Our weather turned cool here on Friday and Sat.then warmed up today. I went to the flea market this morning to stock up on our weekly fruits and vegetables. We try and eat a lot of fruit and raw veggies with our meals - not sure we make 5 a day but give it a good try. I picked up a bag of vintage bottle brush trees for.50 cents. One fairly large green one, 2 medium beige and 1 small green. I have started decorating this weekend. I bought a small pre-lit 4' tree and put it on the table in the sunroom that is right in front of the kitchen window. When lit you can see it from both rooms, I also picked up a cute Santa with a pink velvet hat for 2.00 plus bought some air plants that just need misting for my terrarium. Things that need water either do so well they hit the ceiling or else they die. Will give the air plants a try. 3 air plants and 3 small pots for them to sit in for 8.50. I gave the orchids a bypass today and bought 1 pink poinsetta for $4.00. I get that I can't stand the site of the red ones because they fill the whole front entrance and all the way down the boulevard with them starting Dec. 1. Out come all the yellow mums and in come the red ones. The entrance does look lovely especially at night. All the lamp posts right down to the clubhouse have red ribbon wrapped around them and red bows at the top. Each entrance to a section of the club is decorated by the people who live in that area. They do a beautiful job for volunteers. Aparently the club rents storage space somewhere and thats where all the things go after christmas. No basements here to put them in.

We had some visitors the other day. 2 sand hill cranes came to visit. A few years back my neighbour started to feed them and they were around all the time then we found out it is illegal to feed them plus dangerous as when the want food they will come and peck their way right thru a screen lanaii. After she stopped feeding them they disappeared and so was surprised to see them come to our area. It is nice to see the wildlife. We get a lot of different birds in the ponds thru the winter and I alwlays like seeing the large white ones. We often see eagles and hawks and they will dive bomb down and come up with a fish and do it so fast you almost can't see it. I also included a pic of our "fall color change". We have 2 crepe myrtle trees in our back yard and they lose their leaves by about Jan. Then come feb. the crew cuts them right back and we look at skeleton trees for a couple of months until the new leaves emerge. There is something wrong with this pattern. We are gone all summer and that is when they flower and really bloom and nary a one left when we get back in Oct. we keep thinking we should remove them and put something else there but never do.

My friend Cathy over at http://www.cathyscrazybydesign.blogspot.com is having a great giveaway scheduled for next weekend. She has a wonderful blog and is a great crazy quilter. Go over and visit.