Oktoberfest

It's been another busy (but fun) October weekend. John and John Mark took off early Saturday morning (like wee-hours-of-the-morning early) to go to John Mark's first youth deer hunt. It's a good thing they are both nature lovers because although they were treated to an amazing display of nature out at LBL, they saw almost no deer (except for the one which managed to sneak up behind them.) They camped out overnight and got back Sunday evening just in time to catch the end of the Trunk-or-Treat cookout at church.

In the meantime, the other kids and I canceled our weekend plans (scrapbooking Friday night for me and a choral performance for them) so we could attend the memorial service for Daddy D's (my stepdad) brother David. I barely knew David, but it was a big deal for Daddy D that his family show up, so we drove to Tennessee Saturday morning. The foliage on the drive was breathtaking. I asked Becca why she wasn't reading the book she had brought and she replied, "I'm just looking at the scenery". You know it's good when the kids enjoy it too. We stopped on the way home to pick a pumpkin at a little farm along the way and got back home in time to visit the Renaissance Faire at the Episcopal church downtown. At the Bee Keeper's booth, the little boys learned how to "pet" a bee without getting stung while I watched in anxious fascination. I hope they don't try this at home.

And I finally gave in and bought the kids new costumes. For 7 years they have been Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger and whatever else we happened to have lying around the house. They are tired of Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger. We have a variety of Pilgrim and knight costumes too, but they are also tired of being knights and it just isn't cool to go trick-or-treating dressed as a Pilgrim. So I gave in- after all, they aren't little for long- and bought them the overpriced flimsy costumes they had been drooling over at Walmart. Philip was Batman, Ben was Robin, Nathanael was Spiderman, and Becca was Cat Woman. I even got John Mark a Clark Kent costume (you can rip the coat and glasses off to transform into Superman) but he didn't get back in time to wear it to Trunk-or-treat. I wish I could post pictures, but John had my digital camera with him and I had to use my "old" camera. It gave me another reason to be irritated with Hunter-Man as I tried to get the pumpkin carved, help everyone get into their costumes, get the food together, and get to Praise Team rehearsal on time on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday, I also discovered that Hunter-Man had planned an Oktober-fest with his buddy Ted the very next evening- at our house! John does not normally cook, but there are a few things he enjoys cooking: breakfast, grill-stuff, Jambalaya, and Oktoberfest. Back in July, when John and Ted discovered common culinary interests, they immediately began making plans for this year's Oktober-fest (they just forgot to tell me!) So Ted and family arrived last night around 7pm and the men cooked for the next hour. They created a splendid German feast with Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Spaetzle (German noodles), German potato salad (courtesy of Christina), Rye bread, and a variety of cheeses and German chocolates (mmmm!) They decided that next year, Oktoberfest needs to be an all-day event because they didn't get a chance to make everything they wanted (including the Apple Struesel) and they didn't get to enjoy the feast while watching football (though they probably lose some authenticity at that point).

Today, the last day of October, the sky is overcast and a mist is hanging in the air, making the foliage on the trees seem even more vivid. It would be the perfect day to spend reading by the hearth (if we were fortunate enough to have a fireplace.) I was surprised to look out my kitchen window this morning and see that the old maple in our front yard turned an attractive shade of yellow almost overnight, which is a big change from its normal habit of staying green until the leaves finally fall off the tree in disgust. October has been a wonder-full month.

The Book Pile

I love having a good book pile going, and since I've been doing so much reading this year, the pile has had a regular turnover. I spent the summer reading a lot of lighter fare and finally finished all six of Jane Austen's major novels. Pride and Prejudice is still my hands-down favorite, but Persuasion is an easy second. Since I am teaching 20th Century history in co-op for the first time this year (to high schoolers!), I figured I had better read up... it's a lot easier to teach if you know what you're talking about! So I've been through a long WWII phase- lots of nonfiction, a few biographies and some historical fiction thrown in for good measure (I love historical fiction- the real stuff, not the goofy romance kind.) And that brings me to the book pile I have today.

My class is currently studying WWI and last night I began reading All Quiet on the Western Front, one of those classics everyone is supposed to read. (I know, it would have made more sense to do WWI before WWII... oh well.) I read four chapters and my first impression is that this is definitely a "man's" book. I'm sure it's full of all sorts of profound observations on the futility of war, but I'm finding it depressing and I might save it for another time. Maybe you can offer a compelling reason why I should stick with it.

