Thankful Sunday

Ward and I took a walk today, and this hymn is what I was thinking as we were enjoying the beauty of autumn.

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth 

over and around us lies:

Lord of all, to thee we raise 

this our joyful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour

of the day and of the night.

Hill and vale and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light:

Lord of all to thee we raise

This our joyful hymn of praise.

Words: Fol­li­ot S. Pier­point, in Lyra Eu­cha­rist­ica, by Or­by Ship­ley, se­cond edi­tion, 1864.

Music: Dix, Con­rad Koch­er, 1838

Pictures from a walk today in Fountain Rock Nature Center.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday

For the beauty of the earth, 

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies—

For the wonder of each hour,

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flow’r,

Sun and moon, and stars of light—

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,

This our hymn of grateful praise.*

I am thankful for the colors of autumn.

*From the hymn, "For the Beauty of the Earth" by Folliott S. Pierpiont

The Leaves They Are a Changin'

View out our kitchen window

 The leaves are close to peak color now, and it reminds me of my favorite autumn post about a fall morning I spent with my friend Sarah. I first told this story in 2012 and rerun it every few years. I think it's time to share it again.

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The Present is the Present

I am lucky that I get to spend some Sunday mornings with my friend, Sarah, a special needs teenager. I buddy with her during Sunday School as we visit different programs she enjoys. You need to know two things about Sarah (other than how sweet she is): she loves nature and can be quite determined.

She exhibited these two traits one day last fall as we walked from one building to another on the church campus to go to a singing activity. I was trying to hurry her along, only half listening as she showed me a bug or a leaf that she found interesting along our path. When we were almost to our destination, she said she was not going any further and sat down under a maple tree. After a brief moment of frustration, I stopped and remembered that there was no agenda for the morning except for Sarah and me to enjoy ourselves. It was okay if we skipped singing this time.

Sarah then told me to come and that we were going to play a game to see if the falling leaves would touch us as they fell from the tree. We sat still, felt the warm morning air, and watched the leaves float around us in a gentle breeze. Up until this point, I hadn't even noticed what a beautiful morning it was.

You have probably heard the saying, "The present is the present." Never has this been more evident than it was that morning with Sarah.

(In case anyone is wondering who won the game—she did. Sarah had a total of three leaves fall on her, and I had one.

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Until next time...

Signs of Autumn

It's been autumn for almost a month, and it is showing itself proudly all around. Here are a few autumnal scenes in my neck of the woods.  

After a summer of meager growth, the lantana has finally come into its own - just in time for a frost that it won't survive. It seems to do this every year.

These mums give a good show every fall. The ones in the back that aren't blooming are ones whose roots got damaged by a burrowing animal of some kind.

I rescued these mums a few years back, and luckily, they have come back every year. And by rescued, I mean that someone was going to throw them away when they faded, so I took them and planted them.

A little closer look at the red ones behind the pink ones in the above picture. Also, a rescue plant.

And here is a plant that I actually pulled out of the trash a few days ago. It has perked up with a bit of water. I will plant this one and hope that it comes back next year. I seem to have more failures than successes with my rescue plants, but it's fun when they live to see another season.

Also, the trees in the neighborhood are changing colors, and the grass is happily growing with rain and cooler temperatures. Spring and fall are our busiest grass-cutting seasons.

Ward and I took a hike around a lake today and saw more changing leaves. 

While I don't like the colder temperatures and the shorter days, I do like the beautiful show autumn puts on every year. What does fall look like where you live?

Leaves are a changin'

 

It's that time of year when the trees around are preparing for the dormancy of winter and shedding their leaves. But not without first putting on a spectacular show of color. I enjoy this change every year but am in special awe of it this year. I look around and can't believe how lucky I am to be able to experience the glorious show nature is putting on. Just like magic, there is an ever-changing beautiful scene to see. Every corny thing you can think of to describe the colors of the changing leaves I am thinking.

Fall has always been a special time. When we were kids, my sisters and I would walk around the neighborhood and collect colorful leaves. Then we'd take them home and dip them in hot wax to preserve them. That way, we could enjoy the color for months after the leaves outside were gone. 

After I left college, I lived along the Gulf Coast, where there were not four distinct seasons, and I missed the fall colors. I had one friend whose mother would mail her a box of fall leaves every year as a reminder of home in the northeast. When I moved back north, and my friend was still in the south, I also mailed her leaves because her mother had since passed away. 

Our tree, which turned a brilliant red in the fall, was lost in a storm last year. However, as I look out my windows, the neighbors' trees are more than making up for it. I am so lucky.

