Our Last October Weekend in the Country.........

 It's been a chilly weekend here in the country and I have loved every minute of it!

I took this picture Saturday night.....loving that big red roof and matching carport!

We sat cuddled in our blankets in the front room gazing into the make believe flames of this little heater. It puts out a small amount of heat but a good deal of warm ambiance.

We listened to some music on my phone by way of YouTube....taking turns with old Willie Nelson songs for him and Toby Keith and Keith Urban ones for me.

This is my favorite Keith Urban song.

 It came out in 2004 and I married Louis Dean in 2005.

We had both been married for 41 years and now we were starting a new life together.

I remember telling him that we didn't have 'history'.....and yet I'm sure our paths crossed more than once since he and his family used to visit Irving often. Ellen's sister, Ruth Ann, lived in the same area I did and they ate at some of the same places I did and shopped garage sales and frequented some of the same stores. And now that we have been married 16 years.....we have, indeed, made 'memories of us.'

I love that.

I love this precious man with all my heart and I am so very blessed to know that he loves me with all of his heart, too. We are honored to be given the privilege to grow old together.

We are so very different - kind of like The Odd Couple!

I am Felix to his Oscar.....

He leaves his tools any and everywhere, hangs his overalls on nails and I am constantly, and I do mean constantly. picking up after him. He can make a mess quicker than any two-year-old!

But he has more charm than any man I have ever met and having lunch together on our side porch under the carport is as much a treasure as I could wish for.

As Louis Dean says at least once each and every day - 'We make a GOOD team!'

And so we do!

I've been painting rocks lately.....

and the tomatoes are my favorites!

It's popular to leave them places for others to find but I use them to anchor tablecloths on picnic tables.

And to hold my fabric when I am pinning a quilt together.

This will be for a soon-to-be-born baby girl.

I've also been painting!

I only have one more session on this one of Louis Dean watering my wildflower garden this summer.

I'm allowing it to dry before adding the spray from his hose to finish it off.

One last Christmas painting featuring a truck.

I think I shall be adding a truck scene to the Santa theme every year.

Next year's will feature puppies in the back bed of an old truck.

I love to see the progress of a painting.

Since I work in oils only, it has to dry a bit in between sessions.

I did enough to know that I can finish this one when we come back to the country in the middle of November.

So far I have 140 entries in the Santa Express drawing and I will do the 'random number generator' tomorrow - November 1st - as soon as we get home. And I will have it in the mail to the winner in the next day or two after that.

Tonight, as I write, we are listening to the Dallas Cowboys game with the Minnesota Vikings on a static filled and crackling radio! We just tied the game at the end of the third quarter. I'm ready to go out and sit with Louis Dean for the final quarter!

This is Halloween and it's only the second time in our 16 years together that we have not sat on the front porch sipping wine from our skull goblets and handed out candy.

Our sweet neighbor, Tamara, says she has had lots of trick or treaters!

I will close with the pic Amber sent me!!

A Greek Goddess, deer, black cat, and lumber jack and

Amber is Maleficent and Mike is a Safari guide!