Autumnal…I like that word. Are there words that you like to hear? Or to say? Well, autumnal is one of my favorites.

It is like a warm blanket woven with beautiful wool in colors of red, brown, olive, and most importantly orange. And, the air around it is clear and cool…with just a hint of smoke from a leaf pile somewhere nearby. And the ground it sits on is brown and dry, except where the leaves have fallen. Most still have their fall colors on, and have not changed into their brown bedclothes as yet. The pumpkins in the wheelbarrow are a rainbow of the colors….just like the leaves. There are red ones, and orange and green, and brown, and even white. Such beauty……autumnal beauty.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
George Eliot

That is a new quote…well, to me anyway. And, I liked the image it portrayed. A bird, so enthralled by the beauty of autumn, that it flew to new places so as to experience it again and again and again. (Sort of like me with a bag of Dark Chocolate Dove in the little chunky squares. It is so lovely an experience…OK…so I’m stretching it a bit…but you get it, don’t you?)

Now I have not read or thought of this little poem (below) for years. I can actually remember back in the 3rd grade, my teacher, Mrs. Whiddon, at Grandview Elementary School, would read to us every day after lunch. We would lay our heads on our desks and listen as she took us on grand journeys ,one place or another. Her voice was made for sharing delightful literature with children. She was quite old, as I remember, with white hair. Very tall, and lots of marvelous jewelry. I remember her talking about this party that October had. It was my first experience with the idea that words could paint pictures such as this. It was the first time I knew that inanimate objects could be given human characteristics and have such fun!

I happened upon it again today, while looking for quotes. And, I can promise you that I will not lose it again! Want to join Finn and I at the party?

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came –
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
George Cooper

No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face.
John Donne

A fall basket I have put together that blends the colors of autumn.

Good ‘Ole Pop Tarts. They have been around for over 50 years, and still sell about 2 billion a year! I haven’t thought that much about them…other than picking up a box of 12 Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon for Alex at the grocery store each week. I used to buy quite a few when my boys were younger and still at home. Let’s see…Frosted Strawberry with sprinkles….Plain Blueberry, and Brown Sugar Cinnamon…Frosted. Those were always on my list! And, not just for breakfast…they ate lots of them for an after school snack. I figured, they must be healthy…they have fruit in them!!! 🙂

Pop Tarts are really not very exciting or worthy of much excitement. But in the last few weeks, they have been in the news several times.

1. The LA Times (LA…Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama) reports that W*lM*rt shipped huge quantities to Florida during a recent hurricane. Could you imagine Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts being the food you’d go to in a weather catastrophe? I would at least have thought it would be the chocolate or brown sugar cinnamon! But, the people in Florida were sending out an SOS for more Pop Tarts!

Picture from NY Times

From the Pop Tarts web site, the yummy description…….

Choc-o-Lantern Chocolate Fudge

Chocolatey deliciousness all dressed up for Halloween – chocolate crust, fudgy filling, orange icing, and bat- and ghost-shaped sprinkles.

Happy snacking!

One morning this week I went to my school (I guess I should say former school, but I love it and the people in it so much, I still feel a possessiveness). I went to work on the fall decorations. Which they could do perfectly well without me…but, don’t anybody tell them, cause I love it when they call me! We started building piles of leaves, and then I left to go to Mich*el’s to get some more supplies! I found some great deals there. Almost every bit of fall decor is at least 40% off! I can sure work with that! So, I’ll head back over there tomorrow and finish up.

So, it is only about 95 degrees here today. I was so hot, that I had to stop by S*nic for a bit of refreshment before I finished my work. A grilled cheese sandwich and a large diet cherry coke with extra cherry! Yep, that did it! Now it is off to W*l-M*rt for groceries. Fun, fun, fun! Don’t usually buy groceries there, but there are some things Alex wants and that is the only place to get them.

OK. Not that I’m looking, but I have been known to find some ‘special’ people here. Even though I didn’t need anything…I thought it may be a good idea to walk through the home decor and fall decor items. Just in case there was something else I should get for the school. There wasn’t, but I did find a few things for my friend who has just built a house. I ended up by the candles…and there she was…waiting for me. This ‘older than me “lady was huffing and puffing like she had never worked so hard in her life! She was pulling the tops off of all the candles and smelling them. She would say, “No, that smells like poop.” (Only she did not say poop…she said a different word). She pulled off another lid. “D…,” she said, “is it all poop?” And, just so you know how I knew right off how special she was…there was no one else standing near her. Who was she talking to? And then I saw the top shelf of the candle aisle. There were about 12 candles there…with no tops! Just sitting there…topless as could be! She went on…talking to no one in particular…certainly not to me ’cause I refused to make eye contact with her! I know better! “I guess they have a whole ‘poop’ factory just for making their candles !” she said. And, friends, I knew it was going to happen. I could just feel it in my bones…I knew. I was about to get pulled into this lovely conversation with Ms. Potty Mouth. “OH, Lord, let me be nice.”

