The biggest ending is of course the loss of our sweet cat Sam. I still have not done a tribute to him here on the blog. Soon.

Assorted leaves hanging out before the pool was closed.

The pool is closed for the season. Its winter cover keeping it tidy for the autumn and winter seasons to come. It’s sad, but it was time. Next year we are looking to install a heater to add several weeks on to the beginning and the end of pool season.

Yesterday also was the end of my photography classes. I wish they offered a more in-depth class to hone the skills I learned but they don’t. So for now I’ll just have to take what I did learn and practice on my own. I was amazed how so many people can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. They can go on and on about this and that about their camera, throwing all kinds of terms around, but when it comes to actually taking photos they aren’t very good! Yesterday we had to go out into the parking lot and take photos of textures, reflections, patterns, lines and etc. and then come in and do a slideshow. It was enlightening for sure. One girl who claims to have a job in a photography studio didn’t even know what the hot shoe was! She also did not share her photos with the class. (It was optional to share.)

It’s also the end of summer. Even when the days get up in to the 70’s the air is different and you can tell the heat has lost its punch.

My neighbor’s tree.

Little mushrooms are popping up in the yard.

Apples and fall fruits take over the farmer’s market.

In other news, Sam’s death kind of took away the excitement and pleasure of seeing my photo/s in print in two local newspapers. They actually did use them!

The Trends reaches has a large distribution and reaches our whole county. They used their staff photographer’s photo on the front page (boohoo, but hey they have to pay him!) but used my photo on the inside.

I was also surprised and pleased to see that their affiliated paper, Aim West Milford, that is local just to our township used both photos I submitted. (Also on on inside page.)

I was very pleased. And proud. I am thinking they had a lot of photo submissions for the fire and yet they chose to use mine.

So, that’s it for today. Kind of a mish-mash, but there you have it.

Remember the Craigslist guy? Well, he called. Again. Rick had not checked his iPhone for messages over the weekend and he had called and emailed on Sunday to say he wanted to pick it up that day. Then he called again two days later. Rick told him we had sold it (which we haven’t) and he said. “Oh.” Guess that’s the end of him.

The train situation yesterday worked out kind of funny. We planned for my sister to take the train from Penn Station (where her Amtrak train arrived) to the Suffern, NY station that is closest to us at a time when Rick would be leaving from the same station within 20 minutes. My sister’s train arrived at 3:43 and Rick’s was to leave at 4:03. When my sister’s train arrived we soon discovered that it would be the same train as Rick would take. They just pull in, flip all the seats to the opposite position and are ready to go! Weird. That doesn’t happen very often!

This strange bug was skittering around on the deck yesterday. I don’t know what it is.

The chlorinated little frog didn’t make it. Yesterday when I checked the skimmers, one had a shrew in it and the other one had two little frogs. When we opened the pool and skimmed the leaves that had fallen Rick scooped up a HUGE frog from the deep end of the pool. Must be that time of year. I hate to find things dead in the pool. Sometimes I can rescue the frogs and sometimes I can’t. Next week I won’t have to worry about it anymore, but it was nice to sit out there with my sister and brother-in-law to have a glass of wine yesterday afternoon and admire the pool.

Back to the train station twice again today: once to take my sister around noon and again to pick up Rick around 7:00 p.m. Good thing it’s a pretty drive which just happens to take me right past the entrance to Skylands. I just might take the camera with me and stop. Stranger things have happened.

Early morning shadows.

As in not sure what I am going to blog about. I feel like I should post something. But I can’t seem to drag myself out of my malaise.

Is it because Sam is really sick and not going to get any better and I’ve been playing caregiver to him?

Is it because this is normally the time of year we head off to the cabin? We went in late May/early June this year and yet it seems like we didn’t go at all. Like we are missing out.

Or is it just because. I honestly don’t know. So I have a feeling this will be a random dumping of things going around in my head this morning.

I mowed the yards yesterday and in doing so picked up a lot of leaves that have fallen. It was a beautiful afternoon so it wasn’t really a chore riding Johnny around and around. I am hoping the grass is just about done with its growth cycle. Then it will be leaves, and oh boy, do we have a ton of leaves!

Last night it got down to 46 degrees F. BRRRRR! The pool is not going to like that. We did manage to swim on Saturday for ten lengths of the pool but little five-minute rain showers kept drifting by that weren’t helping anything. We thought we had broken a record by having the latest swim ever, but in my archives the other day a post popped up about the Ren Faire from September 10, 2007 and I talked about how we had gotten so hot while at the Faire we came home and jumped in the extremely cold pool to cool off. So, we didn’t break a record after all. Almost. The pool is scheduled for closing next week.

Good thing too. Every morning when I go out to put chlorine in there is a little frog on the solar cover. I can’t catch him, so obviously there is not enough chlorine in the water! The fallen acorns were covering the pool deck the other day and we swept them off. A few days later you can’t tell we did anything. Even sitting in the house you can hear them hit the pool cover with a resounding thwack! nearly as loud a gun shot. After not bearing any nuts at all last year our oaks are making up for it. I have a plan for the little acorn hats. If it works out I’ll show you.

We walked the dogs after dinner last night. The days are getting so short that dusk fell pretty quickly from the time we set out to the time we were walking back up our road. Good thing the dogs were leashed because there at the edge of the woods stood a deer frozen to the spot. The dogs all saw it and it saw them. We were getting closer and closer and still the deer just stood there, so finally I yelled SHOO! and it took off. Next thing we knew another deer broke cover from the opposite side of the road and crossed in front of us. The dogs were going crazy but stayed under control, thank god. I’ve had enough dog-related injuries to last a lifetime. But that’s a subject for a different blog post.

