Karma

Karma, What goes around, comes around. I love Karma...usually. There was a sweet story in the news a couple of weeks ago that gave that great feeling of Karma.

A Saint Bernard was found abandoned, starving, and dehydrated. The pet rescue center that received the dog was unfortunately not a No-Kill center. The day before the dog was scheduled to be put down a couple connected to the center took the dog home to keep for a few days in the hopes they would find a new home for him. As they were returning to their home, the dog pushed through the door and charged ahead of them, barking and growling. He chased an intruder out the back door! The couple decided THEY were his new owners! Karma.

I recently had my own bout with Karma. Men are not often known for their finesse. My husband will never be accused of handling things delicately. It is a common practice of his to grind his coffee beans and then pour them into the coffee maker. As easy as this task may seem he has yet to succeed without leaving coffee grinds sprinkled all over the counter, stove and into the burner pans.

The other day he was busy getting his coffee ready when he knocked the coffee grinder spilling grounds all over the counter and floor. I gave him my usual exasperated look as I checked the floor to make sure it was all cleaned up. Then I proceeded to fix dinner.

Half an hour later I took a dish of rice out of the oven. As I set it on the stove the hot mat slipped, the rice bowl tipped and I had 2 cups of rice splattered across the stove top and through every burner pan. I even had to scrub it out between the coils on the burners.

Karma. Sometimes it works for you. Sometimes...not so much.

#1 Wild and Woolly

Fall is winding down. As I headed out today, I noticed the last of the pear trees, the final hold out around here, have shed almost all of their leaves. The pear tree has become my favorite since we moved here. Covered in white blossoms it is the one of the most showy trees in spring. In fall it holds on to its green leaves until the end, finally turning a bright burnished gold before letting them go.

This isn't a pear tree, but it has also become one of my favorites. I watch it outside my window for its signs. It is the first to get green in the spring, and the last to change in the fall. Often the gold leaves turn red, but this year they stayed gold. I took this picture about 5 days ago. Today the leaves are gone.
The chrysanthemums are hanging on, but most of the other flowers have withered in the first frost. The fields are wild and woolly. They aren't what one would normally describe as pretty, but to me they are.

It took me awhile to notice it, but last year I really did. The fields had grown up. The grasses had dried. The wildflowers had lost their colors and now wore hats of feathery white seed pods. The bloom of youth was gone. They had aged.

Just as a photographer can take a picture of an aged and wrinkled old person and you see the beauty within, the life that was lived, so the fields in late fall look beautiful to me. It does mean the fall season is nearing an end, but Thanksgiving is at hand! We'll be putting up Christmas decorations next weekend. It's time for change. Time to embrace the next season. And Seasons are one of the blessings of living north of the temperate zone.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

#2 Crunch, Crunch, Skuffle

It's been awhile since I've posted. As usual life has gotten away from me, but I'm ready to catch back up to it!

Today feels more like winter, but the good news is that fall isn't over yet. The air was more cold than crisp as Maggie and I took our walk but it got me to thinking of other walks on fall days.

As a child I remember skuffling through the leaves on my way to school in the Fall or jumping into freshly raked piles. When we moved to Florida there was a part of me that missed that. Florida trees don't lose as many leaves in the fall. There were a few times when walking in the woods brought back that memory but it is more dramatic here. I think it is because so many leaves have come down at once. The bigger the leaf the better the shuffle!

When my father was in the hospital one year, my sisters and I gathered at the hospital. It was early November and we went out for a walk. The sidewalk was buried under layers of dry and bright yellow poplar and maple leaves. The sound of the crunch, and the smell from the sun warming the leaves was old and familiar and comforting.

Our pear tree is holding on to its last few leaves, but the yard is polka-dotted with the rest. The leaf fall is almost over. The shuffle, skuffle, crunch will last for a short time, but that too will pass. I'll enjoy it while I have it!

# 3 Crisp Air

Don't you love waking up in the morning to that crisp clear air? Or looking up at night to see thousands of stars glittering in the dark? I have yet to meet someone who doesn't appreciate a crisp, cool Fall day. Even those summer fanatics can't help but succomb when the mugginess clears. The forecast of a "Cold Front" might chill the heart of a summer lover, but when the morning dawns cloudless and clear even they (and I) find their step is lighter and quicker.

I am one of those people. I am a walker and so is Maggie. Maggie has gotten too old for those hot summer walks, but I am still up to the challenge. Maggie waits at home while I go out each morning and she greets me when I walk back in dripping with sweat, face mottled from the heat. Summer heat has been gone for awhile now, but we both are enjoying the cooler days. Her step is perkier and at the end of our walk my body is warm, but the glow on my face isn't threatening heat exhaustion.
Not everyday is crisp. Later this week itwill be cold and chilly. But right now we are having some gorgeous days and I want to be sure to enjoy them! Fall has more crisp, clear days than any other season and it is one of the things I really love about Fall.