Farewell to October

Toward the Solstice by Mark Perlberg We burned our leaves on the bluest October day,the sun still warm on our backs, frost just a ghost in the shrubbery. We raked the leaves into shifting piles on the lawn, scooped them into deep round baskets and spilled them in the street against the curb. The vein of fire, unseen at first in diamond light, whispered through oak leaves brown as butcher paper, and maple still flushed with color like maps torn from The Book of Knowledge. We were letting go of October, relinquishing color, readying ourselves for streets lacquered with ice, the town closed like a walnut, locked inside the cold.

Since I was born in November, my memories of THAT month are keen as well.

I used to fell gypped that I had that birth month so stark and so windy and tinged with the smell of coming snow.

SO quiet with the song birds gone.  Smells of nature gone cold.

Days tinged just slightly with the smell and promise of the holidays to come AND often filled with exams and tests at school.  A turning inward slightly due to the weather pattern and the shortness of days.  Warm scarves again and soft sweaters.  In southern WI the corn fields left to be harvest rattle in the wind, deer hunting started, we would awake sometimes to dustings of snow in the old corn rows or frost to be scraped from a car window.  As I grew older I began to see a certain stark beauty of the gold against the grayness.  Old weed pods and spent cat tails in the marsh making shadow patterns against bare trunk.  But it took a long time to notice the beauty.  I think it is the same with old age.  It takes awhile to appreciate it…you rail against it, as you rail against November, until you see that it's part of the whole picture and just as the colors of gray are needed in a painting allowing you see the other colors fully, November comes to offer up  kind of foil against which you can lean the beauty of the other seasons.  Beautiful in it's own subtle ways.  And then toward the month's end, a gathering of the clans to celebrate the harvest and food and football.  

November is a lovely month in central FL…foggy mornings give way to 85 degree afternoons.  Perfect for whatever you want to do.  The "Golden Rain Trees" blossom in Oct and Nov and are filled with rusty orange blossoms reminding one of changing leaves in WI but actually are flowers!  Beautiful to see.  Our hibiscus in bright pink in the afternoon sunshine.

So farewell then to October, past and present, and onward to more subtle but lovely November.

The Last Inktober Challenge Day

Best Friends

Thinking of our hands as friends.  Kind of an outside the box idea I guess but really...they've been around awhile and I am kind of fond of them.  Depend on them.  Enjoy them and hope they hang out with me doing the best job they can for as long as they can.
I have a husband with Essential Tremor and I know what it is like when your hands are not really there for you, not dependable, and frustrating.  Those of us with steady hands should be totally grateful.  

So here's to holding hands, picking flowers and reaching for the stars.  

I've enjoyed the ink tober challenge but it's not been easy while on the road!!!  I missed 4 days which I don't think is bad considering. 
Happy Halloween everyone.   

The Diva's Challenge for this week…Nzepple and Flux

Nzepple and Flux

I have never much taken to "Nzepple".  But one of the example step outs for this was a "random" grid line instead of a diagonal grid line.  I found that more interesting to me and a very different outcome!  Like many, I prefer Rick's version of "Flux".  

I often do my Diva Challenges on my blank calendars.  I am not sure why but I enjoy the fun of interlocking the tangles.  It's a great place to try out new tangles to see how they might fit into that sort of "string"effect.  When the background is white, I sometimes "lighten" the cross lines on the calendar a little with a white pen to soften the effect and allow the pattern to show better.  

It's great to be getting back into my routines a little here in Florida again.  I am a bit behind now on my Ink-Tober challenge but to hope to get caught up again with that soon.   And I have about 6 other artsy things going.  Thanks to Susan, I've signed up and purchased a Craftsy Online Class on Urban Sketching so that needs to have some practice time too.  Hubby is all set to attend his first model train show in Inverness on Saturday with a friend.

All is well.

Ink-Tober prompt: SQUEEZE Day 26

Inktober

This is done on Day 26 but if you've been following me lately, my numbering system is out of sync.  Today unpacking my office/studio…this word just jumped out at me.

Some Days

Some Days  by Philip Terman  Some days you have to turn off the news and listen to the bird or truck or the neighbor screaming out her life. You have to close all the books and open all the windows so that whatever swirls inside can leave and whatever flutters against the glass can enter. Some days you have to unplug the phone and step out to the porch and rock all afternoon and allow the sun to tell you what to do. The whole day has to lie ahead of you like railroad tracks that drift off into gravel. Some days you have to walk down the wooden staircase through the evening fog to the river, where the peach roses are closing, sit on the grassy bank and wait for the two geese. "Some Days" by Philip Terman from Our Portion. © Autumn House Press, 2015. Reprinted with permission.   Ain't it the truth? We just got back to Leesburg…the sun is gorgeous. It's so good to be home.