PM (Potty Mouth) Hey! ( she yelled at me from across the aisle) Have you ever bought any of these stinkin’ candles? (I could feel her eyes on me.)

T……Oh, are you talking to me?

PM…I am. What do you think ’bout these candles? I think they all smell like poop.

T….Well, I actually like some of them. I burn this one alot this time of year. (And, I picked up the one I like…Cranberry Mandarin)

PM…Well, what does it smell like?

T…It smells like oranges and cranberries. I love the way it smells…it reminds me of fall cooking! (Not that I would really know about that, but she didn’t need to know that.)

PM…Give it here and let me see what I think.

I thought of telling her to get her own candle and smell it…but, I didn’t, cause I knew that she could and would call me something not very nice.

T…Here you go. How do you like that one?

PM…Hmmpf. It’s OK, I guess. Does it get ‘sickly’ smelling after a while?

‘Sickly smelling’? I had not a clue what she meant. Would you know?

T…I don’t know about ‘sickly’, but I don’t get tired of it and it makes my whole house smell nice.

PM…Well, I reckon I can get one and try it. At least it don’t smell like …{ I looked up and caught her eye just as she was making the ‘sh’ sound} But, she thought better of it and instead it came out like…. ‘shh bad’.

I noticed , again, the 12 or so candles she had opened and left opened on the top shelf…

T…Here, let me help you close these candles back up.

PM…Shug, they ain’t no need to do that. They got plenty of people working round here. Just leave it be. Gives ’em something to do. Now, you sure ’bout this candle?

T…Yes, Mam. It’s one I buy every year at this time.

PM…Well, I hope you’s telling the truth ’bout it. If it ain’t good, I’m bringing it back.

And with that, she put it in her buggy, turned around and came back and got another one just like it, and walked off into the sunset.

I, on the other hand, stood there and played match-up with the tops to the 200 candles she had opened! I would felt bad if someone saw me walking away and thought I had opened all those candles. So, I closed them all, and went on my way.

I went through as quickly as possible, and was almost to the check out aisles. I stopped at the deli to ask if they had any rotisserie chickens. Yes. Yes, they did. I happened to be at check out #25…and they were down by check out #1. Of course that is where they would be. That’s down by the pharmacy and the dog food, oh yeah, and the candles. That’s where I would put my rotisserie chickens.

While I was asking about the chickens, I noticed a young lady with a little boy about 4 years old. He was screaming, “Let me down! Let me down! Let me down NOW!” And, the poor girl did. And, folks, he took off running and ran down the aisle, out the front doors of the store and was across the pick up lane and out into the parking lot! He was running as fast as he could…and best I could tell, he didn’t look like he had any intentions of stopping! Kinda like my sweet old dog Scooter who’s running in Heaven now…when he would manage to slip out the opened door, he would run and run and run and then run a little more! When I saw him run to the door, I backed up to watch him, cause Mom wasn’t moving very fast! “He’s gone out the door…” I told her. She ran toward the door…then she thought of her purse in the basket and ran back and then she thought of her boy and ran back the other way. I told her, “Go get him, I’ll stay here with your stuff!” And, off she went! Y’all it was a good 15 minutes before she got back! She came back in huffing and puffing and holding him in her arms. “Put me down! Put me down!” he was saying. “I ain’t no fool, boy!” she said. And, she thanked me, and thanked me.

I had to walk all the way to the other end of the 25 checkout lanes…of which 3 are opened!….to get the rotisserie chicken. Then I began looking for a lane with a body behind it. There, walking across the aisle,was a little lady. She noticed me and said, “I reckon you’re looking to check out.” “Yes”, I said. “Well, come on then…let’s get it over with!”, she said. It just gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling! I felt like she was really looking forward to checking me out. And, I finally got out…came home…put the groceries away…Alex helped…..put the rotisserie chicken on the island…with a note that said the salad is in the refrigerator…..undressed, got into the bed, with the computer, and here I am. Talking to you. Oh,one more thing…I lit my new candle…the one I bought today at W*l-M*rt. I was one candle top short. Smells good…really!

I know. Those of you who know me well are thinking,”Why in the world would SHE be talking about clutter? She doesn’t know how to deal with it herself?” And, it’s true. you could say that I am a failure in this area but, I don’t really feel like a failure…I keep things that I need, and I keep things that I may need, and I keep things that I’ll never need, but it makes me feel good to know it’s there…just in case I do. I have been wrong before. If your mind doesn’t work like mine…you probably can not understand this. If you can throw away things without batting an eye…then I know you think I’m a sad, sad girl. Even though I can live easily with clutter, I must go on to say that in the past few years I have gotten much better at letting go …but sometimes I still find myself keeping what I shouldn’t. That and Don would not let me move to The Creek House with him if I brought everything with me! HOWEVER…even though I do have this ‘pack rat’ mentality, at times…let me tell you what I did get right!

