A day of rejoicing over the ugly lamp being down was followed by a day of frustration trying to get a rush order done, frankly because, after it being initally asked about early Friday morning, the only person in a rush was me. The reason it wasn't further along was because questions had not been answered about it, and the answers still weren't forthcoming until the very last minute. But with help it got done and will be completed on Tuesday.

(I also got ticked off at Borders; Time Quake came out this Tuesday, and there's a 40 percent off coupon this weekend, but it still wasn't showing at any of the stores. So I called to see if they knew if it might be coming in this weekend. I was told they didn't even have it on order! Well, phooey. I've been waiting for this one for ages. I almost ordered it from England, where it came out in July. So I just put in an Amazon order, and also got the Benbella House book. And wow, they've mailed it already!)

It was downright sultry yesterday morning when I took my walk, so there was much happiness about the cold front approaching for the weekend. (I sure hope the forecast for next weekend stays "as is," because it would make it dandy for the Apple Festival!) It was starting to rain last night when James took Willow out for a final walk, and then I "drowned" her. I wish it wasn't so uncomfortable washing her in the tub—boy, does that make my back hurt, and it took longer because she kept squirming—because she hadn't been bathed in a few weeks and looked like a little ragamuffin. I wish there was some way to explain to her that if she stayed still it wouldn't take as long!

This morning it looked as if the clouds were clearing, but it was just a "sucker hole," as James calls it. As we drove to the Farmer's Market a mountain of dark clouds were marching our way, just piles upon piles of dark, grey, and white smoky-looking clouds with a plow edge moving to scoop up the blue sky and existing mackerel clouds. Very striking! By the time we finished buying one huge tomato, a cucumber, some corn on the cob, two slices of pie, two cookies, some chicken salad, some cabernet jelly (boy, is that good! it tastes like wine biscuit dough), two croissants for breakfast, and an organic mocha java energy bar (I've tried her peanut butter chocolate bar and it tastes almost like a Squirrel Nut), the clouds were spitting at us.

Now yesterday I had a surprise in the mailbox: a coupon from the Hallmark shop at the Avenue at West Cobb, offering 20 percent off an entire purchase. How providential! Today was the release of the last part of the miniature "gingerbread Santa and reindeer" set, and I also wanted to get the Bolt ornament. I also had a $10 off coupon, and the paperwork I had with it said if I bought three ornaments I got so many extra points, and five ornaments I got so many more points, and if I purchased this weekend, I would get another $5 coupon.

So, since we were pointed in that direction anyway, we went there. Except for Bolt, like last time I didn't buy anything for the main tree. I got the cloisonné cardinal and the Holy Family minis for the foyer tree, Belle reading and the bears reading for the library tree, the rest of the gingerbread set for the kitchen, a little ornament for a gift, a small peppermint-stick Christmas tree (also for the kitchen), a little autumn themed-basket with berries, nuts, and prim stars with the "live-laugh-love" message, a reindeer Kinzclip, the Peppermint Pup as a Christmas decoration, and the Signature Pet timber wolf as a birthday gift for myself. (The latter is gorgeous. This is really a collectible-type stuffed animal, nothing you'd ever let a child play with.)

The cashier also let James use my coupon. He bought Robbie the Robot and the Star Trek phaser, and one of those light-up musical houses. It's a cute set. There's eventually a set of four of them. Each plays two songs and when you interconnect them, they all play and light up together. The last one will have Santa Claus and reindeer on the roof and, appropriately, plays "Up on the Housetop" and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." (Do you know those are two of the oldest Christmas songs that are not hymns? Both are from the late 1800s.) He says the guys at work are always talking about their Christmas light displays, and he's going to have "his own." LOL.

We drove to the store via Polk Avenue, and then returned via West Sandtown, giving us a nice vantage of trees turning color. We passed one maple tree which was about 75 percent changed and some leaves already on the ground! This is not the average for this time of year. Most trees have little "speckles" of color, or small patches, or have vines twining around their trunks which have turned to yellow or scarlet. We passed another maple tree whose leaves were turning color on the edges only, so the green centers looked outlined.

We got the groceries home and I took a time out to nurse a headache engendered by the approaching front.

And this was written at the hobby shop, where we watched a missile DVD of old Air Force films. All this after stopping at Goodwill to divest ourselves of that wretched Ugly Light Fixture. It's gone! It's gone! It's really gone!

(OMG! This Old House just started new episodes! They're back in Massachusetts, in Newton, putting an addition on a Dutch Colonial home, and also redoing the kitchen and the basement.)

Labels: autumn, books, Christmas, food, health, pets, shopping, television, weather, work

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