I can’t get enough of leaves! These, from my favorite maple tree. This year I have my own sapling from one of its seeds, so maybe one year these multi-colored wonders will fall in my own yard!
And always, the Big-leaf Maples are a wonder…esp. in a dark fir and cedar wood where they fall with such a splash of color…
Our trails this week took us to this very cool bridge…
…in the middle of a very green wood with its lush moss carpeting…
…and a HOST of mushrooms (and toadstools?) These tiny blue ones were the bluest I’ve ever seen (sorry for the blur; it was a dark woods)
… and they come in purple too!
Now here’s one happy host!
But these are the prize ones that keep people foraging and later feasting!
Chanterelles. Very tasty.
And this little fellow came along for the ride home with the chanterelles…
But now we’ve left the wet and wonderful mushroom coast, leaving behind the rainy gray for sunny blue skies and mountains dappled in gold with the first frosting of snow on their heights. Awesome. 
—LS
Month: October 2011
On a quiet fall day…
On a quiet fall day there sits a little lake, more like a big pond really, not much lauded, but sitting calmly reflecting to itself of lily pads and cloud trails…
We stopped as we were pedaling by to have a closer look and snap shots of the trees all decked out in rouge and fall’s latest fashions…
… a tangle of light and texture and color waiting to be celebrated.
And when the business of the day took me later to the library, the trees there were lollygagging in their brilliant costumes too, just waiting for pictures to be taken…
It’s not every parking lot that boasts of such a view…
I prayed years back that I’d never tire of our ‘commuting’ view….I haven’t. I pulled over to have a better look on my way home and what do you suppose I saw?…the glory of God, in plain view.
The heavens declare His glory. The firmament shows His Handiwork. Day after day utters speech and night after night, knowledge. There is no speech or language where this voice is not heard! (Ps.19:1-3)
Praise the Lord!
–LS
Homestyle days…
I’ve been home just a week tonight. I find it a wonder to be able to traverse in hours distances that would have been unthinkable to all the generations before us… Anyway, left Alaska with winter seeming imminent…
…and came home to take my weekly Saturday prayer hike in our lushly carpeted woodlands. It’s mushroom picking season and we gleaned some chanterelles in the process, and had a little lunch break on these rustic little ‘toadstools’ in the middle of nowhere…
Canadians jump the gun on Thanksgiving celebration so Monday we marked our pumpkin harvest with homemade pie and the classic accompaniments…Our garden also contributed the potatoes,tomatoes, sage and table decorations, oh! and the apples for the apple pie!… The best part was having all the kids (minus Micah of course) around the table for another year.
Cycling days are another commodity not to be taken for granted at this time of year. We had one of those glorious bright fall afternoons today and got to accompany our very own MP (Member of Parliament) on a promotional ride to catch the ferry—He’s “riding his riding” and was glad for the company. A local bike shop saved the day when John needed an emergency pedal replacement enroute!
And tonight just when I thought the possibility for picture-taking gone, God tinted the sunset to catch my eye and give me just one more…
“Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!” Ps.150:1
–LS
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” Ps. 27:4