Day Three Hundred Twelve 2013

Random Pics Of Autumn Beauty And Blessings From The Week That Was ~ HAPPY TGIF!













Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love — that makes life and nature harmonize. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.    
~George Eliot, letter to Miss Lewis, 1st October 1841

Day Two Hundred Sixty Two 2013

It’s beginning to look a lot like my favorite time of the year.

Day Two Hundred Fifty Eight 2013

“Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.”  ~Linus Van Pelt, It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Neil and I went for a stroll around the block today after lunch and discovered that the rogue pumpkin vine that had sprung up months ago at the very back of our yard had spread all the way down the hillside and almost into the street. I had totally forgotten there was a vine growing there.

And happy happy joy joy there is at least one pumpkin growing in this massive patch of pumpkin vines. Woo Hoo! What a pleasant surprise. I’m hoping there might be one or two more hidden in there somewhere. Maybe I’ll have a Great Pumpkin by Halloween. It looks like a sincere pumpkin patch, doesn’t it?

Day Sixty Seven 2013

T G I F ~ some randomness

Here comes the sun! If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see all the tiny sunbursts in the birdbath water, along with the sun’s glorious reflection. Pretty cool and totally accidental on my part.

Our birdbath hasn’t been cleaned out in a long time and contains a little eco system all its own. There are tiny bubbles in the water around that little feather (I think it’s a feather).

Our porches haven’t been cleaned off all winter, either. This is one of the rotting pumpkins from last Fall still sitting on the deck that will need to be scooped off with a shovel because it has turned to liquid. That should be fun.

The sun is new each day.
~Heraclitus

Watering can can’t water with a hole in the bottom.

All of our buttercups look like this ~ bowed down even in the bright sunlight. They bloomed way too early this year and have been beaten down by the recent snow.

You’re never too old to blow bubbles, which I did this afternoon, [even though the grand peeps weren’t around], just because they were still sitting out on the table where we left them earlier this week. Could not resist.

Little buttercup bud just can’t hold its head up ~ too weak from the cold and snow.

This little stone in our walkway commemorates the year we moved into this house ~ 30 years ago this month. Hard to believe I’ve spent half my life here.

We all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.
~John Lennon

Good advice.
Happy TGIF, y’all! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Day Three Hundred Sixty Four 2012

Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery.
~Bill Watterson
We didn’t even get an inch today but watching it fall was a thing of beauty, as always. Hope we get some more this winter.

Day Three Hundred Seven 2012

THANK GOODNESS IT’S  FRIDAY!

Grandson Elijah went to school this morning. He was doing fine until he decided to take a ride down the slide on the playground which caused his blistered bottom much distress. (For those of you who have not heard, on Halloween night he sat down on a Styrofoam cup of scalding hot apple cider and burned his little fanny which earned him a trip to the ER.) His mom brought him to Granny’s house and slathered on some Neosporin. He requested lunch at Burger King (where they have Mario toys in the kid’s meal). That Neosporin is good stuff! And a BK crown helped ease the pain, too.

Not to be outdone, daughter Kelly wore her crown while driving through lunchtime TGIF traffic. And only because her dad refused to wear it on the way back to work.

Meanwhile, back at Granny’s house, grandson Knox discovered the stairs. And our electricity went off for some reason right when we got back from lunch.

Kelly decided she wanted/needed some yummy coffee, so we headed over to the corner coffeehouse on the town square instead of sitting at home in the dark. I really liked this bumper sticker on the car we parked beside.

Kelly got her latte, and Elijah enjoyed some hot chocolate (but not too hot) with some homemade whipped cream, while Knox entertained the couple behind the couch, and Elijah regaled them with the story of why he wasn’t in school today.

While we were there, we listened to vintage vinyl Hank Williams on the record player (Don’t Think Twice). When that song ended and another one began, Elijah was surprised and said, “There’s another song on there?” We told him there were lots of songs on there. And on the flip side, too.

In God We Trust now adorns our courthouse which is all right with me. Others don’t like it. I’ll never understand why some folks are offended by God.

Neighbor Kitty Lily paid a visit. She hangs out on our porches often, especially in cold weather.

It’s good to be king.

Looks like Elijah is the only family member in focus in this blurry cell phone camera pic. We looked forward to supper at Ocha Thai food deli all day long—hubby Neil, granddaughter Shelby, daughter Kelly, grandson Knox, daughter Holly, and grandson Elijah. We enjoyed their good food and had some fun, too. Hope your TGIF was awesome!

Day Three Hundred Three 2012

Grandson Elijah and his first grade class visited a nearby pumpkin patch last week. This is the pumpkin he picked. He decorated it at school and brought it home today.
It’s a pretty cool pumpkin. I especially like the mustache. Nice touch, Elijah.

Day Two Hundred Ninety Five 2012

 "October is a symphony of permanence and change."
~Bonaro W. Overstreet

Day Two Hundred Ninety One 2012

The human soul is slow to discover the real excellence of things given to us by a bountiful Creator, and not until the shadows of death begin to gather around the object that we love, do we see its worth and beauty. Autumn is the dim shadow that clusters about the sweet, precious things that God has created in the realm of nature. While it robs them of life, it tears away the veil and reveals the golden gem of beauty and sweetness. Beauty lurks in all the dim old aisles of nature, and we discover it at last.  ~Northern Advocate