Our living room in our "Little House in the Big Woods"
I just brewed a cup of Rishi Tumeric Ginger tea. Bought it last week at the Marquette Co-op. It is a loose-leaf orange-colored tea which begs to be steeped using a tea ball or tea basket. (I’m using a tea basket Kiah gave as a birthday present in July–thanks Ki!)
Some of you haven’t seen the inside of our house, have you? Others of you may have viewed images over the past two years. Just pretend you’re settling down on our couch and we’re sipping Rishi tea together. Isn’t it good? Would you like some more?
(Oops, that was a breach of etiquette. We have no more tea of this particular brand. Would you like a tea bag instead?)
A yellow view off our deck
We could amble out on the deck and view the autumn foliage, but it’s raining, so sorry. We could find rain jackets and go outside anyway. It’s still fairly warm–in the 50’s. No frost tonight. Are you afraid of getting wet?
Another orange and vibrant tree on the way to work. See Waldo in the branches? Just kiddin'!
I suppose some of you have ascertained from the title that the blog has a secret. I was waiting until you slowly sipped more tea before telling you.
Except. Perhaps we’ll play a little game instead. A guessing game. Kind of like a Where’s Waldo game. Kind of like one of those games–did you ever read the Taste of Home Magazine–where the editors hid a needle somewhere in the pages and we were advised to find it.
I never could find that needle.
Pull your boat up to the dock in Skanee. Welcome to our neck of the woods!
Here’s the scoop, dear readers. This blog hid a secret within it. The blog has hidden something in plain sight. It’s either in the words or photos. The blog is dying to show you, but thinks you should have some game-playing fun while you drink your tea.
If you don’t like this game, maybe we’ll play Scrabble.
Kiah, Doris and Barry (and Lori if you happen to stop by this blog) simply cannot play. You know too much. The rest of you are fair game.
What secret do you think the blog is withholding from you until tomorrow?
Our car almost looks enchanted, doesn't it?
No, it’s not the fact that we might have to buy a new (translation: used) car in the next couple of days. Not the shining car above. Grandma’s Buick is the one that is gasping and sputtering and dying. She’s down to her last maroon-colored breath. She’s very old, the dear Buick. The car was born in 1995, and we inherited her (via my mom) after Grandma died in 2000. We’ve nursed her past the 200,000 mark.
And now she’s exhibiting the death rattle.
Barry just said, “Kathy, can you go on-line and look for cars after you write your blog?”
Sigh…OK. Please, dear Spirit of Automobiles, help us find the perfect car. Maybe another Buick Century or an Impala. Between 50,000-60,000 miles. A 2005-2007. Any way one might exist for $8,000? OK, OK, the car dealer said $11,000.
Barry will get the shining silver Buick 2003 pictured above and yours truly will drive the new car. (He shall drive the Studebaker pickup truck to work tomorrow. To ensure he gets there safely.)
Leaves overhead. Ask the wood sprite. He'll tell you the secret.
Dear reader, your time is up! It’s now or never. What secret hides in this blog? Where does it hide?
You have three guesses.
Stay tuned until tomorrow–I’ll make sure the blog quits being playful by then and ‘fesses up.
Lake Superior Spirit 
OK, if nobody has ANY idea what I’m talking about–hey, maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about–tell us what’s new in your life. Tell us what kind of car you have and why you love it (as long as its in the previously discussed price range). Tell us what kind of tea you like. Tell us if it’s raining where you live. We can hold our usual lively conversation, no matter if the riddle is too challenging. Wait a sec! Maybe the riddle will be too easy…OK, signing off now. Going to clean up the dirty dishes in the kitchen and watch a movie “Temple Grandin”. I can’t find a single car to buy tomorrow. Not yet.
Kath? Is what’s hiding in this blog your infectious grin?
Perhaps I am too tired to follow you, but, nevertheless, I am happy to be on this ride!
To answer your questions- I drive a Volvo station wagon because I often have to haul garden gear and a cello or two plus teenagers. And my favorite tea is something I learned in Tuscany from my friend Ursula- brew a cup of green tea and let it steep with a sprig of fresh mint in it. She calls it Moraccan tea. I call it Ursula tea.
