giving thanks...

It's not how much we have...

but how much we enjoy...

that makes happiness.

Charles Spurgeon

All that we behold is full of blessings.

 ~William Wordsworth

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

~Massieu

Gratitude makes sense of our past...

brings peace for today...

and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~ Melody Beattie

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

-~Thornton Wilder

Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have, than what you don’t. 
~Unknown

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; 

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

~Marcel Proust

As we express our gratitude, 

we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,

 but to live by them.  

~John F Kennedy

O Lord that lends me life, 

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! 

~William Shakespeare

Reflect upon your present blessings, 

of which every man has plenty; 

not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some. 

~Charles Dickens

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. 

 ~William Blake

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel,

 to set in the hearts of honest men; 

but be careful that you do not take the day, 

and leave out the gratitude. 

~E.P. Powell

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,

and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him;

bless His name.

Psalm 100:4

Whether or not you are gathering around the Thanksgiving table this weekend...

may your hearts be filled with gratitude...

for all that you have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

who has seen the wind?

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

by Christina Rossetti 1830 ~ 1894

I thought of that poem this week...

as the winds blew through the valley.

It is one I remember from those long ago school days.

The rain arrived last weekend...

and within a few days the parched fields and brown lawns...

were green once again.

A few storms rolled through...

bringing winds and rain...

and reminding us to be prepared for power outages.

And between the storms...

we had some lovely sunny breaks.

Long enough to play tennis...

and spend a little time getting the yard ready for winter.

The patio furniture has all been packed away.

The planters are looking rather bare...

but the roses are still putting on a show.

It is autumn...

but winter is coming!

Have a wonderful weekend...

here comes the rain...

After the longest dry spell recorded in our area...

the rain is coming.

Today...

if the weatherman is right.

Though we need the rain desperately...

 I must say we have enjoyed the sunshine...

and all things outdoors...

this summer.

On this Friday...

I will leave you a few photographic memories from this past week.

The morning fog...

and an evening walk along the river.

 

Once the fog lifted...

clouds of dust replaced it as the tractors made their way through the fields.

Clouds of dust in October...most unusual!

The winter wheat is seeded...

and waiting for a little moisture to germinate.

Come spring...

it will be ready to harvest.

We sat on the patio and ate outdoors.

And we sat on our friends' patio and enjoyed nachos together one night.

Nachos never look quite that special at my place!

And most every evening...

we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

I treasure the memories.

The rain is coming!

Have a wonderful weekend...

a thanksgiving weekend to remember...

The menu is pretty much the same from year to year.

The table looked much as it did last year...

down to the crabapple nametags.

But a few things were different this year.

The dinner rolls had 'I'm thankful for...' slips inside.

That was new!

My daughter saw the idea on pinterest and decided we should do that.

She polled everyone in the family...

to see what one thing they were especially thankful for this year...

and sent me the list.

I printed them off...

strips of paper like those found in Chinese fortune cookies.

They got rolled up in the crescent rolls...

baked as usual...

and one dinner roll was placed at each place setting.

We found they were a little hard to unroll.

 I learned after the fact that I should have slathered on an extra layer of butter before laying down the strips.

Next year!

We each read aloud what was on the paper at our plate...

and then guessed whose quote it could have been.

It was a good exercise for all of us!

Also different than usual...

the sizzling temperatures.

Since when is it hot at Thanksgiving?

As soon as the meal was done...

we decided to head to a nearby park for a bit with the whole gang.

 

Micah could have played in those crunchy leaves for hours!

The kids had a hoot!

The big kids too.

Oh...and we managed to wrangle baby Lucy into a photograph.

She wasn't any too happy about it...

and was trying to make her big escape.

But she is in the picture!

This was more what she had in mind!

We actually looked for shade...

and eventually returned home so the wee ones could nap...

and the big ones could have some ice-cream and a cold drink.

Thanksgiving?

A warm one that we will not forget soon.

It was a good day.

fall...

 The transition from summer to winter.  We call it fall.

It's a beautiful time of the year...especially this year...it seems.  God takes His paintbrush and recolours everything.

The nearby Cheam Wetlands Park is a lovely place to walk on a fall evening...

...as the sun is setting.  There isn't much evening left these days...as the sun slips away a little earlier every day.


On Sunday we visited Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park near Hope...a 35 minute drive from 'my front porch'.

We walked along a trail that was once part of the Kettle Valley Railroad... and is now part of the Trans Canada Trail system, and also a provincial park.  It meanders along the Coquihalla River and leads to the famous tunnels...that bring many tourists to the area every summer.

We were here six months ago...and trudged through snow at that time.  It looks quite different in fall!

Since we have had next-to-no rain on the west coast for the past two months, the river was at it's lowest level.

The salmon were lined up in the pools...waiting for the water to rise so they could carry on upstream. 
 

It was the perfect place to spend the last Sunday afternoon in September! 

No need to build an inukshuk this time...since someone else had already thought of that.  We enjoyed a picnic supper in the park...likely our last picnic of the season.

As we left...we drove by Kawkawa Lake...looking quite lovely bathed in the late afternoon sun.

Fall.  I like it!

Have a wonderful day!

 

harvesting corn in the valley...

The sun shines every day.

We could get used to this kind of weather!

 We are breaking all kinds of long-standing weather records over here...

with little precipitation in the past two months.

The morning fog that hangs over the valley obscures the mountains...

and tells me that it really is fall!

Tomorrow...officially.

The corn fields standing tall  in our neighbourhood will soon be ready for harvest.

We have one field that is up against the mountain...

high and dry...

 ...that got cut yesterday.

We have never before had corn this ripe!

 

I got a call mid-afternoon to come to the field and bring my camera...ASAP.

A mama bear and two cubs were frolicking in the corn...

and it appeared they had been feasting there for some time.

I followed several school buses down the country roads...

and took my sweet time in getting to the field.

I arrived at the very moment that mama bear decided to take her babies 

and flee to the safety of higher ground.

 

I have a beautiful picture of the scene...

in my mind.

By the time I had my camera strap disentangled from my seat belt...

they had scampered through the bushes and out of  sight.

I was planning to cook a pot of soup one of these days...

always thinking that tomorrow might be cooler.

After seeing the corn chowder featured over at Judy's blog earlier this week...

I decided we would have soup yesterday whatever the weather.

I changed up Rachel Ray's original recipe...

using smoked farmer sausage, fresh potatoes, onions, zucchini and corn (of course)...

herbs and spices and a creamy broth.

It tasted just fine...

out one the patio as the sun was setting over the corn fields.

Have a wonderful weekend!