Afternoon at the lake -

Sunday afternoon at Massabesic Lake, Manchester/Auburn, New Hampshire.

Peace and quiet by the water.

Home soon - it has really been lovely in New England.

Saturday morning in November -

 

• Amaryllis - including a new bulb bought this week -
• Trees changing - leaves falling in soft breeze -
• Knockout roses still blooming -
• Almond croissants - thank you Trader Joe -

Hope your weekend is beautiful

Stay safe ~ Be well

Giving thanks. . . . . . . . .at Thanksgiving

Today is beautiful outside.

What I would call a perfect Autumn day.

Here at the cottage we have noisy workmen repairing our deck and

 gazebo - wood rots after years of rain no matter how hard you try to preserve it.

We have been somewhat upset with the carpenter - he has not been here every

 day as promised, in fact disappeared leaving his tools behind, so the job is taking

 much longer than planned. Thankfully he is here today and has a helper so things

 are now moving along!

This morning I was totally stressed out and needed to get away from banging,

 drilling and sawing - so off to Eastgate Park just five minutes drive away.

Parked, walked through the woods, around the pond, sat and watched the

 Canada geese, sad that the ducks we loved now seem gone. I took in

 the Autumn colors now at their peak, the reflections in the water turning the 

landscape into amazing paintings only possible by Nature.

May your Thanksgiving be special tomorrow.

A Magic Paintbrush. . . . . . . .

Sometime, during the chilly, rainy night, someone

 tiptoed through the garden with an artist's palette

 and a paintbrush.

At last we've had some rain. 

Early morning light showers later turned into a steady

 rain yesterday. 

This morning, when the sun came up, I puttered about storing a

 few items in the potting shed for Winter months, taking out the

 garbage, (someone has to do it!), and of course capturing a

 few garden shots to share the radiant colors, heartbreakingly

 beautiful after the rain.

We actually raked a ton of leaves on Saturday, now 

there are tons more! They will have to stay until we 

return after the holidays . . . . . too wet and too little

 time to work in the garden now.

North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains . . . . .

It's always such a pleasure to head to western North Carolina 

and spend time surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

We live about 250 miles east of Asheville. Today, the four hour drive 

across the state was close to perfect. Traffic was light, the day was cool and 

blustery with nonstop bright sunshine and, fortunately, there were still plenty of 

colorful leaves clinging to the trees despite an unusual early snowfall just a day ago. 

Patches of snow still awaiting the warming rays of the sun could be seen along the 

road and on the mountain tops in the distance. 

All these pics were taken through the window as we drove west.

I think you can understand the naming of this mountain range - it's truly 

a 'blue ridge' across the sky.

Are you a mountain person? Do you feel different when you are surrounded by hills, 

peaks and valleys? Do you, like me, think them majestic and magical?

Pondside pondering. . . . . . .

In perfect October weather, in the late afternoon,

I stopped at a nearby pond. Sitting under a canopy of 

golden leaves, watching ripples in the water, I thought 

about how quickly this year is passing and wondered

 what the coming one might hold.

Edward Cucuel 1875-1954 - American-born Impressionist painter 
who lived and worked in Germany.

I love these autumnal words of Eden Phillpotts from his 

amazing book My Devon Year.

~ From orange to crimson, from amber to sea-green,
the color harmonies pass, and intermingle in
streaks and splashes and mottled jewels of all 
ruddy and golden tints that ever the sun painted ~

I have to thank my California friend Sara at her 

wonderful blog Come Away With Me for telling me about 

this book. A few years back I was able to find a copy 

online, published in 1903, complete with 38 illustrations.

Although I'm unable to see my beautiful Devon home in 

person this year, the stories in the book bring the 

memories of my favorite season closer.

The small pond near my house.