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.
Those boots are adorable!
I’m happy to hear Sophie is settling in.
I was at work at a community health center 20 years ago. We continued to see patients but we had alot of no-shows that day so when we could spare a minute we would watch the tv in the waiting room. It was very somber. At one point our medical director gathered everyone in the waiting room and we all joined hands, patients and staff together, for a prayer. I will never forget.
Stay safe
Don was working in Canada and we couldn’t get through to each other for a long time. He said he wanted to fly home, but of course, he couldn’t.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
Hello,
I find you to be a very interesting person. All the places you go in your minds eye. Your interests, passions and the things/people you love. You never fail to amaze.
I moved into my mountain home 20 years ago, and I remember the disbelief and then the silence. of 9/11.
Take Care,
Kaye
Park City, UT
Thank you for your kind words, Kaye.
Very silent at our cottage except for the sound of F-16s flying over our home on their way south to NYC. Very, very eerie.
Stay safe, Kaye.
Okay, you know I’m not into the doll thing. But THOSE BOOTS!!! Are Amazing !!
I know! They’re adorable.
Stay safe, Shanna.
Oh, and also the tights. (Heck, I’d wear ’em!)
Lol…me too! ;)
xoxo
I didn’t realize you could move Sophie’s eyes…how? Those boots are just too cute. I do hope Sophie gets her own Instagram account…what fun.
I remember the horror of 9/11 unfolding before my eyes that day, and the fear of more attacks to come. We live close to an airport..,and the silence was deafening. Then when the F-16’s started flying again, I always wondered who they were going to protect, and said a prayer for them. So many emotions…and they all come back as if it were happening again today. May we never forget! ;)
F-16s flew right over our house that day. You could hear them but you couldn’t see them. They were on their way to NYC from the bases that were north of us..
Stay safe, Donna.
Sophie is very cute with an air of naughtiness about her! Her clothes are so sweet.
I remember this day so clearly, it was in the afternoon at work and a colleague coming to tell us that a plane had flown into one of the Towers, we all thought it was a dreadful accident but shortly after he said that another plane had crashed into the other Tower and American had closed their airspace.
It seemed surreal, I just wanted to go home to feel safe but had to work until 5:30.
It was also my son’s 14th birthday and his grandmother was coming to tea. We just watched TV all evening, his birthday cake untouched as it felt wrong to celebrate.
We all thought the same thing – that a small private plane had crashed into the towers. But it quickly became clear that it was much, much worse.
Stay safe, Dee Dee.
happy birthday to your son. hope you all celebrate(d) today and have happiness every day.
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy.
How united we felt 20 years ago as our world changed forever. It seems a lifetime ago. It has been inspiring today to remember the bravery and resolve that countered the pain and loss.
Your Blythe doll is adorable! Those boots! I made bunny slippers for my grand-daughter’s AG doll and they make me giggle with delight every time i see them. Simple pleasures!
I wish we could be that united again. Even if it’s just against the coronavirus.
Good for you! I bet those bunny boots are so sweet!
Stay safe, Roxie.
The boots with the socks are perfect! The untied laces speak to her carefree attitude.
Love it!
We already know this, but Don is such a great guy and loves you a lot!!
Enjoy your day.
He is a wonderful partner in life, Melanie.
Stay safe.
I just listened to NPR’s “Sacred Ground,” following the survivors of Shanksville/Flight 93 these 20 years later. Powerful.
I’m seeing spots of red now and then. Yes, I think early fall, especially if the past week is any indication. Enjoy the holiday and Sophie!
Did you mean to say that? There were no survivors on that flight.
I’m confused!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Love the boots! I did get a dedicated doll Instagram account because I think members of my family would laugh at me if they saw my doll pictures. There are a lot of people out there with doll accounts and some really neat doll photography that people do – some outside.
Yes, I’ve seen a lot of that photography. When I have more time – I don’t right now – I’ll explore that aspect.
Stay safe, Jane.
Love the boots! Today is a weird day for me. My mother passed away this morning at UC Davis. We have been estranged for over 20 years. In fact all 5 of us kids were estranged from her. She pushed us all away years ago. I don’t know how to feel about this. And here we are on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Too strange for me to comprehend right now. Thanks for listening.
I’m so very sorry, April. Even though you were estranged, she was your mother and on some level, you’re grieving.
