It's official! Fall is here and with the change in seasons there's been a change in the weather.
Cool nights give way to damp mornings with a heavy coat of dew on the yard and field. Yellowing leaves are drifting down from the pecan trees and a ring of white toadstools has appeared beneath the big catalpa. The days are beginning to grow shorter. The squirrels too seem to be aware of the transition as they bustle about burying nuts in the yard.
As we enter the last week of September, I've added some seasonal accents just outside the front door. A friend told me of buying some bargain mums, so I followed her lead and purchased a couple of pots myself. One's a bright yellow and the other a burnished bronze. They add a spot of color as we approach the front porch. Nearby, the hens and chickens I recently planted are taking hold in the new strawberry jar. A wooden cutout of a plump pumpkin and a pumpkin-shaped welcome sign blend in with the harvest theme.
We've received the news of an addition to nephew David's family. Little Savannah Anne arrived on the 13th and my sister Nancy reports seeing photos on Facebook of a smiling wee one with a big head of hair. Some of the photos included her half-sister Laurel. All seem to be tickled pink over the little darling.
The same day Miss Savannah arrived I was delighted to find a package in the mailbox from my friend Lil in Florida. She'd read my column back in July about my love of cowboys and sent me something that combines two of my favorite things: a copy of the "All-American Cowboy Cookbook." It's filled with profiles of movie and TV cowboys, as well as rodeo cowboys and the genuine variety working out on the ranches. They share a collection of recipes for their best-loved dishes, over 300 in all. I'm looking forward to delving into it further.
Only a couple of weeks earlier I'd received a fat envelope from Aunt Mary in Kansas City. She knows my love of horses and she sent me a new 2015-2016 calendar/daily planner with horses on each page. The one I'm using is a two-year planner that's falling apart, so it will be nice to have a new one. This one is covered in plastic, so it should hold up better. I've already added some important dates coming up next year. The photos will bring back fond memories of happy hours spent horseback riding.
Fall is football season and we enjoyed a trip to Oklahoma Friday night to see our Gravette Lions defeat the Jay Bulldogs. We took grandson Matthew along and he always adds to the merriment. Then we listened to the Hogs game on the radio Saturday night while we watched the Oklahoma-West Virginia match up. How's that for piling it on?
Both our teams are doing well. Gravette's won its last two games, and the Razorbacks their last three, but Arkansas has a tough game coming up this Saturday.
I passed up going to the farmers' market Saturday morning since I knew some of the vendors were in Hiwasse setting up at their annual fall festival. Instead, I went with Jim to Gentry where he checked on a possible job, then came home and went to quilt class in the afternoon.
We'd canceled our class in August since our instructor was in Texas for her sister's funeral, so we enjoyed getting together again and catching up on each one's news. We learned how to make an Amish star quilt block and saw several lovely creations our members had completed.
Like the members in "The Friday Night Knitting Club," a book I read a few months ago, the gals in our quilt class are a close-knit group, all good friends as well as fellow seamstresses. Two or three have been struggling with health problems and one had recently broken her wrist, so it was good to see them out. One has just returned from a trip to Alaska and shared several photos. Another is working on a lovely quilt with embroidered blocks for her granddaughter. We had a delightful time socializing, as well as learning to polish our needlework skills.
Editorial on 09/24/2014