Sunday one of my favorite days---2 large crosswords, sleeping dogs quiet times and great pbs in the evening. Fog accompanied my drive to mass today and it was so English in nature. Scenery was visible only in an eerie slightly distorted vista. A great setting for a mystery and not an idea came to mind. Such is life.

Fall has been warm with few of the apple crisp cool days I love. Today in fact my house was above 80 inside. So turned the AC on to take it to 75. That 5 degrees is all it took for life to be more comfortable. Degrees of comfort define life. We are comfortable in our own skins until something or someone lowers our confidence a degree or so by an offhand or intended remark. Other times we find ourselves uncomfortable because a remark has caused our calmness to decrease and rise to the anger level. In these last years of my life I am learning to respond to the latter with calm reason and forgiveness and to ignore the former. Not allowing someone or something to mess with my self image is not an easy lesson but one well worth cultivating.to be frank I could not do it without the gift of faith in my life. Christ treated thieves and Pharisees with kindness and forgiveness and I try to use this as my model. Ain't easy but what in life worth having is easy.

Learning is an on going fact of life for me. Becky and Andy gave me a french press pot for my birthday, and now that i have learned how to do it. I love the freshness of the brew and the fun of brewing as i need it at the table. Still will not trade my keruig but this is handy when the cups run out or when I want to savor coffee as i eat without moving from the table. Oh yes I am spoiled with this new lesson.

Just nearly finished the wing span scarf and thought I knew how to finish the one end so did not consult the pattern. Mistake but have decided to fudge if i can or leave it as a lesson to myself to not think I am so darn smart. It is still quite nice and the yarn I chose was perfect. will try to post a picture here on facebook when it is completely bound off. next to finish the cable vest.I found a hat pattern i want to try the is moreof a roaring 20"s cloche than the usual knitcap or slouch cap. Challenges keep my brain in gear.

Next Saturday I venture out on my first yarn hop. More on it later but it consistsof 12 shops all over kansas in two days.

So today was both good and somewhat of a downer. Good was the cookie baking that got done in my classes. I am estimating 8-10 dozen. We need 120 so every resident at Sunshine Meadows can have a Halloween cookie. Boys struggling with a recipe was funny. 1 tablespoon of baking soda instead of 1 teaspoon makes for a fluffy bar cookie. thankfully I brought cookies for them to eat so we could maintain the count of the designated cookies.
Beth O Brien"s class is going to make some to add to our total. Part of our total are ghosts made with Keebler elf cookies dipped in white almond bark and mini Hershey chip eyes. Tomorrow we are going make and sack pumpkin poop---Chex mix with candy corn etc. I even found cheap Halloween treat backs at Walgreens this pm. So our contribution to the BHS 2012 citizenship day is well underway though I need togo get the poop ingredients. So A Wally world run is on the horizon. Do I go around 9 pm or tomorrow
at 6AM. Not going now too crowded by half. My life is full of such momentous decisions--lol.
The bad is a sense of isolation creeping up in my soul. I hear not often enough but I do hear from my family. Living nearer would be nice but i have work here and a community with things to do... At the moment I do not want to move though it will be coming in the next ten years or so.
Two of my best pals live far away. Minnesota and South Dakota--- are not exactly coffee dropping in addresses, and these are two ladies I could do this to without notice. Now I know it is a momentary discontent and that it comes in the fall as holidays approach.
Thankfully it will pass.Tuesday and any other day I can fit it in a visit to yarn lifts my spirits. Quiet reflections on all the blessing He has given and still gives me helps. My soul will survive and without a scar. The downs just hit me for a day or so.
I wonder does anyone feel this way? As an only child I think I am more prone to it. No siblings be they blessings or pests creates a real void when both parents are gone. That unconditional acceptance that bolster so much of life is gone. but children ( and I have three great ones) help fill the emptiness.
So bear with the bad part and dwell on the good part. Life is a constant puzzle of wants, lacks and blessings. Once that is accepted it becomes easier to live through to the other side of the downs. That of course is the ups. I going to Wally world and the people there always give me a shock treatment and a laugh. Hey wait I am about to be one of them.

