a foggy day; a lovely week

 My Japanese maple which has green, red and white leaves has turned a gorgeous red/orange this fall.  Here's a photo of it.  It was foggy the other day, so I took a photo of the trees out in back too.  See it below.  That one red tree sure stands out!

Now, what have I been doing this week?  Well, Tuesday I packed a lunch and stopped at Lake Elkhorn on my way home from pottery.  After lunch, I walked around the lake.  I saw 21 turtles sunning themselves on logs in the water!  They were all on one side of the lake - the sunny side.  Perhaps later in the day, they swim over to the other side.  I never walk in the late afternoon, so I don't know where they are then.  It was a lovely day for a walk - didn't even need my jacket.

Wednesday, the singers at the Bain Center were taped for a TV airing.  We practiced out Christmas music while the camera was running.  I won't get to see the video, unless it gets posted on Facebook, because I don't have cable TV.  Actually, my TV doesn't work at all, because it has no way to connect to the outside world.  That's fine with me, most of the time.  Anyway, we had to wear out concert clothes - the good old black and white - for the rehearsal and taping.  I like the Christmas music we are doing.  It's a bit harder than the songs we sang for the last concert.  The conductor told me not to hold out the long notes to their full length.  She said that I was doing it correctly, but since no one else in the soprano section was doing it, I stood out too much.  It was quite amusing, actually, but I

understood why she said it.  The group is mostly people who just like to sing.  A few are really good.  The group does a good job, although not as good as the church choir I sing with.  The music is fun and not too hard.  So I just relax and enjoy singing.

Thursday I volunteered at the hospital gift shop, as usual.  It was chilly and damp outside, so a good day to stay in.  The book sale is going well. (All our books are donations.)  I've reduced the prices on about half of our books to 3/$1.  We have way too many books, so I'm hoping to reduce our inventory.  The sale will run for another week or so.  Books that don't sell will probably be donated to a local charity shop.  These days, I'm rather heavily involved with the gift shop, being responsible for the books as well as the jewelry.   The manager and I went jewelry buying a couple of weeks ago.  I'm putting a few things out each week and will get all the new stuff out after Thanksgiving.  Our Christmas items go out then as well. 

Today I'll be lunching with long-time friends.  Tonight, I'm going to a Christmas sale at one of the local churches.  They always do an interesting sale.  Tomorrow there is another Christmas sale at a different church, plus something going on in Savage, which is just across the river from here.  I could walk there if I was energetic.  So this weekend will be a 'shopping for Christmas' one.  I probably won't buy much, as I already have far too much stuff for decorating the house.  Still, it's fun to go and browse.