The Beach Is So Much More Fun...

When my Kylie girl is with me.






























We'll be heading for Florida next week for the winter. Boy, I'm going to miss her!

The Things I See...

When I take my iPhone to the beach...



Hula-hooping monster scarecrow.



The last roses of summer.



Deserted beach at low tide.



Rocks that will be totally covered when the tide comes in.



An old fashioned Hipstamatic scene.



Red berries.



And a crab to share a bench with.

The Things I See....

...when I take my camera for a walk.



Golden pine needles.



Black-eyed Susans reaching for the sun.



Greenish leaves hanging on,


Queen Anne's Lace.



Orange mushrooms.



A crooked-stemmed mushroom.



White-capped mushrooms.



The beauty of weeds.



Acorns, acorns, acorns.

A Beautiful Day

Besides a school for the deaf, Mackworth Island has a wonderful walking path all around the island. My sister, Sally, invited me to go along with her, her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Michelle, for a walk on this dazzling fall day.




Of course, I took my camera along and had fun experimenting. This is Sally and Michelle heading off into the magic.




There are amazing views no matter which way you look.




Being with Michelle reminds me how much I like teenagers and miss them. So nice to spend time with her!




We sat on rocks right above the ocean.




And I clicked away.




I love it that Michelle is so willing to hang with her parents and old aunt.




In the shade of oaks there is a fairy village.




Everywhere you look, there are these tiny abodes. I've got to take Kylie there; she'll love it!




There is a pet cemetery for former Governor Baxter's dogs and horse.




Look at the awesome color....




And gossamer weeds....




And diehard dandelions....




And sun-drenched dried wildflowers....




And dying leaves....




I hated to see our walk end. This is the view as we were leaving the island.
Some days are like pearls and this day was a whole necklace!

Diptic

Diptic is another app I downloaded. It creates collages.



I made this one with pictures I took when we visited Cascade Falls last weekend.

Then I noticed two little dice in the upper corner. When I clicked on them, a message popped up saying it was choosing photos. How cool! It made the following collages.



I don't know if it "thinks" or not. These pictures are pretty random.


And, these, too


But, these are all of buildings.


And these mostly seem to have a limey green hue in them.


This one has three pics of Kylie and two of flowers.

There are seven pages of different layouts to choose from and I noticed on the last one that there are options for frames. The more I play with it, the more I'll discover, I'm sure, for endless fun! I love finding new things.

Have you discovered anything new lately?

I'm Bored

It's been a nice, quiet week.
The sun even came out one day.
But the rain is back, now.
I'm okay with it, though.

I'm just sitting here on the couch
still in my nightie
with a colorful granny-square afghan
over me. Life is good.

Apple Picking

Sunday found us at the Gile's Family Farm in Alfred, Maine where we drove into an apple orchard and roamed around picking different types of apples.




Golden Delicious




My favorite is a crispy McIntosh sliced and dipped in Teddie Natural Super Chunky Peanut Butter.




Kylie and Tori on the old tractor. Tori is almost fifteen and was wonderful with Kylie all weekend teaching her gymnastic moves and putting up with her silliness.








We joked that this looks like a posed senior portrait.




Tori felt she was too old to stick her face in the hole so, of course, Kylie didn't want to, either.




On the way home we stopped at the Oak Street Bistro for lunch. Deirdre was good and had a Greek salad with broiled salmon. I went the decadent route and had baked haddock with Newburgh sauce, mashed potatoes, and a zucchini-summer squash medley sautéed with garlic. As usual, I was too anxious to eat and forgot to snap pictures of the food before digging in.




We made an apple pie when we got home so when the guys came in from fishing, it smelled wonderful.
Later.....
Kylie: Grammy, can I have an apple?
Grammy: Of course!
Kylie: I want to make sure I don't have to go to the doctor's!


What's your favorite variety of apple?