One Thing Leads to Another

On October 2nd AT&T [our Internet provider] came to our house to switch us over to the new fiber optics technology.  My hubby was anticipating the switch to be a lot more involved than it was.  We have cable hook-ups throughout our house and he thought the technician would need to have access to them, so that meant moving a lot furniture.  Turns out the technician only had to go in my office and the basement - the rest of the work was done outside.  He said our old cable hook-ups are obsolete.

Moving furniture always exposes dust and cobwebs, and spurred me into doing some serious house cleaning.  I took down the custom sheer draperies in my bedroom and washed them and scheduled the carpet cleaner to come out and begin cleaning our carpeting.

He came yesterday morning, but what a job prepping for his arrival by emptying out most of the the contents in two rooms.

Everything got crammed into the spare bedroom.  Yikes!  Home projects are always worse before they're better!  

What a good feeling to have the carpeting in two rooms and hallway cleaned.  Late last night we set the bed back up in our bedroom and today we moved everything else back into the rooms.  Next will be cleaning the family room carpeting and couch.

I was so focused on the house project that I almost forgot yesterday was Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day until the absence of mail delivery jogged my memory.

If I knew about President Biden's official proclamation in 2021 to recognize Native American contributions [hence Indigenous Peoples Day], I forgot about it.  I was surprised to learn that 29 states and Washington, D.C. no longer celebrate Columbus Day and 216 cities have renamed it with Indigenous People's Day. 

And even more surprising [and disturbing] was learning the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Park in the North End of Boston which overlooked the waterfront, was decapitated beyond repair as an act of vandalism in 2020.  I took the photo below when my hubby and I visited Boston in 2016.

I read that at least 40 other monuments to Columbus in the U.S. have been removed in recent years.  What???  When I was in grade school [many moons ago] celebrating Columbus Day by honoring the explorer and his expedition to the Americas in 1492 was a big deal. Now he's probably banished from history books.

I'm going to be 'politically incorrect' and hang on to my Fitz and Floyd Christopher Columbus teapot [Figures from History 1992] while continuing to honor his memory.

 

It's Harvest Festival Time

Every year our church holds a Harvest Festival that's open to the community as well as our parishioners.  Yesterday [October 12th] was the day and Mother Nature provided beautiful fall weather.  I couldn't attend because I had to work, but my hubby was a volunteer helper so I asked him to take lots of pictures for me.  He complied and took over 50 pictures but I'll only share a few.

There were all kinds of activities... hayrides, pumpkin painting, corn hole, a petting zoo, horseback riding, a bouncy house, a row of about 15 cars for trunk or treating, and lots of food - a chili cook-off competition, hot dogs, hamburgers, cider, donuts and more.  It was very well attended and a huge success. The fire department even showed up for the children to see the fire engine.

Our church sits on 23 acres of property so there was plenty of room for all the activities.

Granddaughter, Brooke, bought a lion costume for her cat, Gus, to coordinate with her Wizard of Oz theme.

Daughter-in-law, Sharon, and her mom with their Snoopy theme.

My sweet friend, Lori, and her husband Rick with their spider theme.

Rows of crock pots filled with chili for the cook-off contest.

Come and get it!

While all this fun was going on, I was at The Whitney serving our signature fall tea, "Apple Cinnamon" black tea to our guests at Mansion Tea.

How have you been celebrating fall?