On the road sketches

 

Had a marvelous boat ride in SC on Thursday...86 degrees!  We stopped T-Bones for lunch and ate out on the deck.

The seconds sketch was of our restaurant entrance in Helena, GA after dinner Sat night.

We are in the last leg of the journey now...expect to be in Leesburg late this afternoon.

Ink-Tober CREEPY

 

This stuffed raven looks a bit like he might start to tip over.

The model comes with a wire stand which I did not include.

Ink-Tober challenge for Day 21: Flight and Diva Challenge: LEAVES

 

I am combining the Diva's challenge of "leaf fun" AND my ink-Tober challenge for day 21.  

The titles are not in order as I post for inktober because I like to mix them up.

The sweet gum trees are whirling everywhere her in South Carolina.

Ink-Tober #20 TIRED

 

I know the number on the entry doesn't actually match the 20th day.

What I am doing is drawing each day BUT I am skipping around now to fit the circumstances as I travel.

Tired seemed so appropriate.  This table was at Pipe Stem Resort in West Virginia at the lovely little restaurant looking over beautiful colored mountains draped in fall colors.but thank heaven now a relaxing 2 days at my sister's in SC.

Ink-Tober Challenge # 18 ESCAPE

 

I hate to mention this but having a nice glass of wine (one) is a way to "escape" and relax.

Ink-tober 16 and 17

 

 

Catching up to Day 17 now and we are on the downward curve for the challenge.

It is trickier now to find time in the midst of travel!!!

Travel Fun

 

Here we are in Frankfort, ILL last night enjoying Octoberfaest!!!

Visiting with friends today and then heading toward Cincinnati on Monday.

Ink-Tiber Challenge 15

 

Relax was actually an easy prompt for us.  Here is my step son Mark watching the Packer Game.

Ink-Tober #14: TREE

 

Tree is surly THE easiest prompt for someone who summers in the north woods of WI.

Autumn just surrounds you with that "glow".

This is the view from my computer desk toward the boat house.

Ink-tober #13: SCARED

 

I really had a hard time with word.  I started with Katy's silk flower arrangement.

Thinking as I drew that there was NOTHING scary about this.

Then I thought of drawing Donald Trump.  He's REALLY scary.

But I caved into a Halloween theme and just relaxed.

Zentangle calendar

 

I see that I forgot to add this to my posts before I headed off.

It won't be quite as clear as a scan would be as this old Generation two iPad camera is not the best.

But you can get the idea.

Ink-tober # 11 TRANSPORT

 

I have goofed up my numbering for the challenge and this post should have come first.

Anyway here is the earlier prompt.  Guess it really is not important which came first.

Ink-tober #10 WORRIED

 

This is a sketch of my husband's nuerotranmitter for his ET (Essential Tremor).  

After his DBS surgery 5 years ago he has been able to control his tremor in his dominate hand with this .

Now it is time to replace the surgically implanted batteries.  It is a bit of a worry that the batteries will last to the Nov 4 surgery

date.  Keep your fingers crossed that we will be able to travel home to FL with no issues.

Day 10 of Ink-Tober Challenge: JUMP

 

Things are winding down now at the lake house.  Two days and counting and we had frost this morning…30 degrees.  BRRRR.  

We are past peak now with color and the leaves are coming down fast…there is a smell of winter and wood smoke in the air.  

Greg is busy putting his old truck "to bed" and I am busy doing the last laundry before he winterizes the appliances.  The cupboards are just about bare and we'll pack the car tomorrow.

We are gearing up for the Packers Game tonight at 6 (CST) with pizza and a blazing fire in the fireplace.  Very cozy.   

Tuesday we'll head toward DeForest to visit family there for a few days in the Madison, WI area.  Then down to South Beloit, IL for a night and to Warrenville, IL for more family.  Then heading east toward Cincinnati and WV and then to SC to visit family there.  Should walk in the FL door Oct 23.   God willing and the creek don't rise.  

Word has it that the hurricane slipped past our home neighborhood in central FL with minimal impact.  We are so grateful.  

Inktober Day 9: BROKEN

I think this speaks for itself actually.
The egg went into the meatloaf later.