Friday is the 6th day of the week and the entrance to the weekend. It's like an open door leading to rest and peace after a busy week.
It's football season too and high schools and universities are high on excitement. Bonfires crackle on campuses the night before the big games. Everyone brings wood of one kind or another , even chairs, until the pile is well over a story hight.
And, it's sweatshirt weather. Nothing is more inviting and cozy than jeans and a sweatshirt.
New Jersey is awash with colors that deepen by the day. Orange, reds, plums , yellows are all on display now. Days are cool and nights are downright cold.
The open bay is at the horizon, not that far really.
Sunset sends a golden glow over everything. They don't call it the Golden Hour for nothing.
No one travels Along this way but I, This autumn evening.
Haiku by Matsuo Basho
In the backyard the trees show off. Soon enough the leaves will be gone and skies will turn silver.
The old pump sputters then bursts to life. Moss is grateful for a drink.
The weather has gone full on Autumn and the temperatures are low. Tonight it is 39°F and the other night we were down to freezing. The pond is being readied for winter. The new leaf net arrived and last year I bought a super heater that kept the entire pond completely warm and ice free. The fish are still eating but that will soon stop as they go into hiberation once the water temperatures lower to below 50°F.
Well Halloween certainly is Goosebumps time. It is the night before what is called All Saints Day when martyrs are remembered and honored. Do you remember the Canadian show Goosebumps? Most of the really great kids/teen/young adult programs were from Canada.
Tonight a draft from the window next to my desk gave me a chill and goosebumps. It's getting very cold outside.
2. What does Halloween look like in your home and/or neighborhood these days?
Homes with children are decorated. A family on the corner go all out for every holiday and their home is always one of the best decorated.
Do you participate? I hand out bags of chips and Doritos to kids who come by.
3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia...your favorite seed on the list? What's something you like to make/eat that calls for one of these seeds in the recipe?
I love hemp seeds in soup, stew, sandwiches, etc. I make homemade soft pretzels and put sesame or poppy on those too. And below is the recipe for a good Hobbit lemon poppy seed cake.
Belladonna Took-Baggins
Belladonna Took-Baggins Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (the Hobbit)
1 box of lemon cake mix... follow the directions but add 2 Tablespoons of poppy seeds to it.
Prepare a bundt cake form and pour the mixture into it after oiling and flouring.
Bake at the time and temperature on the package.
Serve with lemon frosting or sprinkle on confectioner's sugar.
Lemon Frosting
1 cup of butter
5 cups of powdered (Confectioner's ) sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tablespoon of lemon zest ( grated lemon peel)
yellow food coloring ...but you don't need it.
Mix the sugar with the butter until completely mixed.
Add the lemon juice and zest and mix it in.
If you need to stiffen up the frosting you can add more sugar as you need it stirring in until you get the right consistency.
Frost the cake when it is cool and sprinkle with more Poppy Seeds.
4. What's the most (or one of the most) 'fall photos' you've ever taken? Share it here. Just one.
One of the most fall photos I have taken. This is the scene behind my house through the woods and is one of the hundreds of creeks that stream into the bay.
5. Somehow we're rolling in to November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title of this chapter be?
Daylight Savings Time was created during World War I to give farmers and workers more daylight to work. The government kept it when they discovered it causes heart attacks and strokes in the elderly, and during the time change people had more car accidents, falls and injuries.
Our bodies have an internal clock that is damaged during every clock change. Today we have universal electricity and lights. We have no need for DST anymore. It’s time to stop the madness! End DST clock changes forever!!
Don't forget to join in for Tuesday 4. Link is in the bar under the header painting.
Here on the coast it is 30°F at 4:00 AM... more wintery than autumn. After I post this I am going back to bed. So my daughter mentioned that I need to get my act together over the redo of the kitchen.
