Weekend

 Thanks for all the comments! They are appreciated. 

Jackie - I wish you were closer too. I feel sure you'd really honour Jane's treasures especially those we have to let go of. There are so many of her things (and Mum's) that I would love to keep, but that would mean my house would become overflowing. I don't think I could mentally deal with that. I have my clutter and I am by no means organised or completely tidy, but I like a bit of space lol. 

This week I am really feeling winter closing in on me. The days are becoming shorter, darker, colder and the trees have finally lost most of their leaves. It really is quite bleak. I started a new book the other day - The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman and this passage really just sums things up. 

It really sums up my bit of Michigan. Because of our proximity to Lake Michigan we are subject to a lot of weather that forms over the lake and that causes lots of cloud. 

Ack. Enough moaning for this post. 

We're taking a much needed week off from sorting Jane's house. I will be dragging husband over there to lift some rubbish bags we filled. I made the mistake of lifting a few the other day and my poor arms and shoulders hurt for a couple of days after. 

We're feeling quite a bit of frustration, but we're also uncovering some wonderful (in my opinion) memories. We found this really fascinating photo of one of MIL's relatives. He worked on the railroads. I absolutely love the photos Jane collected of family. There are such wonderful ones I absolutely love. Must be the photographer in me. 

My MIL was also really pleased to find this locket that she had been hoping to find. It was her mother's and inside she kept photos of those most beloved to her - her husband and her daughters (my MIL and Jane). How wonderful it was to find this!

I really think this is what we have to focus on. It is things like this that will keep us going through the long process of sorting things out. 

Once in a While...

 Once in a while oldest son surprises me. I was chatting with him the other day and telling him about some fluffy socks I had bought and was wishing I could have bought more but was watching my pennies. I didn't really think he was listening, but when hubby and I got home after a (really rainy/snowy) morning out he handed me these. 

Two pairs of lovely fluffy socks! Not just that but he got ones with hedgehogs on - which he knows that I love!

How sweet is that? I could really use some cheering up and getting these just made me smile!

Weekend

 

Snow came overnight and early this morning and then changed into rain and back to snow and repeat. It wasn't a particularly nice weather day. I felt a little...off as I didn't get a walk in, then I started to feel a little sorry for myself. It's Saturday and I usually try to keep busy so I don't think of our Skype routine. Sigh. 

I should have done more. Instead I've been sorting through photos on my computer, re-watching (again) Shetland episodes. I did go up into my craft room - the first time in a long time - for a little bit. I've not been feeling all that crafty but I did put together some 3d decoupage toppers from Craft Consortium called Made by Elves. Maybe I'll soon make some cards with them.

I should have taken the photo when their was natural light. I took it with my phone and left it to late so I had to turn the light on. 

I'm hoping tomorrow I'll be at least be able to get out for a bit. 

Thanks for those who helped with suggestions for the sidebar and my Books I've Read widget. It worked! 

 A stone I came across on my walk the other morning and such a good motto I had to share. 

I sorted through three drawers in the bathroom the other day. I ended up with almost half a bag of rubbish! I am not sure why I was keeping things. I shall have to make sure to go through the drawers a little more often than I have been. 

MIL and I were over at Jane's again today. It's definately a hoard. It's not easy to say. There was so much more to Jane than her hoarded house, but it's a lot to deal with. I've watched Hoarders on television and so many times the houses are dirty and the hoard is...well, icky. Jane's house isn't like that. There is no hoarded food and dirty dishes. A lot of it is in large plastic storage bins. It almost seems as though she set an empty box down, put things in it (inserts from newspapers, junk mail, notes, lists, magazines) and when it was full instead of sorting through it, she put a lid on it and put it in a room. Yes, there are a lot of things on the floor, but what we have got to mostly is paper. She loved her paper. 

But as I said there is  was so much more to Jane than her hoard. She has some beautiful things in her house. Please forgive my lousy phone photos (I want to go back with my camera and document more) but I wanted to share more than just my frustration with what we have to clear through. I wish others could have seen her lovely displays. There were obviously lots of things she treasured. 

This is the wall of lighthouse cross stich in Jane's dining room. Some of these I cross stitched and framed for her, some she stitched herself. She really loved lighthouses!

These are large lighthouse puzzles that Jane completed and had framed. Just two of a few. They are so beautiful and must have taken a long time to do. 

As I look at them and sort through her house I'm thinking of Mum and how I'd love to chat to her and tell her what's going on. I know she'd give me encourgement and try to see things from Jane's point of view. They had only met a handful of times, but Jane was really lovely to Mum sending cards of encouragement through her cancer diagnosis and treatment and I even found one she sent Mum after she'd got Covid, before Jane herself got ill. 

It seems so recent yet so long ago. Just a year ago and they were still both so vibrant. How quickly things can change!

Midweek Catch-up

 Ack. First let me say I'm frustrated! Trying to update my reading list and I cannot for the life of me change from October to November. It's usually easy to remove last month list and add this but for some reason I can't work out where the edit button has gone. I've just spent about half an hour trying to work it out and have given up!

Plodding along. Haven't got much sorting done in the house - one drawer so far this week, but I am managing to keep up with the daily stuff. I think it's good that we are taking a day off inbetween a day working at Jane's house. It makes it a little easier to keep up with my own house which makes me feel a little more...even. 

I haven't been doing a lot extra. I am still out walking each morning. It was fun this morning to see that the beavers have been at work again. They are chomping down trees all around. These are a couple of things I made for my Instagram stories - I took the photos with my phone while out walking this morning. 

