A Child's Rocking Chair

This is the rocking chair I had as a small child.  I used it in my son's room when he was growing up, and I got it out again when my granddaughter was born.  It now has a permanent place in my home.

This season, it is tucked into a corner of the dining room with my miniature scarecrow and small bear, relaxing there until the holidays are over.

Decorating the House for Thanksgiving

I've cleaned up the yard in anticipation of Thanksgiving Day, so this weekend, I put the finishing touches on the house and the dining room.  Here's a visual of the new pine table and chairs, and my decorations of candles, leaves and pumpkins for the centerpiece.

Baking Bread

This was a good weekend to start baking, and getting in the mood for holiday dinner preparation.  This Cranberry Banana bread is really good, and I took it to church this morning for our study group.

Homemade food stimulates the intellect!

A Veteran's Day Remembrance

My father Robert Arnold spent over three years in the Army during World War II.  This last week on Veteran's Day, we spent time poring over his photo albums, looking at pictures of North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.  He started out in the Field Artillery, but later became a General's driver, spending a lot of time near the Front.  He earned two Bronze Stars.

Fall Foliage

When I was cleaning up the yard yesterday in the aftermath of the weekend's storm, I found all of this wonderful fall color.  This arrangement is made up of flowering crabapple branches, barberry branches, Sonoma Sunrise rose buds, and dried leaves I'd prepared last week for card-making.  It looks great as a centerpiece on the oak stereo cabinet in the living room.

Trick or Treat!

We met Dave and Kaila at Mill Creek Town Center tonight for Trick or Treating!  It was a very nice night (for Halloween!), and the weather was dry with mild temperatures.  After collecting candy from the merchants, we went to dinner at Boston's and got caught up on everyone's week, and planned Dave's birthday party in November, and Thanksgiving.

Graveyard Cake for Halloween

Here's my Graveyard Cake!  I had such fun tonight making it.  It started with a 9x13 chocolate cake, with dark chocolate frosting.  Then I decorated a few Pepperidge Farm Milano and Bordeaux cookies to look like gravestones, and imbedded them into the cake.  I crushed chocolate wafer cookies to look like mounds of dirt in front of the graves, and then bordered it all with chocolate 'fence posts' that were chocolate Pirouette cookies. Yum!  This will be so much fun to serve with coffee tomorrow on Halloween!