Bye Bye Tree, Fungi, Books and Hubby and I

 

We recently had to cut down the tree in the back yard.  We also trimmed the two trees in the front yard.  The amount of equipment and people was more than I expected.

I was amazed they got it all done in about 2 hours.  

All 3 were Silver Maples.  The tree in the back had been damaged by several storms and was near the house and in the middle of the power lines, so we really had no choice.  Hated to loose a tree, but our timing couldn't have been better.  One week after the trimming and removal we had a tornado.  We still had lots of debris, but I'm sure if we hadn't gotten the back tree removed, we would have had more problems, as well as the 2 in the front.

We've had rain, rain, and MORE RAIN.  In the daytime, as well as at night.  Some flooding in our area, and not just the day of the tornado.

No clue what kind of fungi these are growing in our flower beds in the front yard, but thought they were interesting.

Things in Washington DC have not improved and there's so much going on it's maddening.  None of it is good for the majority of the country.

The amount of our tax dollars he's wasted is beyond repulsive.

A light summer read with a cute love story to take your mind off of the mess we're living with daily.  Every Summer After, makes you want to spend the summer at the Lake.  A coming of age story.  Cute, light, and fun.

One Golden Summer is book 2 in this 2 book series.  I enjoyed both books, but liked the 2nd book better.  Also a good summer love story, but a more adult love story, with some twists, complexities....and some steamy love scenes.  I'll say that as a disclaimer.

An interesting book about how we can make ourselves happier and treat others better in this difficult times.  I didn't enjoy this as much as her first book, Becoming, but still worth the read.

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Hubby and I a last week out to dinner.  We hadn't planned to wear the same color of blue and didn't really pay attention until the people we were with at dinner said something about it and took our picture. 

Voting, Knitting, Fall, Fungus, and Civil Rights

 

Voted today and have my fingers and toes crossed, that issues 1 and 2 in Ohio pass.  I'm tired of the government telling women what they can do with their bodies.  What happens should be between the woman and her physician.  The far right needs to stop with all the disinformation.

The Sherbert Baby Ghan/blanket is coming along, but slowly.  Got the large center pink section completed and am now working on the mint green section you see on the far right.  So, 2/3rds of the blanket is done.  Been doing lots of yard work, so haven't spent much time knitting of late.  But, now the fall clean up is almost complete.

I don't tend to decorate except for Christmas, but do like to change out the placemats seasonally for the various holidays.  Pumpkins have been out for about a month for phase one of the fall decor.

Had some pretty mums on the front stoop, until just a few days ago.  After several hard freezes they have gone by wayside.  Too bad, they did provide some color.

In my last post I posted an interesting fungus I spotted one day on my walk, here again is another one.......totally different.  These, I think are far more "Normal"?  Looks like Chinese writing almost on the cap of the mushroom.

Another must read book.  A good follow up after A Fever in the Heartland, that I blogged about in the previous blog post.  This will be an eye opener for many.  Even though as a young teen I saw some things on the nightly news, I did not see how truly cruel White Men in Power were.  Birmingham Alabama was a very dangerous, poor city with one of the lowest literacy rates in the country.  973 children....yes children were arrested by Bull Connor in a single demonstration.

Wanting to absorb a bit more of this horrible time, I watched the movie The Long Walk Home about The Montgomery Bus Boycott.  It's very moving.  Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek were both phenomenal in their rolls.  If you're much younger than me, you might not have seen these 2 historic events during your lifetime.  

My steps for October are down considerably and I'm still not doing yoga or planks due to the elbow injury.  Sigh.....I did what seemed like lots of yard work, but that doesn't necessarily give you lot of steps.  And now, the weather is getting cold...so, I'm not optimistic about steps increases.  On a good note, I did manage a handfull of days with over 14K in steps for the day.

I'm continuing to blog about my 2 wk tour of The UK

Lack of Exercise, A Book for our Times

 

Fun Halloween decorations spotted in one of my neighbors yard.

No, I'm not yet back to doing yoga.  By elbow still isn't 100%, but I might try and just see how I do.  Maybe some of the moves won't bother me.  My mileage is down from Aug, from 126.58 to 105.69.  I've been doing lots of fall clean up in the flower beds, so haven't gone for as many walks.  And am mowing less, since the grass is finally slowing down.  Must see if I can kick things up a bit in October.

No updated pictures of my knitting, as it doesn't look much different.....probably because I haven't been knitting as much....did I mention the fall yard clean up? Trying hard to get it all done this year before it gets nasty.  Didn't manage last year and then it was beyond a mess in the spring.

But, when I have gone out walking, I've spotted some interesting things.  I've seen acorns on the grown once they've been partially eaten or broken; but not when still on the tree.  I thought this was pretty cool, because Ohio is The Buckeye State.  Buckeyes are suppose to be good luck.  These are rather small trees along one of my walking areas, perhaps that's why I was able to see them vs a large tree where they're well above my head.

And this Fungus/Fungi totally fascinated me.  I thought it was quite pretty.  Reminded me of tree rings.  No idea what this is called; but I'm sure there must be categories of different kinds of fungus/fungi?

I recently read this and can't stop thinking about it.  If you read one book, or listen to one book............this should be THE ONE!  I don't like to read reviews of books that tell you too much about them, particularly when some people give away really key pieces of information rather than letting the reader/listener find out themselves.........But, as bad as I knew the KKK to be; I had no idea they were this powerful, that involved in our government.  In light of Governor DeSantis and Abbott and book banning, The Oath Keepers, The Proud Boys, The Blood Tribe and The MAGA hat wearers who want to control what teachers can teach, THIS book is very timely.  It's truly frightening, but eye opening hopefully for some who thought the insurrection were tourist having fun in DC.

The book was a NY Best Seller almost over night.  I encourage you all to read/listen to this.  I actually had to join 3 libraries to get it, as the wait list was long.  I don't know if the ebook list was as long as the audio or not.  The book is 432 pages, or 10 hours in the audio format.

I'm continuing to blog about my 14 tour in The UK, come travel with me, this is an active link.