The far tree is Larix laricina also known as Tamarack or Larch.
Uffda. I hate the time change...I dislike the dwindling daylight hours. Someone said "Welcome darkness my old friend."
November is not my favorite month of the year...it is the brown month here in Minnesota everything is a different shade of brown.
Brown is so boring...how about some blue? Like the waters of the Caribbean...nope not happening...only blue dishes.
The big kids and little kids carved some nice Jack O' Lanterns
Such expressive faces!
Great Granddaughter Peach even had a taste!
All photos by Jen.
Far Side
I was not at home when the first batch came through so I missed a photo of the littlest trick or treater Lola. Far Guy says she looked like a ballerina maybe. Then I met part of the first batch in the driveway and had them come back for a photo.
We are ready with a plastic pumpkin full of candy. We may get five trick or treaters this year...maybe. All the kids are getting older.
Here a a few photos of the good old days.
Chance hated the Halloween hat...he tolerated the scarf but that hat not so much.
I think I am done with leaves for the year. The ones in the woods will stay put especially if we get snow.
My mower had a problem but Far Guy fixed it ...mostly and put new blades on it and washed all the dust off of it and put it away in the garage.
It is good to have the leaves done. I celebrated by vacuuming out the car.
The mowing was hard on my left hip and leg...I am having an MRI next week. I am still going to PT once a week and doing exercises daily.
Far Side
My other baby brother has a tree with some interesting fungi.
I have no idea what kind of fungi this is ...other than interesting.
On the other side of the tree is one little fungi.
I used to know more about fungi...I took a very interesting Botany class many years ago...use it or lose it...
Sometimes I should just enjoy the discovery without all the information like its real name.
Far Side
Our Fall work list is getting shorter. The leaves are out of the trees, well all the leaves that will fall right now.
If there are still leaves in the tree then that is most likely a Pin Oak and the leaves will fall off in the winter winds and the leaves will skate across the snowbanks or the new leaves will force them off in the Spring. ..it is called marcescence.
Yesterday we paid our respects to Linda's family. We went to the visitation a bit early to avoid the crowds of people that would be there. We found Cousin Tom sitting by himself in the front pew of the church. Others were in the church making sure the meal was being prepared and everything was just so for their Mothers/Grandmothers funeral service.
Cousin Tom is sad, he has moved into Senior Living Apartments and out of his home. The move was planned well before Linda died. He shared that their home held 50 years of "stuff" and is for sale. They would have been married 59 years at the end of this month.
Linda wrote her own obituary and it was lovely especially the last few words. " I have lived a wonderfully ordinary life; celebrate that with me."
There were a number of her poems in the funeral program!
I recall one of our first conversations probably the weekend near June 13 when we all used to gather to celebrate Grandma Tracie's birthday. Linda liked to suck on rocks...she did it quite discreetly so small children would not notice...she said she had done it all her life and wondered if it was the minerals she liked. I had never met someone who sucked on rocks before...she seemed pretty normal to me...and she was.
She had a marvelous laugh and she was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Linda was 78 years old. She died from Leukemia.
Far Side
This is the day that my other baby brother was born and my baby brother and I told everyone his name was Jody, I was nine and my baby brother was six. A neighbor lady visited Mom in the hospital and said "What a cute name for your baby" ... and so he was named.
Our Great Grandchildren are GREAT. Here are some recent photos of them at the wedding. They are growing like little weeds. They all belong to our Granddaughter Maddie and her husband Brenton.
Hey Mikey!
Cee Cee calling for her brother.
It was difficult waiting around for photographs. Uncle Andy was explaining about patience and how it is hard sometimes but we don't get everything we want.
Brenton and Peach
Jen and Peach
After the photographs the children went back to the motel with their babysitter. It was a hard day for them being away from their Mom as she was busy being a Matron of Honor.
Far Side
My Cousin Kathy died on October 11th. We attended the visitation at the funeral home, the funeral was the next day the same day as Paige's wedding.
Kathy was one of my favorite cousins, she printed family scrapbooks and cookbooks. She was very interested in family history and stories and was always up for any cousin adventure! Before Kathy had her stroke she and cousin Geraldine would get together and could visit a day away seeing as many relatives as they could in a day.
I mulched the leaves in our yard on Monday and got some mulching done at my baby brothers shop. I still have more areas to do but it rained a bit on Tuesday. Our weather went from nice and warm to chilly.
October 18, 2024 the wedding of Paige and Cole took place at Carlos Creek Winery.
There were bouquets of Fall flowers.
Helping hands.
Look Grandma pockets!
Mr and Mrs in the vineyard.
Paige and Cole with their dog Rosie.
They had an almost perfect day, it sprinkled a bit during the photos. After the ceremony the sun came out for a bit. There was a social hour after the ceremony, a meal and then a dance.
Congratulations Paige and Cole!
The wedding was a good time to spend some time with our grandsons Noah and Adam...and of course their parents Jen and Andy. Jen and Andy rented a large enough place for all of us to be comfortable. Far Guy and I just stayed one night.
Our youngest grandson and the baby of the entire family...Adam.
Adam has a gal named Courtney, we like her too! They both live in Western ND where Courtney is attending school and Adam is working at Menards and planning to go back to school Winter semester.
A wonderful group photo! Time always goes too fast when you are around the people you love most in the world. We get to see Noah quite often...Adam not so much since he moved.
Far Side
Our youngest Great Granddaughter, Peach is flanked by two very handsome young men. They almost look like security guards!
