A Blessed Thanksgiving

I am truly grateful for all the blessings I have in my life and my world, and find it wonderful that there is a holiday dedicated to giving thanks. My family and some new friends were invited to gather with us and share the traditional turkey feast that I had prepared. This marks the 17th year that I have hosted Thanksgiving in my wee crofter's cottage. It's a tight squeeze, but, there is always room at my table for one more person.

We all shared a day full of good food, conversation and hopefully, creating new memories and traditions-especially for the littlest ones. I have so many reasons to give thanks and genuinely hope I inspire gratitude in others. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Many thanks to the two followers of this blog. I truly appreciate your interest and now feel like I am sharing thoughts with fellow nature lovers!

November Garden

I am really NOT a winter person and this picture can tell you why. It's the end of the gloriously long outdoor gardening days and things are looking rather bleak here in Wisconsin. All the autumn colors are gone, raked into the gutters to be taken away, the sun takes a holiday and the beds are ready for their long winter's sleep.

My dear husband knows how deeply affected I am, and cheerfully takes on the the unrewarding task of emptying and scrubbing the flower pots of death! (And never a complaint. How lucky am I!) The outdoor furniture and the gas BBQ grill are safely stored in the shed and there is only one last outdoor chore left to do. At the end of the month, we have to cover all the tender perennials with straw, making little protective nests around each one, to see it through the freezing, snowy months ahead. (And the freeze, thaw, freeze cycle that sometimes occurs.)

I leave a lot of my dead plant stalks standing throughout the winter. They provide seed for alot of the smaller winter birds, like chickadees and gold finches, to eat. It's great fun to see them flit from stem to stem, gleaning the last offerings the garden provides.

For now, I will have to content myself with dreaming and planning next year's beds. The garden catalogs are already arriving in my mailbox as I write this. Here's to warm breezes, sunshine and the delicious feel of hands deep in the dirt, planting new life.

Halloween Night

Halloween was a rousing success! The weather was absolutely perfect, no rain, no wind and temperatures in the 70s! Definitely a "treat" for us here in Wisconsin. Normally, it's around 40 degrees and coats are worn under costumes. The beautiful night brought out about 150 trick or treaters to haunt the neighborhood (and no one wore a coat!). A spooky supper was served to my family after the festivities were over. A magical enchanted evening was had by all.

Countdown To Halloween

Six days and counting! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Not only is the natural landscape putting out glorious autumnal colors, my personal landscape is also decorated with the icons of the season. Every year my front yard is transformed into a Halloween wonderland with lights, wooden cutouts, lights, ghosts, lights, witches, lights and pumpkins. Did I mention lights?? If I add anymore things to be plugged in, I will have to use a generator or risk blowing our subdivision's electrical grid. Each year, I try to add some new things to keep it fresh, but always recycle and rotate the things I have already collected and made.

I keep the decorating on a whimsical note and try not to get too scary as we have a lot of tiny trick or treaters (and parents) who wouldn't appreciate being traumatized on their magical night. They are the heart of the celebration and the reason I go "all out" in my efforts. Their little costumes are so adorable and their eyes wide with wonder, trying to take it all in. I only hope that when these same kids grow up, they will have special memories of "The Halloween Lady" who made their spooky neighborhood haunt, light up with magic and fun!

Compulsory Transformations

We have been given the news that my Husband's SUV factory will close at the end of this year. It's not unexpected, as we had been told in June, that production would stop, but, they gave no concrete date. Now that we know when, it still hits below the belt, creating feelings of uncertainty for the future and the possibility that our hopes and dreams will be put on hold indefinitely. Thankfully, there are resources available to us, that not everyone else in this situation will be fortunate enough to have access to.

Our lifelong dedication to simplicity and a modest life style has also prepared us for this rough stretch of road in our journey. I plan to meet the challenges ahead, with grace, humbleness, and creativity...concentrating on what blessings we DO have, and as always, what is really important in our life.

I would like to reach out to others who are in the same circumstances and share their fears and uncertainties, letting them know they aren't alone

and there are choices we can make, so that we don't feel helpless or without hope. Community and sharing is key. Share your story.

I try to see these "forced changes" as a good thing in disguise. It makes me re-evaluate my life, my choices and habits and by thinking outside the "normal", I have to do things and follow paths that I normally wouldn't have considered, which can bring all sorts of wonderful experiences and unforseen oppotunities. Remember, change is another word for transformation.

Wondrous Moments

Throughout my life, I have experienced certain, rare magical moments in time. They happen quite spontaneously, out of the blue and totally unexpected...which makes for utter delight when they occur.

We were on our way to meet friends and family for dinner and on our country drive there, we passed a mowed down cornfield. I saw some light grey blobs of color among the straw-colored stubble, but couldn't quite distinguish what they were. To my surprise they turned out to be a large flock of Sandhill Cranes! I practically yelled at my husband to stop the car and he pulled over to the side of the road. I could not believe my eyes, so used the binoculars that we keep in our vehicle for such viewing occurances. I counted 40 of them. I have never seen more than two at once and only rarely. It's migration time and they had stopped to eat corn and insects in this farmer's field. Wisconsin has harsh and long, cold winters, and these cranes migrate to the southern United States and into Mexico. (Seem like pretty intelligent birds don't you think? I was tempted to go along with them.) They are usually quite noisy, but all was quiet as we observed them. Watching them fly is a gift in itself. I have never seen such slow, graceful wing motions.... and these are huge birds. Their wing spans are six to seven feet across and they are just as elegant when they gently land on those long. slender legs. Truly, poetry in motion.

Because of our dinner plans, I happened to have my camera, which almost NEVER happens. We were rather far from them and the pictures I got, don't show them to advantage, not to mention I couldn't get all 40 in one picture. But, the experience will always be treasured by me. I am constantly awed by the beauty and grandeur of the natural world and collect these "Wondrous Moments"in my heart.