MORNING ROLL CALL OCTOBER 2025

[DaveMcK]

MORNING ROLL CALL October 2025

Top of the morning to everyone on this First day October of 2025 

Happy Birthday to all of our October Birthday members.

[LisaS961881]

  Hi Everyone!

     I don’t have a greenhouse.  I start my seedlings in the basement under a plant light.

     In the past, I did grow or buy floral annuals, but now I am too cheap to do so. 😌.  For three years now, I have been cheating and placing Dollar Tree plastic/fabric flowers within my “real” plants and nobody is the wiser.  I cut apart the DT floral picks/clusters, and then remove the leaves, which always seem to be an unnatural color.

   Then I stick just a few stems within my ivy, hosta and other green plants.  It is the same look, but it lasts for years, and I am getting a tad lazy as I get older.  
  ~ Lisa

[Fall2025VA]

I deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[LisaS961881]

  I found a photo from last year.  Every flower you see here is from Dollar Tree!

[Fall2025VA]

I deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[Fall2025VA]

I deleted comment. Nicole  👵

[MsStretch]

@Fall2025VA , actually exploring/bushwhacking season occurs during the winter when everything is bare, since almost all of our forays are off-trail.  Hard to find or see anything when everything is green, so one, maybe two weeks left.  Off on another adventure tomorrow in SNP and maybe another one next week to find the location of an old school that's at a higher elevation and hopefully, not so green.  Probably not much left.  Maybe the old foundation and a few artifacts.  Plus with spring come the snakes (saw one last week on a bushwhack to an old Poor House and cemetery in Prince William Forest Park) and the bugs. 😝

Stay tuned.

[MsStretch]

@Fall2025VA , I have plenty of pictures from this season's adventures, but mostly if you like looking at old cemeteries (frequently just fieldstones) and remnants and artifacts of old homesites.  Not everyone finds them interesting. 😁

No spectacular mountain views or waterfalls or sunsets. 🚫🌄🏞️⛰️

But let me cull through and find something.

[Fall2025VA]

I deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[LisaS961881]

   I’ll add that I mourn the loss of Anne Perry, Shelia Connely, and M.C. Beaton (although Green has done a fine job continuing her series).  I so enjoyed Thomas Pitt and Hamish MacBeth !

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[MsStretch]

@Fall2025VA , I generally go for historical fiction (no, not the swashbuckling romance kind) that are based on real facts and research, but the author adds fictional characters and dialogue to make it more relatable. Anything from prehistoric times through the Civil War.

Another source to try is BookBub.  I have an account and receive daily emails for the latest deals based on my preferences.  Bought a few books (Kindle, of course) from them.  Sometimes they offer books for free for a limited time.

To each his own, but I love my Kindle and Kindle app.  I can 'carry' a whole library on my phone to wherever I go.  And no stains or torn and dog-eared pages. 

[MsStretch]

@Fall2025VA , @LisaS961881 , do you still have used book stores in your area?  I used to score some good finds there.  Also, check out the little free libraries.

I'm a Kindle user myself and have been for years.

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[LisaS961881]

I just picked up a cozy mystery from Dollar Tree.  It will have to wait until I am finished with ~ The Mirror & the Light -.  It’s the final book in her trilogy about the final years of Thomas Cromwell.  The first was ~ Wolf Hall ~ , and the second ~ Bring Up the Bodies ~.  
I enjoyed the PBS adaptation, and want to finish this book before I watch the final segment on PBS.  

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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[LisaS961881]

   Maybe a Dollar Tree will have books soon too.  Mine only began offering adult books last November.  While they seem to only appear every three weeks or so, I’ve nabbed hardcover titles from J.D.Robb, Catherine Coulter, Lisa Gardner, Victoria Gilbert, and several cozy mystery authors !

When I see the books in stock, I buy a bunch. While they are not free, like the ones in the library are, I save them for a rainy day when I don’t feel like making a trip to the library.

(Or, on a sunny day like today, as my reward for putting down 8 bags of mulch this morning!). ….going to read outdoors for a bit! ☀️

Lisa

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[papawofboo]

I found them. Got 4 pkgs. As much as I have paid for them in the past, just bet these cheap ones do the trick.

