Tag Archives: Autumn

I Can See Clearly…

 I’ve been moaning so much about the foggy pattern we have been in that I could not delay in showing you the turn in our weather. It will not last forever or even until Thursday so I had to hurry up and post the photos of the beautiful light in my corner of the world.

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Romans 13:12 (ESV)

 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

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Of course you notice that all the leaves I picked up in my mower last week have been replaced nicely by my neighbor’s huge maple. Today I hope to vacuum mow the latest fall leaves up again. Seeing the leaves that still remain on the trees we’ll have to mow at least 2 or 3 more times before we retire the mower for the winter months.

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Instead of cooking today I’ll be mowing.

If it’s Tuesday, it must be La Corona. 

On Tuesdays at this old house we go out for Mexican food.

Do you have traditions at your house each week? They don’t have to revolve around food, either.

Birds of a Feather…

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We have had birds and more birds pecking about our yard the last couple of weeks. It has been fun to see the many varieties.

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This European Starling is a new addition in our yard this year.

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They like to stick together and they fly off together, too.

 

We had a fun time this weekend with a few members of our family. Girls of a feather that enjoy sticking together, too. It wasn’t the whole flock but we take what we can get. My oldest sister Kathy’s two daughters were able to fly to Seattle to stay with my baby sister Lana. Our daughter Katie and DIL Laura joined the girls at Lana’s for a few days of nonstop fun. Fall-girls 015

Michelle, Melissa, Katie and Laura

Fall-girls 016Our hostess, Auntie Lana,  joined the girls for a photo!

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And Auntie Ellen, too.

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Between seasons of Downton Abbey we were able to fit in a trip to Country Village in Bothell where we made some fun purchases and after the shopping trip we met up with all the guys for dinner at the Purple Cafe.

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There were 10 of us at dinner but I couldn’t get a great shot of everyone. Lana’s husband Steve, Dear, Ryan (my niece Michelle’s husband) and our son Josh joined the girls for a lovely meal out and then it was back to Lana’s for more Downton Abbey…

The guys were very accommodating to the girls this weekend and we appreciate them very much. We only had enough time to make it through 2 whole seasons and the Christmas Special from Downton Abbey. My sister Lana is the only one of us who hasn’t seen season 3 yet and we left the DVD’s with her so she can finish off the series before Season 4 starts here in the states in January.

We said our farewells and our guests headed back to the airport to fly back to Southern California. We all look forward to the next time we can be together.

We are in a foggy pattern here in the Western part of the Puget Sound that has extended up to British Columbia. We are hoping the sun can break through the fog in the next days ahead.

The Year Is Swiftly Waning ~ Hymn

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The Year is Swiftly Waning

The year is swiftly waning,
The summer days are past;
And life, brief life, is speeding;
The end is nearing fast.

The ever changing seasons
In silence come and go;
But Thou, eternal Father,
No time or change canst know.

O, pour Thy grace upon us,
That we may worthier be,
Each year that passes o’er us,
To dwell in heaven with Thee.

Behold the bending orchards
With bounteous fruit are crowned;
Lord, in our hearts more richly
Let heavenly fruits abound.

O, by each mercy sent us,
And by each grief and pain,
By blessings like the sunshine,
And sorrows like the rain.

Our barren hearts make fruitful
With every goodly grace,
That we Thy name may hallow,
And see at last Thy face.

Words: William W. How, 1871.

Left in Summer…

…returned in Autumn!

We arrived home from England yesterday evening at 6:00 pm after a flight delay in London. I was tucked into my own bed by 8:30 and wide awake at 3:00 am.  My body and mind will adjust soon. We left with windows open and returned with windows shut. We left with the heater pilot lights off and they are back on this morning along with a wee bit of heat to warm up our chilly home. Fall has definitely arrived!

The rest of this week will be busy with our preparations for my mom’s memorial service and our travel to Southern California. Time will tell when I will start posting my full travelogue from England.

