Scattered Life Collective

Ah! I was so happy to pop over to Cindy's Spirit Uncaged blog to find a new Scattered Life Collective this morning! So...I shall share mine:

 

current time: 5:17 am (did you remember to change your clocks?)

on the menu: Dinner plans are Stove Top Stuffing and Chicken Bake...the rest of the day is feeling like a 'Fend for Yourself Where You Can'...There is entirely too much Halloween candy haunting me yet...ugh!!

out the window: Early morning darkness, wind scuffling leaves in the driveway (oh! And my new car! LOVE!!)

A 2006 Silver Moss Honda CR-V (does anybody know what CR-V stands for? It's making me crazy...But isn't she purty??)

reading: Finally!! I finished Winter of the World by Ken Follett (I give it four stars...Liked it better than the first in this trilogy, Fall of Giants) I love Holocaust novels and this came at WWII from a different perspective, let you watch as the tensions and terror built...Definitely looking forward to book three.

So--at long last, I'd been dying to begin And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini--aahh! I love, love, love his books! A quick review from Amazon:
"Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed begins simply enough, with a father recounting a folktale to his two young children. The tale is about a young boy who is taken by a div (a sort of ogre), and how that fate might not be as terrible as it first seems—a brilliant device that firmly sets the tone for the rest of this sweeping, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel. A day after he tells the tale of the div, the father gives away his own daughter to a wealthy man in Kabul. What follows is a series of stories within the story, told through multiple viewpoints, spanning more than half a century, and shifting across continents. The novel moves through war, separation, birth, death, deceit, and love, illustrating again and again how people’s actions, even the seemingly selfless ones, are shrouded in ambiguity. This is a masterwork by a master storyteller. —Chris Schluep"

I also downloaded Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven for free on my Kindle. Bug 'n I have read this before at Halloween but I had to leave my paperback version of Poe's Complete Collection behind when we moved from PA (*gasp!* so devastating to let go of so many beautiful books...) But it's nice to have this favorite poem for spooky reading once again..."Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'...."

listening:  Haha--I have my Christmas CD's going already...I love Charlie Brown!



watching: One of my guilty pleasures is ANTM...seriously the show doesn't have much in the way of intelligence to offer but it's a fun watch and this season it's guys vs the girls...and I wouldn't be surprised if a guy walks away with the title this round!



good things: 

• ROWING!!! I am love, love, loving rowing! I went out for my second open row yesterday morning--I can't get enough! First, the wharf was beautiful in the overcast grey of the morning:
  
  
  
  

Then, while waiting for the row, I got to watch as one of the huge fishing boats was lifted by this giant crane for winter dry dock:

So cool--and really loud!

And and and!!! We saw seals this week!!!! Three fat swimmy lovelies!! They poke their chubby cheeks up out of the water and eye spy you, then quickly duck away--but one did a bit of a full belly float for us...aahhh! These guys are HUGE!! I won't bring my phone out on the boat (I've already lost one phone to the water up here) but I snagged a couple pics online to show how cute these babies are:

Adorable, yes???? Omigosh--I'm so in love!!

• Family Bowling Night! We decided to begin a monthly Family Bowling Night--first Saturday of the month, to just go play, be goofy, and have some fun--success! Bill's sister, Cindy, won the first game and Bug, of course, won the second, then off we went to Café Roma for dinner--starved!! Hoping Ash and Kyle can join us next month--the more whackos, the merrier!
• Wooly Bear Caterpillars EVERYWHERE!! Too cute!
• Making excellent progress with Christmas shopping, planning, wrapping...Got my little weekly planner all filled in and checking off! Have you started?

icky things and their silver linings:

• I really don't have any icky things to share this week...aside from too much Halloween candy still haunting me--silver lining: Christmas is coming??

Around and About

• Ann Voskamp's Thanksgiving Tree We had a crazy wind storm the other day that blew down a ton of perfect little branches (and almost our entire back fence--I had to bungee cord the posts to the neighbor's fence behind it to hold it up-yikes!) and I found just the right vase at Michael's for $3! I'll post some pics later as the tree fills up with thanks...

That's it this week...The sun is starting to lighten the sky, though it's gonna be a chilly forty-five degrees today. Leaves to rake in the back yard. Football to be watched on TV and chicken and stuffing to roast in the oven. I completely love fall! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

---