across the moors in the bracken...

I just wanted to pretend to be English for just a minute...the leaves here are a sight to behold, but the cows don't even care.

Our pool, all tucked in for the winter. Notice the deck isn't finished yet. We haven't yet gotten our second delivery of the rest of the lumber. They had it all saved for us, waiting on just a few 16 foot boards. Well, those boards came in, and the rest of the stuff had been taken from our pile. It's not a big deal now, we did enjoy the deck, even not completely finished...one of these days we will get a delivery of lumber, and in the spring, the deck can be completed. Yesterday afternoon, we had a housefull here for dinner, which was oven roasted pork loin with rosemary, applesauce with apples sliced in it, baked with cinnamon and sugar on top, roasted broccoli with cheese sauce, and a huge yummy garden salad from Mariel. Ashley made apple bread for dessert, and Emily made sugar cookies. We did try a bit of the pumpkin ale, with sugar and cinnamon on the rim of the glass, oh devine! So Emily, Abigail, Ben/Ashley/Anya/Elise, Mariel, Molly's husband Josh and baby Ophelia, Margaret/Adrian/Wulf/Tennyson, Evelyn, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, Camille, and of course Paul and I...it was a little bit loud, but so very nice. We don't really do "loud" in our family. We just don't. If sports are on the tv, we keep it muted, and always mute commercials. It's one of those things, that we work on not interrupting each other, or talking over each other. You would think that with 20 people in the house, it would be mayhem, but actually not really. Little Tennyson cried a little bit, and Wulf and Elise and Anya would be excited and run around a little, but they mostly played with the little Critter houses with all the little pieces, and with some playdough at the table before we ate dinner. Char played matching game with Anya, and Wulf got Uncle Benjamin to read him a story. So next Sunday, Florida!!! I hope the hurricane that's headed for the Gulf coast doesn't cause damage, and is done and over with by then. Our next trip, in November, might be visiting Kathryn in Oregon! This coming weekend, Emily, Abigail, and Jonathan are going to Virginia to visit Samuel and Grace and little Grant. I wish I could go, but poor me is going to Florida on Sunday... On Saturday, Mariel, Evelyn, Molly, Sonja and I are going to a few wineries...mostly to enjoy the beautiful trees in the Finger Lakes. :)