Gazing at the sky, stump chair and a grand thing

As usual, I was racing to my car, so I could get in the line up on the expressway for the journey to work. But this sky was so glorious, I had to stop and gaze and moment and capture it with my phone. And then it was off to the races.

Someone cut this tree stump into the shape of a chair. How about that? It was another glorious sky last Saturday morning and I noticed the stump chair when my friends and I were saying goodbye after a walk in the park.

My favorite cookies from Ryal's Bakery in my hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. A hometown friend, Chuck, posted this pic on Facebook and it made me smile. :)  He also posted a quote from author Agatha Christie this morning that resonated with me:

"I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

Wolf Moon, fun and all good things are wild and free

This is a rush hour photo of my suburb of Atlanta, where Burger is King and there are many cars and power lines.  I still love it, in spite of all that.  The rising moon was gorgeous and that was what this photo was meant to be all about - the January full moon, known as the Wolf Moon.  According to the Farmer's Almanac:

"Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next moon."

Can you see that claw hand sticking out of my pen and pencil cup there?  (My home office desk.)  This put me a little in mind of said Wolf.  It's actually a back scratcher that was in my Christmas stocking - it's fun, but a little scary looking.  (We have a lot of fun with those stockings.)  :) 

And speaking of this past Christmas - I always buy a little gift for myself when I'm shopping for family and friends.  I just had to get this t-shirt - I love it.

May all Good Things come to you this weekend, my friends!

In the mist, cheerful and colorful

Four unrelated good things this week - going from gray to colorful:

The skyline of midtown Atlanta was lovely and mystical looking, as viewed from the parking deck of Georgia Public Broadcasting on volunteer night.  We had needed rain so badly and it was welcome when it came.

More gloomy sky, but loved the cheery scarecrow wearing Santa's hat.  Madison, Georgia, last Saturday.

It took all week, but I got my little tree up.  It's sitting on a draped crate so that it will have more presence.  :)  I decorated it a little at a time and finally finished yesterday.  Richie Bear was purchased at Rich's department store, in the mid-1980s, when it was still open.  And the cardboard Santa to the right was given to me by my kindergarten teacher, way back when.  

Coworker Bobby salvaged peppers and green tomatoes from his garden last night, since the temperature was dropping into the 20s (fahrenheit).  It's cold here in the south today.  I chose two red peppers that he swears won't be hot.  :)  It was astounding to see these garden baskets on this wintry day.

I hope your weekend is full of good things!

It was a blustery day, gamely blooming and golden leaf

It was a blustery day and time for a walk. While I waited at the park for my friend to arrive, I thought about the lyrics to a favorite children's song, "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day":

Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily
And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it's rather safe to say
That it seems that it may turn out to be
It feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today
It sounds that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
Looks like a rather blustery day today

The ball fields were oddly empty.  No one was at the tennis courts either.  But those flaming trees sure were beautiful.

The day was so blustery that I gave up on trying to wrangle leaves at home.  This plant is still gamely blooming - even I couldn't kill it.  :) 

And this beautiful maple leaf landed perfectly in this pot on the back porch.  Love its gold, tinged with red.

It is our Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday in the United States.  There is much to be thankful for.  Thank you for your friendship - I love that you come by. 

Just breathe, pink haze and have a good week

This is by no means the best photograph of the super moon from November 14 (taken with iPhone 6 and a little grainy), but it represents my view, as I stood in the street of my neighborhood after a challenging week and just breathed.

I could still see that same beautiful moon this morning - the internet tells me that occurs because it's really the sun's light reflecting off of the moon's surface.  It was off to the right here, but I wasn't able to get a photo of it (don't worry - I was at a complete stop.)  I did get the hazy, pink glow over the skyline of midtown Atlanta (here on I-85 south).  The haze is from smoke blowing in from wildfires in northern Georgia and western North Carolina - not a good thing at all, but it did make the skyline look mystic.

I hope you have a good week.  Hugs!

Signs of fall, out front beauty, the first time and encore

The trees in the background at the condos attest to signs of fall, which was surely expected, but a delight nonetheless.  My car is always photo bombing my pictures.  :)  

The plants out front are gamely hanging in there.  The air has turned crisp in the early morning, here in the Atlanta area, but everyone here on the porch wants to keep blooming it seems.  I don't have the heart to get rid of them yet.  The dragon wing begonia, on the plant stand, had gotten very tall and leggy, so I cut it way back about a month and a half ago.  It came right back and started sprouting out blooms.  

This is a hosta that I bought from a plant sale about 10 years ago, I think.  It probably belongs in the ground, but I've kept it in a pot.  This year, I moved it from the back porch to the front, and it loves it there.  It grew very lush this year.  And surprise - it is blooming for the very first time!  In October, of all times.  The hostas, in the ground, at the mountain house are blooming in July.  Go figure.

