October 2023

Fall has fell... and it was a mild, colorful fall. The pumpkin crop was lean, but our garden did produce three pumpkins. 

Alice is not crazy about being cradled like a baby, but she lets Emily do it. If anyone else tries she'll bite your face off.

We got front row seats at a Rough Riders game! It's fun when players get body checked right up against the glass. Makes ya feel like you're part of the action. And we ducked every time a puck came flying our way. Reminds me of when me and my friends used to go to hockey games in high school.

Fall colors! We hiked around Palisades one morning as the sun was coming up, right at the peak of the bright foliage.

There were three eagles circling near us and I managed to get a shot of one.

"The warm October wind gusted strongly and great shades of light and shadow seemed to pass across the world."

Carving pumpkins!

Cynthia finished carving her pumpkin first. This was the only pumpkin from our garden that got carved.

My pumpkin:

Are they too old to be trick-or-treating?? 

You don't mess with Rick Grimes. CORAL!

It was a cold, windy Halloween and we only got 2 trick-or-treaters. Later that evening we burned our pumpkins as is our tradition at the end of Halloween.

And then the glass table they were on broke, but I had already put my camera away and missed it. Guess we'll be burning them on the patio next year!

When It's October

When it's October you get outside and make the most of it before that cold north wind hits. This year we didn't even make it to November before it snowed. But we made the most of it while we could and went for bike rides and spent time outdoors. 

Hanging out in the sunroom:

We went to the Conrad family reunion in Independence:

Emily and her friends in the Franklin cafeteria. They were all so little and now they're in middle school! They're starting to look like real people:

My parents are planning a move down south; soon we won't be able to visit them as often. Celebrating my mom's birthday:

The vivid colors of the sunset outside my parent's house that evening:

Breakfast for supper! Our Wednesday evening routine before Rose goes to youth group. She's not really licking the spatula, is she? Gross:

Date night at Lion Bridge:

Taking our family pictures against the backdrop of the fall colors:

Getting into the Halloween spirit:

It's squash soup, but when cooked in an iron pot it looks like a witches' brew:

Carving our pumpkins:

How'd they turn out? Emily's:

Rose's:

Cynthia's:

Mine:

The shadows cast by the streetlight create an eerie effect:

Who would've expected snow on the ground before Halloween? It snowed twice right at the end of the month and it wasn't melting, either:

There's something almost magical about the first snow, before everyone is sick to death of it:

And of course nobody in Iowa knows what to do when they drive in snow even though it snows every winter. I saw a driver run a red and hit a minivan ahead of me when I was taking Rose and Laura to school. Coming back through the intersection was a mess:

It was a dark and snowy night when we crept into the streets to haunt the neighborhoods... and so coooooold.

We're Little Red Riding Hood and a murderin' lumberjack:

And Carrie. THEY'RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU:

Rose went with her friends (after a close call with the murderin' lumberjack):

And Emily went with her crew:

Emily and Cora were a creepy doll and a ventriloquist puppet:

After our circuit on Grande we went back to our old neighborhood and Roxi didn't disappoint:

The annual burning of the pumpkins! Such skillful carving, such fiery destruction! And so we celebrated another passing of October.