Happy Fall Y'all

 According to the calendar, it is officially fall. It is one of two seasons that I wait for the astrological date to show up before calling it the new season. 

For 2.5 months it has been a sauna down here. We have had more 100-110 heat index days than can be counted. Honestly most of those days have been that. I have learned new things about summer flowers with that kind of heat. It is no wonder I just can't envision fall OR

is it ---that we think of fall and think of a New England fall with glorious color earlier than I would ever see???

Fall here in our area is big hay bales in the fields to the north, cotton blooming, football with cute sundresses as the attire for a college girls. Everyone else wears shorts and a school tee. I knew a trip to Auburn would let me welcome it in -fall as I know it that is.

One of my older pics since I didn't take any this past weekend.

On one note of leaving summer to move into fall is the lack of acorns. Last year gave us a mast year of acorns, so I would venture this year we could call it a scarce season of acorns. What will the squirrels do?

We traveled to Auburn this past weekend and had a nice time. It was hot, but still all the above things were noted and it felt like a southern fall. November is fall here in my area. I am actually looking forward to it now that I have decided it is fall, but I don't like to rush the days either.

Lindsay and her family came with us as well as Paul Allen's dogs. They went to Tennessee for a wedding.

Dansby walked right up in front of them posed for the picture and pretty much said, "I am going to be in this picture!

Katie snapped this one of the Florida kids hoping for cooler weather in the mountains, but not finding it. They did love the bears.

Little Valerie is growing up so quickly. We put her baby (aka, Lindsay's old baby doll) to nap this morning on the couch.

For lunch she got mad at me because I told her she couldn't put anymore chili on a cracker until she ate one. She can make a stink face very well.

I have been decorating since we returned from Auburn as well. I think it just can't happen until I make a September trip to Auburn.

All the same stuff but a few pictures anyway.

Do orangey shells count as fall decor with a Jesus added to the center?

The table has finally gotten its pumpkins. These are my favorite fall decoration. I got them at Joann's about 12 years ago. I saw them the minute I walked in and knew they were coming home with me.

In other things around the house, we added some more of that tinting to the living room like we added to the kitchen last October. OF course, we waited until summer was almost over to do it. Just like when we did it to the kitchen I was slightly worried about how dark it made it. IT is kind of like looking outside through sunshades, but the way it cools things down is absolutely a game changer in a good way.

Tucker and I had used a thermometer to measure the difference in the heat from the kitchen table with the tinting to the area in the living room without tinting. I had Jeff call the next week to have them come out and do it to the windows.

Also around the house...

the boys knocked over a lamp downstairs when they were all over celebrating my birthday midSeptember. Miles came up the stairs to tell us that glass was on the floor and that Palmer had done it, but the truth was like reading the book by the Berenstain Bears called The Blame Game. I had at least 50 of those books which I gave to both children and Paul Allen said later that night he read that one and it was the exact story of what happened downstairs with the lamp. They were playing with a ball which Palmer threw at him, but he kicked it and it hit the lamp.

All was well, but it made me do a switcharoo of lamps so I guess it turned out well. The only thing that broke on the other one was the light bulb. Now, the lamp below may actually need to come upstairs and pull the old one back out which is metal.

Here is what I pulled out from the closet.

The above lamp was a set that my mother-in-law made for me decades ago. One had broken and I ended up letting Mama use this one in a bedroom. When she moved to assisted living I got it and store it thinking one day I would use it. It looks nice there. Oh and the glass in the picture frame broke. 

Boys will be boys.

Around the neighborhood...

A new house has been built 3 doors down on the water. It has kept me entertained for months on end.

They built a new dock and sea wall which the kiddos and I watched out our kitchen window with great interest. It took almost 3 weeks to do all of that.

Count 3 docks and you see the new one. The pine tree in the corner of the yard - well, I now have to watch and see if it lives. They upped the seawall and filled in dirt over the roots of that pine. I don't think that is gonna work. Something to observe.

I took this late yesterday while walking. I have to wait until it is less than a 100 degrees.

You can't see the plants but let's just say they made me happy. I complain about all new builds in our area because the builders do not leave trees which are essential and they plant non native shrubs. It boils my blood. I am not lying.

Anywho, I saw camellias, azaleas, palmettos, and such ----all native to our area. 

First time and since it is so close to me it made me extremely happy. Now, to see who buys it.

I finished the beachy fall stitch. I now have to fully finish it. I just have it folded for the picture.

I think I would like to do more of these, but I am going to get back to my sampler and osprey. It feels so good to want to stitch. 

I am going to discuss reading soon, but I have one more thing to share to this post that happened yesterday afternoon, and this post is already very long.

The doorbell rang and Jeff answered. It was a delivery of a special piece of art from an old friend.

I cried! 

I have a friend who I taught with at 2 schools, one back when I was young and then one when I was close to retirement. She would later come to my church and we have a long story together. 

She has pancreatic cancer and is taking chemo to give her time. She is currently staying in Birmingham with her granddaughter to take the treatments and have someone take care of her. She is an only child like me. Her mother is alive and in her 90's here and just went on Hospice. 

