I awoke feeling well rested for the first time in a long time, I got a good night’s sleep and if hadn’t been for Ivy – the dog wonder – I would have had an even longer sleep. We are up north for a short weekend of yard cleanup and it is a treat; even working up here is a treat.
We drove up yesterday and arrived with plenty of time to do a large part of the yard cleanup we had planned, but my helpers were exhausted and I was, too. So, I decided to quit, go out for dinner, and get a good night’s sleep. I thought it was a good call. Not so, the weather played a trick on me. Yesterday was cool and cloudy, but this morning it began to lightly rain, it was dark when Ivy woke me – even though it was a little before seven AM and I could hear the gentle rain on the deck. I let Ivy outside; she sniffed around, came back inside, and snuggled up on the cushion at my feet while I sipped my coffee. Treat.
I don’t like doing yard work in the rain, but that’s what it looks like is gonna happen. Trick.
It’s Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve. Yesterday we had to make a trip to K-Mart for O’s a pair of yard shoes and we ended up getting a couple of Halloween masks, too. And, then we bought three pumpkins to carve. I carved one, O carved another, and there is one more left to be carved. Treat.
We planned our trip when the Tigers lost their fifth game and were officially out of the football playoffs – that was October 2nd. I have had the date circled on my calendar ever since. O was disappointed when we planned the trip up north – it keeps her from trick or treating. W was disappointed, too. I could understand, but lately it seems all of our minds have been elsewhere.
It’s a little past two in the afternoon. We had a Michigan breakfast and W is sleeping on the couch, Ivy is curled up on here pad, O is upstairs watching a movie, and it is still raining. The hills on the opposite side of the lake are shrouded in a light fog and I have zero ambition to go outside. Trick.
There is a fire in the fireplace making the front room cozy and warm. Treat.
Just being here at the cottage up north is a treat, in and of itself. It’s raining at home and I know I would be avoiding work there, too. Treat.
I brought papers to grade and I have planning for the coming week. So, I’d better finish, post, and get to work – inside or outside. Trick or treat? Today is already a great day, even when it is raining, we’re up north, where we need to be. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, on Halloween up north by the lake.
What is in your Halloween plans?
This post is in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat. This week, share your take on “treat” — please feel free to interpret the theme as literally (or not) as you see fit. I look forward to browsing through your photos!
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1517, Martin Luther posts 95 theses. Read More https://t.co/5G9tBwzV9M via @History
— Clay Watkins (@makingdayscount) October 31, 2015
Wow – sounds like some good with some not so good, but over all, who’s complaining right? Happy belated Halloween and have a great week.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
It has been a week – my wife is still with her mom in Ohio and it’s a beautiful sunny day in northern Illinois. We don’t get to choose how our lives end, only in how we live them. She lived her life well and leaves behind a wonderful family who is thinking of her. Halloween was time well-spent – we built a fire and played gin rummy with scary Halloween masks on! Thanks for stopping by… enjoy your week.
Hope you and your family had a fun Halloween. It’s one of my favorite holidays. We still dress up and go to parties or a good bar.
We had fun without trick or treating and enjoyed the extra hour – we needed it. We played gin rummy by the fireplace and our carved pumpkins. it was a good time – thanks for stopping by, enjoy your week.
I love how you can always find the treat along with every trick life throws you. Happy Halloween to you and the family!
p.s. What exactly IS a Michigan breakfast?
Thank you, Mary – it has been a stressful and trying time for us the past year or so. I have tried to make the days count so to speak and find the sunny part of a darker cloud. It’s there you just have to look for it.
A Michigan breakfast is bacon, toast, and, fried eggs – sunnyside up – coined by my mother-in-law who would prepare breakfast for all of us – my wife’s family is in the egg business and we ate eggs! She would only cook such a breakfast when there were many mouths to feed. it was served family style with plates of eggs being cooked to order – ironically, she did not like eggs and would eat a bacon jam and toast sandwich when she was finished cooking. We would pitch in and clean up.
As for our halloween – we enjoyed it by the fire and the kids and I played several hands of Gin Rummy. Today we work on the yard, the rain has stopped. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be sunny and in the 60s! oh, what a difference a day makes…. thanks for stopping in!
No Hallowe’en plans. We live down a long drive: no children will venture here. Such a contrast with our former home in Harrogate. Many of our neighbours were American (the US Base at Menwith Hill is nearby). That’s when we got our first experience of Trick or Treat, which now seems universal. 240 packs of sweets for visiting children, anybody? Exhausting!
W is carving his pumpkin as i respond – will have photos of all three later – it continues to rain, fire in the hearth feels warm – and lightens our load. Tomorrow we’ll be busy but fall back and gain an hour. Thanks for stopping by… have a great All Hallow’s Eve – Luther would be amazed…..
Love your pictures!!
Thank you – and thank you for stopping by Making the Days Count. Have a wonderful week.
You too!