Every year I love making something for each family member. Some years I knit something. This year I made ornaments. The blue one is made from card stock I found in a drawer upstairs. The gnome required a few purchased products–a wooden egg; tiny red pom-poms for noses; felt, bells and ribbon for the hats; and polyester stuffing for the beards. Oh. And don’t forget hot glue sticks. Can’t make much of anything without hot glue!

My husband built a train of plastic fifty-gallon barrels pulled by a garden tractor years ago. We drag it out for special occasions like birthdays. A generation of grands is enjoying it now. Such fun!

I live in a new neighborhood, where about ten houses are under construction at all times. On one of my walks through the neighborhood this fall, the birds lined up on a dirt hill to watch me pass. I hope I made their evening, as they made mine.