I do believe in spooks

Happy Halloween everyone. I haven't been posting too much lately, but today I am happy to celebrate my 200th post. Wahoo!

I've been a slacker photographer lately. I think I must be recovering from all the photos I took in Alaska. Maybe it's because everything just seems so mundane in suburbia after 3 weeks in the Great Last Frontier. But better late than never, here are pictures of the spooky pumpkins that the kids carved with Dejah last week.

A bat flying over the moon, a spider hanging out under his web...

...and Ian's broadly grinning spook.

I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do!

Burlap and springs

Right now I'm taking a community-ed upholstery class. I signed up so I could refinish some chairs that my mom and dad gave us. They're great chairs, but we wore out the seats and the foam started to come out.

However, the teacher thought it would be best for us to create some furniture from scratch, and then refinish our own stuff in the advanced class. So the first class we all designed an ottoman, the second class we built the frame, the third we learned how to sew, and the forth we stretched the burlap straps on the frame, and next week we'll attach the springs to the strap.

It's nice to have a post-summer project.

Cemetry Gates

A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetry gates


So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people, all those lives
Where are they now ?



With loves, and hates
And passions just like mine
They were born And then they lived
And then they died
It seems so unfair
I want to cry

A dreaded sunny day
So let's go where we're happy
And I meet you at the cemetry gates

Actually, it was a lovely sunny day so went to visit Wendy in her new condo, her posh Park City slope side condo. Very nice! We ate sandwiches and went for a walk. We enjoyed the crisp fall air and took a stroll over to a hidden historic Park City cemetery. It was the kind of cemetery that you think of when someone tells a spooky story around a campfire. It seemed a very appropriate October activity. However, I got the impression that Saffy just thought it was another fun playground.

Park City is always lovely in the fall and today was no exception. We're so happy that Wendy could finally get moved into her place. I'm sure she won't the commute up Parley's Canyon during the winter.

Tobacco blooms

The garden is definitely winding down for the year. The cana lilies and dahlias have been dug up and put into storage for next year, and the vegetable garden beds have been emptied and put to rest for the season. We do still have a few flowers in bloom, some Jupiter's beard (Centrantus ruber) and some blue salvia, but they won't last much longer either.

I'm always glad in the fall that I planted the flowering tobacco. It's surprising how long into the season it blooms. Miles took this picture of the Nicotiana sp. two weeks ago before the first hard frost, but it still looks pretty good.


At least we'll have skiing to distract us until the crocuses bloom in spring.

Cousins

Here are the kids with their grandparents on our last day in Alaska. I was thinking about my dad because we saw his brothers yesterday at my cousin's wedding reception.


Brittany looked lovely in her bridal gown, and her new husband Brad wore a smart-looking kilt. It was a small affair with close family and friends. She looked very happy. We enjoyed catching up with my cousins that we don't see very often. Carrie, Connie, and Michel were there and had we were glad to see our uncles.

Afterward we dropped by Clair's house, and then we went to Michel's so the kids could play with their cousins.

Snow

We woke up today with snow on the ground. It seems like winter sneaks up on us every year. What happened to fall? Lisette is bummed out about the cold weather, but it brings us that much closer to ski season!

I haven't been keeping up everything very well, but here are a few things that have been going on with us lately:

• After being without one for almost 2 years, we finally broke down and bought a new dishwasher.
• Marsha took me out to see The Rat Pack - Live at the Sands at Kingsbury hall. It was Sammy-OldBlueEyes-Dinotastic!
  
• Lisette is adjusting well to public school. She joined band class and is now happily playing the clarinet.
• Miles and Ian were very happy to play with their cousin Holden today.
• Saffy is now going to speech classes on Mondays.
• I took Ian and Miles to see Momix and Kingsbury hall last Friday. It was kind of new-agey-odd but the physicality of the dancers was astounding.

House of cards

Here is Miles building a scale model of the world financial system.
Oh wait, that would be the financial system about 6 weeks ago.