15 til 5 P.M. and I have just emerged from the shower and once again I am in fleece lounge pants and nightgown. yes once again. I declared this as a stay home do.nothing weekend. So have been in pajamas all weekend. Lazy maybe but such a weekend gives me time to read , to write to do anything I want to do. No agenda;no musts. eat when I am hungry-- do chores with no hurry. Washed clothes, dried them and hung them up and folded them as they came out which is not done with mid week laundry all too often.

Autumn is my favorite season as it tells us to relax and to muse. Spring re-awakes us, summer is run to this or to that for some reason. Winter is a close second to autumn but often it's most relaxed me days are due to fol weather so it is less of a choice. Also it has that frantic holiday season in its midst that spurs us to shop, create, give and host feasts. Nope autumn is my season. Weather allows travel if I wish to travel but with less on the must due schedule It is a season when I can just hang out at home and do only what the spirit moves me to do. I can rebuild my spirit this season.

Autumn is also the season of fragrance. The air is crisp,clear and at least where I live clean. It is a season filled with the spice of apple pies, pear claflouti, cider,
bean soup, roasted vegetables, pumpkin breads and pies. Not good for my weight loss but I am learning I do not have the entire thing at once. tonight roasted vegetables with evoo and herbs. Sharing helps. This week apple dump cake for teachers and claflouti for French club are on the docket. The claflouti is a sure thing; the other just a strong possibility.

Autumn is also a time for musing. With my "cuppa" ( coffee, tea)in hand I can lose myself just thinking. No navel contemplation but thoughts about beliefs( even at my age I have questions), prayer for family ad friends, future plans etc. To be honest I find pajamas help this contemplation mood. With them I need no mantras or oms as I am already in a comfort zone.

Tomorrow is a return to reality. Teaching in the am and groceries in the pm. Autumn will sustain me until next weekend which is another pajama weekend with ay luck. Just checked my schedule and no must do's are there--yet.

Better day today. decisions made about the trip to Indiana. Becky understands why it is hard and expensive to go. Later when we do have to hurry and the pain is less we can travel to her.

Went to Yarn for a bit in the pm not the night class though as we were still discussing what to do. A visit there is always calming and especially when Shannon said I had not misdone a cable. Can now soldier on on the vest.. However Winston got in the one skein for my fair isle yoke. It may be simpler to get a new skein but am not planning on working on it for awhile. So tempted by the man's sweater class in Octber am I. ( Notice I can talk like yoda) However I want to finish on the needle projects before I tackle that. Therefore I will pass.

Day brightener ( is this a word?) my French one classes all passed the quiz with a c+ or above and the majority were "A's or B"s". Nothing makes me happier than to know they understand what we have been studying.

Am doing a reflection at night from IN TOUCH, it centers on Neiamiah.(?)Never have read that book before and it is interesting to dip my toe into something new. enlightening also about being sent to do something you feel unable to fulfill only to find that you can with His help. after all it is His plan.

time to motivate myself to prepare for tonight's comp 1 class. More tomorrow. May His grace make my wishes for you come to fulfillment.

So not a great day. My son in law lost his father to pancreatic cancer. His father had told no one and so it was a shock to find out about it.Yet Larry spent his last days not being seen as a dying ma, and may be that was his wish. Still his son and parents were deprived of knowledge that might let them cope with the loss a bit more easily. Spent today wondering of Sara and I were going to go out there,but does not look like it. I have 2 college classes, Bhs classes and 3 dogs to arrange for but Becky said they are fine and to save the dollars. So another visit later after some the pain has passed is in order.

Then at Yarn found out a friend's mother has a lump in her breast and this is October--cancer awareness month. Rather hear about cures, but God has other plans and I can accept it with the help of prayer.