I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Don't forget tomorrow is National Family Day. This holiday encourages busy families to make plans to spend quality time together. Whether it's enjoying at least one meal together or watching a family movie, this day is a great way to get the family closer. It's important to make time for our loved ones, and if you can't be there in person, remember to phone them and let them know how much you care. Make plans to do something special soon.

We will have one last game and I hope everyone will participate. For a maximum of 25 points, please up to 5 pictures, worth 5 points each, of you and a family member(s) doing something together this weekend, and/or pictures around town where you live. Please write a short paragraph to let our fellow OBF friends know a little bit about the activity For instance, if you post a picture of your local zoo, maybe you are visiting there with your grandchildren this weekend. I think we all will enjoy the pictures. The deadline for posting your pics will be Monday, September 27th at midnight.

Also, please remember to post, if you have not already, when you mail, or plan to mail your partners card and seeds, and also when you receive your package.

Please check your bingo words list as well, only 4 words left.

My hubby and I have been hiking the past two days. we are meeting our son and dil for lunch and another hike today. i will post a couple pics now and more later.

This is a hike at Sharon Woods in Cincinnati.

Hubby trailing way behind me at the Arc Of Appalachia-Cedar Run

I am really out of touch on this swap but it sounds like y'all are having a lot of fun.

Margo your butternut soup sounds really good. I plan to try it the next cool day. I have been experimenting with recipes for home made bread during this cooler stretch of weather. So far my favorite has been to use the bread machine to do the mixing, then do the second rise and bake in small 5 3/4x3x2pans. It gives a good size loaf for one or two people with slices that fit well into a toaster and produce a smallish but decent sandwich. I still do "normal" size loaves to give to folks with bigger families or bigger appetites. I love home made bread so gifting a large loaf from every batch gives me the needed excuse to keep making bread without feeling wasteful.

Picture taken during facetime. My grandson in Arizona which we happen to be going to visit the end of the week.

Bingo

Beth getting concerned about your pkg. hope you have received it.

Congrats Shirley.

Congratulations Shirley on the Bingo win!!!!

Margo, I just love the pictures of the hike and your grandson is so adorable. I know you must be excited to go see him!

My granddaughter had her first homecoming dance yesterday evening so I went to visit with her and the other grandkids and celebrate daughter’s day too. She had a great time. Three generations together yesterday. So proud of them.

Youngstown is home to a brand new outdoor amphitheater. The park complex also provides a nice green space for walking or cycling.

I hope to attend an open air concert with my family soon. They are bringing some good artists this year.

We are very fortunate to have beautiful architecture as well. Here is a photo of the Mahoning County Court House which is enjoying some renovations and one of our lovely churches. There are many more beautiful buildings dotting the landscape and you can usually find a photographer or college student walking around capturing the beauty.

We have a Double Tree hotel downtown that opened in the last year or so as well. They renovated an old building that had fallen into disrepair and there are other similar buildings going through renovations that will be used as luxury apartments as well. It is so nice to be part of Youngstown, Ohio’s Renaissance. I often take time to visit local restaurants with my loved ones. There is more outdoor seating popping up everywhere and it looks so inviting.

We have a non profit agency called Cityscapes that takes care of enlisting crews of volunteers to plant beautiful combinations of flowers all along the main streets downtown and into the main corridors leading into downtown. Here is an example of their plantings this year

I always try to promote local businesses and the reason I post these is because have made many beautiful memories with my family here. We also have a planetarium, a history museum, art museum, children’s science museum, beautiful Mill Creek Park and tons of other lovely venues. I hope you have enjoyed the pics of my hometown, Youngstown, OH

Today’s hike with son, dil and their new pup.

Susan, awesome pictures. we live in a very small town and it is 6 miles from here. Sadly, a train car production place closed many years ago resulting in a almost ghost town. I would love to see what it was like in it’s good days. Everything is pretty much closed and dilapidated.

This is what we have in our neighborhood. Sadly, she/he seems to have lost its mama.

She is beautiful Margo. I hope another mama deer will take care of her.

