Neighborhood watering hole -

Up early. Still jet-lagged. The surprise of seeing the sun washing the sky with brilliant colors in the east, and the brightest full moon still hanging in the western sky beyond the back garden oaks, was beautiful. Our aging small house is down in a bit of a dip, tucked into land once a farm, the remaining trees are massive. There are no distant views, no hold your breath scenery, just ancient trees . . . . . and more houses dating back to the years when large houses were few and far between. Beyond them, winding streets and cul-de-sacs lead to Midtown, Raleigh's expansion of city living with almost skyscraper high office and apartment buildings, upmarket shops and restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, and a few small green areas tucked in here and there thankfully. A manmade lake is in the future plan. 

Meanwhile, we have our old neighborhood watering hole, Eastgate Park. Tennis courts, playground, community building, walking trail, a few picnic tables, a large open field for games, and the best feature, Cooper's Pond. A memorial plaque tells a bit about the pond. established in 1915 by J. Cooper Young, who lived there until 1966. The city of Raleigh purchased it in 1972 to turn into the park so that the "simple beauty of the park land and water would remain for the pleasure of all of its citizens."  Home to Canada geese, mallard ducks, and some very old, large turtles, the pond remains peaceful and is now very colorful dressed in Autumn foliage (above). Nature is busy with paints and brushes and the coming cooler weather here will soon bring down the leaves.

Yesterday, walking around the neighborhood on a beautiful Autumn day around noon, I was grateful that some things don't change. In this rush forward to take down the old and change the landscape with little consideration for what has stood for years, it's still our much loved neighborhood. It needs to remain part of history and continue to bring small moments that lift the soul and bring joy to this sometimes difficult life. 

Late Winter Walks and Nature's Gifts -

 

Spring is still far off, but little teasers, perhaps more like tiny treasures, 

appear daily in the garden. The early morning sun brings a new light to

 the tall leafless trees behind the house, while the akebia vine clambers up

 the walls of the old potting shed, lively and bright with green leaves shooting

every which way like stars.

A walk in the park to breathe fresh air. 

Pleasant. Colorful. Serene. Placid.

There are no water fowl right now - although the Canada geese probably

 come and go having become a constant in the landscape. The turtles and

 fish were in deeper water away from the pond's edge. Dogs were being

 walked. Perfect catkins dangled, golden in late afternoon sun.

Bundled up in boots and cashmere 'woolies' as it was still chilly, I loved

 the day and seeing Nature busily at work.

Wishing you happy late Winter walks.

A Walk in the Park -

 

Our neighborhood park and pond have been really scenic lately. . . . . . 

. . . . . . and even the garden has sprung back to life with more color in

dahlia blooms - after I cut the plants almost to the ground ready for

 winter - plus more roses and camellias.  

We are incredibly busy lately - or perhaps incredibly slow getting

 things done!! Bob is so busy daily raking and blowing the masses of falling

 leaves and acorns, the latter huge, all raining down and covering every

 surface. Mowing the grass continues as with the very warm

 temperatures it continues to grow non-stop. 

Daily doings just keep rearing their heads - some pleasant, others

 ugly - all requiring time. Changing the clocks. . . . . . and then getting

up at 5 AM on Tuesday to watch the spectacular lunar eclipse in our

dressing gowns and slippers from the garden. . . . . . seem to have us, 

well at least me, a bit groggy and unstable this week.

Despite the downs there of course plenty of ups and we feel

grateful that we can do what we do these days.

I see Holiday Open House signs and ads everywhere, and tomorrow

 evening we plan to head to a favorite location of so many years, 

SuzAnna's Antiques, at their always fabulous venue. Although they did

 move from Raleigh and we have a much longer drive, we can't miss

 it as there are many friends there to catch up with, and lots of holiday

 merchandise to view.  Just hope the coming heavy rains don't get here

 until Friday. Driving at night in heavy rain is no longer fun for us - know

 what I mean?

Are you ready to "deck the halls" yet?

I see some of you have already started.  I will need to get

 organized and and start pulling out the storage boxes soon!!

Heartbreaking!

This has not been a good week in so many ways.

This female bluebird is a bright spark though. She was 

outside the window a little while ago.

I cleaned out the large birdhouse ready for spring nesting

 and hopes of more bluebird babies this year.

This Saturday morning the news from Europe, especially as broadcast by 

the BBC, and much more in depth than what we are seeing on US news

reports, has stunned us even more. The almost a million refugees arriving

 in Hungary and Poland - Ukrainian mothers and their little children being

 'adopted' by caring people - but they also scared for the future of

 their own countries.

 Ukrainian fathers now 'soldiers' trying to save their own country.

Babies are being born in basements and metro stations. 

Many have nothing but the clothes on their backs or in a backpack

 as they escape the bombing of their much-loved homes.

Hundreds of Indian university students are locked down in hostels without

 food and water for several days now, no way to leave, nowhere to go, and

 being shot at if they venture outside, and it's bitterly cold.

So many more stories, all heartbreaking.

Please pray for these people, and all who are fighting for their lives, their

country and the freedom they so rightly deserve.

Once again the entire world is in danger because of one insane man!

 Yesterday I walked to the neighborhood park.

The sun was bright and very warm.

I knew I was safe, a lucky person, and in a peaceful place.

This blue and yellow reflection in the pond was a message.

Walking slowly with nature -

Natural art ~ rose petals on water.

We actually stepped out, away from hearth and home, and had a chilly

 yet sunny slow walk around part of the neighborhood Saturday afternoon.  