I recently began The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer, in which she discusses the discipline of reading good books and how to keep a journal to reflect on new ideas, as earlier generations did . The second half of her book contains reviews of the books that would form the basis of a solid classical education, several of which I'll add to my book pile in the future. I've been reading bits and pieces of Beth Moore's Further Still a collection of poetry and vignettes, and I've also acquired some commentaries on Daniel and Revelation to complement the Beth Moore Bible study my ladies bible class is doing on Daniel. No, I'm usually not such a studious bible scholar, but I've discovered that I simply do not agree with a number of Beth's conclusions on Daniel's prophecies. This has led me into a fascinating search for answers. None of this has anything to do with the fundamentals of my faith, but I love seeing how history confirms the facts of my faith! Along those lines, I've also picked up Seeing the Unseen by Joe Beam and am anxious to get to it. See why I'm having such a hard time getting through these books? There are too many good choices!

I recently finished Becoming One by Joe Beam, a book on spiritual, physical and emotional intimacy in marriage. It might not have made such a big impact on me earlier in our marriage, but it was exactly what I needed right now. I followed it up with a book I read last year, For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn. Don't read that book unless you're willing to throw everything you thought you knew about men out the window! Next up in the book pile is The Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura. I picked it up at a yard sale some time ago, but it's next in my Marriage series.

I checked out To Kill A Mockingbird fully expecting to have read it by now, but it's on its second check-out. I need to get going with it, and I look forward to it since it's one of those books I see frequently on "My Favorite Books of All Time" lists. Finally, I have The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh. The real thing will wean you off Disney forever! A.A. Milne wrote the stories for his son- you guessed it- Christopher Robin, and the stories are funny and full of insight. I'm glad I still have little boys who are always ready for a story, because it would be a shame not to share these!

So that's the Book pile for now. I was digging through my bookshelves recently and was delighted to find other books just waiting to be read. But that's a Book pile for another time.

The Wild Week

I have blog guilt from not posting for so long, especially when there have been so many interesting things going on!

On Monday we celebrated Winds-day, the first Blustery Day of Fall by watching Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day while the trees outside swayed mightily in the wind and the cold rain. I love a good Blustery Day, and I love Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day too. John Mark gave me one of those teenager "My-mother-has-completely-lost-her-mind" looks after I told him it was one of my favorite movies. "Mom, that really isn't one of your favorite movies, right? You were just kidding?" I am not kidding.

The kids attended the annual Rotary Club luncheon on Wednesday, where they are honored for their 4-H achievements over the past year. I have yet to attend this function, since little brothers are not invited. I suppose when Nathanael hits 5th grade in another 5 years, I can go... by then, John Mark will be 18 and probably won't even be in 4-H any more. Scary. I took the Little Guys to Dairy Queen and to the Park instead, where we enjoyed the Perfect Fall Day (though it was slightly muddy, thanks to Windsday.)

On Friday, John and I went on a date (!). Hunting season and Boy Scout Camping Season are not conducive to dating. We enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster and decided to see "The Guardian" since the movie I wanted to see, "Flags of Our Fathers" wasn't in town yet. But the movie projector bulb blew out halfway through the film and we got passes to come again some other time. We decided we'd wait for the video on "The Guardian" and come back to see "Flags of Our Fathers" whenever it gets here. I had to pick up some things at Walmart for the weekend and John saw the perfect opportunity to make a run to Gander Mountain. He could kill two birds with one stone: skip the boring Walmart trip and browse the sporting goods store in peace- what could be better? While he was roaming the store, he ran into some friends from church and explained that he was on a date with his wife. You can understand their confusion about why I was nowhere around.

He made up for ditching me by taking me to Bob Evans for sausage and gravy the next morning when we went out to pick up Becca from a birthday slumber party. We stopped by a store in the mall which was having a Going-Out-of-Business Sale and John talked me into a a new floor lamp to replace the one next to his chair which leans at a 35 degree angle. He lobbied hard for the one with the cheesy-looking table attached, but we finally compromised on a brushed brass lamp with an elegant-but-oddly-shaped shade. Now that it's here, we are both pleased with our purchase- especially John, since he no longer has to wonder if the lamp is about to fall over and hit him on the head.

