So Not Spooky

These beauties invited us over for non-spooky Halloween . . .

. . . aren't they adorably non-spooky?

I love their non-spooky adorableness, although we did need some education on their costumes.

There's a cat and a Snow White but the rest . . . ?

. . .  oh, a Maleficent!

Hey, I read movie reviews.

Also, this girl will teach you everything you need to know . . .

. . . and her Auntie Jeannine?

. . . she will give you all the black lipstick you need. (Look at Wednesday Addams in the background. Can you even?)

Man, these chitlins are cute at Halloweentime . . .

. . . and man, are we happy to be included in their shenanigans.

Thanks for the lovely time, lovelies.

And in the meantime . . . 

We are having the most Maleficent . . .

. . . er, Magnificent . . .

. . . Autumn . . .

. . . in the history of the Planet.

Enjoy, lovelies.

Walden Pond

The Transcendentalists loved nature.  And I love Nature. We have a lot in common, those Transcendentalists and I. Serendipitously.

Mistah and I had the great good fortune to go to Concord this weekend and to commune with the spirit of his man Henry David Thoreau along with his brethren and sisteren . . . and we started where every visit to Concord starts -- Walden Pond.

Walden Pond is a glorious place that is solidly both in the past and in the present -- you can swim! You can kayak! You can canoe! -- well, you can do whatever you want without a motor -- but you never stop thinking about what it must have been like for good ol' Henry David, stomping around and observing everything, 175 years ago . . .

And it is just so utterly spectacular,  especially on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in October.

Walden Pond is chill. It's important and lovely and magical and wonderful, but you get to do what you want and think about what you want and transcend over everything: 

It's good to be a transcendentalist . . .

. . . just ask Mistah.

When we finally left Walden Pond we spent the weekend walking and walking under the towering old growth trees ablaze with foliage . . .

. . . maybe you people are right about this Fall thing . . .

There is lots to learn and lots of sights to see, but we kept returning to the trees . . .

. . . and the waterways . . .

. . . and in Concord, all roads lead to the Old North Bridge, where the Shot Heard Round the World was fired . . .

It's a beautiful and charming and moving and magical place . . .

It's Transcendent.

The Early Fall

All the peeps who love Fall love it because it's . . . beautiful? Or dry as an old shoe?

Or both?

But no. I'm getting much better at life and I understand that Time Flies and that Fall is not the end of something . . . oh, wait. Yes it is. It's the end of Summer.

But no, what I'm trying to say is that even there is not a shred of humidity in the air for the foreseeable future, I'm okay with it.

Okay-ish.

Because things in Fall really are beautiful.

Our own garden is gorgeous of course, but we were out at Harkness yesterday and it is truly spectacular out there . . .

See? Even the monarchs love it . . .

The gardens are full of purple balls . . . 

. . .  and puff balls . . .

. . . and all classes of gorgeousness . . .

. . . like monarchs . . .

. . . and 110-year-old trees.

But, frankly, things were better when we got home. Things are always better when we get home. I mean, we try; we do. We go out into the world and we enjoy it but by God when we get home . . .

. . . we're happy to arrive . . .

. . . to enjoy our own brand of loveliness.

Because the thing is . . .


. . . we have a seriously beautiful Early Fall brand of loveliness in our Garden . . .

. . . and we also occasionally find this nugget among the blossoms . . .

. . . and there is nothing in the garden or in the Field or at Harkness or on God's green earth that is more adorable.

Inspiring

You know who inspires me?

These two. Ellen, our past TBBCF Walk Director, and Kate, our current Walk Director.

And what a Walk it was. The 14th Annual, and the best ever.

(And every single one of these photos came from Ellen so I'm even more inspired.)

You know who else inspires me?

Ellen and Anne, previous Walk directors, and Foundation co-creator Sandy, in from the very start, and still deeply involved year after year after year .  . .

. . . just like this inspiration. My personal reason for joining this Foundation 14 years ago. The one and only MartyJoCo . . .

And other women who inspire me?

These guys. The husbands of our women. Who become honorary women on Walk Day.

God I love these honorary women . . .

. . . and their women (Pat and Lisa, more previous Walk directors).

The Brodeur Family is a class act and an amazing crew of lovely, gracious, thankful and wonderful people . . .

. . . and Terri's kids amaze. They've grown up before our very eyes.

Inspiring.

And they are part of the pack of the world's most inspiring people . . .

. . . the walkers . . .

. . . okay, and the bicyclists . . .

. . . and the spirit crews . . .

. . . because they are just so cute . . .

. . . but mostly it's the walkers . . .

. . . they walk miles and miles and miles . . .

. . . through neighborhoods and streets and towns, all for the single solitary reason of funding Breast Cancer Research . . .

. . . it is an Inspiring Foundation . . .

. . . and I'm proud to watch the sun rise the first Saturday of every October, and join these inspiring, dedicated volunteers and walkers who raise money to fight this stupid, mean, nasty disease.

They're inspiring.

The first weekend of every October also celebrates another woman who inspires daily . . .

photo cred: Mistah, not Ellen S.

. . . this one.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Thank you, all you inspiring women . . .

. . . you inspire me.