Weekend Fall Vibes

 It was a busy weekend with a good balance of work and fun. It began on Friday evening with a delicious Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner at our house with Tim and Kay. Steve saw the corned beef briskets at Sam's Club and asked if we could make it. I questioned the timing as it wasn't St. Patrick's Day but he was convincing so we went ahead. It was delicious! We invited Tm and Kay over and everyone enjoyed the meal. I expect it was so good because it is something we only eat once (or twice now) a year. 

We woke up Saturday morning to a chilly thirty-four degrees! We had a work day at church planned. Boy were my fingers frozen in no time. Our tasks were to spread mulch and cut back some shrubs. As we got moving we warmed up right quickly and began shedding layers of jackets. We were a team of seven people and had the work done in four hours. It always feels good to step back and gaze upon all that heard work.

 Back at home, I gathered up all the summer potted pants and dumped them into the lawn cart. I added all the dead marigolds from the raised beds as well. It was time to tidy up for winter now that the frost had come. The porch plants were still bright and cheery so it was hard to say goodbye to this part of summer. Out they went! This was no time for plant pity; things had to be done.

In the evening we went with Tess and Blake to the Fincastle Ghost Tour put on by the Historic Fincastle Society. Our group walked around town with a host and made several stops where various characters told ghostly stories. One stop was at the Godwin Cemetery in the photo above. We stood beside the national champion Honey Locust tree, deemed to be over two hundred years old. As the photo shows, it is growing right around a grave stone. It really is a stately, gorgeous tree. We were bundled up properly and the walk was very pleasant.

Sunday evening, Tess and Blake invited all of us to their bungalow in town for Tess' twenty-ninth birthday. I can't believe our youngest is this age. Tess made rosette ribbons with fun titles and them for each of us to choose and wear. Steve chose "Queen" and I chose "Lovely". Others said, "Boss", "No. 1", etc. We ate yummy foods and then went outside for some wood burning. They had two large maples cut down with one being hollow. Tess counted the rings on the solid stump and counted ninety-two. They men used the hollow logs as stoves for the smaller logs. It was fun to be outside and we all enjoyed the fire. We ended the evening with Tess' traditional birthday dessert, fruit pizza. Steve helped me decorate the pizzas for the first time. My happiest times are when we are with our children. This was a perfect ending to the weekend. We look forward to gathering again at the end for the week for Halloween and trick-or-treating.