It's the most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's already September, which means it's close to my birthday and closer to my favorite season: autumn! I never really experienced the color extravaganza that come with season when I lived in California and Georgia. Sure trees changed but it's nothing like what I've seen here in northern Illinois. The first time I saw such a lovely display was actually in the backyard of my grandparents' house(my father now owns it). I'm not too sure what type of tree it is but every autumn, for a few days, the leaves are a beautiful crimson. After a point, though, they turn brown and fall. :P

One of my favorite places is a stretch of road not too far from a community college. Trees create this nice tunnel effect as they loom over the street, and once autumn hits the place looks similar to this, but with more reds:

When the sun begins to set the whole place seems to glow! It always takes my breath away. I love the place so much that it inspired an area in my novel-in-progress. The forest always has autumn colors, which just makes it a dream place in my head.

Grendal's father had gone around the yard last month looking at the oak trees in the yard and decided to figure out what kind we have. From what I've been told we have three different kinds, which makes the whole lot of us happy. I've also taken notice that they're producing a nice amount of acorns and have decided that I'm going to try and harvest some! While it seems too early for me to start feasting on nuts, I can't help but want to harvest them. Acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, and almonds, all in their shells, was something my mother bought me every winter when I was kid. We had a nutcracker that I was able to use to crack 'em open, though I stopped using the poor guy when I noticed his jaw was loose(I also liked watched The Nutcracker, so I I thought mine came to life at night and wouldn't appreciate a wiggly jaw). When we moved up here to Illinois my little winter tradition stopped mainly because I couldn't find that array of nuts together and for a reasonable price. So I'll be keeping an eye out for the right harvesting time and the grocery store whenever they get their own nut harvest.

On the mead front, its drinkable and yummy!! Grendal and I are happy that our first batch came out so well and we plan on not only making another small batch but saving up money so it can be our drink of choice at our joining/handfasting/wedding thing. I think we had agreed on two 15 gallon jugs. The big thing is figuring out flavor. We've thought about spiced mead and even a berry kind but nothing is set in stone yet. I think I'll nab a book on mead making before all of that gets underway.

Other than that not much has happened in my corner of the world. I'm trying desperately to save money but it seems to be harder than I thought, mainly because I've had to empty my account twice to help pay the electric bill. This coming Friday, though, I will be getting that money back since the electric bill isn't really what was agreed upon when it came to me paying for stuff. It also helps that Grendal's father has gotten a job, so there will be a little more money coming into the house! Grendal is still trying to focus on the home business but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, which frustrates everyone. Grendal has mentioned that there needs to advertisement and his mother shunted that responsibility to him, which probably wasn't the best of things. He's at a loss on what to do and that seems something like his mother would be a bit better at accomplishing.....to some degree. All that really needs to be done is create a flyer with the phone number and the etsy site url, along with a brief description of what they do! Put it up around town and business bulletin boards and there you go. Online advertising, though, might be a little harder.

That's it for now. I'll be back whenever something exciting happens! ;)

Your Hippie Dippie Weatherman with Your Hippie Dippie Weather, Man!

I'm as much of a hippie as one living in Northern Illinois can be.  I did have dreads at one point(in high school, they were purple), I'm a tree huger(they need hugs), I listen to what Grendal defines as hippie music, I wear 'typical' hippie clothes in the summer(sarongs and skirts made from old sari material), etc. etc.  Guess the one thing of the stereo typical hippie-ness that I haven't done is the drugs.  No urge to.  My mother and auntie in Hawai'i always told me that if I ever moved back to the Big Island I would end up living in the Hippie town(never learned the name) not too far away from Hilo.  Honestly, I probably would.  Hippies are good people for the most part.  Haven't met one that I disliked.

There is snow outside which is a huge contrast to the white, warm beaches of Hawai'i.  I was born in Hawai'i and raised in California and Georgia since my parents were in the Air Force.  This is the longest time I've ever lived in one state(about 13 years) and, unlike the other women in my immediate family, I love it!  I remember visiting my grandparents up here for Thanksgiving and Christmas and loving the snow.  I never remember complaining about the cold.  I complain now but when ever there is a snowfall I am watching it like a wide eyed child.  Its always pretty.  Our husky loves it and will ask to go out if he realizes there is fresh snow on the ground.  He either eats it or flops down on his chest with his butt in the air, in the deepest mound he can find, and scoots around so his entire front half is hidden.

I've been feeding the squirrels around Grendal's house.  I missed having one that I could feed.  At my parents house there is a female squirrel that I call Chubs that will patiently stare at the backdoor when there are no peanuts out for her and will get within 3 feet of us, and allow us to toss nuts at her feet.  I called her Chubs because, well, she was a chunk!  It was spring time and I just thought she was a chubby squirrel.  After a point, though, the weight was gone and then there were three little squirrels in our yard.  She had babies!  But yeah, there are some squirrels here that I'm tossing feed out to.  They're gray squirrels rather than the red that Chubs was.  We have Stubs(has a tiny tail and may not be a yard resident), Scrapper(because he fights and eats the scraps since the other chase him off), Biggie Small(he's a big squirrel but thin right now), and No Name(no distinguishing marks so no clever name).  We also have a mated pair of Cardinals in the bush right outside the kitchen window, so I've tossed out bird seed as well.  Hopefully they'll stick around through the warm weather, despite the fact that the street will be torn apart when the township puts in a sewer system.

The tree is up in the living room but no decorations yet, but there are lights.  I believe we're waiting for the nieces to come over but it always eds up with Grendal and I decorating the tree, which isn't a problem.

Oh!  Here is the picture of my altar:

 Yes, there be dragons!  You can see 3 out of the 4 statues I have.  I also have the Chinese gods representing Happiness, Long Life, Wealth, and Peace around a little container, my wooden athame, the plethora of tarot cards, two date books(this year and next), part of my besom, and other odds and ends.

And this is the statue of Bast that keeps enticing my cat to get up where she shouldn't be.  I put a nice little flower head piece over her and that bracelet has tiger's eye beads.  I'm an odd one(pack rat in some cases) but everything I have has its uses.

Okay.  Enough yammering out of me because I have some business to tend to!