Small towns are the best but also take the most hits during economic downturns. Youngstown is a smaller town also and we do see many businesses that have closed their doors since Covid and it’s so sad to see. It will take a long time to recover from this virus.

Thanks for the lovely pictures you posted. Have a good night.

Beautiful Deer.

Beth USPS tracking says your pkg was delivered 9/24 at 9:54. Hope you have it. Please let me know.

Game Winners Update Final Scores - Monday, September 27th 4 pm

Congratulations to everyone!!!

Change Your Avitar to your Favorite Sunflower – Earn 5 points

Jayeanne

Autumn Blooms Pictures – 1 point per picture

Jayeanne - 55 points

Margo -7 points

Sudoku Puzzle – Solve for a special prize

Jayeanne

Seed-Pod Ingredient Recipes – Post a recipe for a special prize

Margo

Jayeanne

Pumpkin/Squash Ingredient Recipes – Post a recipe for a special prize

Shirley

Jeanne

Margo

Jayeanne

Scavenger Hunt Pictures – Main prize, 2nd place, and 3rd place prizes will be awarded

Jayeanne – 30 – First Place – Found all items, congratulations!

Margo – 26 – Second Place – Great job on finding almost all the items!

Susan B – 3 – Third Place – Wonderful – thanks for participating!

Autumn Soup or Chili Recipe – Post a recipe for a special prize

Jayeanne – Autumn Chili

Margo – Butternut Squash Soup

Garden Plant/Bulb Exchange – 5 points for each correct guess

Margo - 20 points

Jayeanne - 15 points

Fall Garden Tips – 5 points for each tip shared

Margo – 45 points

Shirley – 5 points

BINGO winner

Shirley – Congratulations!

National Family Game Pictures – 5 points per picture

Margo – 25 points

Total Points FINAL scores as of 9/27/21 4:00 pm (doesn’t include special prizes)

Jayeanne – 75 points

Margo – 97 points

Shirley – 5 points

Wow, I can't believe the month is drawing to a close. I have updated all the game winners and will be getting the prizes mailed out just as soon as we have confirmation of all cards/seeds received. Thank you all for participating, it has been a great time and lots of fun hosting for me.

Susan B and Beth please update us soon to let us know if you received your card and seeds and post a picture when you can.

Here's an update of what has been sent and received so far as of 9/27/21 at 4:20 pm:

Susan (skyblue) sends to Melinda - Susan was sending by 9/25

Melinda sends to Margo - Sending 9/25 or 9/27/21

Margo sends to Jayeanne - Sent and Received

Jayeanne (pinkiris) sends to Shirley - Sent and Received

Shirley sends to Beth - Sent 9/20/21 - pending confirmation received 9/24

Beth sends to Susan N (Happy Ohio Gardener) - sending today

Susan N sends to Susan (skyblue) - Sent 9/22/21 - pending confirmation received 9/24

Good morning.na great rain came in last night. With lots of thunder. I got Susan's great seed package. It is loaded with fun seeds. Got me thinking of next years tomatoes with black bumble bee. She included a great seasonal tea apple cranberry and a calming camomile. Live this oackage. The card just may get me in the Fall mood. Not ready to let summer go yet.

Susan B (skyblue52) so glad you liked your package. I know you love your tomatoes, so I was hoping you didn't have that one already. I am not ready for Fall either. The air is quite crisp in the morning and evenings and I am settling in little by little.

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday.

Margo, your card and seeds went in the box yesterday evening! Sorry so late! Hope you enjoy!

Here's an update of what has been sent and received so far as of 9/28/21 at 3:20 pm:

Susan (skyblue) sends to Melinda - Susan was sending by 9/25

Melinda sends to Margo - Sent 9/28

Margo sends to Jayeanne - Sent and Received

Jayeanne (pinkiris) sends to Shirley - Sent and Received

Shirley sends to Beth - Sent 9/20/21 - pending confirmation received 9/24

Beth sends to Susan N (Happy Ohio Gardener) - sent 9/27

Susan N sends to Susan (skyblue) - Sent and Received

Seeds received from Shirley and sent to Susan yesterday I am at Daughters house and do not have the mail here. Weekend was our big town festival and I stayed away from the traffic. Will post details tonight or tomorrow AM. Sorry for the delay.

