Outrageous October

This month has had its ups and downs...literally. Beautiful fall colors and a horrendous fall off of a ladder. October is one of my favorite months and even with my broken foot, it will continue to be a favorite.

31 October 2009 Photo(s): Trick Or Treat...

smell my feet...give me something good to eat!

We had about 2 dozen kids tonight and decided it was time to turn out the lights when the teenagers started driving around in their car to get candy. Happy Halloween!!

30 October 2009 Photo: Halloween Cactus?

I have a Christmas cactus that was my mother's and it is still blooming over 20 years later. My sister JoAnne gave it to me a couple years ago and it is doing well. The problem is that it doesn't bloom at Christmas. It doesn't even make it to Thanksgiving anymore which is when it bloomed when my sister had it. Now it is a Halloween cactus...too bad the blooms aren't orange! Here is one of the first buds...more to come soon!This one was taken on November 9 2009. There are several blooms and it should be full by Thanksgiving!

29 October 2009 Photo: Take A Load Off

Hanging out on the benches enjoying the serenity of the fall.

28 October 2009 Photo: They Sure Are Hardy

Mums...another reason I love the fall! Today's rain did not damper the fall colors of the mums even though the leaves are falling quickly to the ground.

27 October 2009 Photo: Me And My Shadow

It's a classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tIa7rDhQwQ

26 October 2009 Photo(s): Ghosts On Parade At Green Lakes

So bear with me since there are many pictures on today's post...I got out of the house yesterday afternoon and headed to one of the NY State Parks. I also finished the ghost cakepops early this morning so I felt I needed to include them in here as well.

Bill and I went out to Green Lakes to check out the fall colors as it was a beautiful sunny Sunday. It is a great place to go hiking but since I couldn't do much hiking, I hobbled down to the lake for a bit and then we drove around and stopped on the side of the road so I could take some photographs. The tree pictures that look like someone was laying on the ground to take the pictures were our attempt of couple photography. I saw the picture I wanted but since I was unable to get on the ground to snap it, I metered the picture and set Bill up in the position I thought would get the shot I wanted. He did a great job! I love them and thanks to Bill for laying down on the wet leaves!

And the Halloween cakepops are FINALLY done. The ghosts are cute and as each time I have made these, I learn something new that would make it easier. If you want a cakepop, come on by to visit.

25 October 2009 Photo: Pumpkin Pops

I started making the latest version of cakepops last night. I always forget how exhausting and time consuming they are to do so I finished them this morning when I got up. I still have the ghosts to finish, but here are the pumpkins. If you haven't seen them before you can see where I made them the first time here: http://wide-angle-lens.blogspot.com/2009/04/30-april-2009-photos-you-can-have-your.html

24 October 2009 Photo: Looking For The Light

I had Bill take me out today to look for that perfect golden hour photography light. Unfortunately is was a relatively unsuccessful drive. I did capture the streaming sunbeams in the late afternoon.

23 October 2009 Photo: Falling Faster

I had an appointment this morning to get my foot re-xrayed to make sure all was healing well. I figured since I was out of the house, I would take my camera and try to get a picture in the outside world. The fall colors are at peak right now in Central NY but they are expecting rain and wind this weekend so I imagine the leaves will be down soon. I figured I better get a few more pictures before the trees are all bare. These were taken from inside the car becasue it was a bit wet out and if case you forgot...I am in a case and on crutches :)

Anyway the foot is healing properly and I tried again to get the doctor to agree to take the cast of sooner but he told the nurse to write me a prescription for No Whining Pills. I told them they should double the dose and that Bill would attest to the need. HAHA. I get a new cast in 2 weeks and I am thinking animal print!

22 October 2009 Photo: Skull & (Broken) Bones

Because of my broken bone, I have been having to find things around the house to photograph; therefore here is a skull. I guess that means I can now be an honorary member of the Yale Secret Society: Skull & Bones.

When I first started working at Cornell in 1994, I was the Resident Director in the building that housed the University's Secret Society - Quill and Dagger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill_and_Dagger

I will never forget getting calls from freaked out students when the new members were getting tapped and they saw people roaming around the building in hoods.