If you are a mom of a child in school…especially preschool and the early grades…you are most likely overwhelmed by the amount of ‘take home’ papers that come to your house each week. I remember those times. I remember, too, that my boys wanted every.single. one. of those masterpieces to go on the fridge …and stay there for the next year! And, because buying refrigerator magnets was cheap and quick to buy as souvenirs when we travelled, we had magnets out the wazoo! There were plenty of magnets for whatever artist was showing that week on the Owens’ Family Fridge!

Really, we could have covered the whole refrigerator with just magnets! And, I tried to carve out just a little corner of space to use for Dr. appt or dental reminders. How unfair of me. Artwork, field trip reminders, homework to be redone, parts to learn from school…….and from church a Noah’s Ark from Sunday morning’s lesson, and a Daniel in the Lion’s Den from the Sunday night lesson, and a lovely song to memorize the words to from choir on Wednesday nights. All this x 3!! Oh! and the list of things to bring to Missions to be sent off to the missionaries in darkest Africa. Toothpaste and toothbrushes and lotion and shampoo…you know the things they need to live a better life in the jungle. Oh, I’m just kidding. I take missions very seriously.

Fortunately, some of the choicest items would spill over to Grandma’s or Granny and Pop’s house to brighten up their kitchen! I must be honest…I love children’s artwork. I love the colors and the ideas behind their works. I do not, however, like coloring pages of any kind. And, I do not like for every child in the class to make a red flower with a green stem and 1 leaf on the right and 1 leaf on the left and a blue sky above. This shows no creativity…only the ability to follow directions. Which is, I agree, a most valuable lesson to be learned, but it contributes nothing to the inner artist that every child has inside. I have worked with young children in some capacity for 30 or more years and never used pre printed pages. But, I know everyone does not feel the same way I do about that subject. These are just my views. And, through the years, we had coloring books in our house. But, in a teaching capacity, I would always choose clean, white paper.

So. What to do with that plethora of paper? First of all, some of it accidentally fell on the floor and got swept into the trash. But, I bought some of those cardboard boxes you get at the office supply stores, and folded them together and gave one to each boy. This is where we would put the papers he wanted to keep. I also let each of them use the doors to their rooms as their own personal show off space. At the end of the year, we would go through the boxes and keep only the art that really meant something to them. The rest got trashed.

As I got older I came upon other good ideas of things to do with the artwork.

One idea, if your child wants to keep quite a bit, is to take it to a color copier and reduce all the pages down to a 4X6 size. Then, buy one of those inexpensive photo albums from the Dollar Store and put all the pictures in his own album. Then he can sit and show it to everyone who ever comes to your house to visit. Or take it to school and show it off to the envy of all his friends.

You can take any artwork and copy it on a regular copy machine or even you printer with your computer. Take it to a window and use a transfer pen to go over the lines your child has drawn…you are drawing on the back…which is why you need to be at the window. ..so you can see the lines through the paper. Then you can take that picture and put it on fabric of any kind. You will heat set it with an iron. Canvas bags, muslin to make into pillows, pillowcases, t-shirts, etc. You can buy the transfer pens at any craft store.

It will be in black and white. But then, using washable markers, your child can have the fun of coloring his work again. Wash it and the color comes out…to be colored again. Or use permanent markers if this is a one time fun time. Use permanent markers at your own risk. They will not come out…of clothes, carpet, or any type of fabric. One year, while teaching Sunday School, I had the children draw me a picture of their Mom. I then transferred each child’s pic on to a canvas tote bag. I and the other teachers sat close by while they colored these with permanent markers. We wrapped them and gave them to their Moms for Mother’s Day. They loved it! We did the same thing on another year with plastic plates! We purchased an easel for the plate to be displayed on. Another hit!

There are several other things you can do, as well. Shrink the work down very small and use it to make a magnet—for the fridge, of course!!!! You can buy magnets of any size in the craft store. Most of these come with a sticky back to adhere the picture. Hang a line low enough that he can hang his own work with clothespins. Or hang several frames in his room and have a rotating gallery of favorite work!

And, old artwork makes delightful wrapping paper! Grandparents love it especially!

I hope this gives you some ideas to tame that slew of art work. And, just one more word…if you will permit. OK…2 words. #1. I encourage you to give your child or grandchild plain white paper and crayons for drawing. Let the artwork be totally his. Coloring what someone else has drawn is just that-coloring what someone else has drawn! Not much creativity there. See? if he draws the lines…he doesn’t have to stay in the lines of another’s work. Maybe he thinks the bug should be bigger, or the car should be taller! FOSTER CREATIVITY ! #2. A child knows exactly what he has drawn. And, you should know what it is, too—in his mind. So if you ask him, “What is that?”…he can not understand why you do not know. I mean, you ARE the Mommy or Grandmother, and you’re supposed to know everything! A much gentler way of finding out what those ‘oh, so strange’ markings are all over the paper is to say, “Tell me about your picture.” Oh, how that will open up a wonderful dialogue between the two of you. He loves to talk about what he drew. And, no one will ever have to know that you didn’t have a clue!