Thanks for all the kind words! We were thrilled to discover the HW floors in a closet and learn they were throughout all the original parts of the house. The dark stain does indeed look good-I'm just a slave to the dog hair that accumulates with lightening speed. Chispa-yes! We ended up in La Crescenta. Terrific schools and a short commute for my husband to Glendale. Win-win. :) I wish we could live on the west side, but my husband would be unable to remain sane making that daily commute.

Sleevendog, the wonderful thing about belated Birthday well-wishes is that they extend the happiness : ) And thank you both (Islay, too) for the Charcuterie Definition. I didn’t know the French pronunciation, but doubt I’ll use it here, or even the word charcuterie. Most here would think me pretentious, which is silly as I like to use words correctly. So, does this mean if I make canadian bacon or pastrami (from pork), I can (temporarily) call myself a Charcutier? LOL! Well, I just might anyway! Sleevendog, thank you also for mentioning the free-edge/live-edge board. That was my gift to myself : ) I think it’s so beautiful! I often toss together a board (the bread board above was from an old restaurant, the charcuterie with live edge from Etsy) of cheeses, crackers, meats, apples, grapes… whatever I have on hand, for pre-dinner snacking, or lunch nibbling. I wanted a larger, prettier board than the bread board : ) Funny thing is, when I bought my first furniture, the area in which I lived had tons of furniture with free-edging/live edging (horizontal slice tree trunks, vertical slabs). And they were cheap! And huge! I bought a large one for my coffee table on a major budget. New! After a while, the area was over-saturated with them, and I couldn’t give mine away when upgrading. Truth! So when they first came out, it took me a while to not see them as ‘cheap’ stuff! I have learned a new appreciation… everything old is new again : ) I think it looks both rustic and fine, simultaneously. I am a wood grain lover. And while I have your attention, those flageolet beans? Amazing. We can’t stop eating them on salads. I’m making some with leftover too-salty ribs, shredded, and roasted tomatoes next. Mercurygirl, you sound like me, I’ve moved several plants, including roses. Hard to keep up with where they are until they leaf out or bloom! Naturegirl, you are most welcome! Edie, I have one of those rolling pins! So heavy! I am sure you can roll it out thin enough. I would recommend a few things… if using crackers for cheeses, don’t add cheese to the cracker dough, just make them as is, and perhaps toss in some dried herbs (the flavor of dried herbs does come through) as appropriate. If serving with a soup, or alone, cheese tastes wonderful : ) Annie, don’t do what I did, though, and over prep/cook! I was feeling a bit frazzled by the time the day rolled around! But yes, making lots of nibbles satisfies everyone. And they can be easy ones. BTW, your hummus was wonderful! Thank you! I froze some, and hope that’s ok.

Kathsgrdn, if you'd wear something like a straw hat, a baseball cap or something similar, do you think that it'd help keep that sticky hair off of your face? Or - maybe one o' them there masks ... on backwards? Hard to keep the elastics anchored though (unless your ear bumpslobes stick out a long way): probably have to run a string (or hook'n loop/Velcro band) around under your nose? Good that summer sweaty time's almost over. I usually shave the evening before going out, did the night before the old guys were to meet for coffee, cookies and conversation at the village church on Mar. 11, and it was that weekend that the lockdown started ... so I figured that if I didn't shave, I'd need fewer razor blades. Beard now long enough that if I grab the end of a hair part way along the jaw and swing one way, I touch the ear and the other way, the chin. Son takes pics occasionally to send to his sis in Atlanta area. Hair sort of long, too, but I trim occasionally and son helps some, so we keep it a bit short of unruly. ole joyful

We normally average about 100 kids. I did up 50 baggies of candy this year (I was going to do 100, but decided to do 50 and give the kids who did show 2x as much as I was planning). We handed out 44 bags. We put a fence up about 2 feet from our step making it an easy 8 feet from my front door. The kids would yell "Happy Halloween" and we would get up, santize our hands (my front door is all glass so they can see us do this), then put on a mask, go outside and hand them their candy. Not one parent complained about us not using tongs (if you have covid and don't clean your hands you put the virus on the tongs which puts it on the bags so it defeats the purpose IMO) and putting them in their childs buckets and bags. They were all just grateful that we handed out anything as more than half the houses on my block were closed for the evening. :( My son took his son out in their area and he pretty much hit the jackpot. While I gave him a box full of Nestle full size bars (his favourites are all in one box), a lot of the people in their area also handed out full size bars and one house gave him a family size bag of Cadbury Buttons chocolate. His mom was the most excited about the full size Fun Dips. hahahaha We have a little candy left over, which I'll give to my grandson as well.