Halloween cometh...

There was a time that I always made us a pumpkin custard pie for Halloween. Haven't done it in years now. But I will make some pumpkin and bat tea cakes to give to my granddaughter and the twin girls next door... as well as a Halloween bag full of candy (we no longer open our doors for Halloween trick or treaters - stopped with the pandemic and was replaced with "trunk or treat" at the schools.) 

And I already had our grandson order Pepperoni and cheese pizza for tonight (no usual Sunday roast or whatever due to baking cookies!).

I did make a Shepherd's pie the other night. I make it a little different from the original Irish recipe... as I use a Pet Ritz pie crust brushed with a little bourbon, vanilla, butter, and a tiny bit of sugar. We find it makes the crust taste very home-made - got the idea from a Chef on TV. It works great!

And I've been doing a lot of reading. Now just finished "The Last Letter" by Rebecca Yarros and am in the middle of  her "Great and Precious Things". 

By the way, our feral cat numbers have been low lately. Only Shadow (the grey) turns up. We have however been getting a mother raccoon and her babies, as well as 3 possums, and several box turtles.

Shadow and a box turtle

The crows continue to come. My son sent me this sign for the house.

So I will leave you with this:

and...

Wishing you a great Sunday and a Happy Halloween! 

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

(Update on my eye... had to reschedule my eye appointment this past week as not feeling well, but will go in this week to see what the doctor has to say)

Oh... and my youngest granddaughter makes "masks" (think I've mentioned this before?) . Anyway, she made a bunch more and brought them over for me to see yesterday. They are really good. My favorite was this one:

Had to share this... so cute!

 It's a purple Yorkie mask!

October 18, 2025 No King's Day

We went to the No Kings Day protest yesterday.

It was a great turn-out... probably over 3000 people there in our area alone lining the streets from one end of the shopping center to the other... and past into the neighborhoods - waving flags and holding signs! Cars passing were honking and giving the thumps up! There are more all over the city and the U.S. If the turnouts are all this good... and peaceful, it's a hopeful sign.

Loved some of the signs people waved. Most said "No Kings" or "No Dictators", some said, "Congress - Honor your oath", "We have a constitution, not a King", "This is what Democracy looks like". But my favorite was an elderly woman's sign that said, "I need to be able to tell my grandchildren I didn't stay silent". I agree with that. We didn't take a sign, but if I had, it would have said, "Make America KIND again!"

Favorite signs:

and 

Seeing all the news coverage of the event today was definitely encouraging. Thousands plus turned out all over the country (and apparently there were No Kings protests in other countries  too).

Wish people realized that we all love America and just want the freedom and equality that the constitution promises...  and we need to remember the words that are on the Statue of Liberty.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

 your huddled masses 

yearning to breathe free."

IMO, basically we were all immigrants... and America was built and became great on these words. Yes, understandably there must be some control and regulations... but not like what's going on now. Fear is not the way and whatever happens, I believe history will prove this. 

The words "WE, the People... " are so important. 

And at the moment I'm remembering the words of Mother Teresa when she said that we can't all do great things, but we can do small things with great love. Hoping and praying that this is enough.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Saturday thoughts...

I found this pic on the internet, but DH actually saw a white crow one day when he was pulling in the drive. I watched for days, but if it was there, it never came back. I believe that any creature can be born albino. It's just rare and I'm not sure how well they're accepted. 

I googled it and read that they are extremely rare and occur only 1 in 30,000 to 100,000 births. It is due to a genetic mutation that prevents melanin production. Sadly it also said that it can impact the bird's ability to find a mate and also harm their eyesight.

And... in some native American tribes a white crow sighting signifies a great blessing.

We have 6-8  black crows that come by every morning and evening for peanuts and Cheetos. The other day we came home from an errand and they were all over the trees cawing... like "They're home! They're home!". It was only about 3 o'clock and not actually feeding time... but I went out and threw them a few Cheetos. They were down on the lawn before I even got back in the house.

And observing them, it's possible that they come from different groups as one can be fine feeding close to some, but chases others off or is chased off himself. I raised and bred English Budgies and Zebra Finches years ago and it was fascinating to watch their interaction. Seems like these crows also have a pecking order.

OK... just wanted to share about the white crow. Didn't mean to go on and on. 

If you're still with me, I'll talk about something else... although it's not terribly exciting either. I've been baking a lot lately. Sent teacakes and home-made nutty granola to a friend last week. She was having some down days and thought it might perk her up.

And now making espresso shortbread and pralines to add to my oldest granddaughter's care package for her birthday this coming week.

espresso shortbread cookies
with dark chocolate centers

Also wearing my back brace today as lately my lower back is acting up when I get out of bed. It acts like one wrong move and it'll freeze up on me. But once I'm up and moving about (albeit very slowly at first), it seems to loosen up and be OK. (Just another sign of age, I'm sure).

And remember that Halloween is coming - so please keep your inside cats in - and possibly create a safe yard for the outside ferals.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

(For those interested, eye is healing and seems to be doing OK... but still the possibility of a 3rd surgery looms.)

just a few thoughts...

I was texting this morning with a friend that has a lot going on in her personal life these days. And we were discussing how worrying about it doesn't help... and that we need to find little things that bring us joy. 

And I happened to look up at my cat calendar hanging on the wall above my desk... and smiled.  Gary Patterson makes these and I find them adorable. They make me smile, so I thought I'd share a few with you.

