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from OCTOBER
(THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR)
Wild shines each hedge in autumn's gay parade;
And, where the eldern trees to autumn fade,
The glossy berry picturesquely cleaves
Its swarthy bunches 'mid the yellow leaves,
On which the tootling robin feeds at will,
And coy hedge-sparrow stains its little bill.
~John Clare (1793-1864)
There's a definite change in the air this morning. This the first day of October, 2025. It got down to 5* last night (that is 41*F) and it isn't expected to be very warm today, although the sun will shine. It will be a bit cooler than yesterday. A fitting start to October I suppose. And like Anne with an "e" I am a girl who so does love Octobers.
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The people next door were having a shed delivered and were needing branches cut from their maple tree to accommodate it. She came over to apologize for branches being in my back yard and assuring me they would be removed soonest. They are very nice people. Quiet and very accommodating. Kind. You could not ask for better neighbors. I don't really know much about them. But that is not a bad thing. It's nice to be friendly with your neighbors and helpful, but I have found it best to not get too awfully close. If it all goes pear shaped, then you are stuck living uncomfortably next to people that you don't really like. How does that saying go? Good fences make good neighbors.
It is actually a line from a poem by Robert Frost entitled, "Mending Wall."
Nutmeg
Cindy came over for a short in the afternoon after she had dropped Dad off for his tea-break at Tim Hortons. My cats were needing their nails clipped. I made sure that all of the doors leading off the main living area were closed so that they couldn't run in and hide under a bed or anything. Never a bad idea. Cinnamon was caught first. She was actually very easy to catch this time. I think she was more or less resigned to the idea. She sat on my sister's lap and endured the situation and was done quite quickly.
Strike a pose!
His Nibs, however, what a time we had catching him. He gave us a right run-around and was hissing and growling at us. We were finally able to catch him, and he sat on her lap very disgruntled and annoyed that all of his escape maneuvers had been thwarted. He is not a small cat. He is the size of a small to medium dog. About the size of a pug I would say. Not easily handled.
In any case they have both had their nails trimmed now and all is tickity boo. Until the next time at least.
I did not bother with the final flea treatment. They don't go outdoors, and I have not seen them scratching or anything. I decided that they had experienced enough trauma for one day.
Cinnamon
As you can see all of the fur has grown back from Cinnamon's ribbon adventures. She was looking so comfortable laying there in front of the television channel changer I could not help but take a photo of her. She likes to lay down right in front of the spot you need to hit with the channel changer in order to change the channel. It is as if she is saying "Wouldn't you rather watch and admire me?" And when it comes right down to it, she is a rather pretty sight. I do enjoy watching her.
That was a belly rub invitation right there and I happily obliged.
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I have introduced Eileen to "All Creatures Great and Small" this week. That series about the Vet James Harriot. It is one that I love very much, with a beautiful gentle pace and I thought she might also enjoy it. She appears to for the most part. She does have a very low attention span, and it can be difficult keeping her attention at times. She is very stubborn as well. I suppose much like myself, and my mother, and sister for that matter as well. We like what we like.
She is looking forward to our trip up the Valley tomorrow to all of the farm markets. I am too! Note: we will be off rather early so I will not be doing a post tomorrow.
We have plans to go all the way up to Wolfville and back down again. Hopefully stopping at Jonny's in Berwick for lunch at the end. One last cheeky lunch before the really cold weather sets in and they shut down for the season.
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I am looking forward to my church's October General Conference this coming weekend. I always enjoy all of the talks and of course the music. We are always richly fed spiritually. It will be different as President Nelson will not be present of course. His funeral is on the 7th. and will be broadcast online. I am pretty sure President Oakes will be taking over the mantle of Prophet when the time comes. I have met him and his wife in person as well. They were at the same Missionary conference together with President Nelson when I was privileged to meet him.
The son of one of my friends in the U.K. left for his Mission to Ecuador yesterday. It is a bit funny to think of him as being old enough to go on a mission. I remember having him in Primary (the children's Sunday School) when I was serving as a counselor in that organization. Just a young lad and now he is serving a mission. He will be going to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah first for orientation and language training. It will all be a very exciting experience for him. Actually, I think there are quite a few boys that are now of age to be going on Missions from my old Ward in the U.K. These next few years will be filled with leavings and homecomings.
I pray for them all. We are living in such uncertain times.
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I was thinking about the recent shooting in Michigan last night. Such a terrible thing to have people attacked like that during worship. It is not the first time such a thing has happened to people in church, and it probably won't be the last. Innocent people everywhere are under attack these days it seems. There is such divisiveness in this world we live in. It is heart breaking. Men's heart really have "waxed cold" as the scriptures tell us they will in the latter days. (Matthew 24:12-13) We should not be surprised.
Shootings in schools, churches, wars, etc. there is an increasing desensitizing to violence and lawlessness. People just don't seem to want to get along anymore. Kindness is diminishing it seems, at least on the surface.
I see it in many of the groups I belong to on Facebook, and indeed on my own page. There is certainly a strong element of people who don't really care about the opinions, feelings or rights of others. I just basically post my recipes these days. You would think that would be a pretty safe bet and not subject to harassment. But you would be wrong. There is always a self-proclaimed expert that goes in shouting the odds about this, that, or the other, or trying to make things political. Pot stirrers, and not in the way we wish!
I don't like it. I was brought up in the "Bambi" era, where if you didn't have something nice to say about someone or something. then it was thought to be best to not say anything at all.
Not many people seem to live and let live these days. I hate to think of where it will all end.
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I am enjoying the way that the days are shortening. Lighting my candles and fairy lights. The season of cozy is starting, and I quite love it. Warm sunny days, crisp golden nights.
And the Postal Service is on strike again. I forgot to mention that. I do not get much by post these days, but it is a bit of an inconvenience. I think they are striking themselves right out of jobs, personally. I don't see their gripe.
I do hope that they will be back at work before Christmas. I had beautiful cards that I had wanted to send out last year and was hoping to send out this year. Admittedly I do not send out as many cards as I used to, once upon a time. But I do get special cards for special friends and for family and I like sending them out. A lot of my family Birthdays are coming up in October/November/December as well. And early January.
One good thing about it, however, is that I save money because I am not ordering things online that would be delivered via the post. Silver lining and all that.
And with that I will close things off and get on with my day.
A thought to carry with you . . .
☾ ° ★° * 。
• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
*Strong people
don't put others down.
They lift them up.
~Unknown˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。
˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。
In The English Kitchen Today. Air Fryer Tacos. Eileen and I both really enjoyed these. This is a small sized recipe making enough for two people. I used ground turkey in the filling. The soft flour tortillas crisp up nicely in the air fryer. Altogether these were very delicious!
I hope that you have a beautiful day filled with lots of blessings. Stay safe. Love and be loved. Be kind. Don't forget!
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And I do too!
PS - I have not seen the Guinea Hens yet this morning.
