(The picture of the moon was supplied by one of the girls from “girls day.”)
Summer at last !! After months of cooler than average temps and with more rain than average we are having a rash of warm dry days. Who would have thought in November? We’ve had the coolest (almost cold) summer on record.

With our water table almost zero the past several years we were over our yearly average by September. How strange is that? This weekend is going to be perfect for outdoor activities. For a lot of us that will mean raking leaves. This year our trees were not their usual impressive beauty. They simply just dropped off.

This week I have been up and about more which is great. However, I don’t want to overdo it so I just do the fun things and ignore the household duties. Today I plan to go out on the deck and soak up some Vitamin D……after all the dark rainy days I feel like a mushroom.

Our moon has been so beautiful the past few nights. Nice and full, casting a soft light on everything below. Law enforcement has always said the full moon brings out the weird stuff in all of us. It certainly does with cats !! Each night this week I’ve had trouble getting all three of them in the garage to feed and shut in until morning. Last night it was Callie. She came to the door and then bolted back out. Each time I tried to get her in she would run off and act crazy. The final attempt before my bedtime brought her in.

One day this week I hosted our “girls day.” It is one of those things that make you feel you’re living in Mayberry. Good friends you can tell anything to or listen to and it stays right where we are. Today I will visit a friend who lives in an assisted living complex in the next town up the road. That’s pretty much life in a small town in the good ol’ USA.

My high of the week was Favre winning over the Packers in a decisive way. I was so nervous at times I had to turn the volume down. That seems to calm me enough to watch. Rocky’s brother and his wife went to the game and brought me souvenirs and yesterday I received a paper with a large picture and the write-up of Brett’s victory, from them. Monday I had the re-runs on the NFL channel playing all day and when it got around to Brett’s game I stopped to watch…..over and over.

The low is, of course, the shooting at Fort Hood, TX. I feel deeply for the families and for the victims. Just one reminder that we never know what the day will bring. Our world is so different from the one I grew up in and I hate where it’s taking us. That’s why a full moon, the weather, good friends and family ……….is still something to be happy with and to write about.

Essentially Esther