Now from the photo you might think it's just dandy. Photography done right can cover over a multitude of ridiculousness. For instance, the sink is rusting through on it's bottom. Sides are already rusted out in places and covered over with white tape for safety sake. The sink is lopsides and falling through the counter top which is water damaged. The floor is tile, not the wood of the picture. I put in the wooden floor to see how it would look. The tile floor is dangerous with missing and broken tiles and being disabled I can't afford that kind of risk. So the countersops and sink must be replaced and later the floor.
I would love to paint the cabinets a pale beige color. Right now they are plain cherry hardwood. Not the dark cherry but as you can see the natural cherry.
Here is the kitchen now with the wishful floor, though I think I would go with a darker color.
Using the photo I took above, I had Chat GPT paint the cabinets, place the sink back unter the window where it belongs and replace the stupid countertops with a dark butcherblock. Butcherblock is one of the cheaper options at Home Depot . I can't afford much.
Here is what the AI did:
Now the oven no longer works and neither does the left front burner. The stove ia about 20 years old and I will probably have to replace it too. Remember back in the day and how those old stoves are still going strong? Not today boy, they are built not to last.
I don't have a dishwasher though the AI put one in.. and I like that idea a lot.
AI even replaced my mother's old orange La Crueset dutch oven with a blue one. I had to throw out the old one as it was missing some enamel making ti bad to use. I can not afford La Crueset but I do need a new Dutch oven.
All in all the fix up will require a new sink , butcher block counters and paint.
Over all I am in love with this look. What do you think?
Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants po ts and leave a comment Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!
1) In this song, Donald Mills of the Mills Brothers encourages us to "puff, puff, puff" our cares away. When did you most recently smoke a cigarette?
Never. I was never interested in smoking and so I never even tried it.
2) In the 1930s, when this week's song was recorded, an estimated 40% of American adults smoked cigarettes. By the early 1960s, that number reached a high of 42%. According to the CDC, the percentage of adult smokers dropped to 11%. Do many of your friends and relatives smoke or vape?
No, not many at all.
3) Donald was the youngest of the singing Mills Brothers, and he's the one who most often sang lead. That squares with popular birth order theory, which proposes that the youngest tends to enjoy being the center of attention, the middle child is the diplomat, and the oldest is the high-achiever. Think of your own family and the families of your friends. Do you think this theory holds true?
No I don't. I am sure it applies in some families but none that I have ever seen.
4) The Mills Brothers were one of the first famous singing brother acts. The Williams Brothers – which featured future TV star Andy Williams – followed in their footsteps. Can you think of another group of singing brothers?
The Osmond Brothers.
The Jackson 5
The BeeGees
The Wilsons of the Beach Boys
The Everly Brothers
The Jonas Brothers
The Nelson Brothers (Ricky Nelsons twin sons)
5) In addition to recording hit records, The Mills Brothers were a staple on radio in the 1930s. They were among the first African American artists to host their own radio show and sang jingles for Standard Oil and Crisco. What commercial do you recall having seen, or heard, recently?
There are very creative commercials for Resilia on YouTube recently. Resilia is aged oil of oregano and black seed oil capsules.
I also like the Ryze commercial with the little mushroom.
6) In 1933, when this week's song was popular, actor Robert Montgomery and his wife had a daughter they named Elizabeth. That little girl would become famous in the 1960s for her own TV show. Without looking it up, do you know what show Elizabeth Montgomery starred in?
Elizabeth was Samantha on Bewitched.
7) Johnny Cash was also born in 1 933. Do you have a favorite Johnny Cash song?
Jackson which he sung with his wife June Carter Cash.
8) In 1933, five French airlines merged to form Air France. Think of the last time you were at an airport. Were you taking a flight or meeting a flight?
I was meeting a flight.
9) Random question: Your best friend just received a certificate for completing a car maintenance course at your community college. Would you let them work on your vehicle?
Sure. I'm a Jersey girl. If they make a mess, they will regret their life choices. hehehe.
1. This week's Hodgepodge lands on 'Back To The Future Day'. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) traveled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2.
