glorious autumn

quite a random smattering of photos but all in the autumnal sense.

i was able to find this little bird house for some of

our littlest of friends...for shelter

from the winter cold that is coming.
.

two little friends have already found it.

abbey painted this bird house a few months ago and it finally found a

home in some bare branches awaiting it's homemakers.

the colours at this time of year are dear to my heart...i love the

blushes of orange, red and yellows...

these two photos were on a friends xanga site and i love the

feel and quality...even in the grey tones of some of these autumnal

days there is beauty.

october, november, december, all bring about family gatherings...

this is another reason way i love this time of year so much.

.

.

ellery rose is one of my grands...she is in kindergarten and

had to go dressed like a scarecrow recently...she is the cutest

little thing.

i love when the wind blows and the leaves fall like raindrops...

covering the ground and sparkling on their way down.

i can never quite capture the beauty of such a thing.

big sis, esther, giving little sis, abbey, some pointers on riding renny.

watching older children teaching younger ones is priceless...

i could watch this all day....and never say a word.

love and family and autumn....are all the grandest things.

grace and abbey share an embrace.

breathe....take in every moment.....life is precious.

there is no place like home but family is the next best thing

being away from home is always a little hard.
but being with your family feels so good.
my vacation is over but the time i got to spend with
my family and friends is forever etched in my memory.



a little bragging is about to ensue so i have fairly warned you.


my daughter esther has always loved every living creature.
so when a baby goat on her farm was rejected by it's mother
it was only natural for her to adopt it and bottle feed it.
now "ariel" the baby pygmy goat thinks she belongs to the family.
this goat follows them around wherever they go.


it is the cutest thing.




along with being an animal lover, esther is a wonderful wife and mother.
her little girl, grace, my blue-eyed grand is as charming as she is beautiful.
grace is an articulate 2 year old with manners that emily post would be proud of.
she was very excited to have her marmee with her.

we had a grand time being together...there was lots of laughing, singing,
playing the piano, pretending, reading, and of course snuggling.

esther also has quite the eye for doing things with a flare.
her home is very inviting and she has captured the essence of
her unique sense of style. she made this table top for grace
at christmas, it is so adorable.

i love you esther. thank you for your warm welcome into your
home and letting me spend time with your family. i loved being with grace.
she was a riot that first night together and she is so much like her mother,
in all the right ways. i love that sweet little grace that she is abundant with.

when she put her arms around my neck and said," i just love
you so much marmee." i could have melted.

then i got to spend some time with two ladies that have
meant so much in my life. mrs. brooks and carol.
there isn't enough room to even begin to write what that means.
carol and i were best friends in jr and high school and have remained friends
through college and between us, 9 babies.
she is a very accomplished woman and a very involved mother.
it was great to see you after so many years of just christmas
card photos. i really enjoyed catching up.
mrs. brooks has been so instrumental in my spiritual development and just all
around being a better person from her wonderful example of being an exemplary
woman of strength and courage. you are one of the few of my role models.
thank you for your love and support of me and my family all these years.
it was so great to spend some time with you on this last trip.

my mom, gigi and esther(taking the picture) lunched with us in the
outdoor eatery, grill smith. we all had a lot of catching up to do.







gigi had everyone over for dinner on sunday evening.
my mom is an excellent cook.
she made a chicken tortilla soup with all the fixings.
it was so good to have her yummy homemade food.
there is no place like home.
we played games with the family and laughed.



thanks mom and chuck for having such a nice gathering at your home.
unfortunately i didn't have my camera so no pictures.

meems and marmee saying good bye on the last morning.
i had a wonderful time meems at your home. you made me
feel welcomed and i got to relax and be treated special.
you are good at that. thanks for everything...the room to myself,
the trips to the beach, starbucks, your incredible cooking...

...having the family over multiple times...

sharing your precious family with me.

making each day so nice.

i had a very happy, relaxing, tasty, warm, welcoming vacation.

thank you esther, gigi and meems!

i love you all!

my son and i

beautiful blue skies over dash home farm.

recently my son jesse and i were on our charming drive home.

when we saw the most beautiful hawk.

so we rushed into the driveway...ran in...grabbed

our cameras and headed back down the road...

...the hawk had flown.

however there are some other interests that caught our eyes.

these are some of the other wonderful creatures our road.

this heavy coated beauty lives two doors down.

this unlikey duo lives on a farm at the bend in our road.

isn't this the sweetest eyed donkey?

jesse was playing with the effects on this one.

here is one of our own creatures bronte jane, one of our chessies.

jess and i playing with different settings on the camera, having fun with jade.

she is a sweet kitten.

as night falls we appreciate the day we had together.


and look up to see we are being watched...

it has been a good day!

october 's burnish

"surrounded on each side with a deep

wall of woods, i enjoyed the serenity

of the evening in silent meditation:

everything which i saw and heard

taught me a lesson which required not

the powers of oratory to embellish it."
frances baily august 2, 1707

speaking of her experience on the old trace

time was on fast forward;

but at least i can rewind in my memory.

there was stopping at every turn to capture

what we were experiencing together.

meems is loving taken photos of all things tennessee.

the natchez trace has such grandness.

it is a natural parkway with hundreds of mile of scenic driving.

locals like me use to to go from here to there

when we have the luxury of more time.

photographers are drawn to it for it's sheer natural beauty.

these blackbirds formed a perfect star overhead

as we stood there taking in the blue sky

of that crisp october morning.

on the trace heading to cheekwood.

the leaves in cooperation with nature were turning

hues of gold, red, yellow, orange

with shades of brown and green mixed in.

what glorious weather we were gifted with on that october day.

we thoroughly enjoyed our time together until nighttime overtook us;

and once again we had to succumb to sleep.