Good luck on the car hunt.
xo S
Oh, good grief. I don’t want to be first (well, second) but this “secret” is owning me, and I keep coming back here to peek and see if anyone else has guessed yet. Want to watch a strange movie on TCM – Days of Heaven – about migrant workers – so I must plunge in now with my guesses:
1 – each photo contains animate or inanimate wood and all of it is vertical except for the final photo, which is more horizontal. The “vertical” photos could represent pages of a book, and the final horizontal one – the closing of the book (cover)
2 – the sun is shining in each photo (really lame guess)
3 – your words seem to be telling a story about running out of things, or perhaps the “death” of the season as we venture from Fall to Winter … running out of tea, the death knell beginning for the old buick, the brilliant leaves and dazzling sunlight blazing their final brilliance before … well, the end….
I am terrible at these games but am a complete sucker for them every time. So stop laughing, Kathy. I know you are … because I am. Oh, you bring so much joy!!! Now, for my movie….
no idea! scooter, because it is cheap(the cost is under $2000, I pay less than a hundred for registration, less than a 100 for insurance a year, get 110 miles per gallon, and it only rains here two work days a year), jasmine, and it’s a humid heat wave here!
I had to look up wood sprite. That is a new one that does sound like a drink….
The Wood Sprite Gracile Opossum (Gracilinanus dryas) is a mammal????
Wood Sprites were the fairy elementals who lived in the trees and the woods
Love the fall pictures…..
I am with Suzi Banks Baum–you can’t beat an old Volvo Station wagon. We happen to have two. An older one (c.1988, 275,000 miles+) and a newer one (c.2002, 100,000 miles +). The older one is still running great–original engine and transmission. And like Suzi’s, it serves as a great farm car–I can fit two bales of hay inside it.
Once again, your photos are spectacular! I’ll have to keep looking for your secret. For now it eludes me.
It’s because Kiah’s room is no longer lime green, right!?! 🙂 Good luck on the car hunt…I have a Ford Edge and love it!
The room may have been painted, but they’re still driving the same car that used to haul you girls all over! New car…..yea, a new adventure!
Okay, I’m thinking I see Waldo sitting in the branches of the tree in the last photo. Or I have a vivid imagination. If that’s not it, I give up!
I have Temple Grandlin on my Netflix list. Did I spell that right?
Tea? I’m not really a tea drinker, but if I do it has to be an Oregon Chai Latte, hot or cold depends on the weather. This week, it’s cold.
Cars – You could have ours for a whole lot less than $8,000. There’s my 1992 Honda Civic with around 120,000 miles on it. We’ve been together since its birth. And then there’s the 1991 Ford Aerostar van that lived here before we did – it was our friends’ Oregon vehicle before they retired here. We bought it from them when we all moved up here. It’s probably got around 100,000 miles, although I’ve not looked lately. I’d like a new car, you know shiny, bright, with the button you push to unlock from afar, or open the trunk from afar, and all the other new gadgets. But these are still running very well and so I’d rather spend the money on other things. Like plants an groceries.
How about all the colors of the rainbow? You’ve got red, orange, yellow and green leaves, plus blue water. Dang, that leaves out violet, doesn’t it?
Hmmm… the photo on your living room wall shows all the places you photographed in the other photos? You are traveling somewhere by air, water or car?
Kathy, I’m going to take this with me into my dreams tonight. All my tired eyes and brain can comprehend right now are gorgeous fall colors, a car that glows in the light and a lovely room with the most beautiful spiral? staircase and amazing forest views. What is hidden remains hidden….alas. Maybe some Sleepytime tea would be nice, thank you for asking 🙂
Goodness what a mystery I enjoyed reading everyone’s guesses but all I can think of is that the person taking the photos is hidden and you see through her eyes but she is not actually pictured in this particular blog, unless she is in the enchanted car!! And someone else took the photo!
