'Leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast, 63° outside, Stuffed is curled up in the sun-slants along the floor, and I have the day off work. 'Time to read with Stuffed snuggled into the afghan on my lap, time to cook a proper dinner this afternoon, time to catch up on email to dear Lisa later, and time to get laundry and other chores crossed off my list for the day and rest of this week. It's all so much of a juggling act lately--I much preferred the work-schedule I had with my previous job, it turns out--that I feel like everything I do gets done at the last minute in a rush of "Whew!" and "'Pulled it off again!" so days like this when I can catch my breath and sit awhile in late fall sunshine with pie and a good book and a cuddly cat are truly, more than ever, the sweetest days of them all.
Thanks to my mom, Saturday was a free night at an Erie hotel to enjoy the fall color around the lake. 'Rain and lightning the whole way back to Pittsburgh last night, but Saturday was gorgeous. The foliage was mostly yellow by the shore but more colorful farther into the woods. It was all beautiful--and a sweet break from routine after an exhausting week.
And to marvel at when the world is soon covered in the grays, blues, and whites of winter, a video of the color around some of the swamps and ponds throughout the park: Ah, fall! ♥
Stubborn Val couldn't wait for help moving the shelves Friday night and ended up trying only to pull a muscle in her left shoulder. See Val scream! See Val unable to dress herself or pull up her hair or sleep on her favorite side! See Val have to change her work-schedule! See Val buy Tylenol and ice-packs and pain-relief cream! See Val have to wait to assemble her bookshelves! And now, see Val unable to do Halloween baking and settle for a slice of store-bought pumpkin roll! But look, Val! There is a heart! See the heart! Learn and rest, Val! Learn and rest! ♥
Oooohh, a delightful day here. ♥ Sweater weather this morning. A brisk and beautiful walk to work. I love fall, I love fall, I love fall. . . . Strawberries, string cheese, and iced tea for lunch. A sweet interaction with one of my on-the-job kiddos. Laughs with one of my coworkers. A relaxing walk home. A grilled cheese with my mom's potato soup for supper. Funny texts back and forth with one of my brothers. A new book. Blanket weather tonight. A few books I treated myself to will arrive in the mail in the next day or two. Library and museum visits tomorrow or Friday. Two new bookshelves I ordered are arriving this weekend. And the next three days off work. Late October Bliss! ♥
If you want a year to fly by, begin a new job. Halloween will be five months in my new position. Last year at this time, I was working so much overtime every week to pay off one of my student loans by year's end, but it feels like maybe six months ago instead of a full twelve. Here we are, mid-October again.
A pink paper lantern on my parents' deck overlooks my little pink, white, and green garden in their yard. Only a few flowers are still in bloom now, but my white Iceberg rose is putting on its final show for the year this week.
Fall arrives in my garden now--my favorite season. What a world, what a world. . . .I wish us all the peace found in this tiny corner of the earth today.
"I think that one must always be in love. To be in love with a person is, of course, ideal, but you can be in love with a flower, a tree, an idea. . . ."
~ Gloria Vanderbilt
"At any given moment, no matter where you are, there are hundreds of things around you that are interesting and worth documenting."
"Love is, above all, the gift of oneself." ~ Jean Anouilh
"Celebrate people who are in your life-- past and present, close by as well as far away. Thank everyone who contributes to your sense of well-being and joy, whether you know them personally or not. Every day, think of all the people who help make your life so rich and rewarding."
~ Alexandra Stoddard
"I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert,
But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime."
~ "In a Big Country" by Big Country
"If you are any good at all, you know you can be better."
~ Lindsey Buckingham
"What thou lovest well remains,
the rest is dross ~
What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee ~
What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage."
~ Ezra Pound
"Let us make memories carefully of all good things, rejoicing in the wonderful truth that while we are laying up for ourselves the very sweetest and best of happy memories, we are at the same time giving them to others." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
"There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good."
~ Brian Andreas
"There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing." ~ Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
"Years ago, my mother used to say to me --she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be --' She always called me Elwood. 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me."
~ Elwood P. Dowd in Mary Chase's play Harvey
"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore faith in yourself." ~ Lucille Ball
"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France
"A house with Daffodils in it is a house lit up, whether or not the sun be shining outside." ~ A. A. Milne
"When something is too beautiful or too terrible or even too funny for words, then it is time for poetry."
"Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great, make you feel that you too can become great." ~ Mark Twain ************
"Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid of standing still." ~ Chinese proverb
After My First 5K :)
During My First Half Marathon :)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~ * "Is life worth so much trouble?"
* "It depends what one wants in return."
~ Daughter to Student in The Ghost Sonata by August Strindberg ~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot."
~ Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's, spoken by Holly Golightly
"When we have sampled much and have wandered far and have seen how fleeting and sometimes superficial a lot of the world is, our gratitude grows for the privilege of being part of something we can count on—home and family and the loyalty of loved ones. We come to know what it means to be bound together by duty, by respect, by belonging."
~ Thomas S. Monson
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.
These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.
Beautiful people do not just happen.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Death: The Final Stage of Growth
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”
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