My return visit to the pain clinic on Friday - to chat with the doctor who gave

 me the spinal injection for my herniated disc a month ago - concluded

 with instructions to continue with gentle exercising at home, and to get 

out and walk slowly despite the nerve pain in my right leg!

The injection hasn't given me total relief by any means, however my

 pain seems to have lessened somewhat. Back surgery will be the last 

choice of treatment. Perhaps I'll try a second injection in a couple of

 months to see if that helps.

I took my camera with me to the pond hoping to get some photos of 

something interesting on such a cold winter day.

A couple had stopped by and thrown pretty rose petals into

the water - she told me they do that often as apparently Canada geese

eat them!  We are told not to feed them bread so perhaps recycling

 flower petals is a good idea.

I love the reflections of the bare trees in the pond water.

There were a few Canada geese on the pond and standing around on the banks.

Most surprising were this pair of the cutest diving birds ever. 

Not a great photo as they were quite a distance away. I've never seen them before, but with the help of my bird books I've identified them as Hooded Merganser ducks, a very interesting water bird.

Photos above via Carolina Birds

Not much color anywhere around the pond or woodland, did see

 plenty of Pyracantha though, their berries always a bright spark in winter.

This week started with a steady rain most of yesterday. The garden birds were sheltering in their favorite covered spots such as under the eaves of the potting shed, and of course here on the front porch. The Mockingbird has become quite a companion, often perching on the the outdoor furniture and looking in the dining room window for several minutes. . . . . . . 

. . . . . . and, surprise, yet another amaryllis (the second Apple Blossom), has opened two of four buds and will be another beauty brightening up my indoor garden for another week.

I hope your week is going well.

A busy week........and postage!

Eastgate Park in Autumn

Right now I wish I could throw caution to the wind and just head over to this restful spot in the neighborhood!  There I would sit on the one bench, waiting for the Canada geese to arrive hoping for crumbs - which I no longer take as feeding them is outlawed - and hopefully a few of the white ducks would appear as in other years.  I would soak up the fall colors reflected in the oily water, enjoy the turtles sunbathing on the broken branches along the shoreline, walk on crisp and crackly leaves, look up at the Carolina blue sky. . . . . . . and just breathe. The weather is perfect.

This week is crazy with mostly health issues taking up my precious time. Two PT appointments, a visit to my doctor in order to get scheduled for a lumbar spine MRI, and tomorrow that procedure being done late afternoon.  In between I've continued my home exercises for the painful leg issue, and am moving a little easier. 

Yesterday we shopped at World Market for a few British food items for Christmas before they're all gone. Shipments from Europe, like everywhere on the planet, are way behind, and much holiday stuff won't be here in time. We then proceeded to the post office to get postage stamps for mailing holiday greetings. OMG, what a palaver!  Let me just say this, if you don't want to re-mortgage your house, or send your retired husband to take a part-time job as a Walmart greeter. . . . . . . don't buy square cards of any dimension!  Regular postage with its increases is bad enough, but dealing with non-machinable surcharges is abominable!  It's so complicated in fact that you just about give up and angrily stick a row of International, Forever, Non-machinable stamps across the envelope, not caring how much it costs, whether it will 'cross the pond' safely, or just get tossed into the Atlantic or Pacific ocean depending to which continent it's addressed!  Parcel postage, both domestic and overseas, is another issue and I won't even go there, a nightmare! Just know I'm not mailing any packages this year - if Santa himself doesn't deliver yours I apologize in advance because I'm not going to either.

Hopefully your card will arrive though!

Eastgate Park is looking Autumnal. . . . . . .

. . . . . . at long last!  

We had almost given up on a colorful neighborhood walk this Fall.

 Nothing seemed to be changing in the canopy of dreary, shriveling green leaves,

 (other than a zillion acorns falling on the roof, the garden, our heads!), although
 we're well on our way into November. . . . . . . and December isn't far off, but

 don't let's go there quite yet!

So, after the Saturday hustle and bustle of an afternoon in the city, I insisted

 we take a Sunday mid-afternoon walk around our little neighborhood city park

 to celebrate the return to earlier dusk and darkness that comes with 'daylight

 saving time' . . . . . which, by the way, I love.
 Lighting candles earlier, cooking and dining with the garden clothed in deep blues 
outside the windows, brings a whole new feeling to these pre-winter days.

The pond was quite busy with Canada geese doing their usual thing - not much -

but soon came swimming toward us, hoping for food, which the signs say we

 cannot offer now.

"Sorry sweet children, we can no longer take a bag of snacks and have fun

 feeding the geese and ducks as we did in former generations". 

So, what are your thoughts on that? Are our toddlers poisoning the millions of 

geese who no longer fly back to Canada by tossing them a few stale bread crumbs?

Are childhood memories no longer going to include a fun pond visit on a sunny 

afternoon with mom and dad or the grandparents?

The quiet swimming of the birds did help in moving the still water and

presenting some lovely reflections of the trees

It was a warm afternoon requiring just a light sweater, plus good footwear 

to clamber through a section of woods which we hadn't visited before.

  Breathing in the fresh air Autumn air, peering up at the Carolina Blue sky,

I was grateful that Nature had once again come through with palette and

paintbrushes. In the noise and busyness of modern day life there are still

 some things we can rely on thank goodness.

If in the northern hemisphere, were you able to get out this past weekend

 and enjoy some colorful Autumn scenery? I hope so.

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.