December Memories

It's the day after Christmas. The house is quiet. Memories are floating through my head of a wonderful December. I thought I'd share a few of those with you. 

My cactus bloomed, well sort of bloomed. It had only two blossoms this year. I'm not sure if it got too hot outside this summer or if it got too cold before I brought my plants in, but something sure stunted it's blossoming!

I began December by making my favorite potpourri. Very simple to create; just cranberries, orange slices, cinnamon sticks, crushed cinnamon and water. I pour it into a small slow cooker and the house smells like Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving I began decorating my home with treasured Christmas items. I received this little angel as a child way back in 1961. Originally she was enclosed in a delicate glass ball. One Christmas when I opened the box of ornaments she was stored in, the ball was shattered. After shedding a few tears, I realized that I could still hang the angel. She even had a hole in her halo for a hook.

I used to have several small themed trees that I decorated and placed throughout the house. This year, my back wouldn't let me put up all of them, but I did manage to put up the big tree, this little tree which features my grandmother's glass ornaments, and a small snowman tree. The old-fashioned tree in the hallway, the Victorian tree in the extra bedroom and the shell tree in the bathroom didn't get put up. Maybe next year! I really missed them!

I don't know if you have as much trouble with Christmas lights as I do, but every year I seem to be replacing some string of lights. I put up my little snowman tree and the very next day the lights went out. Off came the ornaments and on went more lights! Lights can be really frustrating!

I made a couple of trips to my daughter's home during December for a piano recital and band concerts. Josh, the youngest of the twins, plays piano and plays it well! One of Josh's songs was very hard! He's been working on it for six months. His hands were all of the piano keys! Jake plays in the high school band in the percussion section. I love that he plays percussion. I can always hear him. This year he played the snare drums, the bells (I call it a xylophone) and the cymbals. When you're in percussion you learn to play several instruments. And lastly there was Drew and Josh's junior high school band concert. Drew plays the saxophone just like his dad. Josh plays the trumpet. Both do so well. Josh was even featured in one of the songs with another trumpeter. I love that they enjoy music!

We had our family Christmas the Saturday before Christmas. This year I was determined to get a picture of all five grandsons! So many times we've planned to do that and then we have so much fun that we forget the pictures! From left to right we have: Jacob, Andrew, Joshua, Aaron, and Isaac. My GUYS!! I love them so very much!!

We also remembered a family shot. My son, Randy, and his wife Aimee are on the left of us. My daughter, Patty, and her husband Jacob on the right. I am so blessed with a wonderful, loving family!

Later that evening we took the annual Christmas pajama picture. These boys love to have fun, so a serious pictures is always hard to get!

We get some really good funny pictures though!

On Christmas Eve, Jerry took me downtown to try and get a picture of the Christmas lights. I've never done that before. In fact I don't ever take pictures at night. These aren't exactly focused as well as I would have liked, but I'm still pleased with them. The thousands of LED lights were constantly changing colors. The Junction Bridge, built across the Arkansas River in 1884 for railroad use, is a "lift span" bridge that was converted into a pedestrian/cyclist bridge.

This second bridge, the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge also crosses the Arkansas River. It was built in 1899 as another railroad bridge and also converted into a pedestrian/cycle bridge. Both bridges are lit year round with thousands of lights. They're pink for breast cancer awareness month, red, white, and blue for The Fourth of July, and other themes as well.

Our last stop was the State Capitol; always elegant with it's white lights. I enjoyed trying to take pictures of the Christmas lights and learning a few things, too!

I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas!

I'm wishing you a wonderful 2020!!

What will you do with this new decade?

What To Do On Rainy Day

It's raining again! It's also chilly with temperatures dropping all day! Northern parts of Arkansas may even see snow flurries! In central Arkansas it will just be rain and more rain! I didn't let that stop me from getting outside today. I put on warm clothes, rain boots, and a raincoat; then took my small camera out to see what I could find.

I walked up to the trail behind the house and took this picture, but since it's hunting season, I didn't venture any further. It's a little too dangerous for that.

