Outside our Christmas Cabin

 This sign hangs over the entrance to our backyard Christmas Cabin...
 Looks like we have a little touch up to do on the Christmas tree that 
hangs beside the doorway.
Santa stands beside the front "porch".
For a look inside, click HERE to go to another blog of mine...

Snow

After WAY too much rain....snow.  
Wet snow.
Snow with no sign of stopping.
I hate to complain.
So I won't.
(But I'd like to.)

Nature's Pallette--Rich and Wonderful

 I'm not sure it gets any more beautiful than this!
 Just luxurious in its red...

 ...and in the back, close to our sun porch, this bush sports blue berries.
 I'm not sure I noticed the berries before...Wonder what kind of bush it is?
Oh, the gorgeous display just outside our windows!
November's palette - rich and wonderful...

Here and There

 Here....
(Mulching leaves in the back yard)

 ...there
(Christmas Open House at a Neuhouser Nursery)

November Chores and More

 The frost was on the "pumpkins" this morning...
 not as bad as Sunday morning though.
Saturday evening we had some help.  Ten young men
for whom we were providing dinner grabbed items in our yard
and brought them to this general area.
My husband will sort and stack and eventually cover it all with a tarp.
The men saved us many, many steps!
 This sedum plays watchdog over the pile 
while the mums just keep on  beautifying our flower beds,
undaunted by the frost.
 I couldn't resist this last picture.  The sight was too incredible to me...
I think I'm correct in calling the bush a viburnum.

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!