Visitor #1600, Mysteries and A Tree Frog

Today was a glorious fall day with a high of around 74 degrees and unlimited sunshine. Because I spent a large part of the day at our old church in Florissant, helping friends there serve a funeral dinner, I didn't spend as much time outside as I would have liked. The weather is supposed to hold, so I will try to get some fall pictures tomorrow.

Tonight as Norm and I came home from water exercise, I could hear a TREE FROG in our neighbor's yard. Still calling although summer is long gone. It felt like a spring night, though, and tomorrow we should have literally hundreds (our highest past number was 249) of trick or treaters. We hope we have enough candy.

This morning visitor # 1600 checked in and the prize (if there were one) goes to one of the Linvilles in Colby. I'm never sure, but I suspect it was you, Jan. I got to looking at my sitemeter report and found some interesting things. First, we seem to have a new, in-depth reader on Verizon with an ISP that is located in Flower Mound, Texas. Since that is in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex there are any number of folks it could be, family or not. Anyway, glad to have you. And for some reason today we have had a lot of visitors from overseas: England, Turkey, India and Mauritius, even. They were searching for things that retired people do, or gardening. Sorry if you were disappointed. And finally, I have come to regret ever using the word "orgy" in a headline for a blog post. I think it was about orchids, and the huge show at our local botanical garden last year. Anyway, a couple of times a week, people searching for "orgy stories" turn up this post. I guess most of them are surprised and disappointed. What amazes me is the kinds of phrases people will put into a search engine and look for on the Internet!

I should have some photos soon. Meanwhile, happy Halloween, everyone, whether you are retired or not, whether you have a garden, whether you are looking for a gypsy caravan (a popular search on my Compton church blog) or whether you are planning an orgy. Or not.

Congratulations to a Happy Couple

Sometimes life brings good surprises. Last night, we went to the home of our friends the Dixons expecting dessert and a visit with their daughter Heather and her fiance, Corey. They are moving to Chicago this coming weekend and we knew they were planning to have a simple, quiet wedding sometime next month. I was hoping to pick up some details about their apartment so I could start the search for a present for them. Before we arrived, at dinner, Heather asked her father (who is a minister) if he would be willing to marry them that evening. They had gotten their license and had it with them. After we arrived, they asked us if we would be their witnesses. So in another of life's Firsts, Norm and I got to be the witnesses as Mike led his daughter and her new husband in their vows. Heather said it was most meaningful to be married in the home where she had grown up. We have known Heather for almost her entire life, and we are delighted that she and Corey have made this commitment to spend the rest of their lives together. We pray God's blessings on them, on their move, and on their job search. After we all caught our breath, we really enjoyed the iced pumpkin bars Sandy had made for dessert. Pretty good wedding cake, actually.

Plants, Plants and More Plants

Our garden flag out front announces it's fall, although we have yet to see many colored leaves on either the oak or the maple. This weekend was supposed to be peak color in eastern Missouri, but our trees are playing hard to get. A low close to freezing this coming Sunday night may change all that. These lovely golden mums are volunteers, or survivors, that came back up from some we planted in the front bed last year.




These geraniums are also survivors, and unfortu- nately they don't realize that frost is coming one of these nights. Or fortunately, since we get to continue to enjoy their flowers. These plants are two or three years old and over-wintered upstairs last year. There isn't room for them to come inside, since they have become so leggy. I took cuttings of each color and I hope they will root. The last few days have been busy: where once we had 4 pots of amaryllis, now we have 11 or 12 after I divided them. One mother-in-law tongue became three. As for the spider plants, I despair. I have one of them inside now, on a stand. The others I'll take cuttings from since they root easily. But unless you would like to adopt one... this sounds like those desperate pleas from the humane society to adopt a pet before its time is up.

By today, all of the plants (well, most of them... there are a couple more I have to do tomorrow) are inside. The photo below shows the menagerie in the dining room, gathered round the radiator. I wish the window didn't have the radiator, since the dry heat is hard on the plants, but they need the light, and it's the best we have on the first floor, even if it is a northern exposure. And yes, the three well-lighted windows upstairs, (two south, one north) are full of cuttings and transplants as well.

Finally, today we turned on the heat. It had gotten down to a steady 63 in the house and the rest of the week is forecast for rain, showers, nighttime lows flirting with the 30s. And with Ava gone back home, we lost our extra blanket. Radiators are wonderful. Thank God we have the means to turn the heat on. It's a toasty 68 -70, depending on the room, in here now.

Feeling More Like Fall

There's nothing like a campfire on a brisk October night, complete with marshmallows to roast and s'mores to make, as well as three guys with guitars and a host of old time protest songs, to make us feel like fall is really here. On Saturday, Norm and I went to book club (the book was Daughter, a novel by Asha Bandele) and then after lunch we showed up at our church for a yard cleanup day. (Photos and accounts of that are on Compton Cares Update). The yard cleanup was followed by a campfire on a condo patio, with the aforementioned sing a long.

We are enjoying a visit from Ava yesterday through Wednesday while Barb goes to market in New York. Several of the plants moved inside yesterday, with more to come today. This afternoon it is supposed to get to 70, then much cooler and rainy mid week. We keep saying "tomorrow" for turning on the boiler for our radiators. We want to avoid that high natural gas bill as long as we can.