When Chris found out she had cancer, she couldn't talk to anyone, but I kept texting and checking in with here. I told her she didn't have to answer but that she had a lot of people who cared.

Two days after Gus died she finally called me. She ended up comforting me, but we had an hour long conversation and covered a lot of ground.

She got one of the ladies from her Bible Study group here that knows our family well to ask the kids to send her pictures of Gus and had someone locally that I also know to do a sketch of Gus. I will treasure it forever. 

You know all the people we come in contact along the way weave our stories into the most amazing tapestry when we look back.

I will close for now....

Blogger is driving me nuts again. My feed of blogs is not refreshing. Arghhh.

I have to share with you what I learned about full sun and 110 degree heat with flowers AND oh, I planted a mum. 

More coming soon.

I hope to catch up with everyone soon.

Sandy

Another Year - Yippie!

 I love birthdays. I love when you look at the calendar or now your phone and you see your date. It has always made me feel special, like the day was meant for me. I guess it is and well -maybe all the other people with your birthday.

I have been lucky enough to make it for another revolution around the sun. Hello 66. Medicare and Social Security payments all done for a year now. That was a process and a half!

Every now and then you experience one that kind of makes you notice the aging process. 25 was one. I know - you were NOT expecting that one were you? I think 25 kind of hit me that I was not a college kid anymore, but a married woman teaching school. I also agreed to teach 9th grade girls in Sunday School that year and they thought of me as older. 30 did not phase me, but 32 did. I realized I was the same age as my dad when he died and I looked at my children and thought about how hard it must have been for him to lay there with cancer and know he would not be there for me to grow up. 32 was perhaps the age that messed with me most, but what came out of it was to never think of aging as anything other than a blessing!

 Along came 65. Physically, I  think I have felt this one the most. I think it seemed overnight that I had a big change in my energy level. I simply can't do what I once did. I have had to slow my roll and pace the tasks. I also noticed a physical change in my appearance. It seems the wrinkles are just suddenly very noticeable. I have never been on to whine about aging. Aging is a true gift and I think we should set an example for the younger crowd of aging gracefully. Goodness knows the world is full of everyone trying to tuck and cream there way to everlasting beauty.

Now let's talk about beauty. I don't think getting old means you lose your beauty. It just looks different. I think Ali McGraw is perhaps one of the most beautiful older ladies I have ever seen. She hasn't followed the Hollywood way. In my opinion, she has aged gracefully.

I have a whole Pinterest page devoted to cute hairstyles and cuts with gray hair. I let mine go gray at age 41. I had enough of that coloring thing. I think it is especially hard to color your hair when you have black/brown hair. Highlights don't look like they do when you have lighter hair.

I will admit to purchasing some cream this year for my face. I have never ever been good about taking care of my skin. I woke up one morning this year and it was like those wrinkles were screaming at me. But Ali has wrinkles in that picture above and I think they are life lines.

But, I did buy me some Clinque daytime cream and some nighttime cream. Remembering to put it on was an issue at first but I getting there. 

I have worn Clinique since I was in college. In high school, I wore Maybelline mascara in the pink and green container. Most of you girls in your 60's know it. I also wore Cover Girl blush pictured below.

That blush was amazing. 

I started wearing Clinique in college and other than my small stint in the late 80's with Beauty Control after having my colors done I have stuck with it. You can see from my little dish above I have tried several other blushes trying to get one with less harsh chemicals, but for now that Clinque Chubby Stick is my absolute favorite blush. It is most like that old Cover Girl one. On the tray are some A'del and Ilia colors. I like both, but Clinque is still my favorite.

I had my colors done in 1986 and honestly I have stuck to that pretty much my whole life. I can tell those colors work best for me. Below is the page from the book of my colors.

Here are my spring summer tops and you can see many are true to my colors.

When I wear things from the color palette I am brighter in the face. I have a very dark complexion in my face which....

has made wearing foundation my hardest piece of the puzzle. I have had good skin. Other than the wrinkles it is still good skin, but I feel awful in foundation so I have pretty much accepted that and it is a rare occasion that I put it on. I keep a little extra items in the drawer.

Below is the color palette for the face. This is where Clinique comes to my aid as well. 

I have given up their eye shadows (well I do still have some in my drawer). I find they are beautiful but make my eyes itch after the days lingers on.

Way more about aging that you thought you were getting - huh?!

I still think walking is perhaps the best exercise out there. I went out to the beach in the morning after picking up Valerie on my birthday. The water was like a blue green pool. I wanted to stay, so...

I went back later that day for a beach walk.

My favorite place doing what I love to do...strolling in the water's edge.

The family all came over on Sunday to celebrate. Jeff made jambalaya and picked up pastries from the local French bakery that is honestly too good for my good. 

I am so blessed. Lindsay took mine and Jeff's picture.

In accepting that I am always critical of my photos I am going to do better about posting them.

Here's to 66 and being grateful for another year. 

Maybe I need to figure out which foundation Ali McGraw wears and I will be set. All that said, I rarely wear anything on a daily basis. Perks of retirement. I will pop on blush and lipstick for a run to the grocery store.

Gracefully and gratefully aging,

Sandy