Time to get caught up on my gratitude challenge (again!).
Week 34 is to list things I like about fall.
Does it count if I just write “Everything!”?
Some people might even say it’s my favorite season.
So here are a few of the things I love about autumn:
• The tangy aroma in the air – a blend of wood smoke, ripened apples, drying leaves and the earth settling in before it’s long winter sleep.
• The orange glow of a harvest moon and the vibrant sunsets.
• Cozy sweaters and pretty scarves.
• That it’s cool enough to wear my boots once again without my feet frying inside like they do during the summer months!
• Crisp mornings followed by warm, sunny afternoons then wrapped up by cool evenings.
• Pumpkin – bread, pie, cookies, roll, cake and the special pumpkin spice tea CC found and brought home enough boxes to get me through the season! Also, I love pumpkin scented-candles, piles of pumpkins stacked around doors, and pumpkin decorations (have you seen velvet pumpkins? So awesome!).
• Apple and cinnamon scents filling my home as something yummy bakes in the oven (or even simmers on the stove top).
• The leaves – I love the changing colors of the leaves, hearing them crunch beneath my feet, seeing their glorious hues spread across the landscape.
• A deeper sense of gratitude. I think the fall season gives us a more profound awareness of all we have to be thankful for (far beyond just being thankful Thanksgiving Day). It is a time to count our blessings as we prepare for the winter months ahead.
• I’ll even add football to the list, because CC loves it so and it makes him happy, so that makes me happy.
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Week 35 Challenge is to talk about my neighborhood.
We live out in the country, but we do have some nice people around us. On one side of us, we have some new people moving in we haven’t yet met. On the other side, we have a young couple with an adorable baby and puppy who distract me to no end when I see them playing from my office window. The father of one of my dear friends lives just up the road. He has been such a blessing to us because anytime we need to be gone, he watches over the house and makes sure the heinous cat is fed and watered.
I like that we live in the country. Across the road from us, there’s an apple orchard which is currently full of ripening red apples.
Behind our house is a huge pasture with big open sky that makes a perfect place to take photos. Especially of the horses currently grazing back there. They are a little on the wild side. They ease up to the fence and let me think today will be the day they’ll stand still long enough I can pet them, then they race off across the pasture at the last second – just before my fingertips connect.
For the most part, we have a quiet neighborhood – one that is peaceful and it’s a wonderful place to call home.
