Awe.......Autumn

This picture is very meaningful to our family. Katie took the picture last fall while my brother-in-law & sister-in-law were here to visit. Jack & Marion live in Iowa, and Marion fell in love with all of the Oklahoma fall foliage. Since retiring from teaching as an art teacher, she has developed her art skills via watercolor paintings. Much to my surprise, I received a water color painting for Christmas..........yes, Marion captured this scene in a special painting for me. This may just look like a dusty old road to you, but it has long been the road home for our family. Katie appropriately named the picture, "The Road Home". Rudy liked the comfort of the picture & painting of our road home and is now using the picture as his screen saver on his computer. I have attempted to capture the same picture with each new season.

I love the fall weather. Okay, I am rushing it a little bit, but I start to feel cozy and begin to crave homemade stew or taco soup. The days are getting shorter and the livestock seem to be enjoying the slightly cooler evenings. Fin & Feather will hold their annual arts and crafts show soon, and the fall fairs with livestock shows will begin. These events and changing of the trees and weather stir up feelings within me, filled with warm memories from my younger days here on the farm with our kids. Ahhh...........I love it! Autumn is Awesome!

Something to Ponder!

I have not posted in a while, but I received this e-mail today and I thought it was worth sharing. I don't know the origin of the e-mail or the writer. This is thought provoking and touched me. Don't we all need an attitude adjustment sometimes. This will make you stop and think .

A 92-year-old, large, relaxed and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair combed and face shaved properly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled genuinely when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. "I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away.... just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing. " Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. "Free your heart from hatred" 2. "Free your mind from worries" 3. "Live simply" 4. "Give more" 5. "Expect less".