And much to my amazement, the rhododendron bush in front of neighbor Mike's window downstairs is blooming, too.  They usually bloom in mid-Spring.  Neighbor Rhonda speculates that it is what she calls an "Encore" bloom.  I'm just delighted to see them both.

Busy bee, sharing and fun holidays

- This bee was so busy on Saturday, going from flowering plant to flowering plant, I finally managed to snap his photo while he was in motion.  It's so delightful to see them around, when there has been so much in the news about them vanishing.

- Coworker Bobby brought in mountain apples to share at work on Monday.  They smell so good and are delicious.

- This is the fun holidays of the month calendar I produce these days - I hang them on the bulletin boards at work.  So it was fitting that Monday was Johnny Appleseed Day and we had apples.  Google tells me that Johnny Appleseed was an "American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia."

It's also National Chicken Month - I amused myself by finding cute chicken clip art.  :)

Back porch, Harvest moon and treasure

- The back porch had been covered with a fair amount of dead leaves, which I swept off on Saturday.  The plants are getting straggly, but they are still nice and green.  And I splurged ($12 on sale at HomeGoods) on that colorful doormat to change things up a bit.

- Driving home from a dinner with friends on Saturday evening, the gorgeous Harvest moon kept popping into view here and there.  I'm so glad I had it with me for the drive.  My grainy iPhone photo doesn't do it justice at all, but it still makes for a nice memory.

 - Friend Bren brought me this treasure - a "Holding Cross" - back from her trip to the Golden Isles, on the coast of Georgia, last weekend.  It's smooth and fits in the palm of my hand.  I love it.  It was carved by hand by Rev. Dave Hanson, of St. Simons Island, for use as a meditative prayer aid.  I love this printed on the accompanying card, "It is prayerfully carved from natural wood to remind you that you are greatly loved and never alone."  (Romans 8:31-39)  An article I found about him can be read here.

Last blossom, shadowed and coddled

- Having never been a real fan of summer, I do look forward to fall, with its crisp weather.  But I do lament the passing of my spring and summer potted plants.  I finally got rid of my hanging petunia this week, pictured here in May, and found a lone blossom had fallen off while I was getting it down.  So here it is in a shot glass, gracing my cutting board.  The last blossom.

- At the elevator enclosure at my HMO on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.  Midday.  I went by to pick up a prescription and was struck by the pattern of leaves shadowed on the cut-out in the wall.

- The new addition to my egg coddler collection, found in the mountains at my favorite antique shop there.  Maybe I'll actually coddle an egg at some point.  You know I'll report back when I do.  :)

Hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful weekend, my friends!

Rolling clouds, moon with three names and captivated

- The skyline of midtown Atlanta up ahead during my morning commute this week.  And look at that beautiful sky!  Don't worry - we were all stopped.  Really stopped.

 - The Buck Moon that happened Tuesday night.  So called because bucks begin to grow new antlers at this time.  It's also known as the Thunder Moon, because of the frequent thunderstorms in July.  And it is also known as the Capricorn Moon.

- And more sitting in traffic.  On Thursday morning, I was captivated by this commuter pup - on an early morning trip with its person.

Here's something else to be captivated by:  the weekend!  I hope yours is lovely.

Inside guest, Dorothy's basket and Echoes of France

- When I was watering the outdoor plants this morning, I accidentally knocked off these lovely blooms from the Dragon Wing Begonia.  The leaves are still damp from the morning drink.  I have these pretty pottery bud vases, that usually go unused, and hope the blossoms last a little while in this one.

- Lots going on in this photo - the basket was found at an antiques shop in the North Carolina mountains.  It's called a "Jeremiah Basket" (it still has a tag on it, brown with age) and was made by a woman named Dorothy Sprinkle.  I love Dorothy's basket.

- I've had those four paperback books (lying horizontally), since I was a teenager.  Treasures I decided to keep.  And my friend Karin Slaughter has the rest of that shelf dedicated to her books. 

My friend Meda, who lives in the UK, had just posted the following YouTube video of La Marseillaise (the French National Anthem) - subtitled Echoes of France - in honor of Bastille Day, on facebook, just before we heard of the latest attack last night in Nice.  I am heartsick.  So I share this video in a sort of tribute to the people of Nice.  It features Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli & Le Quintette du Hot Club de France (1946).

Rainbow, summer growth and late bloomer

- One evening last week, after a long, wearying day, neighbor Rhonda knocked on my door and said I need to come see the rainbow.  I'm so glad she did, or I would have missed it. 

- My potted plants leading to the front door are in mid-summer growth now, quite a difference between now and when this photo was taken in early May.  (Actually - it's not mid-summer yet, it just seems as if it is.  My coworker and I were laughing about a clothing catalog with the title "Late Summer Sale!"  Wouldn't that be more like mid-September??? )

- And I love that the Crape Myrtle trees bloom when they do - after so many other blooms begin to fade away.

