Several years ago I made a pact with myself to post on the blog every single week, usually on Sunday.  That worked really well.  Every Sunday, the blog post was the first thing I did.  Last year, I decided that I didn't want to be tied down to doing a blog post by a schedule and I just knew I would be able to be consistent with writing, even without a set day.  Well, we can all see that was a total disaster!  I have not been consistent - in fact, one might say I didn't even post monthly, much less weekly.  I believe I will go back to the Once a Week Blog Post schedule....starting January 1, 2023.  

In the meantime, let me catch you up on what's been happening here.  

Autumn has arrived here in southwest Missouri.  The leaves on our grove of trees have turned so many different shades of red and orange and yellow.  I love the colors of autumn.  The last few days we've had tremendous winds - sometimes upwards of 50 miles per hour.  Needless-to-say, the trees are almost naked now.  We have had daily temperatures ranging from mid-40's to mid-80's with nighttime temps as low as 21 degrees - breaking a record low that was set in 1917!  Today the temps are expected to be in the high 70's to mid 80's.  Rain is predicted for tomorrow - something we dearly need.  By the end of the week, temps should be dropping down again to be mostly normal for this time of year.  

I've been working on counted cross stitch projects.  Some are miniatures of famous paintings.  

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. This one measures 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

Mt. Fuji by Kamisaka Seeka

This is an autumn bookmark by Maryna Risnichenko.  Those colors are amazing. I loved stitching this one. 

Mom and I went down to Branson recently.  We met my friend Fran there and we all went to lunch at Scooters - a small cafe attached to a miniature golf course.  The sign on the door made me giggle.  You can't pee for free!  A very clear way of saying the restrooms are for paying customers!

We've had our winter hay delivered.  They 'drop' it in the circle at the beginning of the driveway and John put some of it down by the barn and took the rest of it next door to store it at our friend's property - on a gravel pad to keep the hay from sitting in mud and damp.  John can go over with the tractor and pick the roll up with the spike on his tractor and transport it here for the cows.  The two cows - Belle and Babbette spent the last few weeks grazing on our neighbor's property, allowing our grass to recuperate from overgrazing.  Yesterday they came home for the winter - Belle's calf is due to be born within the next couple of weeks and Babbette isn't due till after winter.  It's better for Belle to be here at home rather than having her calf next door and then John trying to get her and the calf transported home.  

Well, that's about all for now.  Hopefully I can get another couple of blog posts in before the end of the year.  I am fully committed to returning to Sunday blogging in 2023.  

Thanks for stopping by.