as beautiful as a summers day

 What a good start to autumn! The weather- strange for October, but I welcomed it very much.

This made alot of learning time outdoors for the first 8 days of October! We took several walks, a different place each day.

The colors are pretty.
The leaves are falling fast.

I got to go to 2 history- re-enactment festivals! 

Thinking about it right now, I have done things I never have before.



here is my list:
I took a short elephant ride

I watched medieval combat

I had 2 picnics in one week  in October

I saw a sort of Shakespeare play

I pet a buffalo

I watched how a glass marble is made

I watched a (pretend) fencing match in person

In my Shakespeare class we read this sonnet..It was rather humorous, you had to be there!

  Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date . . . .


the 80 degrees this week made me think of this line. 

A quick summer " tweet! "

  It's always fun when you're eating your lunch


and a new visitor comes to your window!
Today, a little cow -bird stopped by..

look!

Listen!






While I am here.. 
The latest book I am reading is Peter Duck..
and, not what you may think.. it's not about a duck..
but a retired sailor, that is his name. So far, what I can tell you is he joined Captain Flint's crew. And he and the children are about to set sail on the big ocean on a schooner.

I just started and can't wait to go grab my book now.. each chapter is a cliffhanger!
Peter Duck is the 3rd book ( 12 books in all)  in the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome. I read the second book in a couple of days.. it was awesome!  These are great books about 4 children from England traveling the the waters in and around islands with real life adventure..near the north land of England just before the border to Scotland.

Last week I had a family vacation time, and before that I was busy helping at church vbs..
I am busy finishing knitting /crocheting projects. I will be working for the next month to put them in the fair. And as I finish them,
I will receive the next book in the series.. so a win- win situation for me! Look for pictures to be added here soon on what I am working on..

 Cheerio!

The wild purple

Purple is one of my favorite colors. I am so glad that there are lots
of different
                                                                            kinds of purple flowers to

be found near
where I live.
The other day we
collected some
pretty
purple wild flowers
on a nature walk.

These remind me somewhat of violets.Violets 
( the common blue, that is) were flowers we collected several  weeks ago. I just found a great site to check out. These are however different flowers. From this site, I have learned that there is more then one of kind of violet, check out the site, somewhat interesting.











The purple flower we found was called a Dame's Rocket. It is different then the violet. A violet blooms around Easter. A violet has five petals,
broad, heart-shaped leaves, it's Height is: 3-8 inches tall.  I think violets smell sweet.The violets we found don't grow on stalks with several blooms, they grow on their own like dandelions do. The violets we know, grow back every year, a perennial.

The Dame's Rocket is said to be biannual. Which explains why we don't remember seeing it last year on a trail we like to walk. It has four petals. It grows up to 3 feet (or higher) tall. It is native to where I live.It grows on stalks with several blooms. It has "wide coarsely toothed lance- shaped leaves" that grow 1 to 3 inches long. To me, the Dame's Rocket smells like a mix of clover and lilac. Both  these purple flowers  make a nice bouquet on the table for a few days, and  nice page in my notebook.

soft as moss!

Here is what I am working on this week...

It's a new change, seems that lately I have been 

working with size 2 for much smaller projects.

It will be so comfy~

I love the earth-tones...

So soft, and fun to knit up!

The yarn's name is edgewater.. I can see it...

Look for pictures of the finished

project in a couple of days.

Here is my book list for the next few weeks.. what is yours?

 I thought it would be fun to share what's on my book list for the next few weeks with you.. I have already started it:

1# Ink heart,

#2 and #3 Ink spell and Ink death ( I know, sounds gross, but, they are the sequels, I am not into occult or witchcraft, that is not what these are ) I am already more then half done with the first one... it is really following the movie closely. One of my favorite movies too!

You will notice, several of the titles I have chosen are also made into a movie.. so then I get to watch a movie at the end of the reading of the book!? Maybe.. maybe not.. sometimes the good book is ruined..but, chances are they are  good movies too, but first things first- read the books..Except, I did  watch Inkheart and didn't know there was a book, so I guess there are two on my list where I watched the movie first.. opps!

#4 Surprised by Joy by C.S Lewis. Why? Because I think he was a brilliant author. I am listening to the Chronicles of Narnia series and then when I am done, I get to see the movies that have been made (no, I haven't seen them yet, so don't tell me how they are).

I would like to see his
views in this book.

# 5 The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas

# 6 The Princess bride by William Goldman, I have seen the movie, now I need to read the book.

# 7 The beggars Bible
                                                                                         and #8 is Beorn the Proud

#9  Travels with a Donkey-  One of my favorite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson, remember, the famous Treasure Island? read it, if you haven't! 
I will read more of his as I find them.
I also want to read the sequel to Kidnapped.

#10 Adventures of Marco Polo, for school,
but, it could be very interesting.

Now it's your turn, post a comment to me, tell me your favorite books or the books you have queued up to read.

The first stop

I was reading in a geography book about Niagra Falls. I always thought people from other countries who come to visit our country would want to stop first somewhere else. You know, the Grand Cannon, Mount Rushmore, Mall of America (smile). But as they come in the first stop is New York City. The next destination  for many is the amazing Niagra Falls.  It is quite amazing! My grandma has taken the tour, like this one here. Maid of the mist. The Niagra falls are located on the border of New York and Canada. Only two other falls in the world compete with the size, and amount of water and the drop of the falls. They are the Victoria Falls in Africa, and Iguazu Falls in South America. The Niagra Falls is 5300 feet wide and the Victoria are 5700 feet while the biggest is the Iguazu being 10,000 feet wide, wowza! The Niagra Falls are also the least in height being only 167 feet high, the Iguazu is 237 feet high, and the Victoria falls are 354 feet high, truly amazing! But the Niagra Falls, unlike the other two falls, it keeps a steady strong flow.The two other falls mentioned are breathtaking in the wet season, but in the dry season all you'll see is a trickle. So there you have it, the Niagra Falls are full of beauty, you'll probably want to add it to your list of destinations, as it is something that you won't see everyday.

photo: Niagra Falls in the winter

Photo: Niagra Falls lights and beauty at night, all year round.