Happy Halloween!

I am excitedly getting ready for my day out tomorrow. Andre's! Chocolate covered almonds! Sisters of Mine, Daughters and Precious Niece...you will be with me in spirit. Tomtom is charging and I have reviewed myself on the inner working on the token of majick directional divining. I shall find my way tomorrow without fail or fear, and I shan't lose my way. Right? Right??? right?????

Speaking of spirits...no trick or treaters yet. I am waiting for Grandbebe Girl. We are going to visit a few in our neighborhood. Ours is a good neighborhood for trick or treating. We are always busy, and expect to be very much so tonight, being Friday, and having excellent weather for the holiday.

And speaking of Grandbebe Girl, I get to enjoy her company on Sunday whilst Bebe Parents are watch the Broncos kick the pigskin. I bet I enjoy my time the mostest! It promises to be another beautiful day, so I am thinking we will walk to the nearby park for some fun and swinging times. Maybe some sliding times, too.

And speaking of fun times, lunch with College Friend (at Andres, with chocolate almonds. Did I mention that? No joke, they are to die for...), a new meeting with a blog friend (gosh, I hope she likes me in real life!) at a new-to-me yarn shop, then a 50th birthday party of some relative-ish folk. All tomorrow.

One packed weekend ahead. But! BUT!!! Blogtoberfest is behind! Done. Finito. Fini.

Whew! I did it.

Public Service Announcement! Don't forget to turn your clocks back Sunday, November 2nd!

I'd like to thank my family, and my garden...

...and my knitting needles, and Betsy the Flying Lendrum, the catnipping and toidey drinking kittehs, Best Dog Ever...

And Kathleen for giving me my first bloggity-type award evah!

Lookie here! Somebody loves my blog!

Here are the rules for the award recipients if you want to play along (not required):
1. Please mention winning of the award on your blog. Check

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you. Check

Kathleen at A Bag of Olives, a former Coloradoan, now living and teaching and knitting and spinning in Peru (I have international readers! Yes I do!).

3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award. Check

I hereby nominate the following:

Kate at High Altitude Gardening, where she along with Meg the horse and Bad Dog, grow a lovely and wonderful garden without pretension or much ado, and dispenses her wisdom (and hollyhock seeds) to all who would hear.

Lynne at A "New" Jersey Girl, who discovered me through the abc-along in my brand new blogging days. Recently from my town, now living in NJ, she is a wonderful photographer, and records great wildlife right in her backyard. Check out the bears!

Liz at Lizzzknits, a fellow Coloradoan I found through Ravelry, who started blogging and spinning about the same time I did. We are close to the same age (as I am with most of these!), and both have daughters, too.

Wunx~ at The Clueless Crafter, another Raveler, who I linked up with through Kate the Gardener. A new knitter, but oh so brave. I cannot believe the things she tries... and succeeds at! Also, her humor is sharp...very sharp, and I like that. Also, if I ever make to their neck of the woods, she and Kate have promised me biscuits.

Finally...Dearest Sister's Brand-New Blog, Just-A-Mere. (I'm so proud. Gosh.) Her first entry tells the source of the title.

4. Add links to the recipients. Check

5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award. Check

And lastly, thank you, Kathleen, for giving me blog fodder for today!

Only one more day to go...

V is for...

For whoever.

It's a right not many have, and as a woman, I have only had since 1920 in the United States.

Less than 100 years, and then only after much struggle on the part many brave women of vision demanding what seems so reasonable...obvious! now. They were scorned. They were arrested. They went to jail.

We recieved the right to vote.

We eventually recieved an opportunity to take classes other than foods and sewing in high school, and to play funded sports, just like the guys.

A college education opened up for us, with more avenues than nursing and teaching available.

Yes. Some advantages were required. Some funding necessary. The playing field needed to be leveled, and I believe that is the only way it happens. I have some of my own stories of men having advantage in getting employment, keeping employment, and in pay, because of gender. And of having no recourse. Without being forced into change...often those in charge won't.

I am grateful that my daughters won't have as many of those stories.

And this is not where I was going with this post...but I don't think I am going to change it.

Andre's on Saturday!

Do you see that, Sisters of Mine and Precious Niece? You and your eating together at the KC Andre's yesterday...well, I get to go to the Denver Andre's Saturday. Chocolate almonds, here I come. I know, I know. It's not the original, and not the same, and you all won't be there, and it's a far cry from the Kansas City Plaza, but still! Chocolate Almonds!

I am going to meet College Friend for lunch, then a 50th birthday party for a cousin of the X's (who still consider me family, and since they are wonderful people, it makes me feel just grand!). Rites of passage themselves have become rites of passage. Engagements, marriages, births of children...weddings of said children, births of grandchildren, and 50th birthday parties...what are next? Don't answer that! It was strictly rhetorical.

Soooooo.....that means I will be in Denver from lunch at Cherry Creek to party time (6:30 in Broomfield) by myself, with time on my hands. Whatever shall I do? I heartell there are few things to do in that there rustic ville...

I think I may hit the Tattered Cover first. Then I am thinking some yarn shops. (Any ideas, suggestions, and general hints from those of you who may reside in the area?) Armed with my TomTom, my Outback, and a full tank of gas, I will be on the prowl and no area nor corner of town will be safe!

Yeah...a Swiss confiserie, a book store, and yarn shops.
I am Attila, the Hun.

Being Grateful

In times like these, I am glad I have this habit honed to a fine skill.

I have always been able to find those graces in my world for which I was truly thankful for. I would go through 'it' all again for my girls...that is how grateful I am for them. I am thankful for my health, for the opportunities my education gives me, and for getting to live where I do.

I can even be grateful, albeit mostly in retrospect, for those harder lessons that have nevertheless shown me life's greater truths. I am grateful for the changes that have motivated me to grow, as painful as they were at the time. I am grateful for the hard stuff, because I see now that is where the more brilliant facets of my character have been polished from.

But ever once in a while, I have to remind myself to be grateful. Sometimes it happens in the moment. Sometimes it happens after the fact. Sometimes I am reminded by others...oooh, I don't like that so much...

But it always needs to be there for me. Because there's nothing that I can't be grateful for. Even the ugly, nasty stuff. I know that. I have seen that. It is a axiom, proven and recorded. I trust in that truth.

And yet.

I still have to ask myself sometimes, 'I wonder what God in her heaven figures I need to learn from this particular person...'