Monday, October 19, 2020

Fall follies

 

 Just a random potpourri post of a few fall things.   We'll start with fall cleaning, which I seldom do, preferring to work on cleaning projects all year round, but ...

🍁  As mentioned earlier, I've been so inspired by Becki and her 30 Days to Less over at Field Lilies.  The idea is to get rid of 1 item on Oct. 1, 2 items on Oct. 2, and so on.  One ends up with quite an impressive total if the plan is followed.  Even though I'm not actively participating in the challenge (and will be out of town part of October), I've been decluttering daily and keeping track of items I'm getting rid of.  Here are the stats as of October 17:

Oct. 1 — popsicle stick picture frame
Oct. 2 — bag of clothing left  with us for my daughter’s family (probably 8 or so items in the bag); an extra dictionary taken to our cottage
Oct. 3 — items for thrift store: 1 shirt; 1 pair overalls; 1 denim jacket; 1 dress; 1 jumper; 1 box dryer sheets
Oct. 4 — 6 vintage magazine pages (I brought these home to scan and they’ve been in a pile on my desk.  There are more …); 1 ceramic shade and plate to use with a jar candle — thrift store.
Oct 5 — 6 colorful bandannas I never wear or use; a slip; a couple of detachable lace collars — all these will go to the thrift store.  3 vintage kids’ books on rocks, etc. — took these to our cottage; if kids don’t read them there I will sell on Etsy.)
Oct. 6 — 32 catalogs tossed out; 1 wood burned plaque someone gifted to my hubby (it’ll go to the cottage where it will fit right in with the eclectic camp decor)
Oct.7 — 1 large round basket to the trash, along with maybe 15 or so old, tired kids’ books and a tiny pitcher with no handle.  2 kids’ books and a tiny owl pitcher will be given away.  6 kids’ books will be sold on Etsy, and 5 will go to the cottage.  1 miniature ginger jar and 10 kids’ books are on their way to the thrift store.  

Headed for the cottage ...
Oct. 11 — a favorite calendar page I often used as wall art.  Somehow it got damaged by moisture.  It was in a folder with other printed art that I rotate in and out of frames seasonally.  Others are damaged also but I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to look closely and throw out more.
Oct. 12 — a tired kitchen towel with a strawberry design; 2 pieces of mail I’ve been putting off dealing with and now they’re outdated; a package of construction paper (taking it to the cottage).
Oct. 13 — a book that belongs to someone else to be returned to the owner; a bunch of old sentimental papers from 2010 and earlier — tossed; several catalogs tossed; an old songbook and a Christmas carol book to be sold on Etsy; two old hymnbooks and a school music book to the trash; a nonfiction book headed to the thrift store.
Oct. 15 — To the trash: a broken comb, 3 manuals for hair dryers I no longer own, 2 hairbrushes, 8 worn-out hair elastics, a beaded sun catcher that’s seen better days, a protective quilted sleeve for a curling iron, 2 shower caps with worn out elastic, a plastic barrette, part of a brush, a magnetic bobby pin holder, some sort of oversized white shoelace, a fine-tooth comb, a bundle of hairpins, 1 bottle dried-out nail polish.  To sell on Etsy: 2 vintage Rexall lipsticks, a silver trimmed brush and comb set.
Oct. 16 — to the trash: 2 "home fragrance sachets" that have lost their fragrance, 3 native American dolls (part of my daughter’s childhood doll collection) that had seen far better days; 2 handmade paper tepees, likewise.
Oct. 17 — 13 floppy disks (haven’t had a computer that used them in [gulp!] well over a decade; a Tracfone User Guide, a bunch of defunct computer information; 2 ultra thin business-card size calculators that don’t work.
I had to say goodbye to this beautiful calendar page.  It was stored in a folder but somehow got damaged.  The tag, made by a friend, was safe since it was on my wall.

 More to come!  I'm thinking I might just keep this up every month!

