Laowai

This week I had a birthday. 

Bea made a pretty cake for me.

And I finished knitting this hat.

The weather has finally turned chilly so Claire and I felt like getting out some Christmas decorations. We set up our little village on Sunday. We always have so much fun setting out the houses and trees and itty bitty people and animals. And now I pause and look at the happy little village whenever I walk by.

Brian has been going to Minneapolis a lot lately. I often drive him if he takes an early morning flight. 

I usually feel like doing a deep clean of my kitchen in fall instead of a spring clean. It stayed sparkly clean for a couple minutes.

This time of year the sun shines so brightly through my front door. I feel drawn to the sunny parts of home when the temperatures cool down. It makes me want to lie down right on the floor – on a rectangle of sun – just like a cat would.

The leaves are mostly fallen by now but we've had a super pretty fall. Here are some beautiful leaves growing in my yard. Amelanchier, Witch Hazel, Oak and Locust leaf confetti.

My latest knitting project is a hat. I'm trying to learn this type of color work – sometimes called fair isle. My teacher recommended I do the method where you hold yarn in both hands – plus I'm learning to use double pointed needles. Definitely feeling challenged and it would be helpful if I was an octopus. But I'm enjoying it.

Finally I have everything figured out on my blog and so I can post a few photos from Halloween.

We might be coming to an end with these elaborate costumes that Bea and I make. But this year she wanted to be a fish. I did the sewing and she did the painting.

Claire went as Cher – not really. Just a cute girl from the 60's or 70s. She said so many people asked her if her "boots were made for walking".

She and her friend Dafna had a fun night. And the leaves coordinated with her costume.

We had a beautiful warm night and Brian and I enjoyed sitting outside watching all the kids.

Well I thought my blog was back to normal but it's only displaying normally. I can't upload and photos at the moment. Very frustrating! Also, it makes me want to have a hard copy of my blog because I would hate to have it go poof! and be gone. So I'll keep trying to get this figured out and in the meantime – thank you to my precious blog readers.  : . ) 

Today I walked my normal route at the Chicago Botanic Garden except I walked it in reverse order. A new perspective.