It's officially Fall and projected to be 85 here in a week!

I know I've talked a lot about the weather since we moved to East Bay but here we go again!

Late September and early October seem to have quite a few hot days here mixed in with those chilly, put on the heat ones. On the very plus side, the skies tend to clear up and the views can be magnificent and the rains haven't arrived yet although they will later in Fall. 

So lots of opportunities for taking long walks or getting those little home maintenance or improvement outside jobs done. Paint touch ups, patio cleaning, furnace and mini-split filters changed or cleaned, windows washed, cobwebs cleared, plants pruned or replaced. Home ownership at its chore best.

I'm learning to appreciate the weather variability despite my ingrained from childhood in Illinois mindset that now is time to pull out sweaters for daily use! Here it is occasional use for the time being while still keeping hot weather clothes at hand.

Still, pumpkin anything (Trader Joe's pumpkin waffles, homemade pumpkin walnut muffins) and leaves turning colors on the trees not native to here are real plusses. On cooler days I'm cooking pots of chili, pasta or soup to build up easy options in our small frig freezer. 

There are 3 immediate family birthdays and one anniversary plu 5 extended family birthdays during Fall. One is the older grandgirl turning 10 and there will be a family birthday dinner and present opening. She now chooses friend sleepover parties instead of afternoon ones so gets two celebrations as she should. There is also a swim meet of hers on Halloween weekend and of course family Thanksgiving. 

We are short on plans for adventures/exploring/days out for ourselves so I need to think on that. I'm hoping we can work out a plan for taking the grandgirls to the local live theater to see "A Year with Fog and Toad". Some gift shopping for birthdays and Christmas too. I'd like to see some Christmas lights and decorations this year - possibly in San Francisco. 

There is an amateur art show at the rec center later this month and we enjoy that plus we are now members of the SF MOMA so can take another trip there later in the Fall. October brings the citywide yard sale and voting of course but we simply putting our ballots in the dropbox a short walk away. In November Hubby is a chaperone for a 4th grade trip to see a Cal Berkeley women's basketball game but I'm opting out on that one! We need some more plans especially for after the next few weeks!

I've made appointments to flu and COVID booster vaccines, planning how to alter the pup's free fleece coat to fit his shape better, made a list of a few clothing items to look for and those to possibly donate. Time to schedule our RMDs too and one last round of this year's estimated tax payments plus earthquake and car insurance due. I'm sure there are more things on the Fall adulting list.

I'm curious what adventures/exploring/days out you enjoy most in the fall as well as the at home fall treats you look forward to!

Five Things Friday #37 - It's the little things!

 

Such a sweet book. If you love dogs and want to smile, get it from the library.

1. I requested the book above from our library after reading about it somewhere. I was especially interested in how she drew the dogs, but it is also such a sweet book and a reissue of an old one. Makes me smile and go pet my dog. 

I have so many cute pictures of our dog and it is easy to edit them to black and white to help with my drawing. We'll see!

2. Our son and his family are having the floors in the 100+ year old house replaced (first floor) and refinished (2nd floor). They essentially had to move everything out including themselves and it will take 2 1/2 weeks before they can come back. We went over on Saturday and while Hubby helped dismantle furniture I was the lucky companion to the 3 1/2 year old. 

We did a puzzle of dinosaurs, read a couple of books and then played a silly game of pretending to have our fingers stuck together and the other one had to help get them apart. 

I'd forgotten how kids that age are so willing to go along with silly things that they know in fact are silly but still find entertaining. I rarely have time alone with her so it was a treat.

3. Despite my strong dislike for clothes shopping, I've decide not to keep anything that doesn't fit well or I don't like to wear for whatever reason. If I ever lose the 10 pounds I put on the first year after we moved here I'll just have to shop anyway.

4. Doing short bursts of put off cleaning and other life admin tasks and took a few things off the list. A couple of financial and tech things done, the patio and outdoor furniture cleaned, a couple of windows washed outside. I've also identified several things to buy to replace broken/worn out/missing items (cellular shade pulls, cereal bowls, sleep socks) and am going to make that happen. Small steps forward.

5. Sat outside on the patio for the first time this year and enjoyed a glass of wine and read while the dog laid on the rug and chewed on his bone. It was a lovely day instead of being too foggy, too cold or hot, too windy or too something. Very nice.

Five Things Friday #36 - 9/11 memorial, heatwave, eucalyptus grove removal, freezer use it up, slow holiday weekend

As the nation remembers the casualties and horror of 9/11 today let us hope it translates into the right kind of election day results and we stop governmental actions turning countries against ours.

However, we are babysitting the grandgirls this evening so making positive memories for the day too.

1. In an effort to reduce the high wildfire risk of current trees, our city got a grant to remove a very large grove of eucalyptus and other trees at an old quarry near our house - 190 trees total. Then they will mitigate the impact in a environmentally enhancing, fire mitigation, habitat creation way. 

Hubby has been walking to where he can see the trees come down and says it is a very coordinated methodical process and the trees are huge. I was curious when eucalyptus were brought to this area and it was in the late 1800s through early 1900s. They do have a lovely scent when the weather is warm and would help mitigate landslides/erosion but are highly flammable.

2. We have just had a 4 day "summer" so I have gotten a few more uses out of my summer clothes and decided to keep all but 3 of them despite them no longer being favorites. Who knows - we might go someplace with a hotter summer on vacation one of these years. The few have been weeded out really don't fit well anymore. I also finally let go of some necklaces as well that were heavy or not my style.

