Goal achieved!

Well, my friends, I have achieved my goal of being able to do one full chin up all by myself.  I started this journey on July 20 and was hoping to be able to do one by Christmas at the latest.  On Monday, September 14, I did my very first full chin up and have done one every day this week.    Next goal is to be able to do two in a row, perhaps by Christmas?  I must say, I'm pretty tickled pink about this. Chin Chin to me!

Russell, the Coop and I had a pretty good week.  The weather was spectacular to say the least.  We had some nice walks and did a bit of plant cleanup in the garden.  It may feel like Summer but there are true signs of Fall. Our hummingbirds have started their long journey South.  We saw our last one on September 11.  The acorns are falling like crazy, much to Cooper's delight.  His favorite game at this time of year is to find the acorns that we throw at him.  He goes nuts with those!

The weather was not only beautiful during the day, but we had some clear and moonless nights.  On Tuesday night, we turned all the lights off and the Coop and I sat on the back deck while Russell took pictures of the Milky Way, which I got to see for the very first time, with the naked eye.  Pretty amazing!  I include one of the pictures that Russell took.  I'd say almost as good as the ones he took in Algonquin Park a few weeks ago.  Russell actually shared that picture on Flicker and it was included in a special section called Explorer.  Very cool!

On Friday, Terri and I went to Sandhill Nursery for their Fall Festival Open House.  The theme this year is the Magic of Fall and Yuletide Wonder.  The festival lasts about one month.  It is spectacular and certainly puts you in the mood, even if just for a short while,  for the upcoming holidays.  I took a few pictures that I thought you might enjoy.

Yesterday was the only day of the week where we had some rain, although the sun came out towards the end of the afternoon.  Russell had a nice fire going all day and I made our very first Fall meal:  meatloaf, potatoes and roasted heritage carrots (thanks Terri for the recipe).  To finish the meal, we had scrumptious Peach Crumb Bars (thanks Diana for the recipe).  Back to Summer meals this week though as the weather will, once again, be beautiful.  What a gorgeous month we have had so far!

That's it for this week's blog.  We are on the deck now enjoying the weather and hope it lasts for many more weeks!  Have a great week everyone!

Christmas trees and pumpkins....where else but Sandhill Nursery.

Ho...ho...ho....!

Fantastic decorations, Sandhill goes all out, stop in for a visit.

Good thing there was a fence to keep Cooper out, he goaded them anyways.

Milky Way seen from our back deck in Huntsville.