A Birthday Gift

Fall is in the air and I'm getting super excited!

 Posts all across blogland are popping up adorned in the brilliant golds and oranges of the season,

as to be expected since fall officially begins in just a few days.

But interlaced among the turning leaves and the warm hues of pumpkins and mums,
there are still a few summery surprises.

I happened upon this bit of serendipity just a few days ago as I pulled up to a stop sign,
as I was out gallivanting in the country.

 I immediately pulled to the side, got out of my Jeep and crossed the road,
still not completely believing that I was seeing.



This unbelievable field of morning glories extended to my right...



...and to my left...



...with even more beyond my field of vision and what I could capture with my camera.

This surely must be just a glimpse into heaven, I thought to myself.



Ever since I was a little girl, I have been mesmerized by their gorgeous blue and violet hues...

...and I remember well how they trailed up the back side of our garage
and onto the adjoining fence behind the house where I was raised.

And when my mom told me that morning glories were my birthday flower,

well, that made me love them even more.
 

Actually, the morning glory and the aster are both considered to be the birth flower
 for those born in September.




So I will consider this little bit of unexpected pleasure, a gift...



...a birthday gift...how timely...

...since tomorrow is the big day :)
~
Have a beautiful week!

Sharing at:

Mosaic Monday

Blue Monday

Roses of Inspiration

Along the Road Less Traveled

This is what I call the road less traveled.

It's a gravel road no more than a couple of miles long, very close to where I live.

It is a pass-through of sorts from one highly traveled road to the other.

Along this road less traveled I find the quiet and solace that I crave.

The world is a noisy place.

~

If When I'm troubled, I may not find the answers I am seeking...

...but somehow the Lord speaks to me.

It might be through the call of a distant whip-poor-will or blue jay,

or finding the roadsides coming alive as wildflowers create brilliant pops of color,

or maybe it's that unexpected, refreshing breeze that seems to have come out of nowhere.

Undoubtedly, the load that I am carrying seems less heavy.

Along the road less traveled I can find myself overwhelmed at times,

that the God of the universe created so many marvelous things...

...each one unique...

...no two the same.

~

The road less traveled, whether it be this one in particular or another elsewhere,

many times becomes my inner room...and I don't even need to close the door.

~

"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, 

close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, 

and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6

Along the road less traveled...

...I can find a place to be still in a world that isn't.

Have a peaceful week, my friends.

Sharing at:

Mosaic Monday

Roses of Inspiration

Spiritual Sundays

The Waning Days of Summer

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,

    ripening fields lush- bright with promise;

summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing

    her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."

~Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown 



The grass, that which is left, crunches under foot.

It looks as though a blow torch has been applied to some of the foliage...

...creating a "toasty" appearance to nearly everything.



I can't walk through the back yard without getting webs in my hair...{{shudder}}...

 

...and the tent caterpillars, well, they are another matter altogether.

I have had an utter disgust for them since my high school days.

  

A few of my "friends" knew of my aversion to them

and decided it would be fun to put a handful of them down the back of my dress.

 It took me while to get over that traumatic event. :(

The wrinkled faces of the wilting sunflowers are no longer looking toward the sun.

Yes...the summer, it's-a waning.

~

THE WANING DAYS OF SUMMER

~a poem by Michael

The waning days of summer,

are a magic time for me.
Like the beats of some drummer,
cadence-marked for all to see.

It's more than just the dawning,
as the summer goes to fall.
It's more a season's spawning,
I feel in the mornings' call.

When gray gives way to redness,
and daylight takes the sky,
its beauty leaves me breathless,
I enjoy this Godly high.

For God does paint the cirrus,
with pigments and then with hue
a season soon to leave us
told with color and with dew.

For now enjoy these mornings
as their end comes too fast,
and fall then gives warnings,
of the cold of winter's blast.

~

But there is and up-side to all of this, without a doubt...

...the pyracantha bush is covered with lovely orange and green-ish berries...

...the fields are alive...

 

...with a whole different crop...

...of lovely wildflowers...

...the sun filtering through the woods captures the glorious brilliance of the turning leaves...



...and everything is as it should be for the last day of August.

Yes, summer is waning but the best is yet to come!

I see a beautiful fall just over the horizon!

Happy last day of August :)

Sharing at:

Mosaic Monday

Roses of Inspiration

Amaze Me Monday

Grace at Home



Hometown Fences

These fences have been around for a long time.

They are on the country road that leads to the house where I grew up in Ohio.

I snapped these shots when we visited there about a month ago .

There's nothing particularly unique about them.

It's just that they give me a warm, familiar feeling that I like to remember.

And I'd like to share them today on Theresa's Good Fences...

...because to me, they are good fences!

~

Happy Friday, everyone!