WE BROUGHT FRIENDS

along home from the fundraiser, because it was the birthday of one of them, and I had made a cake.  Yes, yes, Reader Dear--it was THE CAKE again!  (I have made it six times since I first told you about it.  [I realize that sounds as though I am a bit obsessed with this confection (I am)])!

I had baked the cake with my friend's birthday in mind.  But I had another reason for making the cake, as well.  Other friends, from out of town, were arriving to stay over at the home of the Yard Man and me that very night. I had promised one of them a cake (Conveniently enough, I hadn't promised her a whole cake. [Even though I've been the Baking Dynamo of the Veritable Piece-of-Cake Cake, I have to admit I was delighted to let the one cake do double duty].).*

The out-of-town friends showed up at our house so much later than our first guests.  I had to make a big production of the wine and cheese and crackers and nut mix, stalling for time.  These first two friends were eying the clock and starting to make remarks about their usual bedtime.

And then, the Yard Man left the table and came back with a dragon fruit (gifted to him earlier in the day by a Korean man he'd met.   (Reader Dear, how often have you seen this downright stunning fruit?! In the natural world, this shade of pink is reserved mainly for flowers and sunsets]!)  The Yard man went and got a knife and cut open this exotic edible, and what ensued was nearly a half-hour of exclaiming and raving over it (on my part, I must admit) and tasting it, and...before you know it, in walked the out-of-town friends!

We went straightaway to singing Happy Birthday, and I cut up that cake. It carried us all the way to the end of the celebrated day and into the next one!
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Well, the bonhomie of close friends around a table had a lot to do with transporting us into the early hours, as well.  Even dragon fruit and birthday cake don't hold a candle to the beauty of true and abiding friendship!
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*Cream cheese icing this time.

THIS PAST SATURDAY

evening, The Yard Man and I attended a fundraising event which featured African food, a silent auction, and African-style dancing. 

It was interesting perusing the auction items.  There was quite an array of things for which to vie--upping one's bid according to how easily one could imagine some stranger walking off  with the basket of chocolates or the original water color or the week at the beach house or the quilt or the antique coins or the...well...Reader Dear, I simply can't give you the whole run-down! (I told you there were lots of items!)

The food was interesting, too, and I enjoyed most of it (though I found the sweet potatoes somewhat too spicy).

But the real fascination for me was the fundraising dancer!

The Dancing Dynamo!

Viewer Dear, this woman was a non-stop mover and shaker!
(And she wasn't young, my dear.  She was whirling along toward late-middle, I'd say. It's that fact that had my mouth gaping!)

It was a strenuous job!*

*Mentally helping that woman to throw her arms and legs around like that was not easy.  By the time we left the event, I was totally exhausted!  (But I was happy to do it;  I think they raised a lot of funds!)
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SKY-STRUCK

They are all shown chronologically, as I took them yesterday, from morning until evening, traveling on my errands.  Be relieved, Viewer Dear, that I have dwindled this array of photos down to relatively few!

So gaga was I over the ever-changing patterns overhead, I fear I snapped that camera way too many times while driving.  I craned my neck too often!

By all accounts, I should have been arrested for driving while under the influence!

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THE LITTLE ACTOR

had one big wish:  JEK-14!!

For months, he yearned for JEK-14!
He pined for JEK-14!
He dreamed and schemed as to how he could get his hands on JEK-14!*
When asked by his grandmother what he would most like to get for his birthday, he responded with, "JEK-14!"**

Viewer Dear, isn't it fantastic to know that sometimes dreams really DO come true?  That a person can--eventually and at long last and after a large percentage of his or her lifetime has elapsed--receive all he or she ever wanted?!

*While waiting for his birthday, which seemingly would never arrive, The Little Actor suggested to his mother that perhaps Evan might loan him the JEK-14 that Evan is privileged to own.  Could they go and visit Evan? (Known to The Little Actor only through U-Tube, and living a continent away!)
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**"JEK-14?!  Huh?!" exclaimed his poor clueless grandmother.  "What in the world is JEK-14?!"
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***It is also quite wonderfully satisfying to be the granter of someone's dearest dream! (What is it YOU long for most, Reader Dear?! [Uh, just askin' ya know])
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THIS BLOG HAS BECOME

unbuttoned, unwrapped, flapping loosely in the breeze; its emptiness is so painfully obvious.

I will make an attempt, Reader Dear, to fill it with...well...with a couple photos I've taken of autumn--bright and beautiful autumn!
(It's the best I've got).

A walk in the park--that's where I saw these lovely planters.

When I drove past the home of some Amish neighbors last week, I was reminded that nothing says "fall" like an Amish wedding!  The day was Tuesday, which let me know the field full of buggies and the crowd in the yard meant an all-day celebration was in progress.
I explained to the tourists taking photos at the covered bridge--just a stone's throw away--that Amish in this area get married in November (in recent years it has included late October or early December) and always on a Tuesday or Thursday.

   

These few photos will have to rattle around in the blog until I get something that is interesting, unique, and more than just another pretty photo.  Be patient, Reader-Viewer Dear!

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