21 October 2009 Photo: Ghostly Trees

So I took this picture through some orange sheer material that is on one of our fall decorations. It sort of made this ghostly image that I thought appropriate being so close to Halloween.

20 October 2009 Photo(s): I Got A Rock

I bought this set a few years ago and it is one of Bill's favorites, so we dug through the boxes to find them to complete our Halloween decorations tonight. It looks like the cartoon can be seen on TV on both October 27th and 28th at 8pm on ABC...don't forget or you might get a rock like Charlie Brown.

19 October 2009 Photo: They're BAAACCKKK

I know the scarecrows made a recent appearance on the blog but now they have all come out to play. We have done a lot of the decorating but not all. Actually I am not sure if we will get all of it done this year due my injury but we'll see. Bill's loves Halloween so I am going to try to make it happen.

18 October 2009 Photo: Wherefore Art Thou?

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

17 October 2009 Photo: Christmas In October

Confession number one...this photo was taken yesterday. So remember in blogs gone by when I talked about not being mobile due to a sprained ankle? Well...I decided sprained was not fun enough and amped it up. I went to the orthopedist yesterday as a follow up to make sure I was doing everything right to heal quickly. The doctor came into the exam room, asked me some questions and started pushing around on my foot/ankle while asking what hurt. He hit a part of my foot on the outside below the ankle and I said yeah...that really is still tender. To my surprise, he said well that is because you have a broken bone. WHAATTTT?!?!?!

Confession number two...I almost cancelled that doctor's appointment because my foot was feeling much better and I was able to walk on it a bit without the crutches. I could not believe my ears. Since it seemed to be healing so well, I said...I guess I will just keep doing what I was doing and let it heal au naturale. No such luck! "You will have to be in a cast for 6 weeks." WHHATTTTT?!?!? No, you don't understand, Mr. nice Doctor...I drive for my job ALOT! So is there is a cast you can put on where I can continue to drive. Again...no such luck! "So what color cast would you like?" Invisible?? Not an option. So he asked me if I wanted to see the x-ray before I got casted. Oh sure, why not. I am sure if the ER doctor couldn't see it, I wouldn't be able to notice it either.

Confession number three...I would like to go back to the ER and say not so very nice things to them. The bone that was broken was sooooo easy to see. I am not a medical professional (but I play one on TV) and I could clearly see the line going through the bone. WTF...did they think I opened up my skin and drew on my bone with a black Sharpie??? So off I went to the nice Ortho Tech who was to put on my cast. Again I was asked what color I wanted. I'd like a nice orange and black mixture. He laughed at me...we don't have orange. WHATTTT?!?!?! It is almost Halloween after all, so I thought it would be a good costume. However, when you live in Syracuse which is the home of the Syracuse University Orange, I imagine it is hard to keep in stock. So I went with a nice green. Lovely isn't it?!?!

Confession number four...I feel badly for Bill. So for the next 6 weeks I cannot drive...I cannot put weight on my foot...I cannot get the cast wet. What can I do? I can keep it elevated and I can go stark, raving MAD!!!!!!! If you know me, you know I am not one to sit still for very long so we will see who goes crazy first...me or Bill. Bill's driving alone might kill me.

Confession number five...I already am trying to figure out how I can get out of the house and do things like shopping, movies, continue taking pictures for the blog, and dancing (hey I might want to). Luckily both Wegman's and P&C have the little carts you can drive around with the basket in the front for groceries. And don't you worry you faithful blog followers, I will not let this foot get me down. The pictures will continue...

Confession number six...I climbed a ladder while we were apple picking. I didn't really need to climb the ladder to get the apples as they were close enough to the ground to pick without the ladder. However the photo opportunity I wanted was on the ladder over looking the apple trees down to the valley. No I didn't get the picture. No it wasn't worth it. But I did get a pretty green cast...Merry Christmas to me!

16 October 2009 Photo: Weather Gone Wild

We got a dusting of snow in the wee hours of the morning. How do I know when it happened...I was up from 3:30 - 5:00 AM while it was snowing. It did no even cover all of the grass so I am not sure you can even count it as "the first snow" of the season. Either way, it is October 16th which is WAY TOO EARLY for this white stuff. So please go away. Actually the sun is already out and shining so hopefully it will be gone before too long!

