First Frost

Good Sunday morning, Friends! 

This morning the alarm went off at 5am. At 5:15am, Mr. Gordon and I crawled from bed:

He to the basement to dress for hunting; me to the kitchen to make coffee for both of us and pull out food for him to take (bagel with cream cheese, sandwich, thick stick of pepperoni – a must).

It’s bow-hunting season here and last Christmas I bought my husband a bow. He was completely surprised. (He’s actually a bit difficult to buy presents for, so I was excited that I was able to give him something he really wanted.) Anyhow, today is his first day out this season. It was still dark when he left at 6am. By 7am, it was just getting light out and I looked outside. I did not have my glasses on, so at first I thought we had a dusting of snow (it was 36 degrees F when we got up this morning). It’s 58 degrees F in the house right now. I refuse to turn on the heat this early in the Fall!

But no, it’s just the first frost of the season. 🙂 It’s the foreshadowing of  Winter and the long, cold season ahead. As I mentioned in my last post, I love Autumn and Winter, so I am okay with the coming snow. Next month. 😉

Yesterday we ran our “usual” Saturday errands, plus I did some banking changes to move back towards a “cash in hand” spending program. (Re-inspired by Chicken Librarian’s posts here and here.) While I am great with budgeting and we do fine, I felt like I needed to tighten the belt a bit and get back to basics. Using cash for purchases versus the debit card (I know, it’s still “cash” if it’s a debit card from your own account), really makes you think twice before spending the money. Plus, the visual of actually watching your money either stay in or leave your wallet helps you better connect to your money and how you use it. This is just my experience, of course.

However, during grocery shopping, Mr. Gordon did suggest that I treat myself to some bagels and lox for Sunday morning. 😀 Perfect on a cold Sunday morning. (It really was delicious.)

So we are wrapping up and moving further into Autumn. We are still drying peppers (yes, the kitchen is still full of them) and I’m wondering if we continue with the leftover green tomatoes in the window or just compost them.

Last weekend Mr. Gordon did a huge clean-up of the upper and lower gardens. See below.

I asked him to keep in the Sparky French Marigolds for one more week because they are so cheery.

He did, however, enjoy using his flame-thrower (video here). 😉

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I’m slowly decorating for Halloween, although I cannot seem to find my lucky Bruja I picked up in Spain nearly two decades ago! I’ll have to keep looking.

However, I did find my walk-way metal jack-o-lanterns!

I seem to only have five… I thought I had six. Hmm. I’ve had these for… well, probably more than two decades now! You can place little lit tea-light candles in them. They get too hot to touch – you would burn yourself if you grabbed one – so I don’t really light them all that often. But I still like the look of them.

I also picked up this wreath for a mere $5 at the restore store! (Same place we bought the beautiful kitchen hutch.)

Mr. Gordon made a bit of fun of me – it was dropping pieces and bits as we crossed the parking lot – but when I got it home, made a few adjustments and hung it up, I think it looked just fine. It’s a cheery addition to the front door.

Well, I suppose I should close and move into the day! I am going to take advantage of having some time to myself this morning to follow-up on a few more items. Still working at working the plan.

Sending you all many wishes for a joyful day!