Hey... what happened to October?

I hadn't really meant to stay away so long...

At first I was busy pondering - you see I wanted to have a special post for my 100th post... but I haven't come up with anything special - so you just get "Hey... What Happened to October?"

Then it got real hectic around here...

Here's a quick review of what's been keeping me occupied the last month.

We had company the first 2 weekends in October -- which meant I had to get all the painting finished up in the guest rooms and get furniture moved and beds put together.  Oh and doors... seems it is kinda nice to have doors on the bedrooms and the bathroom... so The Engineer had to finish cleaning up the hardware and I finished (sorta) painting the doors so they could be re-hung.  Since I still have painting to do upstairs we just hid the painting stuff in a closet... shhh don't tell. 

The first set of visitors were The Engineers sister, her son and his wife.  They only stayed one night with us but it was good to see them.

In the middle of the week I took some time off to visit with some quilty friends who were 'shopping' the Lancaster area Quilt Shops.  It was my pleasure to introduce them to a quilt shop they hadn't been to before.  Hopefully it's a shop I can teach some classes at later in the winter or spring.  I do so miss quilting!

My daughter from MA came in by train on Thursday to visit for a long weekend and my brother and his family from VA came in on Saturday.  My sister Darlin and her husband drove over from NJ to join us Sunday morning.  It was so much fun to have a house full of family. 

The weekend included some shopping at The Green Dragon on Friday - a combination of farmers market, antique shops, and just about anything else that probably fell off a truck someplace... LOL.  On Saturday my brother took us to some wineries that were having a Wine & Cheese pairing event - we only hit 3 of the places but had a fun time and we look forward to checking out the other places in the future.  Before sitting down to a late lunch on Sunday several of us ran up the road to hunt around at an outdoor Antique place.  Oooo so much cool stuff!

My brother and sister left late Sunday afternoon and on Monday I took my daughter back home to MA.  I decided to drive her back so that I could: 1) make a quick trip up to Maine to visit with friends.   2) get a real hair cut!  3) visit some friends in MA.  4) pick up some things we had stored at my sons house - like the snow blower.  5) spend a little time yakking with my son.  6) work 2 wonderful days at the quilt shop during their Shop Hop.

I had a wonderful, relaxing, refreshing week!  Which was good because I've been working my butt off since I came home. 

This fall I've been canning, blackberry jams, jelly, & syrups; apple sauce, apple butter, and apples for pie.  My neighbor has early producing fruit trees and she's been very generous.  I returned home from my trip to find that my apple tree was ripe - so we've been picking apples.  Ever see a 50 year old climbing around in an overgrown apple tree??  Tree climbing was sure easier when I was younger... and lighter... and braver!  A ladder makes most of this easier - but the tree is so overgrown it's hard to get the ladder set up.  Don't worry - I really do try to stay off the branches.  This lovely tree is older than I am so I'm careful with her.  She's got a long overdue pruning scheduled for later this winter... she's gonna be so pretty next spring and we expect less apples but bigger apples.  Oh and did I tell you that they are yummy?  Well they are!

We went and bought a small freezer - so I've also been freezing cauliflower and pumpkin.  I'll be posting about my canning adventures later... when I have some time to think.

All I can say is this Domestic Diva stuff is a lot of work!