Study, study, study

Last weekend, Sam and I spent a day at my Mom's while she was having a garage sale, and he was pretty well worn out from all the attention at the end of the day. That's the spoiled baby sleeping on my couch after riding home with his head out the moon roof of my car.... so many smells...so little time.

Spent all day today studying for an upcoming paralegal exam and have made my brain completely numb. Looked outside earlier and saw storm clouds over Pierce City, MO., drifting overhead. Still have massive amounts of reading to do before Wednesday.... (sigh...) Tomorrow is another day. Anyway, it's late and I have much to do still. Trying to keep up with everything these days is being a challenge. Will try to do better with posting photos as the month progresses.

Nothing Itsy-Bitsy About This Spider!

This little lady was at my front door this morning and nearly gave me a heart attack. I had nothing to fear as she was feasting on a pesky fly. These signs of fall serve as a reminder that Halloween is not far away, along with cooler nights, frost-bitten pumpkins, hay rides, hot chocolate and a harvest moon hanging low in the night sky.

Things Remembered

Slow dancing on a dirt road in the rain...
"A bad day on vacation is better than a good day at work"...
My favorite kind of muffin left on the front seat of my car...
Long, slow, warm, wet kisses...
Dolphins leading the way to Ship Island on a beautiful summer afternoon....
Hatteras Light on a windy day....
Feeding the cat marshmallows...
Building a fire in the fireplace for the first time and forgetting about the damper! (Thanks to the responding firefighters for their quick response!)...
Road trips...
Traditional gumbo at Christmas...
"Fudge-a-lo" from Mount Rushmore...
Teaching Alexandra how to stick out her tongue when she was just a few months old...
Telling Morgan she was still a pretty kitty when she ripped the bandage off her stump at 1 a.m. to discover her tail missing.... (she was ONE UPSET kitty...)
Smiles and soft, warm, melt-into-you brown eyes...
Jimmy Buffett concerts that were an adventure in and of themselves...
Joe's Crab Shack peel and eat shrimp and horseradish....
Key West and Mallory Square.... sunsets and ships and smiles....
Biloxi, the "Mel-mobile," and meeting in the middle...
a diamond tennis bracelet hidden in a coffee grinder at Christmas...
Wine, cheese, sausage and crackers in front of the fireplace (remembering the damper!)...
Weekend get-aways to Galveston, Pike's Peak, Amarillo and other new places and spaces...
Eureka Springs and chocolate covered strawberries...
New Orleans weekends that featured beignets and gumbo right here at home...
"Grill-Master"...
Teasing Ubu with the feathers-on-a-stick routine...
Surprise lunches...
Ansel Adams...
Thunderheart...
Ghost...
Secondhand Lions...
What Dreams May Come...
"The lighthouse" that guided me home...to a safe heart and haven...

I remember...

Fall Sunflowers

Just spent a few minutes of my day trying out different PS options on these pics I took on the way home. Feeling a little melancholy, and they brightened my afternoon right up. Did I mention, I love photography???