My sister and her husband arrive tomorrow afternoon for a brief overnight stay on their way to vacation in New York City. Rick has a seminar in the city, so he’ll be departing to NYC as they arrive here! Since Rick will be traveling by train and my sister is coming via the train, I should be busy shuttling to and from the train station tomorrow. Maybe I can take Rick around the same time as my sister arrives. Otherwise, Skylands is in the middle between the house and the train station so I just might amuse myself there!

So, see? Random thoughts!

This person was pretending to be a mannequin and most people walked right on by without ever realizing she was real. And, yes, I did ask if I could take her photo.

Yesterday we donned our Ren clothes and headed to the Faire. It was the perfect day for it: not too warm, not too humid, not too sunny.

We soon found out that lots of other people thought it was a good day to go as well! The Faire was packed by one hour after opening. For a Sunday this is kind of odd as we’ve found Sunday mornings to usually be slow.

The Washing Well Wenches doling out their humor. If you go, do not sit in the first two rows or you’ll get wet!

The Faire is set in a beautiful area of Sterling Forest. Somehow where it’s located seems quite apropos, doesn’t it? The grounds are picturesque. This year they even added a new building to the shire.

We didn’t have breakfast so we knew we wanted to eat before the noon crush. We actually had pretty good food! I had a portobello mushroom burger that had feta cheese and grilled onions and red and green peppers (I only ate a little of the bottom half of the bun) and Rick had a grilled chicken flatbread. The people at our table were eating something extremely yummy looking so I asked them what they had. They were eating a grilled eggplant wrap and one of them had a “Tour of the Mediterranean” salad. Next year I’m getting one of those!

I also did not take my big camera because I didn’t want to make it all about taking photos. I just wanted to have fun, so I popped my tiny point-and-shoot camera into my equally tiny purse that I wear around my waist. I saw a few things I could not pass up so I’m glad I had a camera with me.

Bodices for sale.

Sometimes when we go there are lots of people dressed up and sometimes there aren’t. Yesterday there were more people in normal clothes than Ren clothes. It seemed to be family day at the Faire with lots of small children and plenty of strollers. I really don’t know what little kids get out of it all. Especially some of the shows which are pretty rife with sexual innuendos. I know they don’t understand it, so I guess they just laugh at the antics. I just hope they don’t start asking, mommy what does that mean????

You see all kinds of outfits at the Faire. Some work, some just don’t. This is one that doesn’t! Maybe it’s the cowboy hat?

Lot of wings sprouting from peoples’ backs.

It doesn’t take much to become a princess. Just wear a cute hat!

The beautiful setting of the Sherwood Forest stage.

A view in to the window of M’Lady’s Panties shop.

We saw several shows and enjoyed them all. Most of all I love “Hey Nunnie, Nunnie” with its two nuns telling silly Catholic-based jokes. They make me laugh every time. Having been raised Catholic I can certainly relate. Especially when they pull out their ruler and ask if anyone is afraid. Uhm, yes, I am!

We watched these two yell insults at the tomato throwers. One guy got them but good!

We really enjoyed ourselves this year. Of course, the experience is slightly enhanced if you have a few glasses of wine or beer. Just relax and go with the flow and escape from normal life for day. Might as well enjoy it!

When we got home we were just hot enough to jump in the pool. The water is a touch on the chilly side, but it felt good. We both swam about 20 lengths of the pool. I think this might be the latest in the year we’ve ever swam before.

I have to admit, we were lazy.

But we did manage to achieve goal #3 of camping out in the cabana by the pool Saturday night. We both fell asleep listening to the cicada and cricket symphony, only to be awakened shortly before midnight by Bella’s one bark. She wanted to go and in go to bed! So we stumbled around half-asleep and closed up the pool and headed inside.

Sunday morning we got up and drove to Warwick, NY for the Sunday farmer’s market per usual. We weren’t yet sure about the Ren Faire but we had plenty of time to decide.

What’s wrong with this photo (it’s also the reason I took it)?

This is coming in to my favorite time of the year for the market. Lots of things to choose from! We came home with zucchinis, a striped eggplant, a small butternut squash, a fresh log of goat cheese, some poblano peppers, lettuce, parsley, bread, a free range chicken, and a flat iron steak, all of which will feature in our meals in the upcoming week.

Once we got home we realized we just weren’t in the mood for the Ren Faire. After our full day Saturday of canoeing and lots of swimming we just wanted to relax. We’ll go next weekend since we have three whole days to choose from.

We managed a little bit more of goal #4, which was to swim since it was a beautiful day. Doesn’t the water look delicious? The temperature is holding at 75 degrees right now and once you get in and get wet it feels really good.

A few more weeks and the pool will be closed. Boo.

When I picked up my camera yesterday and started changing the settings for what I knew I was going to be taking photos of I realized that I had left the camera on settings I had not intended while taking my Green Turtle Pond photos. No wonder I had so many where the color was off and lots not in complete focus! Duh! The bad thing about having more knowledge about my camera’s numerous setting off the manual modes is that, well, maybe I have too much knowledge! Check thy settings, Lynne, every time you pick up the camera!!

Hey, third photo class tomorrow: White Balance and Composition!