Take it easy today and be kind to yourself.
Stay safe.
oh, april …
sincere condolences on your losses, those from the past twenty years and those now this morning. i pray and will continue to pray for you, your mother and siblings that you all have or will find peace and comfort in God’s promises, especially during hard times and also on easier days. and i hope you do things you enjoy every day.
sending a virtual hug, if you want …
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy. Much appreciated.
I didn’t think anything could get any cuter than the tights, but the boots!! It is still so hot here so it doesn’t feel much like Fall yet, but I am still starting to decorate inside. Whenever you talk about your rain and thunderstorms I am really jealous. I love thunderstorms. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and loved the big thunderstorms then. I actually put my earbuds in and listen to thunderstorms. It’s very peaceful to me. Hope you and Don have a nice weekend. Stay safe!
We’ve had a few too many of them but I can understand why you miss them living in Phoenix. I was the same way when we lived in San Diego. I think I can remember 2 thunderstorms happening while I was there and I lived there for 8 years.
Stay safe, Deb.
I haven’t allowed myself to read about, or watch on TV, anything about 911 since 2001. It was a terrible time in my life with other significant personal problems in multiples, and 911 almost put me over the edge. At the time, a therapist told me that anyone who already was suffering from anxiety should never have been watching that TV coverage day after day. For me, and this is true for any of us, of course, we felt the pain of others so very deeply. It was such grief. The heavy weight of loss. I had no time or tolerance for anything ‘light’ and couldn’t read, say, a work of fiction, or watch a comedy on TV. And, you know, soon after, we didn’t feel we could even open our mail because of the anthrax threat. Was an awful, awful Fall, and I’d always looked so forward to autumn.
But I knew it was so not about me; was something so much bigger and overwhelmingly ominous. As a schoolgirl, as a child of my Greatest Generation/proud American parents, my dad a WW2 veteran, a granddaughter of a grateful European-immigrant man who carved out a 20th-century life in a new land of the U.S. which he loved, I grew up to believe our shores could never be breached; that I was in a cradle of safety. In 2001, though, innocence was lost; a feeling of that time-honored, hard-earned, blanket U.S. security was altered irrevocably. The rug pulled out from beneath our feet. But we have to fight the fear, EVERY year since; otherwise, the terrorists win.
So, for the first time, I have watched much of the 20-year footage, listened to the witnesses and survivors, including that repeat newscast with Tom Brokaw at the helm in real time, at the anchor desk of those TV-news days of Sept 11 2001, remembering the pain, the great alarm and uncertainty; and, although I’ve had a few days of tears, I’ve been clearly, as we all have, so touched by memories of such incredible heroism and humanity of Americans helping each other … and the unity in the country back then, however fleeting, and what a shame it had to be because of tragedy. It does make one wonder if, God forbid, we have another 911, please say never-ever, would today’s American society be fighting each other, or helping each other? I don’t want to think we’ve changed, but we have. We need to be as good now as we were then.
An aside: I picked up varying sizes of ‘legacy’ boxes at Michael’s a couple of years ago. Beautifully decorated paper boxes, some with those sort of ‘spring’ lids, such that they stay nicely closed. They’re good for small collectibles. Stackable. Attractive. Affordable. I have one pretty-good-sized one which can hold 12″ dolls and their clothes/accessories.
Thanks, Vicki.
Stay safe.
I remember it all and now, all these many years later, I don’t tune in to the remembrances. We lived very near to Manhattan. The planes quite literally flew over the Hudson which was a mile away from our house. I was alone with the dogs as Don was working in Canada. I sat in front of the television for days, crying constantly. And then, when I had to go into the city finally to work, I saw all the missing posters everywhere, especially at Grand Central. It was devastatingly heartbreaking. Anyway, my memories are vivid and I don’t want to go back there.
Stay safe.
glad you’re having fun. love the boots and especially how you and don support each other.
we watched a bit of the 9-11 memorials, but really not much … can’t bear much. hard balance for me to find sometimes … being informed versus being overwhelmed, knowing enough to hopefully be able to help others versus protecting my depressed and anxious heart.
we (some members of my family and i) took a nice drive, wrapped presents for a soon-to-be-three year old great-nephew, watched some football on tv, had a nice lunch, went for a walk …
hope you are having a nice night.
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy. I hope you get to relax this weekend!
Stay safe.