like you were at the right place at the right time?  I took these at one of my favorite places to take photos ~ the Warwick River boat dock near my mother’s house…..

I love the setting sun on this river grass……