Some nice fall things going on around here, new colors, new endeavors and surprises abound!
I have been taking a daily early morning ramble with Ella; she is good off-leash, and relatively harmless, unless you are a bunny or a squirrel, so we walk a little loop of hiking trail back behind the house. She is more often than not a little limpy these days, but being outside in the crisp autumnal air livens her right up! We have returned from our stroll and in spite of being a bit sweaty out on the trail, I am now chilly - enjoying the last of the coffee.

Here are the current colors in the woods right now. November is Georgia's October, I've decided. It really doesn't get going around here, leaf-wise til November, which is kind of a treat for those of us who like to take things slowly.

There's been some knitting - more than a little, most of it for Christmas, but I am sneaking a little mindless sock action in there for me. I taught myself the Turkish cast-on and started a new toe-up sock. My gosh, where has this cast-on been all my life? So easy, so unfiddly. I am going to experiment with an afterthought heel, as well, as one of my knitters assures me that this, too, is an uncomplicated thing to do. I love these fall colors! The yarn is Spirit Trail Fiberworks basic sock yarn, marinatating in stash since 2006, and the toe is done in Knitpicks Stroll. I am renewing my commitment to knit socks for myself this winter; slowly but surely.

Finally, a seriously surprising surprise.About a year and a half ago, I grew some shitake mushrooms on a log from a kit I gave myself for Christmas. This was an easy little project, and I kept it up for a few months, and then, last fall, as the job ate my life, I harvested the current crop of mushrooms off the log, and put them down under the bed in the guest room to rest (the log has to have a period of dormancy for a couple of weeks between fruiting cycles) and simply forgot about them. The 2 little logs lay under the bed collecting dust and dozing for a solid year. This weekend, I was cleaning the guest room in an attempt to set it up as a sewing room, and discovered them there, with a fresh (though dehydrated) crop of 'shrooms!! Nice to know that Nature goes on doing her thing, even as we are sometimes oblivious to it.

I've harvested my dried-up shitakes, gonna rehydrate them for some miso later on, and have soaked and set up the mushroom scheme again. The logs are springing a new coating of mycelium even as I write this. I can't wait.

Other things not photographed, but worth mentioning: I've been applying for jobs, with no real movement forward, (merely notes from school districts saying "hey we've got your application - be patient") I've made homemade pizza, I went to the apple orchard with Jessie again, to get some Arkansas Blacks, a favorite apple variety. The orchard had harvested all the apples, so the only picking we did was picking up the bag of apples off the shelf, but still, they were locally grown and a good keeping apple, or so I hope.

Even though the time has changed, and our days are ending an hour earlier, I'm trying to take full advantage of this Indian summer, it's been in the high 60's this week, and is just glorious. Planting bulbs, long walks with Mr. Cricket, who is back in his boot camp-esque training class on Tuesday nights. Project Z is more or less successful; the real challenge will be whether or not I can sustain it if I were to find work. I am feeling good, though, and not napping; in bed around 10 most nights, and up around 6 most days. Much easier to do with an early hour of daylight!