A lot of the goldenrod has already bloomed but this particular patch in the former corral has newly opened and it’s gorgeous. When the golden sun of autumn hits it, there’s nothing lovelier.

Our maple leaves are turning earlier than usual and quite a few are on the ground. I wonder if it has anything to do with all the rain we’ve had? I suspect it might.

Today is gorgeous. The mornings have been cooler, which I like. There’s something very cozy about a cool morning. We’re going to take a walk later today and then I have to work on our deductions since we always file an extension on our taxes and it’s time to get that info to our accountant. Not my favorite thing to do, but as the Brits say, “Needs must!”

Something arrived in the mail yesterday for Miss Sophie:

Boots! Handmade by Crafty Cora who has an Etsy shop. I can’t believe she can make these. The detail is amazing. Everything is so tiny that I hesitated to tie the laces; frankly, I’m not quite sure how to do it. For now, she’ll be one of those kids who never tie their laces.

We share something in common, Sophie and I. I have a little/mole beauty mark right above my mouth – just like she does – in exactly the same place. I found an old wide toothed comb to comb out her hair and that’s been added to the shoebox that contains her clothes. Eventually, I’d like to get something nicer than a shoebox, but thank goodness I didn’t recycle the box my new Birkenstocks came in!

At least she’s meeting my eyes now. I think she’s starting to feel more at home here.

She may get her own Instagram account. Not everyone is into the doll thing.

Thank goodness for Don’s tolerance of my somewhat whimsical passions. He gets it, at least as much as a grown man can get his wife suddenly playing with dolls at the age of 68. He oohs and aahs over things like the new boots, and my demonstration of how her eyes work, and gets a kick out of watching me dress her in new outfits. He has grown used to Sophie sitting on top of the music cabinet in the den, and never blinks an eye when it looks like she’s watching us as we eat our dinner. Bless his heart.

Interestingly, I don’t like dolls in dollhouses, partly because they never look as real and accurate as the furniture and decoration does. Plus, for me, life in any dollhouse is in my imagination and that’s where it stays.

I have my dolls that I’ve rescued and, now, I have this thing for Blythes. But I draw the line at dolls in the dollhouses. Go figure. It makes sense to me, but it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.

We’re not at all surprised it’s been twenty years since 9/11 since it happened a couple of months after we moved out to the Northeast and that was twenty years ago. We lived right by the Hudson River in Westchester County and, sadly, those planes flew right over us.

We’ll always remember.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.