We are blessed to live in such beauty.

 

maple maple maple

busy elsewhere while fall has arrived

Fall Autumn

is about

transition.

Greens turn brown, yellow, red, orange

and leaves change color and fall

and plants blacken in the frosts.

It is exciting and sad.

My heart has never been totally excited with summer GREEN, and growth.

That is me. Each of us has a place of comfort.

 

Fall is different, many colors and changes that make you stop and say WOW.

This is more me.  I love when the woods open up and I can see deep into them.

For me, Summer is too hot and too humid.

Fall is not.

BUT

Fall also means that WHITE is not far behind 

and that means shorter colder days.

No season is perfect or imperfect

and the long and the short of it is

God gives us what we need

each and every day

and 

bitching about the cold or the hot is not going to make it warmer or cooler.

Accept what you can not change and ENJOY the day that is today.

Fighting the river does not work.

 

I love my own pictures ~

How egotistic is that?

These caught my eye for one reason or another.

It is all about catching that moment.

That is what makes me happy.

For each here, dozens got deleted.

Nothing earth shattering, but it doesn't need to be.

blue skies

 

Each year I take this shot of the mountain and the queen anne's lace and the blue skies.

 

? no more. It is gray dogwood.

sunflowers make me smile

these lovely sunflowers are part of this week's farm share.

sun, prism, magic

with nature a sense of real

I find the world of late almost terrifying.  

People mouthing insanity. 

Civilization fraying.

 the web of life being pulled apart.

I have felt this for years.

It has accelerated drastically of late.

It is only in being with nature that I escape the madness 

and

find a real feeling of peace.

spiritual organization

 Sense of Order: Cultivating Contentment

‘For years I have suspected that in happy and fulfilled lives domesticity 
(means: home life or devotion to it) and spirituality 
are invisibly 
but inexorably 
(means: can not be influenced by persuasion, can not be altered) connected- one a golden thread, one a silver filament- 
which, when woven together, create a tapestry of contentment. The 

Shakers, a religious communal sect that flourished in America during the mid-nineteenth century, invoked a prayer each morning 
for the grace that would enable them to express their love of God 
through their daily tasks- tasks as simple and mundane as making a bed.

Whenever I am feeling overwhelmed by outside circumstances- 
worries about money, concern over a sick family member,
or anxiety over prolonged business negotiations- 
instinctively I turn to homegrown rituals to restore my equilibrium. 
There is an immediate emotional and psychological payoff 
to getting our houses in order. 
We might not be able to control 
what’s happening externally in our lives but we can learn
 to look to our own inner resources for a sense of comfort 
that nurtures and sustains. 
I have even noticed that there is a direct correlation 
between the days when I’m feeling depressed
 and the days when the house is in disarray.
 I suspect that I’m not alone. 
“It’s not the tragedies that kill us,” 
Dorothy Parker once observed,”it’s the messes.”



If you feel constantly adrift but don’t know why, 
be willing to explore the role that order- or the lack of it- 
plays in your life. No woman can think clearly when constantly surrounded by clutter,
 chaos, and confusion, no matter who is responsible for it.
 Begin to think of order not as a straight-jacket of “shoulds”
 (make the bed, wash the dishes, take out the garbage) 
but as a shape- the foundation- for the beautiful new life you are creating.
 It may be as simple as putting something back that you take out, 
hanging something up that you take off, 
or teaching those who live with you that they must do the same
 for the common good of all.

There is a Divine Order- a Sublime Order- inherent in the universe.
 We can tap into this powerful source of creative energy when we are willing to gradually cultivate a sense of order as to how we conduct our daily affairs.
 Invite Divine Order into your life today and a more serene tomorrow will unfold.’ –

Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance A Daybook of Comofort and Joy 

arrangements

in my photo albums there is one called 

Flower Arrangements.

  It gets bigger and bigger. 

 I find great pleasure in these. 

 I enjoy them while they are with me 

and the pictures allow me to re-enjoy them time and again. 

Such a cheap fix.

walking this afternoon

on knowing

  

Sometimes you need a wake up call to realize

 that you need to tune in and pay attention.

My stomach was bothering me for quite awhile early in morning. 

My bowel movements were strange. 

Very uncomfortable ~ I knew this was not normal 

and needed to be dealt with, yet I put it off.

Lyme's and the antibiotic were the wake up call.

The antibiotic I took made my stomach feel worse

 so I researched the war going on in my body.

  

  Antibiotic was killing the bad along with the good.

Probiotics, good bacteria needed!!!

I learned that I needed to replace and add to the good.

Makes sense.

I worked overtime at this because I felt lousy,

could not eat, was losing weight.

 I started in pill form, yogurt and fermented sauerkraut, kumchi. 

Holy cow what a difference 

 iIt made and continues to make.  

I no longer have the nightime pain I was suffering.

My bowels are changed.

It has made all the difference in my gut. 

 Then I researched the gut and probiotics.  I

 found a book by a Johns Hopkins Dr who explained 

the whole gut all 30 feet of it, The Inside Tract.  

The whole process which is highly complex

and every step important.

Not only is it important to put in good food, 

but more important is that this must be properly absorbed. 

 AND that starts by eating slowly, quietly, attentively and chewing,

 CHEWING step one that I and so many others don't do well.

I often eat and read too

 Suddenly I realize my plate is empty 

and I don't remember the taste, 

did I chew? was it good? how fast did I go through that meal?  

I am clueless.  I was not there. 

 I was in the story, not at the table.

Why bother to eat if you miss the beauty, the smells, the taste?

I eat with friends in a restaurant

 and we talk and eat and suddenly I realize I finished

 the sandwich, salad, soup and no memory of the taste or how fast it was consumed.

If we miss the first step, this chewing, the rest of the process is out of wack. 

Once the food is in our system, much goes on all the way through the process

and one important part is the constant war between good and bad bacteria 

which we can help win by increasing the good.  

There should be 5 lbs of good stuff. 

 Amazing huh.  

Without the good probiotics, tummy has problems

 and that was what was going on in me obviously 

until I learned about probiotics. 

 The medical community has found a second brain in the gut..... 

gut feelings anyone?  

This digesting of food resulting in elimination

 is not something we pay attention to sort of like death. 

 It happens and we just don't want to discuss it!  

It is at our own peril that we ignore it.

Did I chew, did I taste

or did I chat my way through this meal?

The Buddhists eat in silence. 

Savoring.

Makes sense

favorite things

wind

and 

shadows

Things you can see and not see.

dragons in the yard

Anything that eats the bad bugs is my bestest friend.

And anything that has wings that looks like stained glass

thrills my soul.

finding unicorns

I believe in miracles

 and fairies,

 angels,

 little people 

and things most don't.  

Unicorns are something I whole hearted believe in

 and magic. 

 I have been trying to spot a unicorn forever. 

 I have decided that it is like spotting a meteor. 

 Timing. 

 Meteors are out there. 

 We even get notice that they are going to be where one can see,

 but because of one thing or another, we don't get a sighting.

  Same with unicorns. 

 If I am watching the lower field at 3 am

 and they are feeding by the yurt, I am not going to be seeing them. 

All good things in time.