Did you see the movie? Yes I saw the movie. Did you know the character of Biff was patterned by writer Bob Gale on his relationship with D J Tr ump in the casino days.
Tell us a something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015. The famous anonymous was a young teen and the little was in elementary school. Life was much fuller then.
2. Which -ber month is your favorite? (September, October, November, December). I like them all. They all have wonderful attributes.
Explain why. September is back to school. October is turning leaves and Halloween.
November is a bunch of family birthdays including mine and Thanksgiving Day.
December is the silver month filled with holiday expectations and family warmth.
3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze...your favorite fall color to wear? I like the combination of camel and navy blue, bronze and red, bronze and blue... all good.
To eat? Orange... as in oranges, Clementines, cinnamon, Pumpkins and sweet potatoes.
To see in nature? Here in the northeast we see all those colors in spades in trees and shrubs.. gold along the sea side.
These photos will also be for my Friday photos.
Except for the top photo, these are my backyard.
4. What do you miss most about being 20? Being able to dance, run, jump, swim, ride horses, ice skate, camp in the mountains, surf! Go places. Walk!!!
5. We're roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What's one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate.
This post is late because I don't have any answer and waited to try and think of one. I can't.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
This is my living room. I had AI paint my walls green, change out my wall art and change my furniture to leather to match my leather hassock that I use as a coffee table. It also added bookcases on the side of my TV table etc. They put a light on the piano . Not much else is changed. You might think it's dark but I am a fan of English Gentleman's club/Dark Academia looks and while I like the light airy stuff in someone elses' home, I don't want it here.
What do you think of these?
Here is the second idea it gave me
Then I asked to see where AI thought a Christmas tree should go. It failed to move the chair but, it does show where I had planned for the rree to go.
White washing the fencefrom Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer
Welcome to Tuesday 4 kept up in honor of it's founder Toni Taddeo.
Over 12,000 books, many once required reading in schools and including children's books have been banned. Even Jane Eyre finds itself under scrutiny..
1.Do you think any book or series has helped form your view on things.. life, love, etc?
Many will say the Bible but how about more secular books that you feel have taught or influenced you? The Little House on the Prairie series influenced me with a greater respect for pioneers and the difficulties they faced.
The biography of George Washington Carver made me get my nose to the grindstone in school instead of goofing off. He is one of my heroes. He was a genuinely good man.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens which made a heavy impact on taking care of the poor and homeless.
"It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!"
There was a Scottish series of books my mother's friend sent her yearly called The Friedhship Book. ofFrancis Gay. My mother never read them but I did. It was full of inspirational stories and poems I devoured them as a teenager and ever since too.
Francis Gay was the pen name of Herbert Leslie Gee (1901–1977), a prolific English writer, journalist, and ardent Methodist born in Bridlington, Yorkshire.
Mister God, This is Anna.. heart breaking but inspirational.
My grandmother read the pamphlets called The Upper Room and I read them after she did.
2. What is your favorite book or book series and why is it a favorite?
I am a fan of the Robert B. ParkerSpenser series of books and his books based on the character of Jesse Stone. I like them because they are fast paced, lean on words and descriptions . They get to the point!
Like Toni, I am also a fan of Agatha Christie's mysteries and have read most of them.
3. If your favorite book or book series was being cast for a TV/Movie series, who would play the main characters?
Spenser for Hire was cast with Robert Urich playing Spenser and Jesse Stone was cast with Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone . Avory Brooks, a professor at Rutgers (where I went to university) played the part of Hawk.
Miss Marple was best played, I believe, by Joan Hickson.
Hercule Poirot was best with David Suchet I think.
4. Are there any books you have read many times?
One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell
44 Charles Street by Danielle Steel
Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker
A White House Diary by Lady Bird Johnson
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Tuesday 4 is available. We are due for another nor'easter by Monday.
Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!
Ignore the above paragraph. This week we're going rogue with questions inspired by a website devoted to giving penpals topics for their letters.
Getting to Know You
1) Describe yourself in three words.
