Oh, right, the WASHABLE markers

Augie was excited about "painting" the pumpkin we had purchased last week, so I grabbed a marker and he went to it. Suddenly I realized I'd given him an indelible Sharpie. By the time I got the washable markers, we had a few black streaks on the kids' blue table, and a few more on our hands, but no matter. It's a beautiful cooking pumpkin, even more beautiful now. And it should make good pie, or muffins, or soup--haven't decided yet.

Saturdays in October...

...are supposed to be crisp and sunny, as in this shot of our North Woods maple on the 17th. But we had snow and gloom on the 10th (below), and heavy wet leaves on the ground on the 24th after more snow and gloom. Feels like we missed October and went straight to November. I hate November. I think I'll move to Australia (where it's spring).

Drum Duo

As sweet, smart, and talented as she is, ViMae hasn't cared much about performing for the camera. This debut drum duo may be the start of something big! Inspiration comes from the Blue Devil hip-hop drummers. The instrumentation is pure Augie...kitchen cans are just the latest drum kit he's devised.

Peter and the Wolf

So one day Augie stands up his guitar and bows it with a drumstick. "What are you playing?" "I'm playing the cello part to 'Peter and the Wolf.'" Not only that, he sings a pretty faithful version of Peter's theme. By the next day, he is trying also to play the bass and violin, since Peter's theme is played by all the strings. He can identify all the other parts, but he doesn't have a clarinet, oboe, or bassoon. Yet.