NOTICED A SUBTLE CHANGE IN THE LANDSCAPE THIS MORNING

A cloud cover this morning prevented the Sun's rays from bringing the dazzle out of Autumn's colorful leaves.  Still colorful of course, but without the snappy sparkle.  No matter, Pheebs and I were out anyway snapping a few pics here and there and keeping an eye out for corn spills.  Our bucket came home empty again.  Slipped around Richard and Gayle's place but they had company so we kept right on a goin'. (I'm having a problem captioning the pictures tonight)

Thanks to a good night's sleep finally, Kelly felt a tad better today except that her back is giving her a lot of problems right now.  Very painful!!  Her upcoming endoscopy scheduled for Friday afternoon has been moved up to Friday morning so we're quite thankful for that.  This way we'll skip the Friday afternoon chaos in the parking garage and London's 5 o'clock rush.  Of course, London's rush hour isn't anywhere close to bigger city rush hours but when you live in a quiet place like we do in this Bayfield area, any place else is just sheer madness.  Oh dear, and to think for years we were hauling a 37' Motorhome towing a car through or around cities like, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas, Oklahoma City, El Paso, Tuscon, Phoenix, Yuma, and a few times Houston, Tampa, Cincinnati, and Detroit.  Oh my, it stresses me just thinking about those times.  I'm 'almost; quite content enough to be right where we are.  And yet, if we had another chance to go again....I would be mighty excited about the prospect:))

A MAPLE SYRUP SHACK IN THE BUSH

A BUSH LANE

 ANOTHER BUSH LANE

I noticed a subtle change in the landscape this morning as Pheebs and I cruised along slowly through the countryside.  I think our Autumn colors have peaked and I am beginning to see a change as trees are beginning to drop their leaves.  I think in a couple weeks, with gusting winds and probable rain, trees will be stripped of their leaves and the gray sullen days of November will be well upon our doorstep.  Oh woe is us:((

THE COLORFUL BUSH LINES ARE SLOWLY BEGINNING TO CHANGE

Within minutes of a gray-looking walk around our Park's pond this afternoon, the skies suddenly cleared and our colorful world was bathed in warm sunshine. All was right with the world again..... well, at least for a few more days or weeks.

 WITHOUT SUNSHINE IT WAS KIND OF A COLORLESS DAY

FOR A WHILE IT LOOKED AND FELT LIKE A GRAY NOVEMBER DAY THIS AFTERNOON

THERE WERE DEFINITELY MORE LEAVES ON OUR ROAD TODAY THAN YESTERDAY

I wasn't able to caption some of my photos in this post because of what I expect is probably a Blogger glitch.  Whatever it is, I hope it is cleared up by tomorrow.........Last night after publishing my post I again headed out into the countryside for half an hour to stand under the starry sky while the weather is still good.  Saw a very bright greenish-tinged meteorite come down in the northwest sky.  Probably the biggest one I've ever seen.  Maybe it went 'ker-splash' into Lake Huron.  I found a few more constellations as well.  Perseus, the Pleides,  (Subaru's emblem)  Cygnus the Swan also referred to as 'The Northern Cross', and Aquila the Eagle.  The Moon wasn't up so the sky was very dark.  If only these aging eyes of mine were able to clearly see all the stars I once could see years ago.  My eyes' minor cataracts are not yet at the point where they will do surgery to correct my vision.

Al's Music Box:)) The Wanderer is a song written by Ernie Maresca and originally recorded by Dion and released on his 1961 album, 'Runaround Sue'. The song, with a 12-bar blues-base verse and an eight-bar bridge, tells the story of a traveling man and his many loves. The song is ranked number 243 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  Maresca had co-written Dion's previous number-one hit, "Runaround Sue", but originally intended "The Wanderer" to be recorded by another group, 'Nino and the Ebb Tides'. They passed on it in favor of another Maresca song, so Dion was given it as the B-side of his follow-up single, "The Majestic", a song which his record company had chosen for him. The record was turned over by radio DJs who preferred "The Wanderer", which duly entered the US charts in December 1961 and rose to number 2 in early 1962 (behind "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler). It also reached number 10 in the United Kingdom and number one in Australia. The song was recorded with an uncredited background vocal group, the Del-Satins, in a rockier style than Dion's earlier hits with the Belmonts.  Musicians on the original recording included Bucky Pizzarelli and Johnny Falbo on guitars, Jerome Richardson on alto sax, Buddy Lucas on tenor sax, Milt Hinton on bass, and Panama Francis on drums.  Dion said of "The Wanderer": At its roots, it's more than meets the eye. "The Wanderer" is black music filtered through an Italian neighborhood that comes out with an attitude. It's my perception of a lot of songs like "I'm A Man" by Bo Diddley or "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Muddy Waters." But you know, "The Wanderer" is really a sad song. A lot of guys don't understand that. Bruce Springsteen was the only guy who accurately expressed what that song was about. It's "I roam from town to town and go through life without a care, I'm as happy as a clown with my two fists of iron, but I'm going nowhere." In the Fifties, you didn't get that dark. It sounds like a lot of fun but it's about going nowhere.  However, on Maresca's original demo of the song, the lyrics were "with my two fists of iron and my bottle of beer", and the change to "with my two fists of iron but I'm going nowhere" in fact seems to have been at the record company's insistence.  The song has been categorized as rock and roll, rhythm and blues, pop, and doo-wop. The 1961 recording by Dion was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.

