Ready (or not...)

Mom arrives on Friday and Christmas is less than a week away. As in all previous years I'm no where near ready but it'll simply have to do! We've got a little tree and some lights hung.

Cue cozy. This is as ready as we're gonna get!

This month is really flying by so before it slips away completely, here's a recap...

On the fourth we said goodbye to our sweet friend Donald. A man who's heart was as big as his smile, who lived life on his own terms and who always (and I do mean always) made me feel that I was beautiful no matter how much I weighed, how straggly my hair looked or how bad my shoes were on any given day.

Donald was truly one of a kind and I really miss him.

Solstice celebration took place this past Saturday night, complete with roaring bon fire, magnificent pot luck meal and time to actually catch up with dear friends.

For sure the Fall semester wouldn't be complete without the annual Secret Santa studio party. This year's was one of the best with lots of thoughtful, creative and funny gifts. I'd say that the mustaches were the big hit of the evening this year!

I've got a fun, sweet and lively bunch this year!

Christmas arrives ready or not and this year I aim to enjoy every second of it.

Woes (but not all bad!)

Oh poor, poor, pitiful me...I've got computer woes again. As usual I have more photos on my computer than I have room for and if I don't do something soon I risk yet another crash. My only problem is that iPhoto won't let me access its trash can. Being basically resourceful, but lacking any real computer knowledge I muster up a strategy.

• First, consult the great google. No luck.

• Second, consult with my in-home on-call resident computer guru Ken. No luck there either (but in his defense he did say he'd look at it tonight).

• Third solution? Eat a cupcake. And let me just say, this is not just any cupcake either. This was a Thomas the train cupcake left over from Rep Class last night and it was my favorite flavor - yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Sadly eating it didn't automagically solve the problem. Now Pippa has positioned herself on my hands while I'm typing this post. Perhaps I should put her to work finding a solution.

Lately I just don't have time to post here at Newfield Knews. Oh woe is me. Obviously without enough time I just don't have much interesting to say either, though there is some newsy-news. Here 'tis:

• I'm finished with teaching for the term and have only juries, post-jury appointments and grading left to do. Then I'm done-done.
  

• Mom arrives on the 23rd for two weeks. I'm really looking forward to her visit but I'm not ready (oh woe is me again). We have no Christmas tree and not a shred of decorating done in the house unless you count the Halloween lights that are still up. Also we've done no shopping...zero, zip, zilch. The dining room table is covered (every inch of it) with last week's purchases for FOUND. Perhaps I should go shopping there...now there's the first bright thought I've had all week!!

• Surgery on my neck is three weeks from today. YIKES. My stomach just flipped over about ninety times. I know I need it and that it will fix most of the issues I've been having but that doesn't mean I'm not still scared. Any and all good thoughts you have to send my way would be warmly welcomed.

So that the latest news from this end. How 'bout you and yours?

Early

It's Thanksgiving break!! Hear that big whooshing sound? That was me letting my breath out.
Ahhhhh...time to sort through recipes, make a shopping list and locate the guest room. Jeral is coming for the week and we'll have eight at our Thanksgiving table. I can hardly wait!


We caught Evil City String Band at Felicia's last night and are looking forward to hearing Ruthy and Mike tonight. Good thing we buy our tickets in advance or we'd never never get out and have any fun!!

There is a dusting of snow on the ground and I can see the sun rise through the woods on the east side of the house. It is magical at this hour but the calm is regularly interrupted this morning by the sound of gunshot in the woods surrounding us.

The kitties have finally recovered from the hour fall-back and are letting us sleep a little longer these days. I just wish my strong internal alarm clock would let me sleep past 6...

Wishing

Lately I find I'm constantly wishing for the perfect moment, the right amount of time, the ideal circumstance or whatever in order to get done what needs to be done. Rats...if only I had the day to... (fill in the blank: finish this chore, get better at this hobby, take time for my latest whimsy du jour, etc).

