Hey birthday girl! Yeah it was a great weekend just the two of us, it really helps knowing that the little ones are doing well!   I need to go birding again, ‘cause it is getting into peak fall migration time here. I’m not as good at identifying birds in their fall plumage as in the spring though! Even the Merlin app is not so much help as they don’t sing much this time of year. Like, it’s always exciting when you hear your first X (oriole, flycatcher, gnatcatcher etc) of the spring, but when you see or hear the last one of the fall you don’t usually know it’s the last at the time. Still, it’s a great way of spending time outside, and feeling connected to the natural world and the changing of the seasons.

Hey TG   So glad your kids are well and happy!   And that you had lovely bike ride with hubby.   You sound great and makes me smile   Are you still bird watching/listening? Xx

^^^ ah, bold plans, TG! 😳   I did shower and go to yin yoga, which was awesome. Then remembered that I had kind of committed to doing a meal prep, so got turkey sweet potato chili all a-simmer.  And posted assistive devices that I needed after surgery onto the local buy nothing group, and found takers for all of them (and all picked up already, too!) No data entry though. Just going to take it easy tonight and rest up for a big day tomorrow (of doing things i don’t really want to do but they all need to be done!)   RIP Kris Kristofferson      

+   Up until now, I had really struggled with themed challenges. I guess it was just a matter of finding the right one (after almost five years hanging out here). I'm really grateful for all of you here on the forums. Without you, I'm not sure I would have found my way to creating this challenge. Special thanks to those who introduced me to Critical Role as the last year and a half of binge watching it really built a foundation I could use for this challenge.

Here's a sneak preview of the Inktober prompts for those of you who are overplanners like me:  

Ahhh so exciting!  Stay well!

Now there's an idea, can you recommend anyone?   (In all seriousness, I should probably just sort out my Irish passport, but there's so many layers of paperwork required and I lack the motivation to do it without a clear reason.)     Thank you! That's nice to hear because it's almost exactly what I was going for. It's a bit of a cartoony model, so I wanted to go quite contrasting with the colours, but without them being too garish.

I've been focusing less on the amount of walking - I do quite a bit anyway - and more on the mindfulness aspect that goes with it.   I've not been good at tracking this, but here's where I think I am: Tuesday - I made an effort to be aware of my surroundings on my walk home, and saw a squirrel right next to the path in park. He was absolutely fearless - I could have almost reached out and picked him up. Thursday - I took a walk across another park, and watched the birds picking at the site of last year's bonfire. I wondered if they were trying to get the last worms out of the soil whilst they could, before this year's bonfire was placed on the same site on Saturday. Friday - On my walk home from the gym, I saw an albino squirrel on a fence. It's not the first one that I've seen round here, and I wonder if there are quite a few about or if it's just the same one in different locations. Today - I tried to pay attention to my surroundings as WW and I walked out to a café. I don't think I saw anything or note, but the effort counts. I'm calling it 4/7 for the week so far, but I'll have a go at doing something on Monday as well, as that seems to fit the timing of when tasks are announced.   Guglug walked on, ostensibly searching for holes, but in reality stopping often to document and study the local fauna. He felt the fresh air was doing him good, even if his head was still buried in a notebook for much of the time.

He turned out great! I love the colours you chose: lots of nice contrast but they also fit together in a harmonious palette. 

You are very good at these - limerick writing is hard!