It Was All Good

It was a fine trip, once we got where we were going.


There were still a few colors on the leaves,

some fine sunsets and views,

lots of love,

everywhere I looked.

Yes, it was a fine trip, all very good, especially the desserts!


Hope your week was wonderful too.

Thanksgiving Road Trip

Tomorrow, I load up my car, my two kids and my dog and drive from the flatlands of the midwest to the mountains of North Carolina. I dread the 12 hours in the car, but love the scenery and mountain air once we arrive. It takes a day or two to decompress from suburban Chicago, and acclimatize to the mountains, but it is always worth the trip. Hubby is flying in a few days later, so we will spend a lovely day in Asheville when we pick him up.

We will not cook a turkey dinner. We will not see either of our families, who live twice as far away on the east coast. We will not be lonely, nor will they. We will eat a fancy dinner, be waited on, walk away from the dishes and go home for a nap. We will reconnect our little family, hike and play cards or games, and talk about all that we have to be thankful for in our lives. It is our new tradition, and it suits us just fine.

Here are a few pictures from last year, when we were still weak from swine flu but thankful anyway. It was a very introspective trip, thanks to the illness. This year we are inoculated and will not have to suffer for our solitude.

Maybe I'll skip the meal and just head to the dessert table - Yum!

I wish everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving. For those who cook and host, I hope someone steps in and helps you in the kitchen.

Bless your hearts.

Catching some rays

I hate Daylight Savings Time. It throws me for a loop every year. I'm done with the dinner dishes and it feels like midnight, it's been dark for so long already.

I've been fighting back by going outside as soon as the last kid is on the bus, camera in hand, dog underfoot, catching sun everywhere I can. There's still lots of lovely leaf colors if you look low and close, and sparkles everywhere.

Today I brought some leaves inside and played in front of the window for a while, catching them up close in the light. I've probably taken a thousand pictures this week, but it's cheap entertainment. I keep thinking I'd like to paint some abstracts like these bradford pear leaves, if I were a painter. They are amazing, and they fascinate me with their blotches of colors and white veins.






When the sun is dipping behind the trees, I make sure I notice, and if there are some pretty clouds, I run out and snap a few shots of the sunset too. There may not be much daylight to work with, but I'm paying attention, using all that's available, sunup to sundown. I'll get through, I always do. I'll sit under my full spectrum reading lamp and eat my vitamin D and try to exercise and bake and make soup and meditate and not go crazy while the days get shorter and colder, until we start the climb back to warmer, longer days. And I've got all this sunshine saved on my hard drive to look at any time I want, and some pressed leaves to look at and remember.

Some days feel like this

Road's end.

Twisted.
Tangled.
Reaching.Nibbled. Drenched.
Mossy.
Oblique. Opaque. Obtuse. Disjointed.
Nothing a good nap won't fix, I hope.
Happy Wednesday.

Leaves that haven't left yet

The trees may be bare, but the understory is still rich with color. The viburnums range from muted lemon and raspberry sherbets to bronze, crimson, pink and green and everything in between. The wild dogwood are an amazing mishmash of color, and the wild grapes are a stunning pale yellow. I've been astonished at the variance in photographs depending on the time of day and available light. I have much to learn, but little patience for learning beyond my little photo play dates with myself. In most cases, the eye sees it as much lovelier and lusher than the camera. I tend to favor the mottled or the damaged leaves for some reason, maybe I feel a kinship with them somehow.

Tucker is having a grand time exploring the underbrush with me, and dreams of someday catching a squirrel, but don't worry, he is beyond inept. He makes a great companion on my expeditions, and sadly is a grand collector of burrs in that furry coat. Small price to pay for the nice fall walks.

Happy Fall, wherever you are.