The Last Days of September

 

For better or worse, they're here.

We are on the precipice of what is, for many of us, our favorite time of year (even though loathing what follows).

Others (no names mentioned) would more likely prefer to burn the book above.

The days here have been temperate and mild; the nights cool and moonlit.

I don't want to betray October, but Septembers like this just might win my affections.

The skies are that September kind of blue that other months can't quite mimic.

...and there is a different sound to them as well.

The full harvest moon promises light in the dark nights to come...

...as well as a hint of the mystery and magic of the season ahead.

{I don't think the time stamp will show in the photo, but this photo was taken at 1:26 a.m. (don't ask) with no filters, editing, or other alteration.}

The gardens, while tired from the summer's labors, are still lush and enticing in the moonlight's forgiving light.

The last days of September have been busy here and will continue to be full for the next several weeks.

While I've neither hooked nor stitched much (any?) of late, I thought, my wayward mojo might be located at one of Cathy's (Red Barn Rugs) workshops and wrangled home.

Despite the amazingly talented hookers there and inspiring projects, I can't say that my mojo was anywhere to be found, but the hunt will continue.

So as not to leave my hooker friends out there completely disappointed, here a few photos. (Sorry, I wasn't good at actually taking photos of the rugs being worked on. I guess I was too busy scouring nooks and crannies for my mojo.)

{Cathy's living room}

{Hallway in the upstairs studio}

{One of the rugs in the upstairs hallway of Cathy's studio}

{Cathy's rug/design}

{Cathy's design/rug}

{Rug hooked by Lisa P}

{Cathy's rug/design}

{Maria B's rug}

{Cathy's design/rug}

{Rug being worked on by Lisa P}

{Maria B started this rug at the workshop and made amazing progress.  The design is by Robin Leuschen. Pay no attention to that horse in the background LOL}

The week ahead is a busy one with many appointments and, at its end, I will be heading to the lake for a few short days of hooking with Cathy and a few friends.

And, no, I don't expect to find my mojo up there either. 

I've already checked.

Enjoy your last days of September.

A Different Kind of Quiet

 ...and a different sort of problem.

Out of necessity, over the many years, I've had to be the tech-savvy one. 

It did not, necessarily, come naturally to me and was one of my "skills" I preferred I didn't have. However, it kept my staff and family afloat (mostly).

Maybe I'm just too stinking old to keep up with it, or I'm just tired of the trying, but I really can't anymore.

I rely on the Blogger "Reading List" to inform me when bloggers I follow have posted new posts. 

A few months+ back, it seemed that my reading list was not showing recent posts from blogs I followed.

I researched, pondered, and tinkered and found a simple resolution (manually refreshing my FeedBurner/RSS feed). (FeedBurner is the feed reader that Blogger (and other feed readers) use to retrieve posts.) I think I even helped a fellow blogger resolve the same issue on her blog.

And then "this" happened.

Over a week ago, I again noticed something seemed off with my "Reading List." 

No new posts were showing.

I manually refreshed my FeedBurner feed, cleared all caches, and tested.

Finally, a post from Saundra (Woodland Junction Blogspot) showed up so I thought all was well (again).

It wasn't and isn't.

The only posts that show up in my Reading List were/are Saundra's.

(Yes, I double-checked by going to a few blogs who post regularly and, sure enough, there were posts.... many of them...only none of them showing on my Reading List.

I did what I did last time (manually refreshed my FeedBurner feed)...did a test post (as sometimes things only refresh in the background until a new post is made) and nope. Still, only Saundra's posts show.

More researching, pondering, and tinkering ensued and the conclusion is not good.

This is not a FeedBurner/RSS issue.

Apparently Google Blogger is having a major backend/cache problem.

And this is giving me (and likely others) a major "backend" problem as well.

This also explains why I was experiencing that new posts were missing, delayed, or appearing out of order. To add insult to injury, all questions regarding this topic have been locked on the "Help" platform and replying has been disabled.

So.....Gameplan B: Find a workaround.

Ummm, another "nope." 

Essentially this would require bypassing Blogger's Reading List and use a separate feed reader (e.g., Feedly, Inoreader, NetNewsWire, etc.). 

Not necessarily a huge deal...but the deal becomes huge when I have to transfer my Blogger Reading List/followed blogs into the new feed reader, and Blogger doesn't offer a simple "export my Reading List" button that alternative feeders can directly import. Consequently, I would have to manually search out the feed address for each and every blog I follow and add it to the new feed reader manually.

I can't wrap my head around how long that would take me.

In short, I'm "fed" up with FeedBurner, feed readers, and feeds in general. 

I don't know what else to say.

Theoretically, each day I could look up each and every blog (I can remember) I follow and check to see if they posted anything new, but I follow almost 200 blogs (197 to be precise). (It actually was more until Blogger limited the number of blogs one can follow. Granted, not all are still active, but I don't want to delete them, you know?)

So I am stuck here.

And I am sad here.

Blogging has been a refuge for me for many years and I've come to count so many of you as my dearest friends.

But until (unless??) Blogger fixes things, I don't know when I will be able to see you or your posts. And, if things are mucked up in the manner that I think they might be, you may not see anything I post...including this post. 😢

Not sure why I bothered...but I'm developing an expertise in exercises of futility I guess.

Be well my friends.

You will be sincerely and dearly missed.

Knock Knock....

 

Wanna come out and play?

More like, Wanna come out and see what I haven't eaten yet?

I'm sorry I've been so long gone again but, geesh, I'm just not keeping up these days.

For those who asked, yes, the new baby arrived safely but contrary to best laid plans. (DIL was past her due date so they scheduled her for a c-section but complications arose and she ended up having an emergency c-section prior to the scheduled date.)

Baby Myla Lynne arrived in style (during a tornado warning) but both mom and baby are doing well.

And, yes, Gigi duty went fine and dandy...but, yikes, was I tired LOL.

By now most of you know that each summer I generally do a post about the summer's flowers.

This is this year's.

Because I was too lazy to make it into a couple, separate, posts, be forewarned that there a LOT of photos.

{The cream separator came from our family's farm}

{The first hibiscus to bloom}

{White Admiral Butterfly on hydrangeas}

{One of my favorite places to be: on my bench on my back porch}

{The view from said bench....}

It has been a good year for the "volunteer" plants (ones that just seed themselves from prior years and manage to grow in the bricks of my patio.) Amazing given how extremely dry it has been.

{All of the plants under the tub are "volunteers"}

{Even a volunteer phlox!}

{Morning glories and echinacea}

These plain-Jane white petunias are actually "firefly petunias"... 

At night, without any props or lights, they become magically lit as though by little fireflies:

{Word to the wise: Do not put these somewhere where one has to navigate stairs in the dark in order to see their magic.  Just saying....}

{No flowers here...just a peek looking into the cornzebo with a little "light magic" of its own.}

{A very rare (for Nod - and Wisconsin generally) "stray" Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly playing amongst the echinacea.}

{Not flowers either, and not-so-rare, trash pandas on the bridge. Yes, I was tempted.}

{Sun setting on the tasseling corn after a night of cat yoga with Mia.

There are days life is so very sweet.}

Hope you all are keeping well.