...and so it starts!

Today-
slowly but surely the decorating has begun here at my house.

The Christmas music is on full blast and I am unpacking the decorations.

Nothing to show yet except for my little paperwhite bulbs.

Wondering if they will stay on the mantle or if they will be 

put on the window sill?

I won't know until I get everything out and start placing things around.

Where to put the Nativity?

Where to put the tree?

Where the iron angle from the garden will sit?

Where to put what and how to hang the greens?

 I love the greens added around the little pots of  paperwhites and 

the pop of red from the cranberries.

These are all BIG decisions for my little mind!

I love this process of making Christmas a special time in our home and in

our family.

I love taking my time and giving it much thought.

My decorating is simple now compared to what I used to do when 

the children were small.

Everything had to sparkle and glow when my family was young.

I loved it!

But now I go for a more simple look.

Pretty in a different way.

It's the BAKING I go all out for now....

and I can't start THAT until THIS is done!!!

So I had better get back at it!

Wishing you all a wonderful day full of the magic that the season brings!

Thanksgiving

I am going to start the holiday decorating later this week and before I 'clean the slate', so to speak,

I took a few photos in the living room. 

I love these vintage escutcheons

The week ahead is a busy one for most of us who live in the United States. 

It is our Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday and as far as holidays go,

it is my second favorite. 

I love it because it is the one day that we focus all of our attention to 

the gratitude we feel for all the blessings that we have received throughout the year.

November seems to be the month of gratitude. 

Earlier this month we celebrated Veteran's Day. 

The day we express gratitude for those have given so much to keep us free.

I'm thankful for so much this year
and can't even begin to comprehend all the blessings
I have had come into my life.

I truly do believe that a thankful heart is the key to a happy life.

Focusing on the 'haves' instead of the 'have-nots'.

(I've been making these wire hearts and other things for a holiday 

boutique a friend is having)

I try to keep a gratitude journal daily and did for a long time and then got spotty about it.

At the beginning of this month, I re-committed myself to it.

I think I'm a little surprised at the outcome of that endeavor. 

Writing down 5 things I'm thankful for at the day's end never stops with just the five 

gifts I put down on paper but causes a flood of thoughts of so many more in my life.

I know that when I make gratitude a priority and seeing the very best in my days,

I feel so much more joy than when I allow the weight of the world to cloud my thoughts and 

push out the feelings of thankfulness. 

There is so much that we can feel sorry for ourselves about,

 but there is always more that

we can feel joy and gratitude over.

This Thanksgiving Day and I hope every day of my life, I will 

think about those things that have brought me to where I am today.

I will think about the blessings of my faith, family, friends and all that I enjoy in this life.

I hope that all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving at this time will have a 

wonderful time with your families and friends.

This is the extent of my Christmas decor so far  :  ) 

(a gift from my dear friend Sarah)

Wishing you all who read here a beautiful week!

Big Hugs from me!

Horse-play

Do you find that it is difficult for you to post about things in your life after 

a tragedy has happened? Whether in the US or any other country, I am always affected

by the suffering that others are going through? I know all of you are like that too. 

I look around my home and think how lucky I am to even have a house. 

I think of those whose homes are destroyed and the long road they have ahead of them

before they will ever feel 'at home' again.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be without power for the amount of 

time that so many are experiencing at this time of year let alone not even having a house. 

Unfortunately, things like this are happening somewhere

in our world too much, too often. 

Wishing all of the people in the east some peace and hoping
that they are receiving all of the love and help that everyone
is sending their way.

The fall color in the garden has been so beautiful.
I have enjoyed every bit of this season. Even the garden chores!

It's raining here today and so I am sitting here at the computer
hoping to get this post up and visit many of my friends too.
The ground needs the rain and so do I.

This is Edsel.
He is new to the garden.
I wonder if he's hunting mice or birds up here?
I named him for Edsel Ford, the son of Henry Ford II.
Once when I was working at photo processing in Ketchum, Idaho
about 20 years ago Edsel came in with his mother Anne.
Anne (she must have had a second home(or third or forth up here in the valley))
came in regularly for photo processing and she introduced me to him.
He was wearing a grey wool coat and he had a large round face
and big smile. The cat's grey coat made me think of that, so Edsel he was!

He's a feral cat and has a sister and brother here too.

His brother is quite wild, but Lucy and Edsel are so sweet.

This is a view up the driveway toward the road today.
I love how the John Cabot roses color for Autumn. They are planted
here with forsythia and lilacs.

I went out to catch some shots of the horse-play that was going on between

Knightly, Pal and Sunny and decided to post some of them today.

These were taken two days ago.
The day was mild and sunny and they were certainly taking advantage
of the good weather.

Sunny and Pal

Whoa!

Knightly in the lead

Pal is a two year old, and Sunny is six.

Knightly is five.

They were loving their time out today.

Maybe next time the others can come out and play too.

I have to tell you what I saw while driving to Boise one day last summer.
I was going through a little town like the one I live in and I saw a teenage boy
riding his horse along the road and he was texting! No joke. He was!
That is SO small-town Idaho!!!
(I haven't tried that yet, but I plan to : )

Then...just yesterday, I had to drive to Boise (because snow is coming
and I don't drive much once the snow comes) and while I was on the freeway
about 15 miles east of Boise I saw a semi-truck on fire.
I watched the news last night when I got home and they reported that the truck was carrying
a load of tater tots.
So fitting for Idaho, don't you think?

****************

Do you remember my last bucket of summer roses?

I want to show you what they looked like as they dried.

The photo below was about 3 days after I cut them.
They had already started to dry up a little.
(I wish garden roses lasted a little longer after cut, but mine seem to fade pretty fast)

Below is what they looked like after about a week or ten days.

I love how rich the color got as they dried.
They are still standing in water at this point.

The air is very arid here where I live, so your roses may not dry as these have.
(it's about the only good thing about having dry air)
If you live in a moister climate, you would probably have to hang them to dry
so that they would retain their petals.
Even in Boise which is only about 150 miles away from me, the air
is moister and I am not sure they would dry as well.

This is how they look today.
The color will fade over time, but they should continue to look like this
most of the winter if I keep them out of the sunlight.

An Italian magazine, Abitare Country featured my Christmas from last year in their Nov/Dec issue
this month. I have only seen the digital copy and can't read a word of it
but I am very happy with the layout. I have been getting messages from readers and
so far they have been so kind.

I will be around to see what all of you have been doing in your busy, creative lives
over the next several days, thanks to the rainy and snowy weather we are getting here.

I never thought I would say this
but...
let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!