Special gift, still a puppy and beauty at home

- Receiving this photo in a text message from niece Amanda, who lives in Madison, Florida, "This huge dragonfly was on our porch tonight, and Kloie saw it before anyone else & yelled, "Miss Amanda!  Please take a picture of this dragonfly & send it to Aunt Lynn!!!!"  Kloie is six-years-old and Amanda's future step-daughter (she and Kloie's dad, Travis, will be married next March.)  I am delighted to call her my Great Niece already.  She is already beloved to all of us.

I've always loved dragonflies.  And then yesterday morning, feeling unmotivated to get to work, I was sitting at a traffic light five minutes away - and three dragonflies swirled and soared around my car and then flew north.

- This photo, also from a text, taken by my older sister on a visit with niece Carla in Ankara, Turkey of  the family's not-quite-well-behaved dog Eva.  Our younger sister texted, "Is that dog standing on the table?"  :)

- And at home, neighbor Rhonda's bountiful flowers.  She and I conspire on planting every spring, but her flowers are always the most beautiful.

I love early morning watering.  The birds around the condos are fully awake at 6am and provide a glorious symphony of singing to each other.  I love their calls and answers.  

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

New life, morning light and if you can't beat 'em...

- The weekend weather in Atlanta was as lovely as predicted.  Sister, niece and I met cousins for lunch at Mary Mac's Tearoom for some southern food and then moved on to Ponce City Market for a look-around.  The large brick building there housed the Sears Roebuck & Company from 1926 until 1979 (retail store, warehouse and regional offices.)  My grandfather used to go there and pick up items for the family in the 1930s and '40s when he had business in Atlanta.  I like to think of that.  The city of Atlanta bought the building around 1980 and used it for police and fire department headquarters for about 20 years - it was called City Hall East.  It's so nice to see it reinvigorated as a mixed used development now - apartments, offices, shops, restaurants and a food hall.  I had not been there since its official opening last year, so it was fun to act like a tourist for a few hours.  And I can go there anytime!

- An unedited photo that I snapped last week at one of those pop up antique markets near my office.  I thought the coat rack might work in a coworker's new home.  I just love this photo for its lovely morning light.

- And I posted about this building near my office last February.  It has been plagued by graffiti art.  My post in February showed a lone painter painting over the graffiti with white paint.  Of course, the graffiti artists came back and covered the end next to the street with graffiti again.  So I love this window company for their "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude - they have hired mural artists to paint it.  Click to enlarge.  It's a train!  Can't wait to see what they have planned for the other wall.  :)

Favorite moment of the weekend.  My sister and I were standing in my parking lot, when the sprinkler came on.  A delighted robin hopped in and out of the water - reveling in the water drops.  My sister said, "I need to get a picture of that!"  But by the time she got it positioned, the bird had tired of the activity and flew away.  My sister is a kindred spirit, I think.

Too expensive anyway, Aesop and lessons

All the lovely wisteria around right now reminded me of this post from 2010, so a re-post is in order!

- Stopping by The German Bakery near my house only to find it closed, but finding it surrounded by wisteria. Beautiful. When I was a little girl, I used to think wisteria vines were bunches of grapes.

- The image instantly recalls a fable from Aesop, "The Fox and the Grapes": "ONE hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. 'Just the things to quench my thirst,' quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."

"IT IS EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT GET."

- Aesop's Fables are wonderful for their lessons, I think. Wikipedia recounts this modern variant on the tale with the following joke from the comedian Mitch Hedberg: "Sometimes in the middle of the night, I think of something that's funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen's too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny."

Meanwhile in Georgia..., the sun came out and at home

- I spotted this on facebook and laughed out loud.  Yes - after so many days of rain, it was amazing to see some sunshine. 

- My day was spent indoors on Wednesday, but I managed to get to the park near the office just in the nick of time after work.  There were so many runners, walkers, playground kids out - it was like a big celebration of the sun.  I got the tail end of it, but managed to get back to my car just before the sun completely shut down for the day.

- And I was thinking how cheerful this corner of my kitchen looked this morning, so I snapped a photo of it.  I got the aluminum tray at an antique shop in Murphy, North Carolina last summer.  I love its etched vine pattern.  And when I got home with it, I couldn't think where it would go, so I put my hodge podge of sugar dish and cream pitchers on it.  It's always bright in my kitchen.  :)

Happy weekend, my friends!  I hope yours is lovely.

Fallen foliage, it has its perks and pretty

- And the rain in metro Atlanta continues.  I was leaving for a meeting early on Saturday morning and thought the fallen leaves on the wet sidewalk were beautiful.  That's my 10-year-old car ahead, photo bombing the photo.

- A friend is posting on facebook one thing per day she is thankful for during the month of November.  I am thankful not to be the one who has to bag all of these leaves!  That's why I live in a condo. 

- Ending on a cheery note with the pretty flowers in my kitchen.  I kind of like the leaf pictures though.

I hear the sun might make an appearance tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!