The highlight of our weekend was a visit from our friends from Baton Rouge, Jimmy and Connie and family. Connie was my roommate at LSU and Maid of Honor in my wedding. Between our two families, we had a houseful with 9 kids! Here's a picture of 8 of them (Maggie, the baby, was already asleep). John Mark was impressed that friends would drive all that way to come and see us. He said we need to get us some friends far away that we can go and see too! (Problem is, you have to move away from your friends first, or vice-versa, and that's no fun at all...) It's great to have friends that love us enough to come and see us. I love that our kids can get to know Connie's kids and also see that hospitality depends a lot more on love than it does on perfection. I told Connie that in about 15 years or so, they can come visit me and John in our empty house and we'll be able to offer them prime accommodations. But I doubt it will be half as much fun!

Things A Mother Does Not Want to Hear

From the "Things A Mother Does Not Want to Hear" File:

Two older siblings in another room, speaking to the little brother in panic-stricken voices: TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF!!! TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF!!!

and

From the little brother: "Mommy, I figured out how to work the toilet plunger all by myself!"
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Weekend News:

On Thursday night, we had Kim, our piano teacher, and her husband Harish over for dinner and dominoes. They are new in town and it has been hard on Kim, who has never lived away from Indiana. It is fall break this week and the kids did not have chorus rehearsal, so it finally worked out for us to do this. John especially loves having company because it ensures that the house gets a good cleaning every couple of weeks or so. And one day he'll learn to check with me first before taking people on "house tours" :-).

The First Frost of the season was yesterday morning. Nathanael wanted to know why the snow melted so quickly.

John and John Mark are in the woods somewhere in Illinois camping with the Boy Scouts again. The four others and I went yard-saling in the "snow" this morning. John will be glad that I found him a cot for camping. Apparently, two others had been sold just before I got there (why did they have to tell me that?) I have a lot of errands to run around the mall area today, and we have to go to the thrift stores to see if we can find Becca some semblance of a Victorian/Edwardian costume. If I were Supermom, I would try to sew all my kids costumes, but, in case you did not know this by now, I am so not Supermom. In fact, there are a lot of days where I feel like "Just-Barely-Making-It-Mom"!
So that is our day. Don't you wish you could take three small boys shopping all day too? (I'm not above bribes. We'll find something fun to do if all goes well.)
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Addendum:

It's later in the evening; we all managed to survive the day-long shopping trip, and it was a moderate success (found shoes for two kids, but no costume). BUT~ I was about to climb into bed and I ran across a CD that I purchased this morning at a yard sale. It's entitled "Rescue" and it's by the Richland Hills Praise Ministry in Texas. It was still in the shrinkwrap, in a box marked "All CDs $1 Each". Well, RHC's earlier CD "Testify" is one of my most favorite CDs, right up there with the Zoe stuff. How this ended up in a yard sale here is beyond me (you would have to admit, CoC Praise Ministry music is a niche market). Those people clearly had no idea what they had- they didn't even give it a chance! Their loss... I LOVE IT!!! It was definitely the find of the day... and to think I was excited about a camping cot.

Oh Brother

I had a neat experience recently: I met my brother. Sure, Matt and I grew up together, but because our family circumstance was... unconventional, to put it nicely, we never got to know each other the way you would expect in a "normal" family. Our exposure to each other, after our parents' divorce, consisted mainly of passing each other in the hallway or maybe watching TV together. Occasionally I might give him a smack on the head if he got on my nerves, since he was five years younger than I (and it was a long time before he got bigger than me.) After I went off to college and got married, we were lucky to see each other once a year. "Hey, how are ya?" and a fast hug was about the extent of our relationship. Until this summer.

It all began when my paternal grandmother had to move out of her home to an assisted-living apartment last year. Her house, sitting empty, was causing her and my great-aunts a lot of stress. In an effort to alleviate some of the stress on all of us, I told her that during the summer, I would come and help her get it ready to sell. When the time came, I called my siblings to explain what was going on. Matt lives about three hours away and he travels all over the country handling catastrophe claims for State Farm. He's very good at what he does and he makes a lot of money (due to all the overtime pay) which allows him to live in high-style bachelorhood. Since he generally only has to work when there is a disaster, he volunteered, "Hey, I can come up with you!" It seemed like the perfect thing. After I made daytime arrangements for the kids, Matt drove to my house one afternoon and off we went.

