Bloghopping

One of the fun things about bloghopping (clicking on the "Next Blog" link in the header of a blog) is the glimpse we get into another person's life.

Depending on where we live in the country, what we do for a living, how many children we have, our age, what our interests are, etc, we all live such different lives.

It's so interesting to see what life is like in other communities. Sometimes I read on a blog that the writer feels they have nothing to say or doesn't think their daily activities are good topics for a post. But, really, just writing about daily life is so interesting. Photos are great too, as we get to see different parts of the country, and sometimes different countries altogether. (The photo in this post was taken in Laramie, Wyoming - this bench near a gift shop appeared to have been set up just for photo ops like this.)

I'm looking forward to continuing to discover America through the blogosphere (when I'm not on a road trip or a photo expedition of my own!).

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Pumpkin Carving

I just LOVE our annual pumpkin carving.

We cover the dining table with a plastic tablecloth (yay - I found an ORANGE one in the linen closet!) and pull out our collection of carving tools (nothing fancy...those plastic orange things), along with the design templates (that come with the plastic orange things).

We use one of the pumpkins we bought during our Fall Foliage Ride and one from Grandpa's garden. (That's water on the front of my daughter's shirt...she had to bring the wet, snowy, COLD pumpkins in from the back step.) And, of course, no scene is complete without drinks and music - our sustenance as we work is hot mulled cider. And, "Elvira's Haunted Hits" and the soundtrack from "Beetlejuice" keep us singing (and sometimes dancing!).

This year, my daughter made a funny/happy face, and I made trees with an owl and the moon in the background. We'll light these before all the kids come for trick-or-treat. With the seeds, I'm going to try a 5-spice recipe I found in this morning's Berkshire Eagle. (I'm not sure what 5-spice powder is, as I've never used it, but I'll soon find out.)

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It's Snowing!

Yes - it's true. As I was driving home tonight, the rain was turning into large splashy snowy drops.

We couldn't watch to see what it turned into, as I had to take my daughter to the doctor this afternoon. She had what looked like a lyme tick bite on her arm. Thankfully, it turned out to be harmless, but we had to wait 1 HOUR to find that out!

Now, after the appointment, it's dark, but there are official snowflakes coming down. (I know it's hard to tell in this dark photo, but all those little white spots are flakes.) The forecast predicts that an inch or so will stick to the ground; it will be interesting to see what the landscape looks like in the morning. Time to bring the snow shovel up from the basement - maybe I'll be able to skip the leaf-raking!

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