Autumn is Upon us, but it's Still Pretty Warm

Happy Autumn everyone, I'm sorry I haven't written in quite a long time.  We seem to keep busy, but often with so little to show for our efforts.  We do housework, laundry, cooking and dishes, but none of that is newsworthy.  However, I will say I continue to love cooking in my Instant Pot pressure cooker.  I love to cook stews, soups, roasts, veggies, BBQ, chili, and best of all......cheesecakes.   You can't burn a cheesecake when you use a pressure cooker!  I have experimented with several flavors, and each has been my favorite when I made it.  But how can I lose weight when the Instant Pot calls me to make such yummy foods????

I am amazed to report that my Hawaiian Spider plant continues to thrive............since I learned that it is NOT supposed to be subjected to direct sunlight!  Is that amazing or what????  Praise be to God for watching over idiots, children and my plant.
Who knew I could kill my last one with too much water and too much sunlight?

As I mentioned above, we continue to have days that are above 80, and sometimes up to 90 here in So. Cal.  But the nights are getting much cooler.  The flannel sheets are back on the bed, along with a cozy, warm blanket under our nice warm quilt.  No cold feet in this house, except maybe Millie's.  LOL.  It's supposed to cool down about 10 degrees next week, which we are looking forward to.  
 
Our dear friends Diane and Jim are still traveling in their motorhome on the east coast.  She sent me these pictures, and I don't think I have shared them yet.  If any are repeats, just bear with me and enjoy.  Here they are at Niagara Falls.  Pretty chilly, but they enjoyed being there.

These were taken at the Tear Drop Memorial in the harbor of Bayonne, N.J.  It's 100 feet tall and the tear drop is 40 feet long.  It is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.  The Tear Drop faces the Statue of Liberty.  The tiles on the ground surrounding it contain the names of all who died that day.  This was completed by a Russian sculptor and brought to our country.  There has been very little publicity or recognition for this tremendous act of compassion and caring.  We think that is very sad.
 Diane and Jim are having a wonderful adventure on this trip and will be spending Thanksgiving with relatives in Georgia.  After that they plan to try to get back to California as quickly as possible.  We  have missed them terribly and look forward to seeing them soon, but we are very glad this trip has gone so well for them.  Here is one more picture they sent to me.  I don't remember just where it was, but still worth sharing.
In case you didn't notice, this "igloo" is made from a stack of ice chests.  Too funny.  










In case you haven't seen the news from California, there was a period of VERY low humidity and high Santa Ana winds, which lead to some really awful fires around the area.  Many, many acres of land burned, homes were destroyed and lives were lost.  Since there currently is only ONE way to get up and down the hill between Banning and Silent Valley, I got very nervous about the possibility of being trapped up there by fire, or of not being able to get our motorhome down the hill to safety.  After several days of worrying I asked Jim if he was willing to pack up early and come down off the hill before there might be a danger in the area.  We called and got a site in Wilderness Lakes for the week.  We packed up as quickly as we could and drove down there.  After we got into a nice site, I tried to put the living room slide "out".  I heard a terrible grinding noise, so I of course stopped.  I had forgotten to take down my adorable owl family clock from the wall behind the driver's seat.  It was shredded!  After I got the clock out of the slide, it went out perfectly.  Later I looked into the possibility of replacing the same clock.  To my dismay, the price had just 

about doubled!  I found another one to replace it, but no owls on this one.  We had to replace it because we always looked at that wall to see what time it was.  This is still a blue clock, our
favorite color, and its easy to see the time.  And it matches the color of our living room curtains.

Last Thursday we had to move from Wilderness Lakes to an RV park in Hemet for a week.  As we drove in the manager was outside and told us we would have site 43.  We drove back to find site 43 was already occupied!  I called Laurie back and informed of that, so she had to check the book to find us another site.  All is well and this is a nice enough site, but it was an unexpected surprise!  One must learn to "go with the flow" since these things do happen.  

I have one more cute picture to share before I close.

I think our friend Vickie Jo sent me this picture of a woodpecker trying to feed off 
this hummingbird feeder up in Silent Valley. 
Let's hope he found food elsewhere.




Before I close I would like to share again my holiday wishes for all of you.  Please think of all the many blessings you enjoy each day, and give thanks.  Also, please think of all the many people around you who are less fortunate than you are, and what you might do to help someone else.  Maybe you can invite someone to join you for Thanksgiving dinner.  Could you take dinner to a shut-in?  Make a donation to a homeless shelter or Food Bank.  Maybe you could volunteer at a Rescue Mission or Soup Kitchen.  
And don't forget about homeless animals.  The local animal shelters are always  over-crowded, but this time of year it's even more of a problem.  Have you considered opening your heart to a rescue animal?  You will be amazed how good it can make you feel to give a lonely animal a forever home.  Please consider rescuing a homeless dog or cat, but only if you are prepared to make a true commitment to providing a forever home.  These animals don't need to be taken in, and then abandoned later on.  If you can't take an animal home, please consider volunteering at a shelter, or at least donating food, or blankets, or bags of cat litter.  
The local hospitals can use donations too.  There are organizations that collect toys for children who might otherwise not have any gifts for Christmas.  Many churches collect food donations for families for the holidays too.  Please do whatever you can to share the blessings you enjoy with those who have so much less.  

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!!!😊