Studious, exhausted, and I have no clue.
2) What's your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant?
I really don't have a favorite. The 18oz ribeye at Delmonico's in NY is really good.
3) Did you set goals for 2026? If yes, how are you proceeding toward them?
I don't set goals anymore as I can't live up to them because of physical limitations.
4) What's something you have learned the hard way?
That many people are not trustworthy or nice. That if there is one thing we get wrong over all in life is to weary in well doing and treating others better than we treat ourselves.
5) If you could skip one item on today's to-do list, what would it be?
Not much on the agenda at all today. I need to clean the kitchen up a bit more and I'd rather skip that.
Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!
1) In this song, Laney Wilson namechecks Tito's Vodka. Is there a product you you are very brand loyal to? (It doesn't have to be liquor. Maybe you always reach for Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, even if another soap is on sale.)
I am loyal to Rienzi canned products from Italy. They are natural and extremely low sodium and healthy.
2) The lyrics start with her in a window seat on a flight out of Houston. Do you prefer the window or the aisle? Aisle seat. I don't want to climb over people and I don't care what's outside.
3) She's dreaming of rodeo nights with the guy she loves. If you could spend this evening with anyone at all, anywhere at all, where would you go and who would be with you?
Out to dinner with my friends and family.
4) Lainey is from Baskin, LA, population 200. Do you prefer big cities or small towns?
Both have their place. I live in a small coastal community now but I wouldn't mind living in New York City at all.
5) There's a Netflix documentary about Lainey called Keepin' Country Cool. What show have you recently streamed? I haven't streamed anything in a while but I do watch a number of things on YouTube.
6) This week's song borrows liberally from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," so much so that "Rainbow" songwriters Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg receive credit. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is the most beloved song from The Wizard of Oz. Can you name another?
If you mean from the movie it would be the songs If I Only Had a Brain and Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Oh.. and We're Off to See the Wizard.
7) In 2025, when this song was popular, more patients took advantage of telehealth than ever before. Have you ever had a virtual doctor visit?
No.
8) Also in 2025, smart home technology was integrated into more new home construction. Do you use smart devices to automate your lights, thermostat, or doorbell?
No but I do have a smart device. I use it for time, weather, information and to make hands free emergency photo calls..
9) Random question – On which day are you happier: a) the day you take off on vacation or b) the day you return home from your trip?
It's exciting to go and it's a pleasure to return home again. I think they are about equal.
Hi friends, I have spent the day looking for some relatives graves in Pennsylvnia and found quite a few
The weather was very temperate today and nights now are chilly.
The banner I am using is one of the first times I ever put up a finished product... I never really do. They are always half done. This one has a cheat on it... I used AI to amplify the light from the lighthouse. Otherwide, its my own painting.
1. Do you think you're driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain.
Always curiosity. I have an insatiable drive to study, learn, find, etc. When there is a question about something I will immediately research it to find the meaning, etc.
2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer?
I have some cold packs of various sizes in my freezer.
3. Are you comfortable with silence? Yes.
If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise?
I am not one who needs music and TV on all the time and actually I don't like that very much. I prefer the sounds of the outdoors that leak in through the day: kids, dogs, seagulls and etc.
Today there is a cricket in the office who has come inside. He is singing all day long.
Do you seek out times and places to be silent?
No, I don't actively seek them out, they are just there in the place where I live.
What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent?
My own home and neighborhood are usually quiet. I am in a unique area where nature is very close.
4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?
Landscaping. I would redo my property for sure. Secondly I would love to be a carpenter to fix up my home.
5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent?
I go between both.
Which do you find harder to deal with in others?
Needy. I am ill equipped anymore to help anyone with that except on a verbal basis and even then not a lot.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
“I was burning, while you came blaming me for the smell of ashes” Kamryn Tanner from the poem I Burn for You.
This quote fits the view of the poor and disadvantaged, the abused wife,child... so many.
A similar quote is one about mocking how someone swims while they are drowning.
Happy Autumn
