I'm having trouble keeping a fire going, in the stove I mean.  Today is a naughty girl day.  I have tried and tried all morning to be a good girl but now I feel I must give in to the naughties.  First thing is to break out the peanut M&M's.  I don't ordinarily fancy chocolate but these are irresistible.  Next I must break out the naughty girl music.  There isn't anything particularly naughty about the tunes that I play on a naughty girl day but my husband doesn't like them and that is what makes them naughty.  Fortunately for him he has gone to a meeting and won't be around for the worst of the mood, or will he? 

Crank that stereo as far as it will go, send Matthew to another room so he can finish his school work without interruption, and away I go.  Too bad MK is at school.  She is a good partner for a day such as this.  Best go grab a beer and let the naughties begin.

We recently discovered two ginormous volunteer pumpkins growing in the field past our house.  Today Doug and I went up and brought them down to the house with the little wagon.  Matthew and I went to work carving them in the traditional fall fashion.  We don't do halloween in this house but we are enthusiastic celebrators of fall and Thanksgiving.

Matthew tends to be a little more artistic about his pumpkin carving than I am but we both had a good time and I shall set them out tonight with candles to light up their smiles.

Isabella was a naughty girl today.  Tonight she has to sleep out in the washroom.  She ran away from me and got a hold of a dead pigeon from the cat and was chewing on it.  The last time that happened she spent the night throwing up all over the house.  That's not going to happen tonight.

Brutus spent this lovely day being his usual energetic and coy self.  He seems to know what to do whenever I get the camera out.  We took a long walk out in the pasture along the fences to see if they were all intact.  He spent most of the time searching for little creatures in the grass while I checked the fences for breaks.

Some kind of noise from the valley alerted the dogs and had both of them standing at attention.  I suspect it was deer moving from the pasture above down into the woods below for the night.  Whatever it was I am pleased to notice that both dogs are becoming possessive enough of us and our home to become alert to sounds like the deer passing through and strange cars pulling in the driveway.  That must mean that they have adopted us all well and good now.

Outside my window......it is sunny, very sunny, cool and crisp.  The day is absolutely perfect for fall.  The prevalent smell in the air is maple leaves and chopped corn.  My dogs have been frolicking about the yard and enjoying the sunny day.  When I look across the road I can see the pigs out sunning themselves in the yard by the barn. 

I am thinking.....there is really no place like the home that my husband and I have created for our family.  The land calls out to my heart and soul.  The roots that we have put down have sunk deep into the soil of our New York farm and they are truly here to stay.  Generations that come long after we are gone will enjoy what we have built here.  Not the buildings or the plantings, but the love and the family that we have established.

I am thankful for......the many and varied graces that I have enjoyed that flow freely from the sacrament of matrimony.  My husband and I have built something that is enduring and strong that nothing here on earth may prevail against.  It sings in my heart and echoes in the land around me.

I am wearing......blue jeans, a long-sleeved green shirt, grey vest and slippers.  The chimney isn't drawing very well due to the sunshine today so it isn't very warm in here.

I am going......nowhere today.  Matthew and I have already been to mass and to visit the cemetary to pray for our faithful departed.  Today is a good one to finish my indoor work then take the dogs for a nice long walk in the fields.

I am reading.......nothing yet.  I am taking a break from reading.  My mind is busy contemplating my life and my loves.

I am hoping......that much healing and forgiving goes on when my family gets together for Thanksgiving in three weeks.

From the schoolroom........Matthew is hard at work filling his mind with knowledge so that he can turn it into wisdom, by the grace of God.

From the kitchen.......I think a pot of potato and bean soup with the bread that I baked yesterday.

Around the house.......the floors are clean, all is tidy, laundry machines are humming.  Sounds like a typical Monday in the farmhouse.

One of my favorite things........the Saturday I just enjoyed with my son and daughter sewing and visiting.  God is truly good to this family.

Here are a few pictures that I am sharing with you........

The starkness of the trees doesn't do anything to the beauty of the leaves on the ground and the green of the grass and the shrub. 

How I wish I could publish the wonderful smell of the maple leaves and the fresh air. 

The wheat is up enough to cover the ground and make everything look so fresh and green.  It almost like that part of the farm has always been thus.

These are the scenes that greet my eye every day when I step out of the house.  I continue to be thankful and to try never to take any of this for granted.