Tuesday 4: October Thoughts

October Thoughts

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's 

Tuesday 4.


This week, let's talk about October. Toni sure enjoyed facts about the months and questions on that topic too.


1. What are your feelings about the month of October? Does it bring anything special to mind for you? Do you have memories to share?  

October has many memories attached...I don't even know where to begin.

  
My happiest memories growing up were the family traditions we shared in our family.  On Halloween I can remember from my earliest childhood going from house to house with my parents.  My mother and father both dressed up in costumes, and we kids were costumed as well.  My mother's favorite costume was that of a country girl with apple red cheeks, blacked out front teeth and wearing a yellow checked gingham dress, and playing a rather squeaky tune on her violin.  My dad was dressed up as a farmer (which he was) or a hobo, and we carried a bag full of dried corn kernels from our farm, from which we would throw hands full at the door, yelling "trick or treat" until the inhabitants would come to the door and act so surprised to see us. They would pretend they were scared or they would ooh and ah at our costumes, and then try to guess who we were.  We would hold up our sacks and they would cheerfully fill them with all kinds of candy (and even apples back then), and sometimes even invite us in for hot chocolate or apple cider.  Then we'd be on our way to the next house. 

I've shared these pictures before, but they bring back such happy memories of the fun we used to have with our kids and others for Halloween or at Fall Festivals at our church.

These were our sweet little boys bobbing for apples for the first time. Benton and Scotty on the left, and Matthew and Scotty (with me assisting) on the right. I think Matthew had a loose tooth, so that could be why he needed some help!

And then of course, what's good for the kids is good for the parents!  Yes, that is yours truly on the left, and my hubby on the right.  I was dressed up as a hobo for our "Hobo Party", but here I look like a drowned hobo!

Of course for many years after we moved back home to Florida from living in New England, we traveled back to Maine each October to visit our son Matthew and his wife Nicole and our grandson Noah, because Noah's birthday is in October.  We always enjoyed being able to see all the fall foliage in the beautiful Maine and New Hampshire area as well as have a wonderful time with our family.  Sadly since our son passed away in 2014 we haven't been back up in October since, but our grandson has been down here a few times to celebrate his birthday with us here in Florida. We've tried to make plans to go back up there the last couple of years, but of course the ugly covid monster kept us from fulfilling those plans. Hopefully things will be better next year!

Here we are with Noah on one of those trips many years ago. (He's 22 years old now, so yes, this was probably at least 10 years ago)

One the best things we always did together when we went to visit was to go to the Fryeburg Fair, which always falls on the same week at Noah's birthday.  

Here we are together arriving at the fair, and our other son Scott also lived up there at the time, so he joined us.

Noah and "Uncle Scott" always had fun riding all the rides at the fair.

And this was the last time we were up there all together for Noah's birthday, October 2013. Same location as the previous picture.  Matthew passed away from cancer the following May, 2014, after a four year battle.

So yes, October has a LOT of memories for our family.

2.Have you ever gone apple picking? Pumpkin picking? Any kind of picking including banjo picking at all? Do you bake pies with those fruits?

I baked this apple crisp last night. It was SO good!!  We had the "kids" over for  a fried chicken supper (fresh and hot from the grocery store deli)...and had this for dessert.  

It's been many years since I've literally been apple picking. We don't have Apple Orchards in Florida, sadly.  So my apple picking is at the grocery store.  And our pumpkin picking is also at the grocery store, however sometimes we find a pumpkin patch at a local church or community and it's always fun to go pick a pumpkin there.

My current pumpkin "patch". LOL. 

3. What is autumn like where you live? How about when you were a child?

Autumn where we live now is not quite as exciting as Autumn up north.  But we still enjoy the beautiful fall like weather all winter long while up north people are freezing and shoveling snow and scraping ice. So Florida does have its advantages!

I have this one picture of me with my maternal grandmother, taking a walk on an Autumn day, many moons ago.  I don't remember this walk, but I am so glad I have this picture to remind me that we did have some special times together.  Click Here for more about my Grandma Tedlie.

Of course, I do remember raking leaves and jumping in them as a child.  And when we moved to Ohio with our own little family, I made sure that was one experience our three sons had that first autumn:

4.Autumn is not the same as Fall. Fall is the time when the leaves are actively falling. What activities of Autumn/Fall do you enjoy? Do you decorate your door or home for the season?

Our current front door decoration

Yes, I love to decorate for autumn.  Lily Grace already shared our current decorations with you HERE

I will change it out as we get closer to Thanksgiving with some Pilgrims and turkeys and other more thanksgiving-ish decorations.

It's time to bring out the owl hand towels for the bathroom...

