Personal Photo Challenge {Trees}

November has sneaked up on me. 

It happens every. single. year. I am just sailing along ( ♫ la dee da dee da ♫) soaking up October and autumn and all of my favorite things, sipping pumpkin spice iced coffees...and then...

BAM!!

The calendar turns over and it's Kati's birthday and the holidays are in full throttle before I have even gone to Target to get discount Pumpkin Kisses! What?!!

So that's what happened when I realized that Donna's Personal Photo Challenge for the month of November is THIS weekend and not NEXT. Oops. November got me again. 

It's a good thing that I have been taking tree pictures in preparation for next week's this week's challenge. 

 * * *

This is one of the Bradford pear trees in our front yard, taken earlier this week. It is one of the last trees to change color, and I love this contrast of leaves that have changed and leaves that have not. (I also love the little wood-like berries.) Autumn is lingering in this tree. 

I drive by this little pond almost every time I go out. On this particular day, the mood was "November" as the sky was gray, the rain was falling (can you see the drops hitting the surface?), there were fallen leaves scattered on the edges of the pond, and color in the deciduous trees at the water's edge.

This last photo is my favorite! We passed this frisky fellow as we walked to Bekah's gym class, and I was delighted that he paused long enough for me to snap his photo. I suppose I am stretching the theme a little bit as the squirrel is definitely the star of this photo, but he was on a tree...right, Donna? 

(All photos were taken with my Canon Rebel T3. I edited in PicMonkey, increasing shadows and contrast.)

Thanks you, Donna, for hosting another fun photography challenge! 

Click on the button below to see more.

Books for Christmas!!

After posting for thirty-one days straight, I feel all talked out. Add a very full weekend on the heels of thirty-one days, and then add the fact that I now have time again to read other blogs, and there you have it. A quiet(ish) blogger. 

But...I don't want you to miss out on this, so I am taking a moment to share a fabulous new resource! 

If you have any children on your Christmas gift list, this FREE ebook will have something for you! Kristin, "book enthusiast and mom of 5" (and yes, my daughter...but that's not why I am recommending this ebook!), has compiled a list of excellent books that would make quality gifts for the children in your life. These books are tried-and-true, books that have been loved by one or all of Kristin's own children, and by Kristin herself. (Don't you think it's important for the reader - or giver - to love the book too?) 

Just before Kristin released her ebook, Ron and I were having a discussion about Christmas shopping. I was bemoaning the fact that I had not purchased a single gift so far. "Why don't we have a theme for gifts this year? Maybe it could be a book Christmas." True story. So I will be drawing inspiration from the ebook...although I will have to check to be sure that my grands don't already own the books we choose!

To download your own FREE copy of Books for Christmas:What to Buy the Young People in Your Life, click ~HERE~.

I'll be back on Saturday with a week's collection of photos. During the month of November, I am participating in Kati's third Photo-a-Day Challenge. I'll be taking my photos every day, but sharing them together in a weekly post. 

Here are the prompts...

A challenge like this causes me to look for new and different things to photograph, or even simply new and different ways to photograph those things. Try it! (You don't have to do every one...the rules are few and simple. Thanks, Kati!)

Sunday Snapshots: Twenty-One Candles

On Sunday, we celebrated Kati's birthday with a small(ish) family party. Last year's celebration was more of a big hurrah, but for this birthday she chose to keep it low key. Who knew how fitting this choice would be, for that very morning, the precious elderly gentlemen for whom she had cared for the past year and a half, who she had grown to dearly love, passed from this life into the next. And so her celebration was mingled with joy and sorrow. 

It seems that has been the case many times in the past few years. Rejoicing and weeping, hand in hand, both a part of living in this temporary world. 

Twenty-one years ago, our Kati came into this world...and the world is a better place because she's here! She is a joy to our hearts. Kati is beautiful, but her true beauty comes from "the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." 

gather. {Gathering the Moments of October}

"Oh, Marilla, she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it? Look at these maple branches. Don't they give you a thrill--several thrills? I'm going to decorate my room with them."

Like Anne, I revel in October. There are so many things to love. The crisp mornings, the warmish afternoons, the chilly evenings. Pumpkins. Apples. Falling leaves. Mums. Autumn squash. Soup. Blazing color. (Even now, as I write, my eye is drawn to the dining room window as it frames my view of the golden yellow leaves of the walnut tree.)   

And gatherings. 

All month long, I have gathered. I have gathered cozy things around the Farmhouse and the beautiful offerings of nature outside its doors. I have gathered special memories with family and friends. We have gathered around tables of fellowship and we have gathered to celebrate. 

I have also gathered thoughts. 

It has been a month of reflection and consideration. As the world continues to grow darker and darker, I have turned my thoughts toward my Creator and Savior. I have tried to "set your [my] mind on things above, not on things on the earth." 

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Several of our friends have lost parents this October. I love the Biblical phrase "gathered to his people" which is used at the death of a the righteous man, for it indicates that there is life that continues after death. Those who die in the Lord are with Him. 

In the midst of this joy and sorrow, I am reminded of just how temporary life is. As October is fleeting, as the leaves blaze gloriously and then are gone, as I consider how very few Octobers are in one life...I should take His words to heart and live by them. "Do not look at the things which are seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 

May our gatherings continue to be investments in the Heavenly realm. 

This is day 31 in the series gather.  Click ~here~ to see more.

Again this month, I am inviting you to join me in "gathering the moments." You may wish to share two or three photos, or several collages, or bunches of photos...with words, or without words. The link-up below will be a gathering place for us to reflect and share and connect. (The link-up will stay open for a week, so you have plenty of time to gather.)

gather. {with friends and family}

I'm a bit tied up today, so this post will be short and sweet. We're preparing to host two gatherings this weekend - one with friends, one with family - and we're expecting the best of times. 

~ word art by Kati ~

I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up this series by Gathering the Moments of October. 

Feel free to join me! (Details ~here~.)

This is day 30 in the series gather.  Click ~here~ to see more.

gather. {brown}

Do you ever gather a particular color? 

Oh, how I love the vibrant colors of autumn! Red, burgundy, orange, yellow, bittersweet, gold. So beautiful and rich. 

But I also love...brown. 

Brown is warm. Smooth. Comforting. Settling. 

So when I am settling into autumn, I often look around my house and gather brown. 

Have you ever gathered a color? What color says fall to you?

On Friday, I'll be Gathering the Moments of October. As I have done since January, I will be providing a place for you to link your own "moments" and we can share with one another. (More details ~here~.) I will be hosting this gathering each month through December. Feel free to join in!

This is day 29 in the series gather.  Click ~here~ to see more.

gather. {leaves}

Yesterday, our homeschool took us on a stroll through our back yard. Bekah had learned about monocotyledons and dicotyledons in her science lesson, and it was a perfectly beautiful day to take the lesson outside and look for examples of each. 

A monocotyledon has one cotyledon (seed leaf), and is characterized by flowers with petals in multiples of three, and non-branching leaf veins. A dicotyledon has two cotyledons, flowers with petals in multiples of either four or five, and leaf veins that branch from a midrib. That's my mini lesson for you.  

So off we went to discover monocots (rosemary, chives, day lilies, grass) and dicots (maple trees, Italian parsley, hydrangeas, four o'clocks). 

We still have many green leaves, but they are slowly revealing their autumn colors. Each day there's more color, and I am afraid that if I blink that I will miss the glorious autumn show. I am reminded of the quote by Elizabeth Lawrence, "Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." Yesterday we took the time. 

Addendum: When I showed Kati the picture of this little guy, she wondered if he was an "octocot." :)

This is day 28 in the series gather.  Click ~here~ to see more.