Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I will write this in between the doorbell ringing! So far, in an hour and a half, we've had 16 kids and 2 adults :( come trick or treating. At this rate, Jim will have a lot of candy to eat!

Grandpa Update: Grandpa was having a good day today after having a not so good day yesterday. He hasn't been able to sleep and for a variety of reasons, he was given two pints of blood yesterday, which made him just feel awful. But now that his body has adjusted to the new blood he was feeling better and in much better spirits. Cousin Chris drove over from Buffalo for a visit with Grandpa which was wonderful. Jim was glad to be back in town so he could spend some time with his Dad.

Yesterday was an exciting day at school. It was the second and last day of the Fall Fun House, an event that my colleagues and I plan for our PE classes. The children love the fall-themed activities. Here are a couple of photos from the Fall Fun House.

The pumpkin target in the above photo was made by GrandDad many years ago and it is always a popular activity. The Jeter jersey is just a subtle show of support for my baseball team!

At school, some of the teachers get into the spirit of Halloween and go all out with their costumes. Here are a couple of my second grade teachers ridding the gym of ghosts!
Our school day ended with all 400 primary students parading around the neighborhood in their costumes. Earlier in the week some of the kindergarten classes distributed flyers in our neighborhood, inviting the people to come outside and watch the parade. Lots of people did just that and everyone had a good time.
Last night I went to the first RIT home hockey game. The RIT Tigers have had a tough time on the road so far this season, not winning one game. But they found their scoring mojo last night and beat UConn 6-2! It was fun to be back at Ritter Arena. I've added the rest of the home games to our iCal! Jim gave me a RIT hockey jersey for my birthday this past March and last night I wore it proudly for the first time.

My Christmas cactus loved living on the sun porch so much this past summer that it could not wait until Christmas to bloom! So I have a lovely Halloween cactus!

Jim did get home last night, well, really, early this morning (12:30 AM) and will now spend a few days adjusting to the time zone changes. He had a good trip to Finland, but is glad to be home.

I just had a former student come trick or treating at my door. She was so proud to tell me that she was on the high honor roll at middle school!

The Yankees game is on a rain delay, which means I won't get to watch as much of the game as I had hoped. Oh well, they can win without me!

Corey let us know that the SU XC team won the Big East meet today in Wisconsin. Only the top 7 runners made the trip so Corey and his buddies had to cheer from home. We wish the team continued success as they head to the regional meet.

Tucker travelled through all the snow that Colorado has received from Cortez to Boulder to spend the weekend with Allison. They were going to a Halloween party tonight.

Tomorrow I have to ring bells in church, so there will be no sleeping in for me. Jim is racing at Seneca Park, but his race doesn't start until 11 AM so he can have a leisurely start to his day.

Hope all is well.

Tidings on Tuesday

Grandpa Update: According to Grandma, Grandpa had a good day of physical therapy and wasn't as tired as yesterday. He also was a more upbeat.

I got this report from Grandma because I seem to have caught a cold and I did not want to share it with Grandma and Grandpa so I phoned Grandma to get the news. I also did not want to share my germs with Gram and GrandDad so I had to back out of their dinner invitation. I opened a can of chicken noodle soup and have been sitting around, sometimes knitting, sometimes napping. I plan on going to bed early tonight and hope to get a good night's sleep. Today there were 125 kids absent from school, so me having a cold is not a surprise.

Gram and GrandDad had a good trip to see Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Maryanne and Zach and got to see Zach play soccer. I asked Zach to send some action photos of him playing soccer and so Maryanne sent some that she had taken in games past. So, here is Zach on the soccer field.


Good Luck in the playoffs, Zach and keep us posted on the outcome of the games.

Jim is working hard in Finland and he reports that since the sun sets at 4:10 PM, he has no time outside in the daylight hours. Tomorrow is Jim's birthday! Happy Birthday, Jim! There are some cards here at home that came in the mail for you (at least I think they are cards, I did not open them!).

I guess that is all for tonight. I probably won't blog tomorrow night because I have bell rehearsal.

Hope all is well.

Sunday NIght Summary

It was a beautiful autumn day here in Western New York, with the leaves putting on a magnificent color show.

I went to church this morning with Grandma and the people around church were glad to see her and ask about Grandpa.

I decided to ride by bike to see Grandpa this afternoon and it was a delightful ride.

There was no bike rack, but a secure pole right by the front door served that purpose.

Grandpa was doing fine, but realizing that tomorrow the physical therapy starts and that will be hard work.

Yesterday when I was at a local yarn store, they were having a raffle and I got a call today saying that my name was drawn to win a door prize! I need to find time to go to the store in Brighton and collect my prize. When I asked about what the prize might be, I was told that there were bags of yarn or knitting bags from which to choose.

Jim sent a few photos from his visit to the Museum of Cultures in Helsinki. There is a small display of artifacts from the Mesa Verde area here in the USA. I believe it was a Swedish man that collected all the artifacts, causing quite a stir here in the USA. This guy took all the stuff to Sweden and then a Finnish man bought the collection and it is now housed in the Museum of Cultures. This removal of US history was one of the factors that led to the adoption of the federal Antiquities Act which prohibits the collection and removal of artifacts that pertain to US cultures. I'm sure Jim or Tucker will correct me if I have given incorrect info here, but I think I'm close.
So here is a photo from the Helsinki museum.

I have my Yankees cap ready for tonight's game. Unfortunately I may not be able to watch the whole game as tonight is a school night.

I am going to sew the shoulder seams in Tucker's sweater and then I have to decide whether to start the sleeves or the placket and collar.

Gram and GrandDad come back from seeing Jim, Maryanne and Zach this weekend. I look forward to hearing about their visit.

Hope all is well.