15 October 2009 Photo: If I Only Had A Brain

The scarecrows are hanging out on the deck ready to get put up on the yard. I am singing, "If I only had a brain...I wouldn't have gotten on that ladder!"

14 October 2009 Photo: Wearing Your Heart On Your Gourd

Bill went and bought gourds for our fall decorating. Doesn't it look like a heart on the front gourd? Unfortunately I am still not at capacity to do the outside decorating. Hopefully by the weekend, I will be mobile enough!

13 October 2009 Photo: Still Blooming

Mobility is still an issue due to the foot so no ladder climibing to get pictures today, but these looked so pretty on the table. They were from Bill from our anniversary last week!

12 October 2009 Photo(s): R.I.C.E.

I have been R.I.C.E.ing all day. Resting, Icing, Compressing and Elevating to try to heal my sprained foot. As a result, I have not been real mobile to take pictures so today's pictures is one of our recycling bin and I threw in one we took on yesterday's travels that I didn't include in yesterday's blog post. This is our new friend that we met at Tim's Pumpkin Patch who happily ate leaves out of our hands.

11 October 2009 Photo(s): Pumpkins And Apples And Sprained Ankles...OH MY!

It started out as a perfect fall day - the sun was shining...the air was crisp...the pumpkins and apples were plentiful. We took off early this morning to head to Tim's Pumpkin Patch to pick pumpkins, get cider and take some photographs. We bought 10 pumpkins to decorate around the house...big one, little ones, traditional ones and slightly ill shaped ones (they will make their appearance on the blog at a later date).

After that, we headed to Beak and Skiff to pick apples...here is where the day went terribly wrong. I was trying to get all creative and climbed the ladder - not to pick apples but to take pictures. Stupidly I was not paying attention and lost my balance on the ladder - crash, boom, twist - and I was on the ground. I still say Bill pushed me :) no not really - but when he asked if I was ok, first thing I asked about was my camera!

Two and a half hours in Urgent Care to find out the ankle was not broken. Let me tell you, it hurts like HELL! You can see me screaming in the second picture. I am hoping it is feeling better soon because I am not a good patient; however, I am resting (uncomfortable), taking Aleve (like candy) and Bill is taking care of me (like a princess).

The last picture was taken before the sprained ankle...if you click on it you can see it looks more like a painting than a photo.

10 October 2009 Photo(s): I Don't Know Art...But I Know What I Like

Bill and I were driving down to Ithaca today to visit friends. I decided to veer off our usual route and head down the back roads hoping for some good foliage shots. However, I was more surprised when I saw this interesting sculpture garden on the side of the road. There was metal work, wood work and paintings in the old barn in Little York, NY. If you are ever in the area of Cortland, NY stop by and check it out http://www.ferroart.com/index.html. We found several sculptures that would be fun to have, above are a few photos of the art.

9 October 2009 Photo: Another Leaf

Yes, I know, another leaf, you ask? Hey, it's fall...deal with it!!!

8 October 2009 Photo: Spooky Season

The fall season is a favorite in our house. I love the fall leaves...Bill loves Halloween. The house will be transforming over the weekend with decorations for fall and spooky season and here is just a taste.

7 October 2009 Photo: My Personal Poet

October 7th, 2005 was our wedding day and four years later my amazing husband surprised me with a beautiful poem and gifts. It was the perfect ending to a VERY long day. I was still traveling for work and got home just before midnight to this freshly painted box filled with leaves, our wedding vows framed, a poem and other gifts. Bill was at work and I was in tears because it was so heartwarming.

autumn leaves

whisper and dance

like two leaves from different trees we fell

winds of fate blew us together

like two seeds of fire

spiraling...smoldering

leaves of autumn

shades of red and yellow

aflame

two lives...two seeds

bursting into autumnal bloom

falling together

in love

we whisper...smile

and

dance

-william hartman 10/07/09

6 October 2009 Photo(s): Cheers To Bill

As I was driving along the back roads of Maine, I came across a Flea Market that had hundreds of bottles of all sizes and colors. It made for some good photographs. Also, today is Bill's birthday so I raise a glass to him and say cheers and I love you!

5 October 2009 Photo: Chapel Towers

During a visit to Bowdoin College, the towers of one of the campus buildings caught my eye.