Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Giving Thanks

I'm feeling a lot of gratitude these days - for the ability and the means to travel and learn, for the technology to share our experiences with friends and family, and for those friends and family who share our blessings and are blessings to us. That includes all of you, my virtual friends.  

We were fortunate to have returned in time to see some lingering autumn beauty in our yard when we got back home.  I took these photos last week.










We got the patio cleaned up after all of the cedar debris stopped dropping, and I cleaned out a couple of pots and added some interest for the winter. 
I bought the golden euonymous shrub and the pansy.  The rest came from our own nursery. 
That bush that looks like acuba is really just branches stuck in a container of water in a pot.  It can be swapped out as needed.
Tom's little bonsai grove was looking good.
There is more subtle color in the entry garden.
Today some of this color still lingers.  Maybe this weekend it will finally be time for a final leaf raking on the lawn.  

Our daughter and grand kids are celebrating Thanksgiving with their Colorado family.  Tom and I and Jake will be driving south to my sister's house to join all of her kids and grand kids, as well as my other sister and her husband.  We are so thankful for family to share this day with.

Today I baked pies to take: berry, pecan/hazelnut, and two traditional pumpkins pies, 
 while Tom worked outside in the balmy, dry 60° day (we are between rain storms) to get a start on the outdoor Christmas lights. 
 It looks like we will need to replace a string of lights on the bottom of the boxwood tree on the left.  There's always some reason to have to go back to the hardware store. 
I think we're breaking a rule by having our lights up and on before Thanksgiving, but with so much darkness these days, we welcome their brightness, and so we're doing it anyway!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  Oh, and Go Seahawks!


14 comments:

  1. Your yard as usual looks beautiful. Much warmer in your neck of the woods than up this way.
    Happy Thanksgiving to you and Tom.
    MB

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  2. Happy Thanks giving and life is indeed beautiful :)

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  3. We're entering into the Season of Light. Love it!

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  4. Your yard certainly looks different from ours this morning. We have a foot of fresh snow. It's beautiful, though, and I always do love a fresh blanket of snow! Your pies look scrumptious. Have a safe trip to your family's today and enjoy the feast. We'll be traveling to Cape Elizabeth, just 45 minutes from here, to a friend's home. Hope she has electricity! We lost our power for only two hours last night, but there are outages throughout the state.

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  5. I thought I was going to outgrow my need for decorating with lights, but the darker it gets, the more I appreciate their twinkling.
    You fall is gorgeous. We are having a white Thanksgiving.

    Happy Thanksgiving Day to you both!

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  6. Beautiful fall colors, Linda. And we sure do have plenty to feel grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Tom! Those are beautiful pies, BTW. :-)

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  7. I'm baking a pumpkin pie this morning to take to the neighbor's for dinner. Your colors are lovely, looking really dry here in Texas. We had that quick freeze a few weeks ago, and it has made the trees really beautiful, moreso than usual.

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  8. It is good to see your yard again. The colors are so pretty. I love your Christmas lights! We need to get them up earlier because our time to enjoy them goes by so fast!

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  9. lovely color in your yard...on to the holidays

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  10. Happy Thanksgiving! Those pies look lovely.

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  11. Those pies look yummy! We saw Christmas lights all over last night as we returned from up north....those are the first we have seen. Cloudy days are normal November weather...it is snowing now:)

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  12. Your pies look delicious and your lights are just right for this dark time of the year. (You're such crazy rule breakers and I love it!) This virtual friend is also very thankful for you and your blog, both of which are an inspiration to me! So these Seahawks you mention; are they some sort of a singing group or species of bird and why do you want them to go away? ;)

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  13. Beautiful. Family no longer drives down for Christmas. We end up going there and since we live deep in the woods off the highway there is little need to risk life and limb and decorate!

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