The kids didn't have school on Friday so Vanessa and I took them, plus Grace, one of Emma's sister friends who was adopted the same time and from the same orphanage as Emma, to Lucy's for apple picking.

Here are Emma's completed clouds. I had painted wispier clouds in the same shapes, but when Ana came home from school she put on her painting clothes and just had to paint them a little more to fill them in and make them look right in her estimation, she also added a sun with our kitchen paint. The shelves were unpainted from Michael's and I painted them the trim color. I got both of them together for under $20.00.

I am so glad that there are now not only latex paints that can be dissloved with water, but before Labor Day I started working on the fence with a water solvent stain/sun protector (at this elevation you really need it). The fumes are negligible and it's really nice not having to use paint thinner to clean up and having those rags reeking in the Tuff shed ready to combust.

My aunt turned on the wrong burner and burned her teapot. Jake and I went hiking behind the Murphys. The fall colors are a delight.

There are three rainbows in the middle picture, it's hard to see. Looks like I'm becoming an I Spy photographer. Maybe that will make up for my lack of skill otherwise.

I'm going to paint some clouds this morning in Emma's room. She chose a light blue for her room and now she'd like some clouds so her room will look like it's up in the sky.

Ana chose fern green. We had it done by her first day of middle school, so it was a symbol of her new life, and getting up around 5:00 am. She's enjoying school.

I used an antique white in the kitchen, hallway and part of the bathroom. It covered the old white which was probably 15 years old. It looks nice, especially with white trim. The painting entailed a lot of exercise, so it was good for me.

I wanted to get it done before the windows have to be closed, the weather has been great and some of the leaves are really striking.

There's a dog running up to a tree in the top one, and a passageway through rocks in the bottom.

Both my aunt and I shared a birthday this weekend, Sept. 9. We had them come over on Saturday for Cinncinnati chile and barbecue and first my cousin and his wife came to hike. We hiked at a nice Devil's Head viewing spot. Mike and Marylee are the top photo followed with my nuclear family members and an errant rock outcrop.

My car is a 1994 Subaru wagon and the cd player has worn out. So for my birthday I received an mp3 player, it's not an Ipod, but it has 4 gig of song storage. Then Dave picked out a fm transmitter that plays my mp3 songs on my car radio. It's great. I can even transmit songs from my mp3 player inside the house to my car radio outside in the yard or my old beater boom box when I want to garden outside and not get dirt or water on the mp3 player.