autumn and adieus

Have had weird cheesecake cravings and found these delightful mini ones in Pike's.

Can anyone identify these berries?  They grow on a tree in my neighborhood.  They're gorgeous, but I've never seen these before.

Had my final concert with the Rusty Chord this weekend. 

 

It was a fun concert, bittersweet as we've had such a fun time singing together.  As the theme was autumn and it's difficult to not be hit over the head with the metaphoric meaning of autumn as the most of the audience (and some of the singers) are using walkers, have hearing aids and are dealing with all manner of aging issues.  Anyway, to counteract all the melancholy of that and my farewell, at the end, the singers exited to "Autumn Leaves"....and tossed handfuls of leaves into the audience as they left the auditorium.

Leave 'em laughing, indeed.

poetry Friday

 Crazy week--ended up evacuating three different buildings, in three separate cities.  Fortunately, there was no disaster at each site, but am keeping an array of lucky pennies close by.

A friend shared this poem earlier this week and it sums up nicely this transition period that I find myself in.  

Happy Friday, happy autumnal weather finally arriving!

Hope; An Owner’s Manual
 Barbara Kingsolver

Look, you might as well know, this thing
is going to take endless repair: rubber bands,
crazy glue, tapioca, the square of the hypotenuse.
Nineteenth century novels. Heartstrings, sunrise:
all of these are useful. Also, feathers.
To keep it humming, sometimes you have to stand
on an incline, where everything looks possible;
on the line you drew yourself. Or in
the grocery line, making faces at a toddler
secretly, over his mother’s shoulder.
You might have to pop the clutch and run
past all the evidence. Past everyone who is
laughing or praying for you. Definitely you don’t
want to go directly to jail, but still, here you go,
passing time, passing strange. Don’t pass this up.
In the worst of times, you will have to pass it off.
Park it and fly by the seat of your pants. With nothing
in the bank, you’ll still want to take the express.
Tiptoe past the dogs of the apocalypse that are sleeping
in the shade of your future. Pay at the window.
Pass your hope like a bad check.
You might still have just enough time. To make a deposit.

find a penny....

 my wee pumpkin prior to it's immolation--using up an old taper was perhaps not the best idea.

And speaking of fire, we had to evacuate our building at 4 a.m.  False alarm, but am effectively awake.  Trying to catch a frantic pet and then stumble down 12 flights of stairs on minimal sleep has caused me to look askance at this day.  Finding a penny on the sidewalk perhaps will turn my luck?

trippin' down the lane of memories

Bob, Ellen and John at Willamina.

Chip and Cheryl Escobar, Cheryl and Carol...not sure whose fireplace.

Dad and I, somewhere in Canadian waters?

Snowmobiling with Uncle Jerry outside of Fairbanks.

Great-grandpa Peterson

John and Jeannie Kreigelstein with baby Kellsie

 

La parenti and Jerry and Helen heading out into their Alaskan adventures.

Uncle Bob and mom at the Beach House.

Ellen trying to subdue the cranky popcorn maker.

The Hagen clan--with Liz goofing off.  Or dancing.

My quartet of grandparents in Kelso, Christmas 1978/9?

I've never liked morning.

A true rub-a-dub-dub, three in a tub moment--at Willamina.

September's ending

gorgeous day for a stroll around the neighborhood and the wish that I had Jewish heritage--this seems to be the ideal time of year to begin again.

I'm glad to see our friends come:
talk, laughter, food, wine.
I'm glad to see our friends go:
solitude, emptiness, gardens,
autumn wind.

"September Visitors" by David Budbill, from Happy Life.

National Coffee Day

Whether or not you indulge or use this substance to survive the day, here are some fun factoids to know about java.

garden joys

It's just a miniature garden, but I just delight in stepping out for fresh food each day.  Here's the tomatoes that joined humus and olives for lunch.

 Kale and spinach were part of my breakfast miso.

Morning sun rays.