3. I have a goal of trying some new recipes for dinner main dishes. This week's was Mexican chicken and bean soup. Hubby liked, it but it was not a new favorite for me. Moving on.

4. The Frugal Girl is doing a freezer use it up challenge. We have a tiny freezer on top of our not big enough frig that came with the house. I took a look though and found we have an excess of pork chops and one piece of salmon. We will make a pork stir fry with rice and a lemon garlic salmon pasta dish as dinners. 

5. I skipped my Pilates session as I wasn't feeling well. The slant board I ordered arrived though so I am doing the prescribed exercises to stretch my calves and ankles. Fun - not.

Five Things Friday #35 - Just photos

Birthday bouquet - I got chocolate too just as I wanted

PHOTOS FROM THIS WEEK'S WALKS

It's my birthday. What will this year be like?

The clouds were moving fast over the moon at 5am this morning.
A nice start to a new trip around the sun.

For the first time my age number feels "old" to me. Of course my older granddaughter has been assuring me that I am old for some time now! She also tells her Dad that he is ancient which both he and I find hilarious given his obviously much younger age.

We'll see what the year brings, but is starting out nicely. Today I am going to SFMOMA with Hubby and older son and DIL to see the special Matisse exhibit and check out the museum as a whole to see if we want to go regularly. it is just a short walk from a BART station on the line we live near. We also will have lunch at one of the 2 restaurants in the museum.

The special exhibit looks like it will be quite interesting as it examines the influence on art of one specific painting. You can get a glimpse of it here (Matisse exhibit overview).

Five Things Friday #34 - Goodbye August (almost), planning for fun and just life

My "August calendar dog" done on a 4 x 5.5 inch scrap paper

The actual calendar dog

1. Walking facts in my daily life: Library round trip is 2.1 mi or 5,000 steps; Park with dog round trip is 0.7 mi or 1,539 steps. I haven't yet measured walking to the corner store (sadly closing at the end of the year) or to the coffee shop. I do also want to pick a route that is just for enjoyment and not for a purpose other than walking without the dog.

2. I'm finally getting in the mood to enjoy planning for my birthday activities with family next week. Tuesday is a trip to SFMOMA which has been on my summer bucket list. Wednesday night is an all family dinner at our house. With my younger son's help we decided on take out for the main dish and will add fancy healthy sides and dessert. So many food requirements and preferences to account for plus not wanting to do much cooking!

3. I learned Monday that dogs get conjunctivitis, but it is usually allergy or irritation based and not infectious. It looks pretty much like the early stage of human conjunctivitis though. The vet office was able to get him quickly due to an appointment cancellation. He had a very thorough eye exam (eye ducts working, no scratches on cornea, pressure good, etc.). Result was eye drops for 7 days to deal with the inflammation and discharge and he has been very cooperative with getting them. He is feeling better given his renewed energy level and his eyes look almost normal. Still not playing though so i am waiting for that.

4. The "I never even imagined owning one" cobweb brush is back out. I cleaned the front porch, door, windows & siding including cobwebs. Now to work my way around the rest of the house. 

5. The "I never even imagined owning one" slant board (for improving ankle flexibility and stretching legs) has been ordered. I don't often shop at Walmart because of their politics but they had the one I chose with free delivery and returns.

Five things Friday #33 - Pictures and a busy week

 

My favorite coffee cup

Heavy fog or light rain overnight?

Tiny bouquet

I has been a very full and somewhat tiring week but the busy days have been balanced out by enough time to recover. No complaints.

1. I'm trying to get myself to make a habit of enjoyable visual hobbies again so doing a bit of drawing and taking photos on walks. I took a closer look at the details for the drawing class I was going to take and found it was way too structured for my style and patience. I did find at the library a book on drawing that I think suits me and purchased one for myself. I like drawing over painting at this point in time because the materials are simple and small. In addition the activity can be short or long.

2. I'm thinking I want a large attractive "bulletin board" type thing to pin my art, family photos, and inspirational items where I can enjoy them, but not have them be on the frig for example. Now where to find such a thing?

3. Last Friday we had a very enjoyable long lunch with our son at a new to us restaurant - his treat. Time connecting one on one with busy adult children is very precious. 

4. We were given some lovely yellow cherry tomatoes by a neighbor. Whether it makes sense or not, we have been leery of lettuce due to the outbreaks in other states (need to get over that!) and Hubby prefers the red ones anyway. I browsed the internet and decided to roast the gift tomatoes and use them over pasta along with sauteed green pepper and chicken sausage which we had in the frig. It was quite good. 

5. Did very early morning grandchild care and then morning school run and pickup as our son had outpatient surgery and our DIL had to take  him to the hospital very early. The day before we got the 3 year olds car seat, codes for nursery school access and detailed instructions for breakfast, delivery of both girls to school, etc. Son is fine and recuperating.

The next day our other son and DIL arrived for a 2 night stay on their way to a vacation in Oregon. They will stay longer on their way back. Their arrival motivated quite a bit of deep cleaning chore completion too. We ate at home while they were visiting. Dinners: turkey burgers on buns with tomatoes & lettuce, corn on the cob and orange slice; chicken, pasta, zuchinni and tomatoes. 

The dog had a grooming appointment in the middle of all of this. Then we will wrap up the week by picking up our older granddaughter from school and keeping her until bedtime so our son and DIL can have their monthly date night (the 3 year old has Kid's Night Out at nursery school).