Tomorrow I am going for a walk - weather permitting as it is supposed to rain all day - and then I have a couple of errands to run. I wish it was something more exciting but I need to do a food shop and then I want to see if I can get a couple of bits ready for (groan - not looking forward to it) Christmas. 

I don't think I'll be doing a lot of crafty stuff for Christmas this year. I usually make a photo calendar of my kids for Mum and a couple of other things. It will be the first year in over 20+ years that I won't be making her one - sniff sniff. 

First Snow

 We had our first snow on Wednesday. I wasn't quite expecting it. It wasn't much and didn't last long (none of the road, just on the pavements and grass). It made for a pretty walk. I was delighted to be able to take a photo of a couple of deer going through the field with snow around them. 

Our clocks here in America go back tonight. I look forward to the extra hour of sleep (the way it's been lately it will just mean I'm awake even earlier lol) but I am not looking forward to the dark coming earlier in the evening. It already seems as though there isn't a lot of sunlight. I can't imagine how dreary things will seem when it gets dark so early. 

Tomorrow will, at least, be sunny. We are going for a drive and maybe a little walk. I hope to see the last of the autumn colours and take some photos. I am not looking forward to when the leaves finish falling and there is only bare trees to look at!

Mum's Bench

 My sister let me know that the plaque had been added to Mum's bench. 

I can't wait to go see it next summer, buy an ice cream, take a seat and think of Mum. 

November

 Well, another month starting. I'm not sure November is my favourite month. The days are definitely shorter and, although the month starts with beautiful colours, by the end of the month everything is bare and dull. I can already tell that the cloudy, duller days outnumber the sunny ones. Sigh. 

I was looking for November quotes and the one above really spoke to me. 

Yesterday MIL and I went back over to Jane's to continue with the sorting. We have decided to make sure we have days off inbetween going to her house just so we are able to keep up with our own houses and not end up feeling too overwhelmed. Today I was planning on going to do some food shopping and then maybe going to a couple of parks to take photos of the leaves that are still left. Nope. It wasn't to be. The day started rainy, drizzly, a bit of (yikes!) something close to snow and then something resembling ice. I barely managed to get in a short walk at my usual place!

On the plus side because the weather was so lousy I managed to go food shopping, stop at the dollar store for a couple of bits, clean the bathroom, do two loads of laundry, sort out and put away some things I had brought back from Jane's and (finally) got my summer clothes sorted (some for donation) and got out some of my winter things. 

Back to Jane's tomorrow and maybe on Thursday the weather will be nicer to me and I can go out and take some photos. The wind has been picking up and taking more leaves off the trees and soon there won't be many left!

Happy Halloween!

 Well, the graveside service went okay. We were lucky that the rain held off despite the weather people saying it was going to rain all day. After saying our goodbyes we went all went out to eat. I can't remember the last time we did this. Obviously it would have been nicer to have Jane with us, but we were thankful to all be together to be able to say goodbye. Daughter drove back to Minnesota yesterday so that she could have today to relax before going back to work. The drive was 10 hours long, a really long drive to make by herself. She had to stop for a while as she was feeling sleepy. She rang me - hands free - for the last hour of the drive so she could have someone to chat to so she could not feel too tired. It was a relief when she made it back to her home. I am sure her new husband (and the other two huskies) will be glad to have her home again!

Today is Halloween. I had been planning to get a pumpkin and have husband carve it for me (he does a half decent job lol) but with the way things happened it completely got forgotten, so no pumpkin this year. We won't be doing Trick or Treating either. We don't usually get many children and well, I just haven't got around to getting anything to give out. I just looked outside and it is starting to rain (again). Poor children.

We did manage to get out for a walk today. We walked up in the sand dunes. It's been a while since we've done that. It wasn't as bright as promised but, at that point it was dry. Tomorrow will be back to going to Jane's house to do some more sorting. 

A couple of phone photos from today. There wasn't as much colour in the trees as I'd hoped for. It was very spotty. Still it was nice to get out and walk. Husband and I haven't been out for one of our walks for a while. 

I'm adding a photo of a pumpkin from a couple of years back just because 

Busy Busy Busy and Sigh - not the best news

 Tomorrow we say goodbye to Jane. It will be just our family - me, hubby, two sons and daughter, MIL and FIL. We will miss her a lot. 

This is a photo of Jane along with a bunch of lighthouse photos I took. She really loved lighthouses and inspired me to start visiting them 

We've been really busy this week starting to sort out her house. Jane was a collector/hoarder and though her house is clean it is filled to the brim with things. The house has three bedrooms, a family room and a full basement. It is full. We have got a skip/dumpster delivered so it is easier to get rid of things. She was a teacher and a genealogist and has a lot of books and papers and research. It really is quite overwhelming. Daughter has been a great help this week. 

Between MIL, myself and daughter we managed to get 5 large black rubbish bags of clothes out of the house for donation and 18 black bags of rubbish for the skip!!! I am pretty sure this is going to take us at least six months to clear the house. We are all really tired after just one week!

Although I was hoping there would be no more bad news this year my sister tells me that my neice (who is pregnant), her husband and one of their children have Covid. Please keep them in your thoughts. So far the 17month old is negative as is my sister and her husband (who hopefully have a bit more immunity as they had covid at the beginning of the year along with Mum). The adults have all had their vaccinations so hopefully they will only have mild cases. It is such a worry though.