Susan D. was very brave to take a guess. I’m clueless, as usual, though you obviously put clues in there for us to find. Carol, you will love the movie “Temple Grandin.” It’s one of the most moving films I’ve seen in my life. Waldo! That’s pretty funny. Okay, what about Kalahari bush tea? Whenever I read the Alexander McCall Smith stories set in Botswana, that’s what I have to drink. Sorry, cannot address the question of cars. These days we are constantly scanning the roadside for appropriate vehicles with FOR SALE signs in their windows.
I give up!
Or, uh–trees in fall garb?
Kathy – I have no idea, whatsoever., what’s hidden in this blog. But I’m sure curious to find out when you reveal it in your post today.
COINCIDENTALLY, like you guys, we had to buy a new-to-us car just yesterday. We traded in the 1996 volvo wagon with over 200,000 miles on it and bought a 2005 Toyota Highlander with 40,000 miles on it.
I am completely stumped. But I enjoyed the game anyhow. 🙂
Lovely colors in all of your photos. I liked Karma’s idea — that they represent the colors of the rainbow.
OK, it looks like this was too hard. I am going to give another clue. I am afraid it’s still going to be too hard. But, truly, the blog is hiding a secret! The secret is–mostly–revealing itself in the first photo of our living room and the photo of our car. That’s all until tonight, folks! I LOVE that you played along and were such good sports. Your response of not being able to find the secret is really telling me something. We’re headed car shopping at precisely 1 p.m. If any of you have an “in” with the God of Used Cars, please pray for us.
OK, I can’t live with myself! Another clue. If you keep staring at the pictures looking for Waldo or the needle, you’re not going to find anything. You have to enlarge your awareness. You have to think bigger than the box.
Okay – last attempt: Pictures within pictures??? The room and the car are “framed” within the photos as a whole…
Best wishes for a great car hunt!
Susan D, you are the bestest guesser on the planet! You deserve an Award for Playing the Most Enthusiastically and guessing the most number of times. You are very close…in one way…with your latest answer. Only in one way, mind you! Thank you for the car hunt wishes. I hope that proves to be the bestest as well.
P.S. I wonder if anyone reading would think, “Doesn’t she even know that bestest isn’t a word?” lol! She knows. She just likes to toss out the rules quite often.
(((Hugs)))
Yes, Susan….me too. Came back to say that maybe this is a photo “assignment”. Life (living room/car) is the “subject”. Nature (wooden arches) is the frame. But since Kathy says no will go back to making my pot of mixed bean soup. Ah, well…….
Lol, Colleen – the bean soup sounds lovely. So glad you came back for more guesses … nice to have persistent company 🙂
Framed. The theme of the show.
Either that or you’re pregnant.
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Thank you ALL for playing! For stopping by to chat about cars. For making us laugh. (Gerry, I’m pregnant?? I laughed so hard when your comment came in that I could hardly properly finish the blog which reveals the answer.) Exhausted after a long day…love to you all!
Hmmmmm……maybe we’re all just too tired at the end of the week? Oh, it’s only the middle of the week? Darn it! I await with baited breath!
Glad to provide the suspense! Gosh, this was fun. 🙂
I stopped by later than usual this time….. been busy, busy. The Rishi tea sounds very intriguing and your living room looks very cosy. Beautiful pictures of Fall also.
Marianne, wish our other (closer) co-op offered Rishi tea. It is very good. Our house is very cozy–it’s little–only about 900 square feet. One large living room/kitchen/dining with two small bedrooms upstairs, a tucked-away corner for an “office” and a tiny bathroom. The basement is a walk-out with another bedroom, a big wide open room, a laundry room, a food room and a closet. Yep, that’s our house!
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Having seen your later post, now…. I’d never have guessed either, but then you’re so damn good at photography that it’s obviously not the camera but the photographer….
🙂
By the way, one of my fave teas is ginger with turmeric! We’ve got some by a company called ‘Pukka’ and it’s in tea bags.
🙂
What a lovely compliment coming from an artist like you, Val! It’s interesting, as time goes by, how it’s much more possible to discern the “good” shots from the “bad” shots. That part of being a photographer seems to be developing…slowly.
Haven’t seen any ginger w tumeric in teabags around here, yet. Will keep an eye out for it. It is so delicious!