Happy Halloween!

Halloween happy things:

• Last night I went to work and made it through the entire shift.  Yay!  Last week was back pain and recovery.  So far this week is better.
• There is still some bright foliage in the parking lot at work.  One photo is with flash, and one without. 

• Winston, the orange tabby, somehow managed to climb onto the bookshelf.   🤣  For a little while I thought he might be stuck there.  He got himself out though.

• The Inktober prompt is Fire.

☮

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Rush

Today my happy things are:

• This morning was my first appointment with a physical therapist to help me strengthen my back, or at least help it hurt less.  Of course, I didn't hurt as bad in the office as I have been.  I have activities to do to hopefully start helping to reduce the pain.
• Gideon and I talked about school when he got home.  We even worked on his math together.  This is where I found out that if you take four times the square root of four, and add that to four divided by four, it equals nine.  Parentheses are important and I hope that I wrote that right.

• Rush is the Inktober prompt for today. 

☮

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Jupiter

It was a lazy day.  My happy things are mostly the things checked off the to-do list to prepare for winter:

• I changed the batteries in the smoke detectors that take 9V batteries.  One of them takes AA batteries and will have to wait until more are purchased. 
• Zed and I turned the heat on.  Tomorrow night the temperatures are supposed to dip below freezing. 
• We also drained the water from the water line that goes to the backyard so that it is ready for winter too.

The house was built around 1745, I think.
I'm not sure if the cellar was dug then, or later.
The walls look old though. 

• Today the Inktober prompt is Massive.

☮

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Sparkle

Happy Saturday things:

• Today we celebrated the 36th anniversary of the Barony of Stonemarche. On October 3, 1987 the SCA groups in New Hampshire became a Barony. I was the only person at today’s event that also participated at the event in 1987. This became a bit of a joke today.
• We held two champions competitions today, one for Thrown Weapons, and one for Arts & Sciences. It was a good day to be outside watching the people throw weapons. When it started to get a little chilly, it was time to go inside and judge the A&S competition. Congratulations to the new Champions.
• The event was held in Lincoln, NH close to mountains. The drive to get there and the location were beautiful. All of today’s pictures are below.
• Sparkle is the Inktober prompt today.

☮

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Howl

Happy things from today:

• This morning I helped Keziah at the store by decorating the photo booth. I think I did okay.  The animatronics were leant to Keziah by her nice neighbor at the Candle Tree store.

• Halloween Howl was long and I wasn't there the entire time (I had a meeting).  It was great to see the costumes.  Keziah gave out a huge amount of candy, stickers, and snacks.  I took some pictures at the photo booth for people.  One rather unique costume I saw was a washing machine.  One person had red contact lenses to make their costume that much more striking.
• The Inktober prompt is Beast.  

• The moon was lovely again tonight.  Here are some other pictures from today:

Sensory bin

☮️

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Remove

Going to work last night proved to be a mistake.  I ended up leaving early.  I spent most of the day after that in bed.  I am not in a significant amount of pain but I had broken sleep most of the day.  I've been up for a few hours and am ready for more sleep already.  I'm thinking this is a side effect of the muscle relaxants that I just didn't experience when I first started taking them.  

Here are happy things from today:

• When I left for work in the middle of the night there was a puffy layer of clouds between me and the moon.  It was beautiful and I tried to capture it with my phone camera.

• As a family we went out to dinner.  It was a lovely, warm day outside apparently.  We ate outside on a deck and enjoyed the evening air, good food, and family time.  I took some pictures of Keziah’s store before dinner.  She is getting things ready for Halloween Howl Friday night.  It should be fun.

These little balls should look bigger tomorrow. 

• The prompt for Inktober is Remove.  In the SCA, we call the different courses in a meal removes.  So the first remove might be chicken, veggies, and bread and the second remove might be beef, different veggies, and barley.  Usually, much more elaborate than that, but I hope, dear reader, you get the idea. What I tried to draw is someone preparing the next remove while someone is serving a remove, and someone eating.  I cut out the part with someone eating because I messed that up.

☮

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Dangerous

I stayed home from work again because I hadn't slept, my back needed the break, and I wasn't sure how I would react to the medications that the doctor put me on.  I'm planning on going to work tonight.  

Here are today's happy things:

• From what I can tell I am having no negative side effects from the medications.  I don't think they are even making me tired.  They are definitely helping reduce the back pain.
• Since I was home this morning I got to see Gideon with his wacky hair for Spirit Week at school.  Just having green hair isn't wacky enough. 

• I had energy this morning.  One of the things I got done was to replace nails with hooks in my closet.  The nails weren't enough for the heavy bags I have.  My energy was enough that I had to make a point of sitting down to ice my back.  I don't need to feel so good that I make it worse.

After

Before

• The sumac trees are a bright shade of red. 

• Dangerous is the Inktober prompt for today. 

☮️

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe.

Shallow

Some happy things from today:

• Yesterday, after writing my blog, I bent over to pick up a glove that had fallen.  My back decided to not agree with that motion and I was able to crumple onto my bed.  This afternoon I saw my doctor and I will be taking some medication to help me feel better tonight.  I'm happy for modern medicine.
• When the pain happened, I wanted to put an ice pack on but we didn't seem to have one (I don't like using vegetables).  Somewhere around 4 AM this morning I remembered that we have actual ice in the freezer and made an ice pack.  I think it is telling of my level of pain that I forgot the existence of an ice machine.  Ice helped SO MUCH.  I am thankful for man made ice, and that I can laugh at myself over the ice.
• Keziah purchased some new harnesses for the cats.  They are indoor cats that have been wanting to go outside.  Winston took to the idea of going outside.  Nanni was disgruntled, even insulted by the harness,  and wouldn't go outside.  Nanni is not easily bribed by treats, and Winston is.  Fun cat times!

Nanni

Winston

• Shallow is the Inktober prompt.

Some more pictures from today:

☮️

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things gs.  Stay safe.

Celestial

Happy Monday!  It was a pretty good day, here are some happy things:

• Yesterday I did quite a few word games, mostly Sedecordle.  When I fell asleep I was still trying to complete the 11 letter, 16 words within 21 tries, Sedecordle.  I was able to complete it when I woke up this morning.  It was the first time I tried that particular version and I was thrilled to get it done.

• There is a little plot of land that I have had covered to kill the weeds.  I covered it, then forgot.  I uncovered the area today, dug it up and planted a bunch of crocus that I bought and three iris that someone gave me.  Because it was covered for so long I had pretty much killed the soil. So, I fertilized it and added potting soil as well as covered it with mulch.  Hopefully, come spring, there will be crocuses. 

• While walking to the backyard to dump stuff into the compost area I saw a deer bounding away in the back.  
• Another time walking to the back I followed a butterfly so I could get a picture of it on a dandelion.  

• In the afternoon I went for a walk with my friend, Amy.  We saw ducks, crows, and pretty fall foliage.  It is always good to walk with her.

• The Inktober prompt for today is Celestial.  I had a hard time with this one.

It is supposed to be an ocean horizon with the moon rising on one side and the sun setting on the other.  Again I say that I am not an artist.  I am enjoying the creativity involved though.

☮

Finished listening to: Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.