Autumn is here and I'm a winner!

Hello Blogging Friends!  I'm excited that it finally feels a little bit like Autumn here!  And of course, it's time to show my Thanksgiving tree!  I have a few new little wooden pumpkins with words on them.  You can see the black one with "fall" on it at the top of the tree. There's a white one in the center of the tree with "harvest" on it.  Too, too cute!

This tree is always one of my favorites!  I love the fall colors and the leaves and turkeys! Such fun!  And then it's nonstop busy until after the first of the year!!!!  I will be hosting my family for Thanksgiving.  I've done it for a decade or so.  I always enjoy it.  We put up the Christmas trees right after Thanksgiving!  Things will be chaotic for a few days, and then it's time to sit back and enjoy!  I love this time of year!  I know you all are in the same boat, and I hope you will be enjoying these next few days!

Look at this cute car that was parked next to mine the other day!  I've never seen car eyelashes before, but it's clever, isn't it!!

We enjoyed a wonderful concert on Sunday afternoon!  Mannheim Steamroller is in the middle of their Christmas Tour and we were so lucky that they came to Jackson, MS!  I saw them once before and they are just fabulous.  I have all their Christmas CDs and am ready to get them out and listen!

My cat Omar has been so great and is so loving, sweet and devoted.  One of his favorite things to do is to jump on my clothes when I change.  He is particularly fond of my bra.....I guess it might be strange to post this--oh well, it's so funny!

You may remember that I am having some work done at our house.  I've had upholstery and they are painting now.  All is turning out well.  I ran in the paint store the other day, and I had forgotten that they put discontinued samples out on their porch for people to take if they want them.  They had several wallpaper books and some wood floor samples, which I passed by.  However, I was very weak and picked up 3 Kravet fabric books.  They are just gorgeous.  Some are embroidered taffetas and there are a number of polished cottons, too.  They are PERFECT for ornaments!  Just enough fabric and tons of choices! And yes, there were only 3 fabric books and I took all of them!!    oink, oink

And finally, I am a winner!!!!!  Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe had a giveaway and I won three gorgeous hand-dyed pieces of Aida.  Aren't these colors lovely?  I am so thrilled.  These just scream Autumn!!!  The photo doesn't do them justice.

I have been stitching and I finished the little Prairie Schooler Halloween ornament I was stitching.  I started another little Christmas mini card, and I intend to actually start a Prairie Schooler Santa!  I also need to use some of this gorgeous new fabric!

Thank you for visiting and come back again soon!

Frances

Oh yes--I forgot to say that I had yet another kidney stone lithotripsy!  It's become so common that I don't even think about it--sorta like rotating tires!!!!  But, we're getting them all cleaned out!  Oh my

Lots going on!!!

Dear blogging friends,

As usual, I'm hopping from here to there, and everywhere in between!!!  But I still love reading your blogs and hope to get more posting done on my own!

We took a quick trip last week, and had such a good time!  We went to New York and spent a few days, enjoying the fun and the big city hustle and bustle!  I love to visit New York--been there many times and I never get tired of it!  We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, and this was the wonderful view from our room:

We always take a Gray Line Tour--it's the best way to see the sights. This time, we took a harbor cruise, too, and that was fun.  It's been years since I've done that.  Here we are, enjoying the sights on a really windy day!

This is a great view of Lower Manhattan, with the new Freedom Tower.  I love the tiny little red helicopter in the upper left--

Because I'm a church organist, no trip would be complete without visiting St. Patrick's! This is the gorgeous and huge organ there:

On the tour, we stopped and saw Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon in Central Park.  I've seen it several times, and I still feel sad when I visit.  It was decorated for Halloween, and people are always there, singing, crying, and taking pictures.  Sad.

Night time is beautiful in New York--here are the lights at Rockefeller Center, near the skating rink. The flags around it are so beautiful.  I really love New York, and we had a wonderful time!

I actually did a little stitching on the plane!  I am almost finished with this little Prairie Schooler freebie card--a Halloween design!  I'm always stitching on the wrong holiday! But at least I'm stitching!  I am making a solemn vow to start stitching on a Prairie Schooler Santa!  I have all of them and have never stitched a single one!!  That is really too bad because they are so lovely!  I also want to stitch those wonderful freebies from Plum Street Samplers--The 12 Days of Christmas!  I really like those, too!

You may remember that I have been having some work done at the house--I have gotten back most of the upholstery!!!  They were SUPER fast!  I am loving all of it!  Here is a tiny peek of the kitchen chairs...I love leopard!  These were oak chairs with sorta flat bottoms--they puffed them up and they are so comfortable now!  These were at my mother's and had rust velvet seats--I'm not sure what she would think of the leopard--but she'd probably be glad we're enjoying them!  I will post bigger photos when the room is finished!

This week I started my new organist job at the cathedral, and so far it's been good!  (Ha--that's funny because I haven't had to play yet!!)

Thank you for visiting and please come back again!  I still have a small stack to finish, but I don't think I have any Christmas things ready at the moment!  It's time to get the Thanksgiving tree up, so I'll be showing that soon!  Even though I haven't been posting regularly, I've enjoyed seeing what all of you are doing!!

Frances