Happy Halloween...

Hubby and I have a bet - how many trick-or-treaters will we get this year? It's not raining. It's about 64 degrees out and quite pleasant... I'm saying 15. He says 25. Well, we've had a bunch of kids walk right past our house (I'm blaming the lilac bushes - nobody can see thatthe porch light is on...), but... We have a grade school and a Lion's Club - the Lions put a HUGE weenie roast on at the school, with swag and all the stuff. So, normally, kids go there first. I expect we'll get more as it gets darker.  

(Note: I won. We had TEN kids. Jeeze.)

This is our porch this year. We wanted to put up more, but the month flew by. We have a couple with their Starbuck's and the Great Pumpkin. Simple, but hey - at least we have a decoration up. I also have some floaty ghosts in the trees, and a Happy Halloween flag in the yard. On the front window, I do have some dancing skeletons - and a "GO VOTE" flag. Gotta keep up the standards, right? 

And on top of that, the clocks go back tonight. And it's All Saints' Day tomorrow, too. And it's the midterms on Tuesday. I guess that determines if we turn the clock back one hour -- or 100 years. 

The Vacation... 

So, September flew by. Our trip Out West was nice. Driving out there was a good decision, all things considered. Crossing the Mighty Mississippi is still a thrill - you forget how wide it atually is. 

Colorado is gorgeous, but OH-SO-DRY. I forgot we were going to what's essentially the "high desert" area, and those of us from the flat Midwest aren't used to the lack of moisture and the altitude, though I did better with the
altitude than normally. 

Pro-tip: Don't bring a bad UTI to the desert. I don't drink enough water as it is, and with the UTI, it ... got bad. Just saying, I was in a lot of pain, and it really curtailed a lot of what we were planning to do. One benefit is that we now know every rest stop from our house to downtown Colorado Springs. We stayed in a hotel with a morning view of Pike's Peak, which was nice. It was interesting to see so many states have stickers in the bathrooms in regard to human trafficking. Because I was with a women's organization that does a lot of work in that arena, I was really impressed with the number of hotlines and in one state, the number of LANGUAGES (8) for the posters. 

We did do some things: We went to Garden of the Gods over a couple days - there were hikes we wanted to take, and we didn't even crack a bunch of the trails available to us. We did some horseback riding IN the Garden, which is a great trail ride. And we went up to the top of Pike's Peak on the Cog Railway. That's 2,000 feet higher than we were in Switzerland! 

This pic? Yes, the sky was THAT blue. We had marvelous weather, and while there was one evening we had rain, otherwise, the temps were not horrible. 

And we visited The Kid, the New Daughter-in-Law, and the new GRANDKIDS... Yikes, that's a lot! 

I had visited with The Other Kid, about 6-ish years ago, maybe 7. And I was amazed at how much CO Springs had -- "blossomed"??? I don't think that's exactly the word - maybe "boomed," or ... "over-developed." Honestly, these stacked-on-top condos going for upwards of $400 - $500,000?? No thanks. And if you want "real" land? You'd better have a huge bank account. 

The Knitting...

Of course there was knitting. First, there was the Wedding Afghan, which I finished in record time. Whew! Funny story: we gave it to them, and The Kid sends a picture of THEIR DOG napping on it. Mom was NOT amused. I took a few deep breaths, and texed back, "If you want me to make him a doggie blanket, I will... this was not our intention for your afghan." I thought it was a nice message, considering what I wanted to say! LOL The next day, it was draped appropriately over the back of the couch. Ahem. Seriously. 

This is the 5-panel throw from Encore Worsted. The original colors were a lovely ivory and butter yellow, but I didn't want to do something that would look like a baby afghan. And their favorite colors were green and yellow. Which also meant I didn't want it to look like a Green Bay Packers throw either! So I did a single crochet around (twice) each panel to mimic stained glass. I think I did ok. The green is a Shamrock Heather, and the gold is called Sunflower. It works and looks rather sophisticated, I think. 

The pattern suggested mattress stitch to sew the panels together. And quite honestly, my mattress stitch sucks. I crochet pretty well, though, so I did a single crochet to hook them together, and then twice around for the outside borders. I ran this past a crochet friend and a crochet/knitter and both thought that would be much neater, which it is. The original pattern had tassels. Nope. Though the tassels would hold down those points. So the crochet does help with the points. 

The travel knitting was socks. As usual. I had to set them aside when I got back, so I am on the heel flap of the first of the socks. I'm not taking them to the polling place for Election Day. I'm just bringing a novel. It's just easier. 

See that darling little ghost stitch marker? That's a gift from my DIL. The yarn is another ball of Opal, and I wasn't sure how it would lay out - it seems rather "patriotic" but muted. So I won't look like I'm wearing flags on my feet. 

It's another vanilla sock, with a heel flap. I was thinking of doing another Strong Heel, but I think I'll do that for the next pair. This was good knitting for the car and for downtime. I can't wait to pick it back up again, because I want to finish them up. 

And the most recent thing is picking back up my FIFTEENTH (seriously NOT....) Sophie Hood. It's not my 15th. It just feels like it. My mom wanted a white one. Remember that last year I made her the red one? Well, she doesn't like the red for church, because it doesn't match her coat... So I found some Friday Harbor in Marshmallow - that's a lovely cotton silk blend, and it will wear nicely. I did my Large Sophie in Friday Harbor, and I love it. 

I'm on the decreases of the Sophie Hood, and then I just have to sew up (!!) the back seam. It's a nice project to spend time with in the evenings. I won't be bringing that anywhere either - because it's basically an off-white and I don't want to get it grimy. 

I made the small size for the hood, and it fits nicely. I actually think I could've made the Sophie "shawl" -- it's more a scarf than a shawl, let's be honest - in the medium size. The larger size is a bit overwhelming. 

It looks like I am not going to finish the counted-cross stitch for my friend for Xmas. I have purchased some Purl Soho yarn to whip out some hats for the GRANDKIDS (!) for Xmas, so I have that to take care of. I'll get that info to you soon. 

Health Stuff...

Well, I've reached "maintenance," and I'm pretty steady on the weight loss. I'm still working on building strength, and have started to do a bit of weight-lifting, which I still think is dead boring. I do a lot more at the barn, which makes me happier, and is essentially working with weights, since I'm shoveling and dumping. That's a whole lot more fun, to be honest. 

The cardiologist is happy. So I'm happy. 

The Reunion...

My BFF and I went to our 50th Class Reunion. The only reason I went was to see what happened to all the "popular kids." I was only popular when someone wanted class notes... Funny enough, one of the first people we ran into was a guy we BOTH dated. Me briefly, her for about a year. Oh well. Thing just didn't jell with us, and that's ok. 

We went to the high school, which had undergone a LOT of changes. People were and are devoted to that school, for sure. My theory is that, if you consider high school "the best years of your life," I'm sorry for you. 

High school, for me, was my "way out," to college, to moving away, to becoming an adult AWAY from my hometown. So many of my classmates never left. And it shows, if I'm honest. 

Of all the pictures posted on social media, somehow, we never "made the cut." Which is typical. I'm glad we went; and I'm glad our husbands stayed home! 

My high school was a "legacy." My mom, my aunt, my cousins...a bunch of us went there. Many of the nuns knew my mom and aunt - which says a lot. And I feel like I got a good education there; it was a college-prep high school, and it set me up well for my future. 

And that was its job. 

Random Picture...

This lit up my trip! The Kid says that these signs pop up a lot in the CO Springs area. Your reminder: go vote! Vote early if you can, or get to the polls - preferably with a friend or five! Vote like your rights are on fire, which they are.