Sunday Balance

"Next to love, balance is the most important thing."

~John Wooden

Right now it's just me

All alone in this cute, snug house

The only sounds are the rain

The soft crinkle of turning newspaper pages

The slurp of a puppy licking her paw

And the spin cycle of the washing machine

Later the house will be busy

All full of its occupants

The sounds will be of cheering

The hubband will clap and shout

The puppy shall yelp with glee

And the football game will come to life

Balance. So good. So necessary.

Keeping Promises

Remember, way back in January, when I vowed to "create?"

Well, lookie what I came up with... a new blog header.

I just took these photos today and was dying to put them to good use.

A little photo walk + A dash of Photoshop = Good Times

I pretty much love it.

Ta-Da!

"Come Roger and Nell,

Some Simpkin and Bell,

East lad with his lass hither come;

With singing and dancin,

And pleasure advancing,

To celebrate Harvest Home."

~An Old English Harvest Song

Off in the distance the sound of drums and trumpets sound. Tonight is Homecoming, a big event for such a small town.

...There's something about Homecoming and football games and marching bands that make me want to douse myself in Victoria's Secret Amber Romance perfume and slip on my old worn pair of Simple clogs....

It's also a big event for Munchkin Mania, who has been watching and barking at every teeny-bopper, clad in their football gear, who walked past the house. I know for a fact that she'd love to sneak down to the field. She mentioned something about working as a sanitation engineer, picking up trash and discarded food morsels. I must wonder if her intentions are pure.

It's been a productive week.

There was quite a bit to do, and thankfully, quite a bit got done.

Today, unlike most days, I came home from work and got down to business.

I'm proud to report that the sheets are currently spinning away in the washing machine, fresh towels hang in the bathrooms, the new mums just received a refreshing afternoon beverage, and I'm blogging away. I won't even go on about all the papers I've checked and the lesson plans I've so carefully written.

Thankfully, I even managed to make some significant progress on the blanket I'm knitting little Ava for her birthday.

But, most importantly, I managed to sneak in an hour (right before "Meet the Teacher" night..ahem) to plant my mums and decorate the outside of 403 for autumn.

Honestly, there's no need to hold your applause (grin).

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is welded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~George Eliot

I couldn't be more pleased.

Autumn, you see, is finally here.

Plus, I'll never foret my dad impressing my brother and I by balancing an egg on its end. I thought that was pretty amazing, because, quite frankly, it was.

Don't go giving me any of that jibber-jabber about equinoxes. It was magic. Period.

O Happy Day!

"Now I belong to you
From this day until forever
Just love me tenderly
And I'll give to you every part of me..."
~Lover's Concerto by The Toys

One couldn't have ordered a more beautiful day. Sunny afternoons, cloudless skies and pleasant temperatures combined to create the most perfect scene for a wedding.

Out on a secluded little island, under the umbrella of shade from a charming gazebo, Mike and Alicia exchanged marriage vows and entered into marital bliss.

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Webb...such a lovely couple.

May your new life together be filled with all the wonderful blessings you so richly deserve. Cheers!

Comfort and Joy

"For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love of friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Falling, crunchy leaves are one of the simple joys that I look forward to each September.

Combine a few leaves, a couple brightly colored pumpkins, a blue sky with a smattering of puffy clouds and the scent of a burning bonfire, and I'm in pure comfort mode.

Well, alright, I'll confess. A few candles really up the ante. I'm a sucker for that warm, flickering glow.

Today I treated myself to a little fall treat. I visited my favorite online used book store and ordered this little delight. I'm already looking forward to see it peeking out of my mailbox.

Tea and books and falling, crunchy leaves and knitting and candles and all things cozy, delicately intertwine to fill me with an abundance of comfort and joy.

What about you? What are your little happy makers?

You know it's gonna be good...

"Earth is crammed with Heaven"

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

You know it's gonna be a good day when the front door hangs open and rainbows dance on the living room floor. It just doesn't get much better.

Is it fair to love today? Well, I do. It's perfect. Perfect temperature, perfect sunshine factor, and perfectly productive.

Today exists as one of those days that just inspires me to accomplish things. Laundry- check. Ironing- check. Vacuuming- check. Organizing- check. Dusting- check. Church- check. Sunday school- check. Blog update- check.

I also found time to creep along route 281 and take a few photos of autumn's welcome-back party. The more I look over and reflect upon my photographic journey, the more I realize that I have hundreds of shots of these magical looking dandelions. Perhaps I'll have to create some type of series. Great-- another "thing" to add to my already overflowing list (grin).

Oh, but the lovely blue sky... Today the color acts as my Prozac, putting me in the most wonderful of moods.

And, like icing on a cake, these lovelies were spotted in the backyard. I can almost hear the crunching and rustling...

I'll never grow old.

"Everyone is the age of their heart."

~Guatemalan Proverb

You'd never know I'm growing old.

The recent spit-ball fight between my hubband and I serves as one minor example. I kid you not, it really happened.

There we sat, the two of us, at a local restaurant. We're relatively mature people, but I have my issues. For example, every time we go out to a fine dining establishment I can't help but to gently rip off the end of my straw paper and blow the wrapper in his unsuspecting face. It honestly provides me with sincere pleasure and happiness. I laugh and laugh and he feigns misery. We've gone on like this for years now and I have no intention of ceasing this completely ludicrous behavior.

Apparently, my aim has greatly improved. On Sunday night I managed to hit dear Chad-o square in the nose only to have the straw paper tumble into his refreshing glass of chilled lemon water.

Ever the mature chap, he proceeded to roll the wrapper into a little ball and fling it at me.

Splat! I took a direct hit to the right cheek.

Not to be outdone, I retaliated with a swift toss of the soggy ball.

Shlurp! Chad-o found himself pelted somewhere on his cutie face.

At that point, both of us were laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe and had tears streaming down our faces. For better or worse, we had drawn a small audience. People were pointing. Others were laughing at us.

Oh dear, and to think that the very next day I celebrated my birthday and added another year to my chronological age. Scary.

*Mucho thanks to my mama for the delicious and creative birthday cake. She always makes me feel so special!