warmth of sun... / warmth of home...

L - Nikon / T - Nikon

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Warmth of friends... for these things I am grateful.

I know many of you will be busy this week preparing for family visits, shopping and cooking and getting together with friends, so I want to take this time, this Sunday night, to express my thanks. I want to say thank you for your visits and your kind words, your inspiration and your support. You take minutes out of your busy day to visit with me and that means a lot - you know it does. So to each and every one of you - I am grateful for the warmth of your friendship.

sunny hours / another year

solo post - L, Nikon

"I count none but the sunny hours"

just a reminder to self : not a good thing to try on skinny jeans on your birthday - just drives home the fact that you are old and maybe you shouldn't get your haircut on your birthday - having the hairdresser say, "you've got a lot of grey hair here do you want me to color it for you? " doesn't make you feel any younger. And hint: self portrait with the camera out of focus makes you look a little younger.

morning / afternoon

L - Nikon / T - phone pic

my view / her view

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air." -Nathaniel Hawthorne

filled / fulfilled

solo post - L , Nikon

That's a lot of ice cream in that bowl – you'd think I was a glutton or something. BUT this ice cream has 36% less fat AND no sugar added! So... I ate every last drop. And it was good.

It's only Tuesday and I am already looking to the weekend – I have rings and things I want to create. How about you?

p.s. I don't usually eat at my computer desk.

crackling / dripping

L - Nikon / T - Nikon

Much of my weekend was spent on my etsy site – opening a new one and adding photos to both. It was a very productive weekend but I was getting rather tired of looking at the computer for so long so yesterday afternoon I took to the outdoors with a book and a cup of hot spice tea, built a fire and just sat listening to the fall of leaves and the birds fighting for berries, and the fire crackling. I didn't read 2 pages of the book - just sat and poked at the fire and listened. And tried to keep Evee from stealing logs off the fire (no, she's not so smart). It was wonderful. / i've spent this whole weekend working on a mural-type piece for the dog rescue center that i've been volunteering at. since the owner knew i was interested in art, she recruited me to design the new storefront and paint it. a bigger job than she knew. but i've really enjoyed this new way to be creative. it's something that's completely not in my style so it's pretty fun to jump out of my comfort zone and do something very different from what i'm used to. today's task took place twenty feet above ground on scaffolding and i'm far more tired than i expected to be for working six hours. taylor's bed-time keeps getting earlier and earlier, haha."

is it early? / is it late?

solo post - L, Nikon

What? It's too early! It's not even Thanksgiving , you say. I know, the autumn leaves haven't even fallen to the ground yet. And no I have not decorated my house (I do my decorating the weekend of Thanksgiving). I'm just doing a little photo shoot for one of my etsy sites – I'm preparing to list a few new items. Do you remember the paper ball ornaments I made last year ? I think maybe I talked about a little bit about a family craft session where we all made these wonderful ornaments out of repurposed Christmas cards. We all get cards that are treasures, ones with special messages from special loved ones, etc, but we also get a lot of cards that have no special meaning to us after a certain time. Through the years I have collected a lot and my mom has collected even more. We are putting these cards to good use by making ball ornaments. They look beautiful on the tree and the best thing is they are very light weight and unbreakable - a great thing when there's a cat around. / It might actually be too late to list Christmas items on my etsy site. Some people think a lot further ahead than I do. But I'm going ahead with it. I am going to list these little journal booklets (Christmas card list, journal, wish list, menu planner, or guest book -whatever you want to use them as) made out of repurposed paper that I get at the office - perfectly good paper that is thrown out for various reasons. I also put a printed 2011 calendar at the front of the books and a few sheets of graph paper just for fun. It's nice to have a little book to jot things down in.

So I guess it sort of is time to start thinking about the holidays whether we like it or not. I bet some of you have already checked off everything on your shopping list? Not me for sure.

P.S. I hope this isn't bad of me to self promote but who else is going to do it right? I moved my ring shop to a different address on etsy so I'm going to go ahead and say it... my rings can be found HERE . They might make a nice gift for someone on your list. wink wink

radiate / quiet

L - iphone / T - Nikon

This week has been what I would say is 'the peak' for fall color in Atlanta. Seems as if the trees came alive through the week – blazing with crimson and gold. This photo was taken with my iphone and doesn't translate the beauty and radiance I see when I walk outside my office to eat lunch – the mass of crimson leaves casting a blush of red on my cheeks. I look forward to getting out for a walk in the woods over the weekend and maybe a stroll on the new Canopy Walk at the Botanical Gardens. What are your plans for the weekend? / autumn has been slow in coming but it's fine with me – more warm days to enjoy the park with my doggies. there's a spot by the pond that i love to sit and read with a dog by my side.

meow / neigh

L - Nikon / T - Nikon

wordless Wednesday for real.

submissive / docile

L - iphone / T - Nikon

It's wonderful to be in the presence of a gentle creature - one that is well-trained and obedient to your command. It is especially important when an inexperienced rider is on a large horse, like I was. My horse tried to make his own path on occasion but a tug this way, or that, to the reins got him right back on track. Because he was well-trained it made me feel in perfect control – it put me at ease and made for a pleasant ride on a crisp autumn day. I loved it. / i am in love with this dog, that i named mason. he is the perfect companion - always at attention for my commands, always eager to please. it's hard to believe someone could have left this dog behind. he has been my joy for a week now. i don't even mind taking him out to pee on rainy days - now that's love.

turning / turned

solo post - L, Nikon

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."
- Elizabeth Lawrence