Thank you for the update Beth 😊. I love festivals and hope you are having a great time with your daughter. Take care.

Thanks Melinda. We are leaving for Arizona Thursday to see our daughter, sil, and grandson. I will be back Tuesday so I’m sure the card will be waiting for me.

Beautiful weather here with warm temps but no humidity. Air conditioner has been off for a couple weeks.

Butterfly #5 will be released tomorrow. This has been such a great experience.

Wow Margo, beautiful butterfly!!! Where did you raise them, do you have a greenhouse?

Daughter and son in law were in Arkansas getting their house emptied out For a pending sale. I was house/Dog sitting. The one dog followed two boys home. I saw him go but he did not come when I called him. I put the other two dogs inside and went to get him. He was all sheepish knowing he was in trouble. Amy's grandsons had been there for most of the summer and I wonder if Brief ( BOXER) thought they were "His boys" I felt sorry for him but "no Cookies" for him yesterday

Shirley I thank you for my seeds. I had a couple Cannas this summer .The first canas ever for me and I loved them. Growing some from seed will be another new adventure. I have only ever done daylilies from seed one time. They were from "too many Animals", if anyone remembers her. They are among the prettiest ones in my collection

All the different types of cone flowers and daisy shapes seem to do well here. There are several remnant prairie areas nearby and I love going to see the flowers there. I will be working your seeds into my semi natural areas and look forward to seeing their colors too.

Many thanks

Beth so glad you received your seeds.
I received your lovely cardinals card, my favorite bird, full of wonderful packets of seeds. I love herbs and zinnias and am excited about all of these. I love Scarlet OHara morning glory and did not have any seeds for her this year. Marigolds are awesome too! I just looked up the coral nymph salvia. They look beautiful and should attract lots of hummingbirds. Can’t wait until next spring to plant these!!! Thanks again Beth!

Susan, I have two butterfly cages that I bought on Amazon. I do have a greenhouse but they’d cook in that. LOL I have found all but one caterpillar on milkweed that came up in my garden which were volunteers. I actually found an egg on milkweed across the road (monarchs lay one egg at a time). It’s been an awesome experience.

Received my great seeds and make my own fall decorating stuff from Susan!! I live it all and can't wait to see these blooming next year! Thank you!

Well ladies, here we are at the end of September. Almost all cards and seeds have been sent and received. Margo will be arriving back home on Tuesday, and she will be updating us I'm sure. Meanwhile, I loved hosting this month and want to thank all of you for your participation. I will be getting the prizes all packaged up and mailed out early next week. Please post to let us know you received your prizes. Looking forward to some more Autumn fun in October!

Here's an update of what has been sent and received so far as of 9/30/21 at 5:00 pm:

Susan (skyblue) sends to Melinda - Sent and Received

Melinda sends to Margo - Sent 9/28 (Margo will be returning next Tuesday)

Margo sends to Jayeanne - Sent and Received

Jayeanne (pinkiris) sends to Shirley - Sent and Received

Shirley sends to Beth - Sent 9/20/21 - Sent and Received

Beth sends to Susan N (Happy Ohio Gardener) - Sent and Received

Susan N sends to Susan (skyblue) - Sent and Received

Hello all. Had a wonderful time in Arizona with our daughter, sil dil, and silly grandson. while we were there, a wonderful young couple blessed our oldest son and our dil with a beautiful little baby girl. The birth mom will be signing papers Friday so keep your fingers crossed.

i did receive my card and seeds from Melinda. she sent me

ladybells

short red snapdragon

persian carpet zinnia

asiatic lily - salmon orange

giant asters

zinnia mix

Thank you Melinda for all. I’m already picturing them in my garden next year.

Margo

I hope everyone is doing well and having a great October so far. I have been busy packaging up prizes and will be mailing all of them tomorrow. Please remember to let us know when you receive your prize(s).

I had a wonderful time hosting September and hope you all had a good time.

Here's the final update and it looks like all packages have been sent and received.