Autumn--Present and Past

A few days ago, Ward and I took off work early and went on a hike. Our destination was a nearby state park in a mountainous area. (If you really want to know where we were, Camp David is hidden somewhere in an adjacent park.) We walked among hardwood forests with lots of rock outcrops. Maybe it's the geologist in me or the 15 years when we lived along the Gulf Coast and didn't see any, but I'm always happy when I see rocks. Besides the rocks, one of the reasons we went was to see the changing leaves because we thought they might be at their peak in the mountains. They weren't quite there yet but they were still pretty all the same

Every year when the leaves are changing, it takes me back to the special time I had one Sunday morning with my friend Sarah. I have shared this post before, but I think it's time to share it again.

_________________________________________________________

The Present is the Present

I am lucky that I get to spend some Sunday mornings with my friend, Sarah, a special needs teenager. I buddy with her during Sunday School as we visit different programs that she enjoys. Two things you need to know about Sarah (other than how sweet she is) is that she loves nature and can be quite determined.

She was exhibiting these two traits one day last fall as we were walking from one building to another on the church campus to go to a singing activity. I was trying to hurry her along only half listening as she showed me a bug or a leaf that she found interesting along our path. When we were almost to our destination, she said she was not going any further and sat down under a maple tree. After a brief moment of frustration, I stopped and remembered that there was no agenda for the morning except for Sarah and me to enjoy ourselves. It was okay if we skipped singing this time.

Sarah then told me to come and that we were going to play a game to see if the falling leaves would touch us as they fell from the tree. We sat still and felt the warm air of the morning and watched the leaves float around us in a gentle breeze. Up until this point, I hadn't even noticed what a beautiful morning it was.

You have probably heard the saying, “The present is the present.” Never has this been more evident than it was that morning with Sarah. 

(In case anyone is wondering who won the game—she did. Sarah had a total of three leaves fall on her and I had two.)

A Fall Afternoon

It's a pleasant afternoon. The sun is shining while the wind is rustling through the trees. There is definitely the feeling of fall in the air. These are the days that I want to hang onto before they turn into the winter cold. I took advantage of the welcoming afternoon and explored my yard. Here are a few of things I saw. 

The volunteer zinnia bed still has a lot of color although some of the blooms are starting to fade.

The zinnias come in various shades of pink in this bed - from this light pink...

...to this dark pink.

Even the ones that are starting to fade are providing nectar for small skipper butterflies.
These are the only butterflies I see now.

This love-lies-bleeding plant seeded itself from last year. Last year they were
huge and unruly, so I tried to pull up all of the seedlings I saw this year.
This one snuck by and is behaving itself,
so maybe they'll get another chance next year.

The marigolds are in full bloom now after not blooming all summer. This follows the timing for many plants which has been different this year. The very hot and dry middle of the summer stunted many of them that have only come alive in the past few weeks with some rain and cooler weather. This is odd for marigolds which usually do well in hot weather.

However, the mums are blooming right on schedule.

This group of mums has almost doubled in area in the 3 1/2 years that we've lived here.
I would like to redo this bed, but the mums are so happy here, I don't want to disturb them.

The yellow mums are in the back and these pink ones are in the front.
I planted them a couple of years ago and they have come back strong each year. 

The vinca are still blooming, but their foliage is starting to yellow.

The earliest trees are just starting change colors. Yes, fall is here. 

Thankful Sunday--October 9, 2016

The dogwood trees are always the first to change. If you look closely,
you can see a few yellow and red leaves on the maple tree.

I am thankful for fall weather.

Today it really feels like fall. There is a chill in the air and a wind that is blowing the leaves that are just beginning to change. To me there is nothing better than the change of seasons. The transition from one to the other always gives me a change of perspective and a reset that is needed each time it rolls around. So for the change of seasons and the feel of fall in the air, I am thankful.

A Walk in the Park

"This is my favorite time of year--I think I love it because it is so beautiful and it's so short-lived--I have to really take the time to enjoy it because tomorrow the leaves may all be off the trees!"

The other day Kris made this comment that got me thinking. The leaves are close to peak right now and any day, a rain could come and wash all of the colors away. So Ward and I decided it was time to take a hike at a local park. Thanks for giving us the nudge we needed, Kris. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Here are some pictures from our walk today.

Monarch Way Station. This area is maintained specifically for monarchs. The white "flowers" are seed heads from their host plant, milkweed.

This pond was created to teach about pond habitats.

This bench was made by local school kids from trash and earth. The details were really interesting.

We watched activity along the lake seeing fishing, kayaking, and good old-fashioned throwing rocks in the water.

After hiking around the lake for a while, we headed up the hill to find another trail.

Ward wanted to explore this trail because it winds up close to where he works.

One of the interesting sights along the way.

We crossed a stream.

We saw the foundation of a mill built in 1810. The mill was used both as a saw mill and a grist mill. 

Ward walking along the boardwalk through the swampy area.

Back in the parking lot, we saw this tree being photographed many times including several family portraits.