IN PRAISE OF HANGING OUT AT HOME

This cross-stitched sampler hung on my in-laws' wall in their homes during the decades I knew them. I think it was made by Brian's Aunt Joyce and hope that she will comment a confirmation. It now hangs on the hallway wall outside our kitchen.

Oh, before I forget to mention it, I found the gourds this morning. Recently on Facebook I bemoaned an inability to locate the fake gourds that I get out every fall.

A couple of people thought they might be with the Christmas decorations and that’s where they were – with a catch. They were tucked inside a basket on top of a shelf full of Christmas wreaths and table-top sized trees. I thought it was simply a random basket with nothing inside but pulled it down on a whim and there they were. I have no memory of putting them there.

While the southeast is enduring a serious hurricane today, the contrast here is striking. It is a stunning day in the Hoosier state. I have had a non-stop week on the go including three special book programs in five days in Covington, Pendleton and New Castle. I will unpack those, but not today.

Today feels like a treat, a stay-cation even, just to hang at home and do common things for a change. I have no programs this weekend for which to prepare, no vendor responsibilities. I need this break in the action and I actually crave it!

Brian and I hit the grocery store earlier and I was inclined to pick up some extra ingredients. For one thing, I’m going to make Blaise Doubman’s Comedy of Errors Apple Pie for my church life group, the Midlife Moms, on Sunday night. There’s another recipe I may try if time allows for my work pals for Monday, but in case they are reading, best not promise.

With this spectacular weather, I would like to touch up the porch’s black wicker with black paint before putting it away for the year. I always find that no matter how nice the weather seems during Indian Summer, by about Nov. 7, it’s time to pack up the outdoors stuff for the season as the party’s over. There's something completely satisfying about putting something seasonal away with its repairs completed so that when it's time to get it back out, it looks wonderful and is ready for action rather than paint and primping.

I’ve got a hankering to pick up some pumpkins to decorate the front porch. In one of Brian’s two annual decorating escapades, (the other being putting Christmas lights out front on the shrubs) he enjoys carving Halloween pumpkins. I’m more a fan of them in their natural state.

I have bills to pay, general clean-up and putting the house back together after a week of inattention, unpacking my car and taking inventory of books after the week’s programs. And I have to work on my Monday Bible Study lesson and -- is there a chance I will get to one? -- I was given two books to read this week that beckon: a freebie Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, that Henry County folks are reading in the annual Big Read program, and a loan from Ruth Phelps, Billy Graham’s The Journey: How to Live By Faith in an Uncertain World.

Oh, there’s also laundry and umpteen other jobs if I get to them. I won’t. But the longing is there for home, chilling out, and nothing of a deadline nature outside of the newspaper norm.
Tomorrow, I’m meeting my Greenfield, Indiana, buddy Suzy to take in Riley Days.

What are you up to this weekend? This fall? Whatever your plans, I hope you enjoy them. We’ll talk soon.

BELOW: Basket of ... deplorables? Nah, gourds. BEL W RIGHT: a kitchen centerpiece with a my new favorite fall candle scent: Yankee's Salted Caramel.

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