A SLIVER OF SUNSHINE POPPED THROUGH THE CLOUDS AND LIT UP THIS MAPLE TREE WHILE WE WERE DRIVING BY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( It Comes With Age::

- You're getting old when you don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.
- Statistics show that at the age of seventy, there are five women to every man. Isn't that an ironic time for a guy to get those odds?
- Middle age is when it takes longer to rest than to get tired.
-- By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
- Middle age is when you have stopped growing at both ends, and have begun to grow in the middle.
- Someone has described heaven as a family reunion that never ends.
- A man has reached middle age when he is cautioned to slow down by his Doctor instead of by the police.
- Middle age is having a choice of two temptations and choosing the one that will get you home earlier.
- You know you're into middle age when you realize that caution is the only thing you care to exercise.
- Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
---------------------------------------------------

- Give me two hot dogs.  One with mustard and one without."  "Which one without?"

- Flying in a plane can be a bumpy ride, even while taxiing on the ground. But it's not the pilot's fault. It's not the airline's fault. It's the asphalt.

-------------------------------------

Meaningful =====================

Al's Art Gallery:)) 

ALL THREE OF US OUT FOR A WALK THIS AFTERNOON

 THIS IS THE SOUTH ENTRANCE TO THE PATH THAT LEADS TO OUR HOUSE FROM THE PARK'S POND

With a few things to pick up in Goderich this morning, Pheebs and headed north.  Coffee, harbor, gas, and Walmart.

 A BUSY TIME OF YEAR FOR AREA FARMERS

 YESIREE, PHEEBS AND I WEREN'T THE ONLY ONES IN LINE FOR COFFEE THIS MORNING AND REST ASSURED WE WERE ON OUR BEST BEHAVIOR

 ONE OF MY FAVORITE LAKE FREIGHTERS, THE SAGINAW WAS AT THE GODERICH GRAIN TERMINAL THIS MORNING

 I THINK THIS HAS SOMETHING TO WITH DREDGING

'REMEMBER WHEN WE CAME HERE AS TEENAGERS BERT...WE WERE SURE A LOT FRISKIER IN THOSE DAYS WEREN'T WAY'

 THERE ARE ALWAYS A LOT OF DOG WALKERS ON THE BOARDWALK

 ON THE ROAD TO ROTARY COVE

 THE ALGOMA COMPASS AT THE SALT MINE DOCK

 A LOVELY GODERICH GARDEN

Our gorgeous weather has been unbelievable for this late in October and this day was a knock-out with sunny skies and a temperature that topped out at 73F.  I took advantage of it and busied myself doing nothing.  I just simply enjoyed the day.  Didn't feel like I had to rush around doing anything this afternoon.  Just a quiet day enjoying and soaking up this ambient beauty that we have been so fortunate to have this year.  Sat on our front porch for a while enjoying the warmer air.

 ALMOST HOME

 OUR STREET ON THE LEFT AND OUR DRIVEWAY ON THE RIGHT

 LOOKING FURTHER DOWN OUR STREET

 THE EAST SIDE OF OUR HOUSE IN OCTOBER

 OUR SIDE YARD

 A COLORFUL MAPLE TREE ACROSS THE ROAD

 OUR HOSTAS ARE ABOUT DONE FOR ANOTHER YEAR

Our pine needle dump is about over for another year but the next big dump to come will be all hardwood tree leaves.  In another week or so I will be raking up skads of maple, oak, bass, locust, rosebud, and mulberry leaves.  Pine needles I don't mind raking so much, but leaves are such a pain and especially so on windy days.  Maybe I'll just save the leaf raking for the Spring when the leaves are all wet and mashed down from the winter's ice and snow.  At least they are easier to work with then.  Checking the 14-day forecast the weather continues to look great right into November.  Bonus:))  Oh, and, local temperature records were broken today as well.  