And take a "Hot Apple Pie" bubble bath, if you dare! LOL

Most of all, I believe that autumn is a season when we should celebrate the change of the seasons with fun family and friend activities...bonfires, weenie roasts and toasted marshmallows, (s'mores!!) apple pie and pumpkin pie, soups, stews, and just good old country cooking and outings.  Even if you live in the city, there's a change in the air and attitude in the fall.  People seem to come out of their homes and take more walks in the fresh air, take rides into the country for the country fairs and festivals.  It's just a happy harvest season and I have to say I love autumn most of all the seasons!

Other posts you might enjoy about traditions and memories in the month of October (or autumn):

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/10/in-defense-of-land-of-make-believe.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2020/10/tuesday-four-autumn-days.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2020/09/tuesday-4-september.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-harvest-time.html

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/10/you-can-sense-change-in-air.html

Monday Musings

Good Monday Morning!

Stepped out on the porch this morning to put the flag out, and heard these three Sand Hill Cranes go squawking by.  Have you ever heard the noise Sand Hill Cranes make when they fly or even when they are just walking around the yard?  It can be deafening!

It was neat to see them and hear them first thing this morning, especially since this was such a glorious 52 degree autumn morning!!  Yay!!!!

Here's a good video about the Sand Hill Cranes...be sure to turn up the sound and you will understand what I mean about their squawking sounds!

So, how did you start your day today?  We've been for a morning walk, stopped to empty our life savings into the gas pump...(seems like it, anyway...keeps going UP Up UP every day!), stopped at the Ace Hardware store to see if their bird seed was on sale, buy one get one free, and it wasn't...so I said I'll just wait until it is. I still have enough bird seed to last a little while longer...but then I told my hubby he may have to go get it if it comes on sale next week, since I will be having my neck surgery on Monday, and who knows when I'll feel like worrying about bird seed again?  

Trying to tie up some loose ends...looking ahead to make sure bills are paid on time, groceries are stocked as much as possible with the current state of affairs at the stores...went the Dollar General and looked for plain old ordinary yellow mustard...I don't care what brand...yellow mustard is yellow mustard! They did not have one single bottle of yellow mustard in the store!  They had very little ketchup either, and the rest of the condiments section looked quite bare. I didn't want to waste my time going to the big grocery store just for yellow mustard, so I will just keep it on the list and next time we go hopefully they will have some. Must have been a big weekend for hot dogs or hamburgers and yellow mustard!

Meanwhile, this picture popped up in my "memories" on Facebook this morning. Yes, that is yours truly, enjoying one of my most favorite fall treats...a s'more!  With the temperatures going down, I hope we can have a fire in the firepit soon so we can enjoy doing this again! I need to get some fresh marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey bars first!  This picture is VERY OLD. My hair was still red enough for you to know it was red! Now it is faded to plain old ordinary brown with white streaks and a few red highlights left over from my youth.  

Anyway, what really got to me was the running comments below the picture from 11 years ago (although the picture itself is older than 11 years...I just posted it on FB 11 years ago)

The very first comments on the page were from our son Matthew, who is now residing in heaven. Here was the commentary:

This first is from Matthew:

• "Great picture, Mom!"

  

  3

  • Love
  •  · 11y
• Active

  Pamela Mursch Steiner

  Thought you'd like that. Me and Benton just had smores on the bbq grill. We had fun making a mess.

  • Like
  •  · 11y
• Matthew Steiner

  This looks like some the election "smear" pictures I see on TV. Beware of this resurfacing if you try to run for a public office.

  

  3

  • Haha
  •  · 11y
• Active

  Pamela Mursch Steiner

  Don't think we have to worry...Sarah Palin's got me beat!

This is one reason why I don't want to give up my Facebook account, because all these fun little memories pop up from the past and even though they cut me to the heart, they also give me joy in remembering the fun we had and the almost daily conversations we used to have.  And this really takes us back to when Sarah Palin was running for Vice President! That seems like ages ago!!  Eleven years...goes by like a flash.  Matthew has been in heaven now for 7 + years.  But when I see these little conversations, it's like he's really not that far away...and I smile.  Heaven really isn't that far away...just a breath...literally.

Well, I hadn't intended to go down that rabbit trail, but it's okay. It's a happy memory and we need to treasure our happy memories.  

Yesterday afternoon was a gorgeous fall day for us here in Florida too.  I sat on the swing for a little while and just enjoyed the beauty of the day.

I was waiting for the sunset, but finally decided to go inside before the mosquitoes found me first. Hopefully the cooler air will drive those pests away soon.

We've had some interesting sunsets the past few nights:

Do you see the clown or jack o'lantern in the clouds on this one? Kind of weird, huh?

Well, friends, I guess I need to move on...it's almost lunch time and then comes Ladies' Bible Study this afternoon, which I probably need to go to, but I'm rather tired and nap time sounds kind of good too. 

First here's some good food for thought...

Jeremiah 32:17

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

Amen.

Have a blessed and happy Monday!