September's happenin'

Friday is happening, even though I don't know where this week went. And it doesn't seem right that it's September.

Yesterday morning, Ida came for a visit. Sharon had a chance to go to the State Fair with some friends. Dave, Lee and Charlie were busy til late morning: Dave had a meeting, and Lee and Charlie had football practice. Notre Dame didn't have enough boys sign up for the JV squad, so they added them to the varsity. So, Lee, a junior this year (where has the time gone?) and Charlie - a freshman (ditto - where did the time go?) are on the same team.

I turned to the September page on my papillon calendar that Brenda got us for Christmas. It's right here in the computer room. It's a picture of a mid-grown papillon that reminds me of Gracie about a year ago. No long hair, tail has begun to grow hair, out in a grassy area looking cute.

Gracie's still cute. We had cocktails on the deck last night and she wandered off on one of the paths into the woods. We could see her, going back and forth, sniffing the ground, going off as usual. But - All we have to do is say - "Gracie, where are you?" And she comes running. Takes her no longer than 10 seconds to travel from where she is, to scrambling up the deck and standing in front of us. . . wondering what we want.

Paul returned some Brookstone catalog items I got him for Fathers' Day,and got a gift certificate in return. He'd been perusing the catalog and found something he wanted.

He ordered an instant slide and negative scanner. He says . . .One of the pluses - It doesn't need a computer. It came yesterday, and it's a success! He was able to get some old slides and put them on our digital picture frame in the living room.

An aside: A couple of Christmases ago, I was standing in line at Macy's and a similar item caught my eye - so I made a spur of the moment purchase for him. Unfortunately, that one was a dud. He liked the idea, but it didn't work right even from the beginning. Now . . .if anyone knows Paul well, you know he doesn't give up easily when something doesn't work right. He stays with it until it does, so I know it must have driven him crazy to finally decide it wasn't worth fiddling with.

My lesson: I guess you get what you pay for. That one wasn't worth much. The new one is much better.

We had lunch with Lue, her sister Sharon and Ruth yesterday at the Harvest Cafe.

Lue was visiting her daughter Gail's family on Cape Cod when Hurricane Irene arrived. They were without power and it sounded quite scary. Even though the house is quite new (6 years old), it was blowing so hard that the large picture windows were bending in and out. They didn't break - thank goodness, but everyone was told to stay away from them. Just in case. Gail and Arthur's house is on high land. Thank goodness. It's not far from the ocean but they can't see it. Lue said some people went down, at low tide, to get a look. The waves were quite violent and it was difficult to stand in the wind.

Lue came home on Tuesday, and had to take several detours (three) - due to flooding, washouts. I didn't ask her if it took more time than the usual. Probably.

So - that's all the time and news from this end of the woods. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?