My brother is a people-person. He can talk and talk...and talk... and he is very easy to get along with. So we talked. This was sort of a new experience for both of us, because I cannot remember a time when the two of us *ever* sat and just talked. It was nice. And it was even nicer to have him along when the serpentine belt on the van broke and left the two of us stranded on the Parkway for two hours while we waited for a tow truck. That was clearly a God-thing: not only would I have not immediately recognized the problem with the van like he did- which would have resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damage- I would have been scared out of my mind all alone on the side of a construction zone while cars whizzed past. Instead, he called my mother to freak her out just for the fun of it and we sat precariously on the berm and laughed about the situation. Several hours later, we were on our way again.

We drove into Lexington late at night and debated every turn through the city. It had been a long, stressful afternoon, but we were still having a good time. I realized my brother is a lot like me and my mom, with a general outlook of "Don't worry, Be Happy!" After all, if you make a wrong turn, so what- turn around! We made a good team.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of activity- overwhelming, actually. My grandmother grew up with the Depression-era mentality of "waste not, want not". So she kept everything. No, I'm not exaggerating. Everything. Every jar, sack, useful box or plastic container which had ever made its way into her hands was kept for later. I cannot tell you how many plastic containers, bread bags, grocery sacks, department store sacks, and empty boxes I threw away. Every drawer was packed; every closet and cabinet had boxes upon boxes of both expensive and inexpensive collectibles, books, memorabilia, and.... well, junk! And everywhere, we found photos. Boxes of photos, envelopes of photos, albums of photos, loose stacks of photos. Photos everywhere. And just when I would think, I'm almost done in here! another box would appear from somewhere. It was overwhelming.

We stayed at my grandmother's empty house and spent hours looking through boxes of shared history: decades of newspaper clippings, baby photos, and every card or letter anyone had ever given her. We brought Granny to the house with us and listened to her tell stories about my grandfather, her sisters, and her high school friends. She tried on the hats she had worn in the 1950's and told us exactly where they were purchased and what coat she had worn them with. Matt and I sat at her feet and listened, enthralled, as she told us stories about her father-in-law, James Mattison, whom Matt is named after. After a while, Granny would get too tired and we would have to take her back to her apartment. Matt and I stayed up and worked into the night for three nights, going to bed at almost dawn, waking up a few hours later and doing it all again.

We went to Walmart and bought a radio to listen to while we worked, and discovered we like the same music. We went out to eat together and discovered that we both like and dislike the same foods. He confessed that he used to like it when I played all that pop-piano music when I was a teenager. I found his baby pictures, which he didn't recognize, and told him all the family stories I knew from our childhood. And of course, it didn't hurt that he still let me boss him around- because, after all, I am his elder sister.

After three grueling days, we finally got Granny's house packed up. There were boxes of photos, memorabilia and heirloom gifts ready for Granny to give each of her grandchildren and my father. We packed boxes; stacked them in newly emptied closets; vacuumed, scrubbed and swept as best we could and headed home.

Granny gave me some beautiful heirlooms: glassware she and Grandaddy collected together over the years, beautiful linens, and small things that would only have value to her and to me. I have photos of my childhood that I had never seen before, and photos of my parents back when they loved each other. These items are priceless. But equally priceless is the unexpected gift I received over those hot July days: I have a brother, with whom I have a lot in common. And now I have a friend.

Small Town Life

I like life in a small town. All my life I had lived in medium to large size cities: Huntsville, Nashville, Atlanta, Fairfax, VA (Washington D.C. metro area), and Baton Rouge. Then we moved here.

I had always been enchanted with the idea of small town life, especially after watching movies like "Doc Hollywood" and "Steel Magnolias" (two of my favorites!) I envisioned friendly, quirky neighbors who would bring us cookies when we moved in and invite us to join them on the porch in the evening. I envisioned happily shopping at mom-and-pop stores where the clerks knew you by name, and a church that would be delighted to have a young new family move in and get involved. So when we moved from Baton Rouge and settled in this relatively small town, I had high hopes. Reality, as usual, turned out to be somewhat different.

