Hi All! Almost Autumn Greetings From Your Humble Moderator

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

Hope y'all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and were able to enjoy yourselves! We went up north to our weekend/vaca place from that Thursday thru Monday. We've decided we want to move up that way, but into PA which is within 10 miles of our place and so we can keep that too.

Once again things have been a bit hectic on my end but should be calming down as I've no choice but to force the chaos into some kind of schedule!

What's everyone reading now and doing now? For me, it's The Help & the current issues of Artful Blogging magazines and I started knitting an orange & black scarf last week (for Halloween of course!) and I was annoyed because I've seemingly forgotten how to purl (again). I bought a basic Singer sewing machine at Walmart Labor Day weekend (it's getting more & more difficult to hand sew with the arthritis in my hands) so I'm excited to get cracking at it! Soon it will be time to begin turning things over to Autumn inside the house! YAY! Autumn and Halloween are my FAVE time of year! (I think I've mentioned that before, LOL!)

Switching gears (possible downer coming): I hope everyone was able to take a few moments on September 11th to remember what happened that beautiful and horrendous day 8 years ago now. I lit candles on the mantle, watched the ceremonies and headed up to our County Memorial.

I was supposed to be at work at a new job on the 78th floor of World Trade Center Tower 2 that morning. Instead, the week prior, I'd backed out of the job with the excuse that it wasn't what I really wanted to do (it wasn't) and was sitting safe and sound on my living room couch that morning, watching in sheer terror. Only 2 people from the 78th floor and above made it out. The man who hired me, the people I met and would've been working with, gone. It took me a Very long time to handle my "survivor's guilt" and get to the point where I didn't wonder why I was alive & any one of them wasn't and was thankful to be alive and have another chance to make a good life. (It took 3 years to start making that transition). Now I am thankful I wasn't there yet still feel guilty for being thankful & for even being alive but I am thankful nonetheless.

My point: We cannot & should not forget.

Switching gears again: I hope you'll want to join in for an Autumn themed gardening group read (fiction or non), hopefully to begin on 9/22 and last thru to the end of Fall. Post your nominations for an Autumn themed gardening read (fiction or non) in the thread below!

[Cheryl S.]

Jo--Living in the upper midwest I've never met anyone who had a direct connection to the events of 9/11. I was away from home on a golf vacation with some girlfriends and so was just one more American who watched in horror and terror as the events unfolded. All I wanted to do was go home and hug my family. I'm so glad you're still with us and that we've come to have a connection through this site. For me it just reinforces how we have to cherish every minute we have no matter what's going on never forget to value everyone we love.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

Thank you Cheryl! Much appreciated.