Happy Halloween

Many of you know I have been growing out my natural hair color for the first time in 25 or more years. Well after Sarah gave me a hair cut last week, pretty much all the coloring was cut out.

For 6 month I have struggling with the issue of natural hair color.
Maybe that doesn't seem like much of an issue to you, but it surely has been for me.
I started changing my hair color years ago because it was fun, different and easy.
And just kept doing it. I have used almost every color made. When CAF met me I was blond, then black then red.
But I really wanted to see my natural color. I knew there would be some gray, and oh boy there was...
It came out to be this:

I found that every time I passed a mirror or window and saw myself I thought

"Who the heck is that????"

I gave it a try, and found that I didn't feel like myself.

Oprah was right (again) I felt I looked instantly older.

Is that wrong?

Is that bad?

For myself, after only 24 hours we drove to the beauty supply and

picking a new color, #555 :

And just like that, I feel like me again.

We did leave a touch of gray at the temples.

Our October on the island has had a lot of action. The school saw 9 post session events which meant many people coming and going. We have had lots of company and lots of excellent dinners and get togethers at our house. I feel tired and joyful and well loved. We now get to catch up on our lives a bit. That means I get to catch you up as well:

The hardest, saddest thing that happened is our dear dear TT moved to Hull MA. We will deeply miss her daily sparkle and her big brown poodle.

Michael came for a visit before his workshop:

Ferrell cut down the 2 trees near the house. For what

we hope will be a more light and airy dry dwelling:

During Johnny's visit , CAF he and I went

to the Chicken Barn and Hulls Cove:

Sarah was here for a visit and gave Lindsay,

CAF, Carrie and I hair cuts at midnight

last Thursday. Everyone was happy, very happy!

A big storm came over the weekend and took

most of the leaves. This is always a signal to me to

put the hoses away, carve the pumpkins

and make some soup, or maybe some fruit leather.

Thank you all for such a great time, my face and

stomach still hurt from laughing. Love to you all.

Yesterday I made a big mistake. I was getting ready for work, running around doing this and that. Michael was coming for a visit so we were cleaning bathrooms CAF vacuuming.
Doing last minute things, vitamins, brushing teeth, I grabbed mouthwash (Listerine, mint).
Swish swish - I have a tendency to walk around while doing that.
I got involved with something which took longer than I thought. I couldn't get rid of the mouthwash. I realized my mistake as the burning intensifying sting in my mouth grew. My eyes watered as I made a mad dash to a sink. Gosh!! my mouth hurt all day. 4th degree burns??? 5th? maybe 8th, anyway I did not rince today.

How to have the perfect one day vacation:

1. Get up early... but not so early if feels like you are getting up early.

2. Make sure work knows you are not coming in. Hint: if you are calling in sick, don't blog about your one day vacation for several days.

3. Don't forget your ipod, camera, cell phone, bottled water, snack, warm jacket, hat, dog treats, and your best friend (if the dog is coming, your 2 best friends).

4. Drive until you get there. (No chore related stops)

5. Go everywhere everyone wants, do everything everyone wants and laugh a lot.

6. Stop for micro coffee, tool shopping, popovers, carriage trail walking, antiques snooping, lighthouse/ocean gazing, Thai dinner and ice cream cones.

7. Drive home before you are really, really tired.

8. Unpack the bananas and cat food.

9. Rinse out the Thermos and throw away the apple cores

10. Climb into bed with your 2 best friends.