 

This last one is my favorite!

I know this is a post without much content. But if it made you smile, then I'm happy. 

On a more serious note, I want to share a few pics I came across of Jane Goodall:

May she rest in peace... her life made a difference.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

October 1, 2025 Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!

October is here... and I'm so-oo glad! 

Although it's still pretty hot here in Texas,  

I know it should start to feel like Fall soon.

 Here's wishing everyone a happy healthy safe Fall Season!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

 

Today is a good day...

Just wanted to say that today is a good day! I can see again out of my left eye... still blurry, but I'll take it. It's only day 3.  2nd plastic surgery was Friday morning. Scary day with an urgent return to doctor's office after being released from surgical center (will go into that later). But... Saturday was better and so on. 

The 2nd surgery itself didn't take long. When in recovery room, I opened the eye that had been stitched closed for 5 weeks and I could see 'shadows of people'. Then as time went on while still there, I could see as if I was looking at things through blurry water. 

After home for about an hour, I was watching TV when suddenly the TV was doubled, my vision  became double vision... which was scary and also made me a bit nauseous. 

So we went back to see the doctor and I was told that when this happened he believed it was due to weakened muscles in the eye from either the anesthesia or the numbing agents (or the fact that the eye was stitched closed for so long - my reasoning). It should go away in a few minutes, hours, or days. He patched it closed for the day and told me to remove the patch in the morning and start the healing treatments. 

The next morning when I removed the patch, my vision was blurry, but normal. And so it goes...

The only thing I haven't mentioned is that when he told me that he believed the double vision was due to weakened eye muscles, he also said it could be due to a stroke (yes, that certainly upped my bp!) I was like, "What??". Then he said that he didn't think it was that as I wasn't showing any neurological signs. I asked "what are the signs?" And he said, "headache, weakness, etc."  I said, "No... (although I had just come off anesthesia and was feeling a bit weak). 

Anyway, patching up the eye for the night seemed to have done the trick. I see him again later this week and we'll go from there. If any of you out there watch Doc Martin on TV, this doc is a little like him... very good, but a bit abrasive. At  one point when I was telling him what was happening, he said, "Stop talking! I'm trying to examine you."(Doc Martin, right?)

Closing this with some pics that made me think of recent dreams. The last few nights this week I have dreamt of our cats (long gone).

The first was of a white cat (Betsy) we had when the kids were toddlers. I was standing in the door of a house looking out. Betsy was there on the patio drinking water. A few feet from her laying down was a mountain lion. I panicked for a second, knowing that if I called her, I would make both of them aware. In the short time that passed, Betsy simply stopped drinking and walked into the house. Dream over. I've dreamt of our cats off and on through the years, but this was the first time I ever dreamt of Betsy.

The second dream was of Ghost... one of our cats that passed away at the beginning of the pandemic. She was 15. Anyway, the dream was short, but wonderful! I actually got to pet her and she rolled over on her back and I could 'hear and feel her purring'! (My dreams are usually pictures, not much conversation, and not much 'feeling'). This was so-o different. It was wonderful and made me wake up happy.

I know many of you may think me crazy... but these are the things that make me believe that love never ends. 

Going to close this now as my left eye doesn't like the lap top light (even though I've lowered it quite a bit). I'll continue my updates later in the week. Thanks for reading. Hope it wasn't TMI.

Hugs,

Rian

 

Life goes on... but still in the 90's here

My daughter sent me these -  pictures of her Fall Table Setting and her Fall Fireplace. She decorates for almost every holiday and usually starts early. I told her that my Easter bunny decor is still out... and I think that I will just add a few pumpkins to it for Fall and Thanksgiving.

The blue/lavender plates in the center are part of a 4-piece tea set that we gave to DH's mom at one time. When she passed, it came back to me... and I passed it on to my daughter. It's a beautiful set, called Royal Albert's Moonlight Rose. It's the blue/lavender set similar to Royal Albert's Old Country Roses which are in red/gold. Here's a pic of the teapot, etc.

Now on to Shadow, the feral cat that still comes by to eat or sleep in our backyard. Here is a picture of him eating alongside one of the box turtles.

The funny story DH tells me is that he put out some leftover chicken  for Shadow and the turtle must have smelled it, as he came over and stuck his head in the dish (under Shadow's nose) and took a piece!

Life goes on here... my next plastic surgery is this week. Not looking forward to it, but also want it done and over (hopefully). 

Going to share 2 more things here that are very different. But it's all I've got at the moment.  One is a picture of my Ice-box Lemon pie I made last week. It is so-oo good. Made with lemon curd, condensed milk and whipping cream (how could it not be good?) It's my next favorite to my dark chocolate pie (made with bourbon whipped cream as a topping). If I posted a pic of this before, please forgive me (memory isn't always great).

This other share is a spiritual one. It's just one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity. I don't read religious books much, but this one I liked. The quote that stayed with me all these years was:

"What can you ever know of other people's souls - of their  temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole of creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a God, you are, in a sense alone with Him."

And I will leave you with this. My time and attention has been taken up with this eye situation and getting by with this eye stitched closed, so I've not been paying much attention to the political atmosphere. I get a little here and there from DH or my iPhone... but there is another quote that seems appropriate here (yes, I like quotes and seem to remember the ones that speak to me). 

"Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof" - meaning don't worry about future problems. Take it a day at a time. I'm trying...

Hugs (virtual),

Rian