bodner044

It's a brisk 47 degrees, and only the incandescent orange and yellow of the aspens brightens the steely, dull sky.  It's the sort of day to light an extra candle, pull the blanket a bit tighter around my legs, and slurp deeply from my hazelnut coffee.  And to wax lyrical with my end-of-September summary.  Here goes: ONE: Getting crafty Cooler temps and shorter days launch me into crafty mode.  With great enthusiasm, I have leapt into a new project, 30 cross-stitch ornaments for this year's Christmas tree.  I am really enjoying this kit because the designs are simple and it only requires a few hours to complete each one.  For me, this means a rapid sense of gratification, compared to many complex pieces that mean months or even years of work.  And the designs are SO cute! Autumn's arrival also means football, and I often marry game time with crafts; I just feel better being productive while supporting the Cleveland Browns (and yes, they finally snapped ...

Heddal Stavkirke, Norway This is hard.  I figured, with a major milestone such as 100 posts, I should do a "Best Of" post.  Best 10 posts?  Best 10 pictures?  Top 5 Most Popular posts (as defined by some Blogger algorithm?)  It wasn't clear.  So I went back to Post 1 and started reading.  Maybe inspiration would strike like the proverbial bolt of lightning.  Well, no such luck.  Instead, my list of favorite posts AND pictures ballooned like a warren of rabbits left to do what they do best … While reading Post 73 (3/9/18) , I realized that it described a thorough analysis that I had ALREADY done of my first 12 months of posts - duh!  And it's probably no coincidence that Post 73 is one of my 5 most popular posts. Maple leaves, Raby Castle gardens OK, let's simplify, baby, and focus only on posts since 3/9/18.  Well, I got close, but some of my favorites were just too hard to jettison no matter when they were published - and who write...

Yesterday morning, frost coated every outdoor surface like a fine layer of diamond dust.  It glinted in the sun, and then slowly melted into wispy mist that floated eerily through the trees.  I could imagine Summer in the vapor, inexorably disappearing as Fall gains the upper hand.  It was a fitting metaphor, as yesterday we said farewell to the last of our latest round of summer visitors. Hence, I offer you Chapter Two of the "summer visitor series" ( link to Chapter One ). On September 7, just as the dinner bell rang, six of my family arrived on our doorstep - my mother, my oldest sister, my oldest brother and his wife, and my youngest brother and his wife.  For all but the latter, this would be the first time they would step foot into our completed dream home.  Talk about excitement and anticipation! Left: Book about successful baking at high altitude - for Spousal Unit! Middle: Cross-stitch for my gallery wall Right: Utah wines - yum! Note that the Boddingto...