Well, it appears that fall has finally arrived in Illinois! Cooler temps and shorter days and the leaves are finally starting to turn and fall off. There is some color, but not like usual. We've not had enough rain this fall for lots of color. Our flowering dogwood has color, though. It's very red in contrast to the almost completely green leaves behind it on the oak tree. Hope you enjoy the following pics taken today in my backyard.

Our driveway and the "raker" himself!

All that's left of my Rudbeckia is seed pods and this one little lone flower still blooming.

These large oak trees run across the whole back of our property. There a little acorns all over the ground and the squirrels are loving it! They've been very active lately getting ready for winter.

This is our backyard. Now you know why we are raking, mulching and vaccuming leaves like crazy. We have almost 1 acre and it's filled with trees.

The sun through a maple tree on the side of our yard. They are just starting to turn yellow.

Check out the first Monroe County Medical Building pumpkin decorating contest. All of us could make a pumpkin and have our patients vote on their favorite. There were many votes.....you 'll see the winner at the end. I was going to make one, but time got away. I had a great idea, but maybe I'll save that for the second annual M.C.M.B. pumpkin contest. Thanks everyone for taking part and congratulations to the winner!!

Frankenstein is the first "contestent"! He was brought to life by Stephanie. See the little bolts on the side of him? It's not easy being green!!

#2, decorated by Marge and Kathy. The nose is a ping pong ball painted red, and the pumpkin was spraypainted red. How devilish!!

Almost forgot to put in #6, by Becky. She is being very patriotic and she did this freehand. Wow, love her talent.

#3 created by JoAnn and Karen in Radiology. Scary! The hat is made out of leftover film.

And here is #4, Robyn's pumpkin's, how cute is this? She came in 2nd place with 30 votes!

And the winner is, #5, Teri's pumpkin. She won at 50 votes, 20 more than any other pumpkin. Isn't this one so creative? She put alot of work into it, congratulations, Teri.

Here is one of my first fall pictures and so far my only fall pic. Where is the color at? Maybe some of this rain will help. This pic was taken near Lincoln's Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. That one little tree really stood out in contrast to the "still" green trees around it.

Last Friday we went to Springfield to visit with my brother, Brian, my sister-in-law, Judy and their friends son, John who came along with them for the trip. They came down from Northfield, Minnesota. John visited Lincoln's Museum and we met him downtown and ate at the Livery. Then we went out to Lincoln's Tomb so he could see that. Everyone always rubs Lincoln's nose on the statue outside the tomb, as you can see by how shiny-bright it is. And by the way, if you've never visited Lincoln's Museum, you really need to make a special effort to do so. It is more than well worth the trip!

Here is a full-view of Lincoln's Tomb.

We had lunch here!

Here is my brother, Brian, getting read to tackle his "ponyshoe". He and I cheated and didn't get the full version!

This is a "ponyshoe" a small version of the "horseshoe". What you ask is a "horseshoe", other than the obvious, of course? Well, you won't find a "horseshoe" anywhere but Springfield, Il. It was founded in 1930 and originated at the Red Lion Room at the Leland Hotel in downtown Springfield. It consists of two slices of Toast (that's the pad on the shoe), Meat of your choice (that's the shoe itself), topped by a generous portion of French Fries (they are the nails of course), all topped with genuine, Leland Hotel recipe Cheese Sauce! The Cheese Sauce is the finish on the shoe and makes THE HORSESHOE a Springfield delicacy. Yum! Now that's artery clogging stuff right there!

Here is John's own version of the horseshoe.....he added some more chili cheese fries on top! Did he manage to eat it all? No!! But he gave it a good try.

Here is my sister-in-law, Judy, standing in from the The Livery where was had lunch in downtown Springfield.

Another interesting fact about me is that The Donner Party (Donner Pass) is part of my past. The Donners were my ancestors. They departed from Springfield, Illinois. This plaque is across from the old court house in Springfield, my birthplace.

Well, finally, here it is. My first altered cabinet card. It measures approximately 4 X 6 in size and I altered it with alcohol inks, stamping, gold leaf pen and various embellishments. The bottons, eyelet and snap are very old from an antique sewing kit I bought as well as the part of the needle package and the needle came from that package. There are two definitions on the card. One is - Domestic, belonging to the house or home; tame; not foreign--A household servant. The other is - Queenhood, The rank, quality, or character of a queen. She is a domestic queen! She feels very important in her household; she ranks #1.
These are really fun to create, although there are many hours invested in this one. They are time consuming, but the end result is really fun.

Here is another pic with the top where I attached beads with wire. You are able to hang it to show it off.