Only God Can Make a Tree

A few years ago, this proud tree took a strong blow as it was trimmed
to accommodate power lines that never materialized.
 Seasons have come and gone.
Undaunted, the tree weathers them.
Dignified and determined.
 Today the sky turned a deep and undeniable blue
as if to draw attention to the remaining color
of this grand friend.
I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree.
(I believe someone has already claimed those two lines.)

more october

The tree in foreground is almost bare--its leaves on ground in prior post...Very few walnuts this year.  What's up with that?
Newly composed vignette on front porch
My husband wired this lamp yesterday -- one of a pair purchased at a garage sale.

It's Begun!

In Autumn
by Winifred C. Marshall

They're coming down in showers,
The leaves all gold and red;
They're covering the little flowers,
And tucking them in bed. 
They've spread a fairy carpet
All  up and down the street;
 And when we skip along to school,
They rustle 'neath our feet.

Late Bloomers

These recent garage sale purchases 
join the late bloomers in our yard.
I couldn't resist taking the pictures.










 I believe all the mums - and a few more than I've pictured here -
came from one plant.
(They do well here.)
They're rather straggly this year.  
I need to learn how and when to trim them 
to achieve a more rounded appearance.
Meanwhile, I'm just enjoying the multitude of these beautiful
Late Blooming Flowers!

Keeping it Real in October

Between rain and poison ivy, I haven't been active
in our flower beds the past few weeks.
 So here they are--some of them at least--
in their "real" and rather natural condition.

 I'm not sure I've ever shown this windchime.
 It hangs in an evergreen tree next to the side entrance of our front porch.
It's sound is soft and light.  Cheerful.

 I FINALLY got the two huechera plants and the white mum planted yesterday.
It meant uprooting and dividing a rather large hosta...
which meant finding a place for the two divisions.
It is what it is.
There are weeds to pull and poison ivy to kill.
The weather is near perfect.  
It is a joy to be out and about
and keeping it real in October.

Fall Festival at Victory Noll

 Native grasses
 filled the fields that lay east of the buildings on the Victory Noll Campus.
(Huntington, IN)

 We enjoyed the wagon ride that carried us through the beauty of these grounds.
 The number and variety of trees was amazing!
 The tree below may have been one of my favorites...

 We enjoyed walking many paths.
I couldn't resist taking photographs of the potted 
plants and flowerbeds that stood at one of the entrances.
It REALLY was a near perfect Sunday afternoon!