Before we moved here, I thought it would be great to shop at mom-and-pop stores rather than the big national chains. I quickly found myself frustrated with the lack of stores which I had always taken for granted: Michaels, Office Max, Marshalls or T.J. Max; large bookstores like Barnes & Noble or Books A Million. I found myself missing the cultural opportunities I had enjoyed for years: symphony concerts, national touring productions, and yes, Ice Capades. But the hardest thing was finding a place to "fit in". Although most people were friendly, most people had also lived here for all their lives and had well-established circles of family and friends. They didn't need to make room for newcomers and didn't recognize the longing we had to make connections. We found that members at the church we had joined did not welcome our new ideas with enthusiasm- we were seen as "outsiders" coming in with "progressive" ideas. We were disappointed and tried desperately to leave the area, but God shut every door. And slowly... things improved.

We found another church in town which had been through some enormous changes since we had first arrived. They were wounded by the previous few years and so were we, so it seemed a good place to start again. We got involved, and this church became family. And after spending years coaching sports teams, leading a 4-H club and scrapbooking workshops, and -for John- switching jobs a few times, we have finally found a place to "fit in". In the meantime, lots of stores also moved in: Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Office Max and Office Depot, LifeWay, Books A Million, Kohls, Gander Mountain, and many others. My shopping needs have been satisfied. In addition, the city has built a large performing arts center, so we now get all kinds of music and theater productions from across the nation. This is a great place to live and although there are things I still miss about the big city, there are also things I wouldn't trade for anything the big city had to offer. It has taken ten years, but we are delighted to call this small town "home".

Things I Like About Our Small Town

Whenever I go to the grocery, the mall, out to eat or yard-saling, I can just about count on running into someone I know

If I want to, I can yard-sale the whole city in about half a day (great yard sales too!)

We have one traffic jam a year: the interstate to the mall at Christmas time

I can get from one side of town to the other in 20 minutes

Great small-town festivals almost every month during the year

A beautiful old downtown filled with antique shops, art galleries and trendy restaurants

There's a good chance you've met your state representatives, the mayor, your congressman, and all the local newscasters

If my kids (or even I!) wanted to perform in the local theater productions, we could

My kids can sing in the Symphony Children's Chorus under a nationally known choral director for $80 a year instead of the $2200+ tuition that a big city Children's Chorus would charge

Drive-In Movies

If I accidentally forget to lock the door, it's no big deal

And Things I Still Miss About the Big City

All-night Jazz

A newspaper with more than three sections (two on Monday and four on Sundays)

Ice Capades

A Real Symphony (I admit it, I'm a symphony snob)

Home School Sports Leagues, Debate teams and Performance Groups

Science, Art and Children's Museums

A Zoo

Ethnic Diversity

Great Thrift Stores

Women's Health Clubs (with free babysitting!)

Libraries that don't have to get a good portion of the books I want through "inter-library loan"

Grocery stores with gourmet food and salad bars

Dollar Theaters

What would you add?

Autumn Adventures

"Halloween" by Grandma Moses

Listen! the wind is rising,

and the air is wild with leaves,

We have had our summer evenings,

now for October eves!

- Humbert Wolfe

October's commencement has been beautiful. Growing up in Alabama, a real fall was never a guarantee, and rarely did we have the pleasantly cool weather that should always arrive at this time of year. I always dreamed of living in an area that looked like the cover of my grandmother's Ideals magazines. And, I do. I love the fall. I have to admit that my area of the state is not quite far enough north to be a fall tourist destination. There are rolling hills here rather than majestic mountains, and some years the weather is too dry and warm to allow for a really good show. But this year... this is a good year. And this was a good weekend.

Friday was a beautiful sunny morning and after yoga, I stopped at a few yard sales on the way home. I've become rather picky at yard sales lately and have come home empty-handed after many of my summer runs. But this time- Success! John loves to sit out on the patio in the evenings and he has been talking about getting a chimea for quite a while. I found one! It even has a stand. And I found a pair of khaki pants that fit! I am a person who can spend all day at the mall and still not find a properly fitting pair of pants, so to purchase a pair for $1 and a prayer is no small thing! I also found an Itty Bitty Book Light in the box for $1, but because batteries are a hot commodity in our house, I'm not positive yet that my Itty Bitty Book Light works. I picked up a stack of Country Living Magazines and a brand new package of antiqued craft cloth for $1.25. All in all, a Very Successful Outing.

