Three Beautiful September Morns With 27 More to Come!!

 I love my little seasonal traditions and routines!

September First is my own personal holiday and, while at times I have hosted teas, dinners and luncheons, I usually celebrate this special day alone.

It was a quiet September Morn here and I didn't play my September Morn song until the fruitcake cookies came out of the oven and my coffee was made, candles lit and the scene was set.

I've been buring pumpkin candles for weeks now but I save these three votives in a pumpkin for the First September Morn.

They smelled delicious!

Louis Dean was still in his room doing his 'stupor time' - meaning making coffee and getting dressed and then just sitting there in his music room waiting to wake up.

One year - I think it was 2011 - Amber drove up from Katy to surprise me.

Mike had gone hunting and she arrived just as my song had started playing and I was pulling the cookies out of the oven!

She and I laughed together Sunday as she always 'respectively declines' fruitcake cookies!

But the pumpkin muffins were next and she loves those!

I know it's silly but I still get a little teary eyed at the first strains of the music.....

and the beauty of a September Morn.

I baked and fluffed and basked in the glow of happiness for the very beginning of the cooler months to come.

We drove over to Dallas to watch the Bell grandgirls play one of their first hockey games of the season!

They WON!!!

Girls Texas Heat!

Then we drove to McKinney to watch Harrison's game!

Granddad and Kailey......together always.

Sweet Logan and Trystan!

I just LOVE looking at them!

Love seeing him get a goal!

They won!

He is on the Texas Jr Brahmas travel team this year and the girls are all on the Texas Heat travel team!

What a perfect way to celebrate September First!

Father/Daughter!

Just so you know - they really are father and daughter in heart, spirit and legally!

Louis Dean adopted Amber in 2013.

She wanted him to BE the grands REAL Granddad - and so he is and always will be!

It was quite the adventure on Sunday afternoon - driving to Richardson, Texas and then to McKinney and then home. All before dark! Now that the seasons are changing, we will be more limited in driving only in daylight hours.

I am so very thankful I can drive from here to Amber's and back no matter the time, season or weather conditions - within reason!

Louis Dean defrosted our freezer on Saturday and I 'found' several steaks and a bag of O'Brian potatoes so that was our dinner on Sunday.

Monday was a blessed day in that the house was clean. I am caught up with everything except the quilt for Baby Aliyah and writing my book. 

Louis Dean's deck is a done deal!

He added a stone step up to the deck after I took this pic.

The funny thing is - he seemed worried Monday morning and said, "Linda, let me ask you - WHY did I build that deck??" I assured him he had a reason - and even if he didn't - he did a good thing!

I am excited about landscaping the new garden spot to the left of the new deck.

We plan to buy the bushes, flowers and ground cover on Wednesday.

I want low maintenance things agreeable to the Texas weather.

On Monday nights we take our trash to the curb and Louis Dean was deep into his music arranging so I bagged up and hauled a ton of stuff - out to Stephanie's curb!

Maybe not a ton but hundreds of pounds as I had to use one of Louis Dean's carts to get it all out there.

Step by step. Inch by inch. Little by little. a little here and a little there.

Or as in King James Version of the Bible.....

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Isaiah 28:10

I try to look at what I can do RIGHT NOW - be it little or much.

For years now I have been hauling stuff to the curb - nothing that Louis Dean loves and needs and will use - but junk and trash that he has accumlated and is reluctant to part with.

So far he has never missed a single thing that has disappeared.

He actually thinks he is cleaning things up!

That's a Win!  WIN!!!

Monday night's supper was coconut shrimp and air fried veggies.

And toast!

All that lugging and hauling wore me out so it was an early bedtime for me.

It was 9:00 before I woke up.

Sleep is a beautiful thing!

It was cooler and wet today when I met up with Brenda for our Tuesday Treasure Hunting.

I love a rainy day!!

We did NOT make a huge haul like we did last week but we still found a few treasures.

So TRUE!!!

Every minute of every hour of every day of every year....

At nearly 76 years of age - I really do feel like I am 'fine wine.'

The glass pumpkin I already had - and now it sits in a wreath of pretty fall flowers.

The foyer is now a pumpkin patch!

Brenda and I left Texas Thrift and I stopped at Goodwill to drop off several bags of stuff.

While we don't usually shop Goodwill anymore - they lowered their senior discount from 30% to 10% while Thrift Giant and Texas Thrift offer 30% discounts. Still, Brenda was hoping to find a faux pumpkin for her front porch until the real ones come out in the markets.

I thought - what could it hurt?? So I ran in -Thank goodness I had an umbrella in the car as it rained all day! Sure enough! I found a large tall pumpkin just like the one she was looking for - plus these two rustic ones for me!!

My best treasure wasfound by Brenda - of course!

What an elegant jacket to wear with a simple black or cream dress!

And I have both!

For $2 I bought this tub full of fall cupcake and candy liners.

More pumpkin muffins will be made soon!

Brenda and I end our Tuesday visits with lunch at Chic-fil-A and we linger long while we eat and talk.

You could call Tuesdays With Brenda my 'Therapy Days.'

I shopped Aldi as I am making dinner for the Bells on Friday.

While I dearly love the rainy weather - by the time I got home I was soaked!

As in my shoes, my dress, my wrap, and even my glasses were wet!

I changed into dry clothes and put up the groceries before joining Louis Dean in the gazebo for a glass of wine.

His job was taking the grapes off their stems while we visited.

He still loves to sing!

Sometimes he forgets the words but I love that he loves music!