Those high price tulips are starting to pop up. Hope to finish all my planting tomorrow. I had mulch and rock delivered today. After that all that's left is watering, feeding the birds, fixing the drink of the day and fireing up the grill.

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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[papawofboo]

Here is those 5 year bulbs I was talking about, these photos' are from past years but they are all coming up again this year.

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

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[papawofboo]

the orange is a lily and the blue is called a ballon plant. They are planted in pots and in the fall of the year I take leaves and fill up the pot so that snow or sleet will not be directly on top of them. 

[LisaS961881]

Last Summer - looking out my back door!

[LaDolceVita]

@catwoman500   I did not watch Marie Antoinette but with your recommendation I will watch on Passport.  I watched the first season of Sissy and it was on the trashy side, did not follow the book much and tried to fill it with salacious details and I  sort of gave up on historical dramas, fearing more of the same.  @MsStretch  very cute cats.   @Fall2025VA I am still reading The Magic Mountain by Thomas. Mann.  It is not a quick read, but worth the time!   It was a recommendation. on one of your threads so kudos on that 😀.  

[MsStretch]

@Fall2025VA , Mister is bringing you a gift!  Most sources I have read agree that the predatory instinct in cats, even domesticated and well-fed cats, is strong.  Since Mister views you as part of his social group, he is bringing you a live critter to teach you to hunt, since in their minds, humans suck at it.  A dead critter is providing for you, bringing you food.  Cats will often bring their prey to a place they are comfortable at.

Stellar (Giorgio's brother) was the hunter of the family.  But he didn't like to share.  He would parade around proudly with his prey in his mouth and then, he would hog it all to himself, although I did once observe him drop a live mouse in front of his mother (Willie Mae) and the chase was on, including me who was actually trying to give the mouse a second chance.  Willie Mae and Giorgio don't seem to be that much into stalking and hunting.  They will go after a critter they see, but I think it's mostly for the chase.   

[MsStretch]

@Fall2025VA , I get the kids' food from Chewy.  Used to get it from Walmart or Petsmart, but when they got picky and during Covid and there was a shortage of certain cat foods, went to Chewy.  Kids love Friskies shreds, but can take or mostly leave the poultry or beef varieties.  I am on auto-ship.  I don't get it as often since it's only Willie Mae and Giorgio now.  My own sweet Delilah (indoor) and Stellar and Armani and BUC are now only precious memories.  They eat a variety of dry food and love the crunchy treats, not so much the chewy ones like Temptations.  And to think when I first discovered a feral mama and her two babies living under my deck, they were ecstatic over the stinky cheapie DG-brand food I got them.  Their tastes have definitely refined over the years. 😼🙄

Yes, I did go on an adventure in Shenandoah NP yesterday.  We returned to an old cemetery that we visited over twenty years ago!  The reason for the return was I had an old picture of an inscribed fieldstone that we found then, and no one else had seen or found it nor was it documented in the updated cemetery files of the NPS archives (although I was informed that my picture was added to the file with the year found -- 2005).  So we were determined to find it again.  Sadly, we did not.  Probably covered over, trees might have fallen on it, greenbriar might have made it inaccessible (not that we didn't try, got plenty of scratches to confirm and a couple of new tears in my pants).  We did discover a few new fieldstones in a corner that we hadn't seen before, none of them inscribed.  So not a total loss and it was a good day for a walk in the Park.

[LaDolceVita]

@Fall2025VA   Most perennials will go dormant in the winter.  Will post pictures when in bloom, I hope!

[Fall2025VA]

I have deleted my comment. Nicole  👵

[catwoman500]

@Fall2025VA  Will let you all know about Marlow Murder Club when I find out.

@Fall2025VA, @LaDolceVita Not sure if either of you watched Season One of Marie Antionette, but season 2 starts Sunday. I really enjoyed the first season.

Marie Antoinette, season two

Sunday, March 23 | 10 p.m. on WHYY-TV 

In season two of this acclaimed series, Marie Antoinette and Louis prove to be compassionate and capable rulers, embracing modern ideas that prioritize rewarding talent over inherited privilege. However, enemies lurk in every corner, even within the halls of Versailles and disastrous consequences loom as the revolt rumbles on. Binge the entire new season the night of the premiere or catch up on the first one on-demand with WHYY Passport.