Tikatu's Travels Through Time

I've been lurking at a lot of different blogs lately and at one, where the blog writer is an American ex-pat living in Italy, she went on about how spring there compared to what she remembered from growing up in Texas. At the end, she encouraged readers to talk about what they enjoyed about spring. I thought it worthy of a blog post.

The blush of myriad shades of green as far as the eye can see – with a few light browns and reds thrown in for good measure. Dogwoods unfolding white and pink (my favorite!) blossoms. The white Bradford pears, the purple wisteria… everything in is riotous bloom where I live. Just the pure color of it all! The antithesis to fall – things go from nothing to rainbow to green in the spring, while in the fall, things go from green to rainbow to brown to nothing again.

I've always been partial to fall, and the cool weather after a long, hot summer. Our autumns seem so short compared to what I remember from growing up in Massachusetts. But spring down here... this year, it's special, and I'm not quite sure I know why.
 

Went to the Harvest Happening at church last night. The kids love this; it gives them a chance to run around and visit with their friends while riding the hayrides, eating hot dogs, and drinking hot cocoa. I wasn't sure if they were going to have it; the weather was damp and overcast all day. And boy, did I feel it! Hubby dropped us off and went back to the house to get a couple of folding chairs. Found out that some small creature had made a nest in the red one; there were bits of fluff in there and a couple of holes chewed through the nylon. Once he got back, we ate and then I sat down and didn't move for the rest of the evening. My feet were hurting so much! Dorothy and Sandra came over to chat with me, and I touched base with Debbie and Linda P. Said "Hi" to a lot of people and spoke with Sarajean at length. Have to make sure I get Valerie's wedding gift all wrapped and ready to go.

The kids had a good time. The Girl hung out with her good friend Anneliese, and Boy #1 hung out with Matthias and put odds and ends on the fire. Boy #2 dared Emmy to put something on the fire, and, knowing Emmy, she took him up on his dare. The boys ran around on the playground and I had to specifically tell Boy #1 to stay out of the creek. He told us later that there was a snapping turtle in the creek now.

We bought pumpkins for the kids to "carve" which means that they design a jack o' lantern and Daddy carves it (but they have to clean it out). He got two done the day before and did the last one last night. They are out on the steps now. The Girl's is at the top as usual, with Boy #1's just below it, and Boy #2's at the bottom. Here are some pics:

We'll put candles in them tonight.

The Hubby should be home soon and I'll either go out and get milk and candy to send him out to run the errand. I'm very tired; I didn't get to sleep until 4:30 a.m. with my feet the way they were and didn't get up until 11:00 a.m. Hubby always tells me to wake him so he can massage my feet with Aspercreme, but he needs his sleep, too, and always seems so groggy and grouchy when I ask him to do it. Tonight I'll take my anti-depressant around 9 and see if that helps me get to bed sooner.

funky_cheeseArtisiticRainey finished the pics of my character's kids for IR:TNP and sent me a picture of herself in her beautiful dress. She looked so very lovely! And she did a great job on the portraits, too. I have one more character to develop a description for: my character's mother.

I keep looking for the van, and I'm very much afraid that Hubby has stopped at the library. Well, it closes at 6 tonight so he won't be there very long. Now to get some housework done.

Happy Halloween, everyone!