Here’s another snapshot of our days in England. After Wells we traveled on to Cornwall where we spent 3 nights. What a wonderful area to explore! Cheers!

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Josh, Laura, Dear and I are so thankful to God for watching over us and for His favor on us during this trip. There were so many moments that we felt His touch on us and our experiences. Thank you Lord!

The Joys of Autumn…

A walk about the yard revealed some lovely fall color this week. Jenny at Alphabe-Thursday threw down the Fall challenge. This is the last Thursday to join in the fun so click over and leave a link.

One of the things that brings me joy in Autumn are the changing brilliant color on bushes and trees. The photos above are of our Dogwood tree and our blueberry bush.

Our Asian Maple which is more of a bush than a tree.

Sadly I forgot the name of this tree. It looks like a Golden Rain Tree. Part of the year its a brilliant green and at other parts of the year it has crackly pods on it. It really is flaming nicely right now.

Do you enjoy raking leaves? I usually vacuum them up with the lawnmower! I enjoy watching the leaves fall.

Papa Murphy’s is selling this Jack O’ Lantern pizza right now and I caved and bought one. Isn’t it cute?

Comfort foods and wonderful soups are way up there on my I like Autumn list. I also enjoy sweaters and coats.

What are some of your Autumn favorites?

Autumn Begins…

There are some tell tale signs of Autumn around here…

 

One of the first I notice every year are these great dew dropped spider webs.

 

Sometimes the creator is centered just right on the web.

We had a party yesterday afternoon to celebrate the Engagement of our daughter Katie and Andrew. It was a last minute open house since Andrew leaves today for his Infantry Training in North Carolina at Camp Lejeune. Twenty of our dear old friends and family came by to celebrate. Some of these dear old friends are only in their twenties, but you understand what I mean by old. When important events like these come about it’s interesting how you appreciate the ones who have been around and connected to your life through the years. It might not be that you see each other regularly anymore but they were there when Katie was born, or at her 5th birthday party, or her 10th birthday party, or at church with you way back when. You’ve kept up with each other over the years and now it’s time to get together again and celebrate another important milestone in life.

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

We do not know when the wedding will be. We have to wait and see when the military will allow for some days off for Andrew. We are up for the challenge and we’ll get what little we can get done till we have an idea of the time of year we’re planning for. When the date is set we’ll be off and running with a lot of flexibility and we will “Choose Joy” in whatever comes our way! We do get to go dress shopping though~~ whoohoo!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

ABC Wednesday ~ Lovely, Lovely October

L is for Lovely, Lovely October

 

Lovely, lovely October

Ere, in the northern gale,
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of Autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.

~ William Cullen Bryant

 

The top collage is October in our neighborhoods in the state of Washington in the Northwest. The bottom collage is October in our neighborhoods in Southern California in the Southwest. I choose to praise God for the beauty of October in both. What a wonderful world He created for us to enjoy.

Visit the ABC Wednesday Blog and see more posts on the Letter L.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.

Tablescape Tuesday

When I was in Seattle a couple weekends ago my daughters and sister played dress up the table for Fall! It was fun and this is what we came up with.

 

 

The plates are Charter Club Grand Buffet from Macy’s that I bought at a great clearance price. The Chargers are from Target. The sterling is International 1812. The goblets are from target and the champagne flutes are from Marshalls. I picked up the napkins at a Target clearance and the napkin rings are from Sur la Table.

 

 

This is a Thanksgiving table from 2004 with a different tablecloth and with some berries added to the napkin rings. This was before I started blogging so my photograph doesn’t show the table detail as well as I would have liked.

For more Tablescapes visit Susan on Tuesday at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.

The End of Summer

It’s time for the Round Robin Photo Challenge and the theme is End of Summer.

The Southern California end of summer signs…

 

Another tell tale sign that summer is over…

 

Beautiful spider webs with sparkling dew…

And here is a view of the end of summer from the state of Washington…

 

For more Round Robin Photos visit Karen at the Round Robin Photo Challenges

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.