Susan (skyblue) sends to Melinda - Sent and Received

Melinda sends to Margo - Sent and Received

Margo sends to Jayeanne - Sent and Received

Jayeanne (pinkiris) sends to Shirley - Sent and Received

Shirley sends to Beth - Sent 9/20/21 - Sent and Received

Beth sends to Susan N (Happy Ohio Gardener) - Sent and Received

Susan N sends to Susan (skyblue) - Sent and Received

Beth so glad you received your seeds.
I received your lovely card and seeds also. I love herbs and zinnias and am excited about all of these. I love Scarlet OHara morning glory and did not have any seeds for her this year. Marigolds are awesome too! I just looked up the coral nymph salvia. They look beautiful and should attract lots of hummingbirds. Can’t wait until next spring to plant these!!! Thanks again Beth!

All prize packages have been mailed. You may expect them Tuesday if you are in Ohio and Wednesday if you are in other states. Thanks to everyone that made it such a fun month to host. I enjoyed it.

Susan... OMG osh THANK YOU ever so kindly for the very generous prize package, just arrived today and I'm blown away with everything you ve spoiled me rotten with ... I absolutely love sunflowers my favorite flower hands down (my kitchen is decorated 24/7/365 with sunflowers lol) the sunflower garden flag is absolutely gorgeous! I love it... and all the sunflower stickers ... from the pillow throw, sparkly hello fall pumpkin sign, the flower bulbs, pumpkin spice coffee, apple and cranberry tea bags, chamomile tea bags, garden marker stakes, drawstring baggies to the Sudoko puzzle book and all the very generous commercial seeds, the adorable note tags, and the sparkly orange ribbon you had everything tied up ever so neatly .... THANK YOU Susan ever so much, everything is very much appreciated... you were much too generous. I absolutely love everything... I feel like you have spoiled me rotten... LOL I am headed outside to hang up this gorgeous sunflower garden flag. MANY thank yous Susan!

Almost forgot to add loved your theme and your creativity while hosting!

THANK YOU, Susan!

So glad your prize package arrived safely Jayeanne. I am happy that you like it. I appreciate you participating in our games. I enjoyed hosting this wonderful month.

I love sunflowers too and the Fall flags were so cute !! The flower bulbs are mixed narcissus and magic carpet mix muscari.
They are gorgeous in the spring and will multiply nicely. I hope you enjoy the seed selections I sent and wish you happy gardening. 😊

Almost forgot, the coffee is from O’Neils. They are local coffee roasters and have a nice selection. I thought most everyone likes pumpkin spice.

I just wanted to let everyone know that all packages, according to USPS tracking, were delivered on October 12th for prizes for participation. Please check and let me know that you received: Shirley, Margo, Susan B., and Jeanne. I hope they all arrived safely. Thank you! Hope everyone is having a great October!

Susan, I drove to my other house in SC on Sun. and returned yesterday and found the lovely prize package. I really didn't remember anything would be coming to me. Oh my goodness, I love spring bulbs so I will really enjoy having those daffodils and hyacinths in my new garden. That prize is perfect and thank you so much.

You’re very welcome Jeanne. Thanks for posting a recipe, the prize went to everyone that posted a recipe. I am glad you got back safely. Hope you enjoy the spring blooms for years to come.

Susan, thank you for your generous prize package. I really feel like a winner! So many wonderful prizes. I apologize as I am not sure when it arrived as hubby and i packed up and went down to North Carolina and rented a cabin at a KOA. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we stayed an extra night. The seeds, the bulbs, flag, coloring book, coffee tea and more are all wonderful, (the coffee will be served tomorrow). I had a great time in the swap and you were an awesome host. Many thanks again!

So glad you received your prizes and that you liked them. I enjoyed hosting our September Harvest. I hope you and your family had a good time in NC.

Susan I received my wonderful pkg. It was just like Christmas getting all my goodies.

I had a Fall dish towel on my want list and there it was in your pkg. along with other awesome

items. Thank you so very much for an awesome swap month.

You’re most welcome Shirley. I’m glad you received it ok and that you are able to use what I sent. Enjoy and Happy Gardening!!