On Friday afternoon, we went to the Anniversary Celebration at John's plant. We toured the plant on a bus and stopped at the firehouse where they let the kids dress in a firesuit and climb all over the firetruck. Afterward, John led chemistry demonstrations for the tour group. He made slime, nylon, luminescence and even demonstrated the Mentos- Diet Coke explosion (with the proper chemical explanations, of course). The experiments were pretty cool and we were properly impressed. The kids were clamoring for a visit to John's office so after dinner, he took us up and showed us around. He showed the kids where he hangs the pictures that they draw for him. Remember how cool it was to get to go to your dad's office when you were a kid? There are so many restrictions at chemical plants since 9-11 that John says they may never get to tour another plant. They'll have fun memories of this visit.

On Saturday, John and I escaped to Cracker Barrel for Brunch (we love having built-in babysitting; I've waited years for this!). John had big plans to finish the garage, but got side-tracked by the Indiana-Illinois and LSU-Florida football games. Oh well. That evening we headed over to Audie's Barn Party, which is one of the kid's favorite fall events. We went on a hayride while the orange Harvest Moon rose on one horizon and the sun set behind the other. We spent the evening roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, enjoying the results of the Chili Cook-off, listening to an old-time country band, and catching up with friends. The kids played soccer and harassed the dogs, cats, chickens and other critters that Audie keeps. Good fun.

This morning started out crazy since John and I both had to be at church at 8:00- John for a CARE group leaders' meeting and I for Praise Team rehearsal. Yikes! Worship was great today and all the Zoe people came back excited about the weekend. We went to lunch at Olive Garden, came home for naps and puttered around the house before leaving for CARE group out at the lake. More hotdogs and marshmallows, singing and good discussion. I'm thinking this many hotdogs and marshmallows cannot be good for us. (Note to self: eat lots of salad next week.) But it sure was fun, and the weather was exactly what you think Fall weather should be: cold enough for a sweatshirt or a jacket, but not cold enough to make your nose cold (at least, that's my definition of perfect weather.) It was a great weekend.

Left Behind

It's Zoe weekend and I'm nowhere near Nashville *sniff*. John and I have gone together for the past several years and it's always one of the highlights of our year, but this year we don't have babysitting arrangements. Sigh. I'll have to live vicariously through Bret, Summer, Lynn, Mike et al.

I won't have time to sit around and mope though- I'll have to do that later *grin*. Ladies Bible Study this morning (Daniel has some of the coolest stories in the whole entire Bible!) and piano and chorus this afternoon and tonight. (Having a piano teacher that comes to us is one of the best things that has happened with our schedule this year. That is such a blessing!) Tomorrow we are going to the 50th Anniversary celebration at John's work (dinner catered by Patti's!) and the kids are looking forward to having their dad give them a tour of his plant. Saturday night (if the weather holds) there's a Barn Party at my friend Audie's, and on Sunday, Randy and Carla are cooking for our CARE group from the campsite where they are vacationing on fall break. Co-op break is also this coming week, so I plan on getting the kids to finish their co-op work this week- even if they have to work through the weekend- so we can actually have a "break" next week. Maybe we can even get the house clean. Or maybe I will scrapbook all week instead. Ha.

I've been trying to get that blogging feeling again, but I've lost my groove. There's been a bunch of "stuff" going on and usually I am able to roll with it pretty well... but there just seems to be an awful lot of it now. I feel too worn out to be creative; the best I can do the past couple of months are family updates. But this will pass and the blogging muse will return. Thanks for hanging in there!

October Beauty

There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots
may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on
the feelings, as now in October.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

This afternoon, John and the two older kids are squirrel hunting (they shouldn't have to look very far...) and Nathanael is at his buddy Joseph's birthday party, so Philip, Ben and I went for a walk searching for beauty. In October, it's not hard to find! Thanks for the idea, Randi!

These photos are from the road that runs to the side of our neighborhood; the kids love to go under their "tree bridge"