 SITTING ON OUR PORCH PLAYING WITH SOME OF MY CAMERAS CREATIVE EFFECTS

 RED GLASS FLOWERS

 OUR GERANIUMS ARE STILL IN BLOOM

 RED SUMAC LEAVES

Kelly wasn't feeling the best today.  She had hoped for a good sleep last night but it didn't happen.  It might have been the addition of more pills that kept her awake and feeling kind of sickish today.  She spent a lot of time in her recliner.  So, imagine my surprise when I was about to take Pheebs for a walk and Kelly said she was coming to.  So, that's what we did, all three of us, and I couldn't help but remember the last time that the three of us had all gone for a walk together.  I'm just guessing here but it might even have been as long ago as the morning of February 27th, 2019.  We were in Borrego Springs, California boondocked at the Borrego Springs Legion.  We had decided to head for home and that morning the three of went for our usual morning walk which this time happened to be right behind the Legion.  I remember it being a sad walk that morning because even then, I had a feeling this might be our last time in Borrego Springs.  It was.  The trip home that year was probably one of the worst RV trips we'd ever had.  And an expensive one too because of all the Motorhome repairs.  But that was then and this is now, so where was I......Oh yes, it was so nice to see all three of us out walking together again this afternoon.  We even had a sit down on the 'Rest-a-Bit bench beside the Park's pond.

 OUR LAST MORNING WALK IN BORREGO SPRINGS BACK IN 2019

 LATER IN THE MORNING HEADING FROM BORREGO SPRINGS CALIFORNIA TO LAKE HAVASU ARIZONA ON OUR LONG JOURNEY HOME AND THOSE WERE THE DAYS WHEN PHEEBS WOULD RIDE ON KELLY'S LAP SOMTIMES

 OUT FOR AN AFTERNOON WALK TODAY

 PHEEBS IS RIGHT BEHIND KELLY

 AT THE REST-A-BIT BENCH

Al's Music Box:)) Blue Bayou is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. It was originally sung and recorded by Orbison, who had an international hit with his version in 1963. It later became Linda Ronstadt's signature song, with which she scored a Top 5 hit with her cover in 1977. Many others have since recorded the song.  "Blue Bayou" was originally recorded by Roy Orbison at the end of 1961. In the UK, it was released by London Monument as the double A- side track with "Mean Woman Blues" on a Monument Records single, where both sides peaked at number 3. It was issued as a B-side single in the US, peaking at number 29; the A-side, "Mean Woman Blues", peaked at number 5. The song also appeared on Orbison's 1963 full-length album 'In Dreans'.  "Blue Bayou" reappeared on his 1989 posthumous album A Black & White Night Live, from the 1988 television special on Cinemax.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two delicate blossoms of Southern femininity, one from Mississippi and the other from Texas were conversing on the porch swing of a large white-pillared mansion. The Mississippian said, "When my first child was born, my husband built this beautiful mansion for me." The Texan lady commented, "Well, isn't that nice?"  The lady from Mississippi continued, "When my second child was born, my husband bought me that fine Cadillac automobile you see parked in the drive." Again, the Texas lady commented, "Well, isn't that nice?"  The first woman boasted, "Then, when my third child was born, my husband bought me this exquisite diamond bracelet."  Yet again, the Texas lady commented, "Well, isn't that nice?"  The first woman then asked her companion, "What did you husband buy for you when you had your first child?"  The Texas lady replied, "My husband sent me to charm school."  "Charm school!" the first woman cried. "Land sakes, child, what on Earth for?"  The Texas lady responded, "So that instead of saying, 'who gives a crap,' I learned to say, 'Well, isn't that nice?'"

------------------------------------------------

- Feeling a bit paranoid?  Remember, you are not alone.

- What do you call a nut that sneezes?  A cashew!

-What do you call a nut in space?  An astro-nut!

-------------------------------------

My coworker said: “ You should not eat red meat.” I said, “My grandmother lived to be 97.   She said, “Did she eat red meat?” I said, “No. She minded her own business.”

---------------------------------------

The new Ensign was assigned to subs, where he'd dreamed of working since a young boy.

He was trying to impress the Master Chief with his expertise learned in Submarine School.  The Master Chief cut him off quickly and said, "Listen, 'sir', it's real simple. Add the number of times we dive to the number of times we surface. Divide that number by two. If the result doesn't come out even, don't open the hatch."

---------------------------------

Meaningful:)) ==============================

Al's Art Gallery:))