Autumnal nights

We're having a bit of autumn here, chilly nights and clear cool days.  It's absolutely lovely.   Some of the maple trees are starting to turn but mostly it's still quite green (with a bit of yellow here and there).

I did go to RI after all, went last week for a few days to see my mother.  She wasn't keen on having me come but we ended up doing well together, as usual.  I was helpful to her, did grocery shopping for her and bought extras of things so she wouldn't have to go for a while.  She seems to be reaching a point where she doesn't really want to go to the store again.  An hour after I left to come home she fell from her chair and landed on the rug.  She wasn't hurt but it was upsetting (for me and for her).  She couldn't get herself up, couldn't reach Mark so she pushed her magic button on her wristband and the EMTs and police came and helped her up.  All was fine but I found this to be terribly TERRIBLY sad.  I think I need to get used to this sort of thing, as much as I'm able.

Other than the trip I haven't been doing much but seem to keep busy enough.  Work is going well, we're still scanning photos, have about 1000 left to do before we process the bunches we have that have yet to be added to the collection.  Those are a problem because mostly they don't have any information or identification of people or places, they're just photos people have donated in recent years.

Summer friends are still in residence, some will be until Columbus Day then we'll switch to winter mode socially.  I'm going to the Midwest next weekend, spending a week with friends I've known since childhood.  There are about 16 or 18 of us, we'll stay in a house we've rented in Lake Geneva.  We get together fairly often, every few years.  It's all women, friends of mine from my ancient past in Rockford, Brownies, junior high school, high school.  I'm the only one who's single and only 3 of us are childless--most of the rest now have granchildren, yikes.

The dogs have not been very good recently, they ran off the other day and showed up in a friend's kitchen.  She called me, I went to retrieve them but they'd moved on by then, on to some other friends' camp.  Back they went to the first place, she called me again, again I missed them but that time they were on their way home.  The other morning they ran off at 6:00 while I was waiting for my friend to walk with me.  We walked the bog doglessly and the dogs met us as we were coming out of the bog.  BAD DOGS.  Now they're snoring on the couch beside me, dreaming no doubt of their freedom.  I have to board them while I'm in Wisconsin.  I have a good kennel, the people raise Siberian huskies and my dogs have been there before and done well so I'm not worried.  It's expensive but they're well cared for there.

My sister has been scanning photos from our childhood.  Here's what my sister and I looked like in the early 50's when we lived in Turkey (that's my brother in the background)--that's me on the right.