St. Louis has been in the political spotlight lately as both presidential candidates are paying visits. Obama had a huge rally at the Gateway Arch grounds on Saturday. Some accounts said 100,000, which I can believe after looking at pictures. One of my neighbors went and she was so excited about it. McCain has a rally today at New Town, a planned community (a lot like Celebration in Florida, if you've ever been there) in nearby St. Charles. They expect about 5,000 (it's a smaller space, and tickets are required). Dick Cheney is also in the metro area, for a private fundraiser for Missouri's Republican governor candidate. And Bill Clinton will speak at Webster University tonight on behalf of the Democrats. They are certainly keeping the airport and the Secret Service busy. But that's life in a swing state, where the urban areas are solidly blue and the outstate areas are mostly red, with a purple spot or two. The last poll showed the presidential race too close to call (49-48) so the robo calls, the incessant ads, and maybe more personal appearances will be in our backyard for the next two weeks.

One of my former journalism students, Clint Zweifel, is running for Missouri State Treasurer after three terms in the Missouri House of Representatives. Clint was Managing Editor of the paper the first year I was an adviser, 1994. He's a hard worker and honest. He's got my vote!

The Color Purple and Shades of Fall

On a recent walk, we saw a huge patch of pokeweed, its ripe purple berries weighing down the branches. These berries attract many birds, but they also ferment and cause erratic behavior. Years ago, we had a whole flock of Very Drunk Blue Jays in our back yard and we finally decided they had been into the pokeweed. But apparently it causes no long term effects in birds.

Seeing pokeweed and other purple flowers like ironweed and asters always tells me fall is coming. But tonight you couldn't tell it. The temperature was perfect, 75 degrees at 8 p.m. while we sat on our front porch and ate popcorn. The night was full of the chirps of crickets, and one lone tree frog still croaking in the distance. A light wind, a slight jingle of the wind chime. No clue that the first snow is blanketing the northern Rockies or that storms are in the plains and tropical storms still prowling the coasts of Mexico. Our weather is supposed to change mid week but tonight was perfect.


A few houses down the street, a bunch of autumn crocus always blooms this time of year. One day nothing and the next day, lovely purple flowers with bright yellow stamens. The autumn crocus is cultivated for saffron, a rare spice. We just admire the neighbor's plant from a distance. Maybe we should start growing some of our own as a hedge against falling stock markets!

Norm is feeling better and his chest congestion cleared up with antibiotics. The coming week is busy with meetings and activities. Gasoline is back down to $2.98 a gallon and still dropping. Hopefully we will get out for some autumn drives once the leaves start turning in earnest. Right now, most of the trees in town are still green, with an occasional bronze on the mountain ash or touch of red on a sugar maple. We are still mowing grass and feeding the compost pile. This endless summer will end but for a few days more, we will relish this incomparable weather.

New Posts on Thursday's Child

Another September event I have neglected to blog about was the Southeast Gateway Women's Retreat, held the 19th-20th at Orchard Crest Camp. I've finally edited the photos and put together some reflections on this spiritual and social experience. If you are interested, visit Thursday's Child and check them out.

Visitor # 1400: No Mystery

This morning, Home Stories welcomed Visitor # 1400 and it's our faithful reader from North Platte! Good morning, Carla! Thanks for the CD of the reunion pictures that we received last week. Before Ava went back home last week, Norm decided to give her a good brushing. She seems to enjoy it.


Ava also likes tummy tickles. She spent an extra day with us on Monday when Barb had a quick trip to Kansas City. Norm was coming down with a chest cold and Ava brought out her nursing skills, staying on Norm's lap, recliner footrest or at his feet all day while I ran errands. Norm says he is feeling better now.

Walking Sights

Saturday afternoon, Norm and I took a walk on part of the new St. Vincent Greenway trail that runs through parts of the university campus, on both the north and south side. It is a bike trail but also handy for pedestrians like us. One of our sightings was the new baseball field, under construction behind the old Normandy Hospital, which is being slowly dismantled with care, since it was full of asbestos when the university bought the property.

Another changing sign of the times is this corner at 7940 Natural Bridge, the former location of the student newspaper. The newspaper is now in the student center, and this high profile corner is now a rest stop on the bike/hiking trail. An interpretive display, benches and a trash receptacle reside here now.

Our walks should be more frequent, now that the weather is cooler. We go to water aerobics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, low-impact dry land aerobics on Monday (Norm) and Wednesday (both), and I also go to Tai Chi Quigong on Mondays and Fridays. Even with all that, we are often shocked at how easy it is to get "out of shape" if we miss even a week.

Tower Grove Wedding

Sometimes the pace of life exceeds my ability to check my photos and collect my thoughts. In all of the excitement of TS Ike's visit, as well as keeping a lively puppy for a week, I somehow missed the Event of the Month for September, the September 12 wedding of Shannon and Matt, two talented and exceedingly compassionate young people from our church. Shannon followed a family tradition, as well as her own heart, in choosing an outdoor setting in St. Louis's loveliest park, Tower Grove.

The wedding ceremony itself was held outside, on a patio overlooking the lily ponds. Guests nervously perused the clouds in the sky, precursors of Ike's arrival in some 30 hours, but not a drop fell. Meanwhile, inside the historic Piper Palm house, preparations were underway for a reception that included a buffet and dancing. The Palm House was built by Tower Grove's founder, Henry Shaw, and is the oldest greenhouse structure west of the Mississippi River. It was restored about 10 years ago.

Shannon and Matt exchanged their vows in this tranquil setting, with family and long-time friends as their attendants. Their honeymoon was a Disney cruise, far from the wind and rain of Ike. The couple are now at home in St. Louis. Congratulations, and thanks for inviting us to the party!