There... and back again...

I have been away from home for a bit. I have been missing my children and my grandchildren, and felt the need for a change of scenery, so I went to see my son's family in Massachusetts for a week. On the way, I got to stay with my other son's family in Denver and see my grandchildren and grand-chickens there. I love this photo of my oldest granddaughter with the hens!

I knew I was going too soon to see fall color in New England, but, though the leaves hadn't changed, the air was crisp and there was plenty of beautiful color to be seen. We walked the grand-dog on beautiful estates, which are dog and people and bee friendly. One also had this tree (below) which I have never seen before. It looked like a Dr. Seuss tree to me! Nothing seemed to be eating the berries, so I assume they are not edible.

On the weekend we got to meet some church friends at a huge pick-your-own apple orchard. We loaded our bag, and our tummies, with all kinds of apples, and fresh apple cider donuts.

In addition to the orchards, there were animal pens and mazes and a hayride. (I hadn't been on a hayride since I was a teenager, when hayrides were very 'romantic,' as you might get to hold someone's hand. Since I had traveled alone, and my hand-holder was back home, it wasn't quite as romantic this time.)  The goats had ramps leading up to platforms, with pulleys that had empty cans attached to them. People could buy goat food and put it in the cans, so the goats watched the cans as they came up the belts, to see if there was food in them.

At the pumpkin patch (more fall color!) I took another favorite shot of my youngest granddaughter and one of their friend's babies. So sweet... don't you agree?

A good bit of the week was spent watching soccer. My grandson is obsessed with it, loving both playing and watching the sport. So I got to watch practices, and a couple of his games, and go along on the highlight of his week: when his team got to go to a professional game (the Revolution, who play in Gillette Stadium) and then  got to walk onto the field at halftime to "We Are the Champions" because they won their division championship tournament. That was some big excitement for a 9-year old soccer player! (And for his grandma.)

The week went by too quickly, and I flew back to Denver, then drove home over the mountains, to discover that fall color had come to Colorado in my absence. The aspen, which just had small patches of yellow when I had driven through a week before, had turned brilliant gold while I was away. The color seemed to be at it's peak on the passes.

Home now, I am ready to get busy. There are deadlines approaching, and my loom has a tapestry on it that has been on it for almost a year. Much too long. Today I went in and worked on it; weaving, then unweaving, as I've lost track of where I was going. But, by the end of the day, I began feeling at home at the loom again. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and a series of tomorrows, and it will be done.