After wishing earlier today for a "walk in the woods, a nap in a sunbeam and some leisurely time spent in the kitchen cooking for the week" I ended up working. At least I was home in the daylight!! Actually today was one of my favorite kinds of low key days - part day off/part work day. The day off part meant I stayed in my pj's long after it was advisable (and fashionable). The work part of the day meant that I got all of the vintage Christmas linens pressed, measured and tagged. Oh yeah, and those really cool vintage Christmas lights I stashed all year? They've been tested and are ready to go and they work! Does it matter if I keep a few? Just wondering... To my utter delight and amazement I also discovered today that I tagged the Christmas ornaments back when I bought 'em LAST YEAR. Who knew I had such foresight. Now if someone would please invent a way to get an extra ten hours more into every day. It'll take at least a week of 34 hour days to empty out the garage and we really need to get the cars in there before the first proper snow...

Please promise you won't turn us into the hoarding show on TV...

Home

Today is one of those rare weekend days off. We'd planned to head to auction a few hours away but the allure of sleeping in and getting caught up at home was just too great. To be home in the daylight hours feels like the greatest gift of all today.

It'll hit 60 today with lots of bright sunshine. I hope the day includes a walk in the woods, a nap in a sunbeam and some leisurely time spent in the kitchen cooking for the week. Breath in...breathe out... I feel better already!

Hipsters

Since my last post we've been to Philly and back to celebrate Ken's dad's 93 birthday. He looked hale and hearty and is in good spirits. We wish we could see him more often. We had a fun visit with Amanda, Pat and Robin, successfully dodged a major Nor'Easter and fit in a visit to Three Potato Fourand Hipster Home.
So many great finds, but too little time and even less room in the car...

We're in the very last days of Fall here and it couldn't be more beautiful.Our Japanese Maple is hanging on for dear life to its radiant leaves. Wish I could say our little storage barn was hanging on...

The patios's been cleared, the outdoor furniture is stowed away and the grass seed has sprouted where there there once was a garden bed.
The simplicity of this new garden look makes me very happy and peaceful...no more weeding, at least out there where I intend to relax as much as I'm able! Hope you're finding time to enjoy the change of season where ever you are.

Excuses

This why we live here...just sayin'

Well, well, well...I guess it's time for me to join the ranks of the many bloggers who begin their posts with "Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post". My excuses are many and typical (just too busy...) but my main reason for not posting lately is that my hard disk just up and died on me one morning about five or six weeks ago. Without access to my photos or my Mac I've been a bit lost and the thought of posting from my phone makes my skin crawl. I've been limping along on an old computer of Ken's but the experience has just served to confirm that I am definitely a Mac girl through and through. Lazarus (aka my sweet husband) managed to work his magic again by raising yet another computer from the grave. He even located all of my zillions of backed up files and has restored most of them to my Macbook...I still don't get the whole "they're stored on the cloud" thing but I now trust that it's true and it works!

In the weeks since I've been absent from Newfield Knews lots of everyday wonderfulness has taken place. My students and I made it to Midterm with our wits mostly intact.

Most of us are healthy and each of us is exhausted in one way or another. Commence countdown to Thanksgiving Break!

We're well into the Fall season now and it's peak or just past peak weekend for leaf color. The colors have mostly been muted this year but are still beautiful and inspiring. I miss our big old sugar maple more than ever and as usual I wish I had more time to be outside. We're holding out hope we'll see another burst of sunshine and warmth before the first snow flies.

The pergola is stained and the landscaping is done! For the first time ever, our landscaping plan consisted of total demolition of a garden bed. To rationalize the decision I keep telling myself I'm going for a more Zen approach in my garden. The honest truth is I just don't have time to tend to a garden these days and I'm tired of looking at the weeds and feeling guilty about how horrible it all looks. So George came in with the big rig and just plowed the whole thing under - Oh Happy Day!! After he took what he wanted and I dug up the lone plant I wanted to keep (an oak leaf hydrangea we received as a wedding present) and I said goodbye with a big grin on my face and never looked back. Best decision ever.

I'm now in possession of a new camera - a birthday gift from my sweetie. It's a Canon Rebel DSLR and I am totally smitten. Now I just have to learn to use it. I'm working on that.

Happy Fall everyone!

It's good to be back!