I enjoyed just standing by water puddles and watching the raindrops create circles. The big one on the top left looks like it has two eyes. The small one right beside it actually has my reflection in it!

The winds have been pretty strong all day. causing limbs to break and blowing leaves off the trees. It's blowing the seedpods off the Sweet Gum tree, too. Usually they don't fall until they're brown, but I guess the wind was too strong for this one to hang on!

You know me, I can't resist taking a few close up images, especially if there's lichen to be found!

Or mushrooms!

I loved this little family of orange ones. Lately I've been needing family connections. Having to put our dad in a care facility has reminded me how important family connections are.

The leaves are slowly beginning to change. It seems the only really pretty leaves in my yard are from the Bradford Pear. They put on a pretty show in the rain.

The time has come for me to do some serious thinking about my blog. I can't seem to find time to post. I have the pictures and ideas, but not the time. I am barely posting once a month. I either need to get serious about my blog and post more often or I need to close it. I do enjoy sharing my nature pictures here. Maybe if I choose fewer pictures and less words, posting would be easier. I might think about trying that. 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

I hope you're enjoying your autumn!

Small Wonders

serendipity - the making of lucky discoveries by chance

happenstance - a circumstance especially that is due to chance

coincidence - accidental occurrence

I like these words and the idea of things just happening, but to be honest, when it comes to finding small wonders in nature I really don't believe serendipity, happenstance or coincidence play any part in it. I feel that little things are put in my path each day by a loving God who wants me to enjoy His creation. He knows I'll be looking for wonders and He's never disappointed. I always find something.

God knows what each one of us needs each and every day. He know what will bring us joy and cause us to worship him.

Small wonders are not like the aurora borealis which you can't miss dancing in the sky. They are treasures that you must hunt for. Your eyes must constantly be looking or you'll miss them.

Let me give you a perfect example of finding wonders in my path. I was outside writing this post when I saw something of interest I wanted to take a picture of. I decided to quit writing and go in and get my camera. As I rounded the corner of the house and stepped up on the porch, this is what I saw. A little flower had fallen and landed in an acorn cap. How awesome is that!

I live for these moments! I anticipate seeing something special and when I do, I gasp, my heart skips a beat, and I smile.

Don't let the small wonders hide from you. Expect them. Search for them. Maybe it's not nature that brings you joy. It might be the touch of a child, the twinkle in the eyes of a father with dementia, or the sound of a giggle. In this hectic world we need the small things that bring us joy. I call them gifts from God.

"Worship him who made the heavens,

the earth, the sea and the springs of water."

Rev. 14:7b

This is it!

The last five prompts fulfilled for the

Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt I participated in.

Thank you, Sarah for putting the list together and keeping us motivated!

* go on a picnic *

Going on a picnic in the hot summer is not one of my favorite things to do. I went with my sister and sister-in-law to a nearby state park for this picnic. Knowing that I needed a picture to fulfill this prompt, my sister-in-law surprised me by bringing fun parrot napkin rings and matching napkins. That made the picnic extra special and the photo more interesting!

* explore a new path *

While at the state park we found a couple of short, easy paths we'd never hiked before. We were a little disappointed that there weren't many views of the lake along the paths. One thing we did see a lot of was tiny frogs hopping in front of us. They startled us more than once!

 * go window shopping - self portrait in the window reflection *

I happened to walk in front of an antique shop and while looking at the old books and the lamp in the window, I saw my own reflection. It tells a lot about me . . . I like old things and books!

 * visit your favorite coffee shop - shoot the cup *

As you can see, this is not a coffee cup! I don't drink coffee; never liked the taste of it. So I changed the prompt to visit your favorite "smoothie" shop. I'd rather have something cool on a hot day.

* find a ladder *

I think this is such a cute idea for displaying colorful plants. I would love to find an old ladder and prop it up on a tree.

* * * * *

I am a little sad to see the scavenger hunt end. It has been fun searching for items and it also made me get out more with my camera. I'm thinking I may find an Autumn photography list and continue. Autumn is always such a beautiful time of the year!

Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt - 5th post

* watch a sunset/sunrise - share it with the one you love *

Recently Jerry and I drove our 1934 Ford car to a vintage car show in Kentucky. Each morning, in order to get a "great" spot, you had to get to the event area very early. No kidding, with over 12,700 cars registered for the show, parking would have been a problem if we'd waiting until later in the morning! Anyway, each morning we sat eating our breakfast watching the sunrise.

* adventure with a friend *

My two best friends are also my sister and sister-in-law. We try very hard to go somewhere together as often as possible. It seems lately that we haven't had much time to get together, but this day we were determined! We went to my favorite farmer's market, Me & McGee. We filled our baskets with all kinds of delicious fruits and veggies.

* visit a farmer's market/farm stand - favorite fruit or vegetable *

There's no question that my favorite summer vegetable is okra. Okra dipped in buttermilk, rolled in flour and then deep fried. Delicious!

* taste some summer treats - find some typography *

The farmer's market was a good place to find several of the prompts. We ate lunch there at the Crepe Coop food truck. I've never had a meal in a crepe, only desserts. I tried the Pesto Crepe, which was delicious, and then topped the meal off with a Peaches and Cream Crepe! Yummy!

 * Wash your car - car wash or by hand *

My car is dirty, very dirty, but it's much to hot and humid to wash the car. While my grandsons were here they were playing with cars on the living room floor. That's when I got the idea to wash a small car. I will say this, my grandsons no longer play with this little yellow and red car, they play with the hot wheels and monster trucks.

* find or create sidewalk art *

Sidewalk art was a little hard to find. I first thought of places where children might draw pictures on the sidewalk, but the parks I visited didn't have any. Then by pure chance I saw a Facebook post that mentioned Drain-Art. I found some drains that were painted and since we can loosely interpret the prompts anyway we want, I thought it would do. It is at the end of a sidewalk! I was surprised to learn that there are 86 painted street drains in the three cities closest to me. Drain Smart is a public-education/environmental program that uses art to communicate the function and importance of local storm drains. It gives artists the opportunity to express themselves via semi-permanent public art in a serious of outdoor storm drain murals. The art also serves to educated the public on local water quality protection.

I'm going to be looking for some more of these. So far I've found four.

* * * * *

There's one more post coming up with the final five prompts for this scavenger hunt!

See you in a few days!

Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt - 4th post

* cloud watch - find a shape *

This particular prompt deserved more than just one picture. I spent hours looking at clouds trying to see some sort of shape. I spent a whole week looking, but nothing! My neck became sore and I became frustrated. You'd think the clouds would cooperate with me! Finally, finally I saw a shape. I saw Santa's profile. It was on a particularly hot day, so I know winter was on my mind! In case you need a little help finding Santa, I've added the following picture with tags.

Another good thing that came out of searching for this prompt, was a lot of sky pictures; mornings, afternoons, fluffy clouds, dark clouds, silver linings, and sunsets. I'll share a few of those with you and instead of my words I've added a few quotes about clouds.

"Up at dawn, the dewy freshness of the hour, the morning rapture of the birds, the daily miracle of sunrise, set her heart in tune, and gave her nature's most healing balm."
~ Louisa May Alcott

"Clouds blaze brilliant colors in a sky on fire."

~ Terri Guillemets

"Dark clouds become heaven's flowers when kissed by light."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

"Behind the clouds is the sun still shining."
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"You must not blame me, if I do talk to the clouds..."

~ Henry David Thoreau

"How sweet to be a cloud
floating in the blue."
~ A. A. Milne

"Peace is seeing the sunset and knowing who to thank."
~ author unknown

"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty."
~ John Ruskin

* * * * *

I hope you've enjoyed a look at August skies in Arkansas. If you have time spend a little time looking up enjoying the beauty of the skies. Just don't hurt your neck!

Have a wonderful weekend!

And a fun Labor Day for those in the USA!