"Time flies like an arrow...

... fruit flies like a banana," as my old buddy Glenn used to say. But how is it that time flies so fast?! Seems like my biggest struggle with life has always been over the insufficient number of hours in a day. I don't know if others go to bed at night with the satisfied feeling that they've done all they wanted to in that day, but not me.

Take for instance this blog. It's been a month since my last entry. So many times I have thought "I'll include that next time I blog". What the heck were those things I was going to write about? In a perfect world I would blog several times a week, like my prolific and talented sister Stephanie. If you want to read a truly fun and entertaining blog, forget me and go to www.doojies.blogspot.com. Or if you want to catch up on news here, and then read Stephanie's, I'll reach back into my memory bank and try to pull up the past month.



The third weekend in September Courtney and his siblings and cousins had their yearly reunion. This time it was at Black Butte Ranch outside of Bend, OR. The photo above is of Courtney's sister Nancy, her husband Sarge, and their Toby at the Ranch. They gave Courtney a ride to the reunion. Then he rode home with his brother Steve, Steve's girlfriend Vicky and their late cousin Dave's girlfriend Cheryl. They're pictured below in front of our house.




A cute bunch, huh? I feel very very lucky. I like Courtney's family so much. I have a wonderful family and we're very close. But it's fun having a second family. And I love that his cousins have made the effort to reconnect at this time in their lives. I think it came about because their parents were dying and they decided that they wanted to know each other in a deeper way than just seeing one another at family funerals. In 2003, when Courtney's dad turned 90, the cousins got together in Morro Bay to celebrate the big birthday and I got meet them all then. Good extended family.




So with them coming to Oregon for this reunion, it was fun to show these guys our little ballywick in its autumn glory. Courtney's grapevines have flourished in their first year. No grapes yet but tons of foliage, which gave shade to the car and privacy from the road.

We've enjoyed the end of some things in the garden, getting ideas of what to plant next year. The Romano beans were so yummy and prolific. The acorn squash and spaghetti squash are stored in the garage and still giving us pleasure. Courtney's tomatoes were fabulous. There's just something so rich and satisfying about the fall harvest foods.




It's also the time of year when Courtney keeps his camera with him whether he's driving or riding his bike. The stunning change of colors and the falling of leaves is so dramatic. We're like people driving around gawking at Christmas lights, but we're gawking at the rich color combos of bright gold and deep red and oranges and greens. The university campus is an especially colorful place right now with all the huge old trees there.




Meanwhile our family has thinned out. Just about the time we were feeling like "What have we done?! Four cats!!" then everything started shifting. We decided to give up the third kitten, C.J., who we never really intended to keep. It's just that we never found a good home for him and so he stayed around. We took him to the humane society here, which seems to me like an exceptionally humane society, and paid to get him neutered, etc, so he'd be ready to be given away. Then Charlie, my favorite, disappeared the night before we had an appointment to get him neutered. Nighttime around here it's a wild neighborhood for cats. We're figuring something got him. That was a sad, sad realization after days of continuing to call him.

Then the momma cat Kinky turned on the remaining kitten Sasha and kept growling at her and making me nervous. So we sent her across the driveway to her other family, Bill and Betty. Suddenly we're down to one cat. A good lesson in "Watch what you wish for!"

In many ways it feels like we are hunkering down and getting ready for winter. Courtney is doing his organize the firewood thing. Thank you, thank you. Many of the outdoor plants have come inside. The wood stove is fired up. A few low temperatures at night, but mostly the days have still been so beautiful. Rumors are flying about a very wet winter, so stay tuned.

There's lots lots more to say, but I think I'll stop, just for the sake of publishing sooner than later. And try to be more diligent, so that the things I want to share won't slip through the cracks of my brain.

Til next time,

Valori