Birth, Death, Growth, and The Return of Skipper Saturday

  Some of you may have been confused as to the order of the last few Doll-A-Day posts. I had three ready to post when all the recent events started happening. They got posted all at once afterward, just because they were there. Then I noticed they were in the wrong order, and I attempted to correct that by putting them back in draft and reposting them. They were being stubborn and refused to go where they were supposed to. As that wasn't my biggest concern at the time, I gave up. Somehow with all that they got sort of mixed in with the other posts and some of you may be thinking, :How was she messing with those posts at a time like that?!" Well, I wasn't. It just all got mixed up with all the removing and reposting.
  I've been hemming and hawing over returning to the blog. Do I start Doll-A-Day again? Do I wait? Or do I just let that boat sail completely? Should I at least do Skipper Saturday as a regular thing? The page views are higher today, so are people looking for my Skipper posts? (Those of you who have been regular readers ought to know better than to look for the day's post early in the day!) I've been trying to be 'normal' after Dad's passing, but whenever I do 'normal' things, I feel I shouldn't be yet. When is it ok to go back to normal? I had this same problem when my mother passed away. But hers was sudden, so I hadn't had time for early grieving. I feel as if I have already been grieving for a long time, which I have because I started months ago when Dad's health started to fail. My sister is having a hard time. It only fully hit her last night. Maybe it will hit me like that out of the blue one day, but I think I will just continue in my funk for a long time. But I've been trying to ease back into doing the things I always do and carry on. So I decided to post a Skipper today.That will be a separate post, so make sure to check it out.
     Ken's nephew became the father of a baby boy recently.Yesterday I was shopping for baby clothes. I miss having little ones. Mine are so big now, and NONE of them want to have children. I kind of feel like I made having children look as if it was no fun, for them to feel that way. (Which it was. I LOVED having kids.)They assure me that's not the case. They just don't like kids and/or don't want to have to take care of any. Fuzz says it's because kids are horrible, especially babies. He said babies are hard to deal with.I tried to tell him that babies are easy. It's when they become teenagers that they become difficult! It's so much easier when they are little, and you can keep them with you, safe and happy. When they get bigger and start going out into the world, where you can't always know where they are and that they are safe, and having problems that you can't solve for them; that's when it's hard.
  Our giveaway winner, London Peony has contacted me with her address, so she will be receiving her miniature checker set very soon. Thanks for entering London.

"Crown me!" says Leptospurmum.

I'm considering doing a Christmas giveaway, but this time somebody needs to give London Peony some competition, otherwise she'll be over run with cool stuff I'm giving away. Come on people! Doesn't anybody else want to play with me?
  In other news, as they say, my pear tree is full of baby pears...

...my tomato plants are getting bigger...

...and I think that corn I planted is finally starting to come up.

Corn?

I just hope it's not too late. The mulberries, which are usually finishing up by this time, are starting to get ripe, and, as usual, my garlic is threatening to take over the yard!

The computer insists on loading this one sideways. But you get the idea...

 The garlic is only rivaled by the the wild strawberries, which, unfortunately, are inedible.

Gol durned wild strawberries have flourished, whereas my edible strawberries, that I paid money for, died out.Figures.

Oddly enough, the leeks, which NEVER get full sized anyway, are starting to seed already, as is the garlic. What?! 

My puny leeks. That pointy thing at the top will soon be a ball of tiny blooms, which will drop utterly worthless leek seeds back into the ground, where they will not grow next year.

There's a pumpkin plant, (or is it cucumbers?) growing of it's own accord amongst the Myrtle.

This is sideways too, but you would never have known if I hadn't told you.

 I still have Amaryllis' blooming, but the Rose of Sharon and the Sweet Peas are taking their time. The tiny blue flowers I used for a lot of doll photos lately are, I think, Forget-Me-Nots.(Now that I think about it, I did have a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds. I must have sprinkled them there.)

 Emma commented how fitting that is, considering they are growing at the edge of our 'pet cemetery'.
  So, lots of growing going on, but whether or not it produces anything remains to be seen. I'm famous for my black thumb,so I'm not counting on anything.
   Anyway, I have done some yard saling the last couple of days. It looks like Monster High,and Lalaloopsy dolls are beginning to hit the yard sales in a big way. I snagged 2 full size Lalaloopsies, (Ok. One of them was naked.),a mini, a plush, and several pets this weekend.

  Just to update on my recent cheese related injury: I am still limping and the toe is still swollen and still hurts, but it's almost back to it's normal colour. And you thought fats and cholesterol were the biggest dangers of cheese...
  Check out today's other post for Skipper Saturday.