Before we leave fall altogether (and after days of rain and wind, cold air is set to move in), one last look at the leaves under the Japanese Maple in our yard, the tree that afforded a friendly perch to take in the world and was a favorite of Laura's.

Have a couple of different sort of Laura projects in the early stage that have been keeping me busy.  Not sure yet how things will work out, so will describe at a later date!

This weekend has been centered around taking care of Suse as she recovers from having her four impacted wisdom teeth removed.   She has needed a lot of pain medicine and I don't think she is going to be ready to go back to school tomorrow.

It was two years ago that we made an overnight trip to Long Branch, NJ so that Laura could enjoy looking out at the ocean.  Long Branch was not too long a drive for an overnight trip as her Jersey shore favorite Cape May would have been.  Our room at our hotel in Long Branch

 was on a high floor and we had a great view of the beach and ocean.  We had a fun dinner while looking out at the ocean.  The next day we browsed around the trendy new shopping district.  We looked but did not buy finding the stores very expensive.   Of more interest were the statues of the Seven Presidents who used to frequent Long Branch in its heyday  a century ago.  The seven were Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley and Wilson, and they are commemorated in larger than life statues looking out over the beach. (One statue shows up in one of the photos.)

Just wanted to point out that we have a Friends of Laura Stiles page at the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) site.  The link is over on the right side of the page with Laura's Caringbridge site and other links. You can see a slide show of the 2008 Lemonade Stands there. Though at this time of the year, we do not have any stands planned, we have included a fundraising page  for ALSF.  Also we will soon put up a Giving Tree page for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation where a $5 donation puts an ornament on her tree.  Thank you for your support of the fight against neuroblastoma and childhood cancer in the upcoming holiday season!