🍁  All manner of leafy fall fun has been happening over at our little camp.  Josiah and Arielle came over and raked leaves into huge heaps.  The first day, this happened:

The next day, they raked an even bigger pile of leaves, with the idea that Grampa could jump in it.  Those of you who follow @lifeonabackroad on Instagram know that he did! 😁

 In the process of raking that pile, Josiah found a frog!  As you can see (maybe!) this frog had the perfect camouflage for hiding in a pile of leaves, but Josiah managed to coax him out so he wouldn't get jumped on. [Hint: the frog is about in the middle of the photo, just above that sort of orangey leaf.]

🍁 Pumpkin spice and all things nice!  This was the theme when our granddaughter Julia's orchestra group did a concert atop a mountain.  This also involved a gondola ride to the summit.  I'll share more of our pictures later, but here are a few for now.



This last one was taken from the gondola on the way down the mountain.

 
This photo of Julia (left) and her friend Jen was taken by Jen's mom after the concert.
 The parents brought pumpkin treats to share after the concert.  Julia's mom , our daughter Carrie, made pumpkin whoopie pies which disappeared almost instantly.  They were scrumptious!  I asked about Carrie's recipe, and she said she uses this one: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies from Annie's Eats.

Photo from Annie's Eats

And also in the pumpkin spice category,  my hubby found a great deal on New England Coffee at a local supermarket and brought home three of these:

Photo from New England Coffee
Oh, so good.  We always enjoy this in autumn, and we hadn't found any at a reasonable price this fall.  Now we have!  He'll get more if he can find it.

And just one more photo, snagged from Carrie's Instagram:

Rainy days can happen in autumn, and we were thankful for a good day of rain last Friday.  Still, we went to the camp in the late afternoon, and a game of Scrabble ensued.

Oh, and I just have to include these scans of the front and back of a very intriguing oak leaf:

Front of leaf
Back of leaf
Doesn't it look like it is edged in jumbo rickrack?  You can see why it caught my eye.

9 comments:

  1. I remember those How and Why books!

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  2. Ok..I love the frog and the leaf. I just find nature so interesting. I have been decluttering along with Field Lilies too. I don't have as much, but I have been working on it when I have a free day. I really need to purge a bit more in one specific room, but that it is the one I often put off. Maybe I should try just an area of the room a day. Anything to get a few things done.

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  3. Beautiful autumn, intriguing photos, fun family times. Rainy days are great for board games. I love pumpkin whoopie pies and that is very similar to the recipe I use.

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  4. Well, you sold me! I love flavored coffee, so just visited the New England Coffee Co website, and ordered three flavors!πŸ€—

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  5. Oh, this was such fun! Your decluttering is inspiring. I need to start doing more of that. One day at a time...I like that idea...not so exhausting that way. Love seeing your granddaughter jumping in the leaves! I miss that so much! Thank you for sharing the video. I could hear the crunch. And that frog was well camouflaged in the leaves! Glad he was rescued. He probably enjoyed "jumping" in the leaves too!! I especially love the photo of the guys playing Scrabble at your camp. That is a keeper. Wow. I love that. Those fall foliage pics on the gondola ride/mountaintop...all so great. You all are living a wonderful life there. Thank you for sharing it with us!!

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  6. It sounds like you are having a wonderful fall Mrs T. So sorry your favorite page got damaged. Love the picture of the violinists. You live in such a beautiful part fo the USA.

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  7. Oooh... I don't think you mentioned a gondala ride to the mountain top when you posted about that (or did I miss it?). How much fun that whole event must have been! Your clear out in impressive, Mrs. T. I'm so glad I've been some inspiration. You have encouraged me to keep at it! Not that I've contemplated stopping, but I am starting to feel a bit of decluttering fatigue, I think. Your lists have given me ideas, though! :) Onward!

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  8. Oh, that was a different mountain, Becki. They did a concert in September atop West Rattlesnake, and that one involved a hike to the top.
    This one, last week, was atop Loon Mountain,a much bigger mountain, and required a gondola ride to the summit. Both events were a great deal of fun.

    Glad we could be of some encouragement to each other in the decluttering department! I did a nightstand drawer today and was pretty surprised at the unusable stuff in there.

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    1. Ah! How nice that you've been on top of two mountains so recently. My favorite trips are to the mountains and the woods. :)

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