The truth of God's love, the Encouragement we all need and occasional humor
Author: anitashope
Retired Quality Manager but still have the "Why" curiosity drive so I am turning my love for Christ and nature into my new why chase and am trying to discover more of His word as it relates to His love for His creation.
Well, it’s not really a bat cave but this section of road, my daughter and I call the Bat Cave because it reminds us of the road to the Bat Cave in the Batman movies. And now that the leaves are just starting to change color, it’s beauty is really beginning to shine. Cee reminds us that leaves are acceptable for Flower of the Day as well.
This road cuts through the edge of Black Hawk Forest and you can see the entrance to where the trees fully overlap the road which we call the Bat cave.
When the colors get full and it is a pretty day. I will shoot out further pictures. For now enjoy the beauty of fall as it surrounds your area.
And remember to be kind as the season of plants prepares for winter naps, and we as people, prepare for the holidays or in my case, more football games.
If we watch closely, nature will speak to us, proving that indeed we are all one. Each day is a gift with beauty to see, even when chaos is swirling around us. Stop for 2 seconds and see the beauty that could be around you.
My prayer goes out to all war torn countries, especially Israel. May you see a glimmer of hope of God’s blessed peace.
Cee’s Flower of the Day is always inspiring regardless of the season. I still have flowers that refuse to give up, even though the weather has cooled way down. So, I am honoring them today with all their many faces.
This is a flower planted by the birds in my area. I started to mow it down but decided to wait and see what it would be…and it’s quite lovely. I think it is in the Coreopsis family of flowers. The plant is in various levels of blooming, so I shall share the different faces of this plant.
While the fall flowers are still trying to smile at us, it’s a reminder for us to smile as well. Smiling is a great and easy way to share kindness.
Terri reminds us that all of us feel and use textures – in photography, in writing, in our clothes, on the walls of our homes…I could go forever but instead, I will share a few of my photographs. Let’s start with plants. While the Elephant Ear is a huge leaf plant, the close-up view of the leaf shows amazing texture.
Those who may not be familiar with a Southern magnolia life cycle may not know what this is. This was the center of the bloom, that now the holds of the next generation of trees with its bright red seed nestled inside a hard cone that is amazingly covered with a fine velvet olive green cushion on the outside. The picture also shows the textures of color and feel of the patio floor.
The internal texture of a tree reflects its beauty and its age through its many rings, usually only seen when the tree must be taken down.
One last plant picture shows the visual texture created by the swirling colors of a flower that is actually dying. Its original color is a bright rich red.
In switching to home, we have my kitchen floor which is a swirl of dark green, black, with streaks of white that hides well the fact that it needs mopping.
The glass door to the back of the house has several textures to it and when the sun is just right for about 10 minutes at certain times of the year, we have rainbows reflecting on the carpet from the beveled glass.
Then there is the texture of our families, not only in what we visually see but in the way we act and care for one another.
The children sitting on the floor are now grown with children of their own. The textures of our lives let others know how smooth or rough we are or how kind or unkind we have been. Above all else, we must always strive to be kind, even in an unkind situation. You might be amazed at the walls that can be broken by that kindness.
Cee reminds us with her Flower of the Day challenge that flowers are indeed worth having their own challenge as they challenge each day with their beauty and grace.
While I have shared my sunflowers several times, the early morning sun shining through the trees and this particular sunflower “tree”, it seemed that it needed to be shared again.
It really is a single stalk and it is now in full bloom where some of the older blooms are dying and going to seed, but still, it remains eye-catching. I have neighbors who come by on their walks to stand there for a few moments to look at it.
Nature is amazing even in bad weather but this morning is beautiful with the first feeling of this year’s cool autumn air. It will get warm again but at least this is a start. In all that you do, remember to always be kind. It can warm a much-needed heart on a cool autumn day.
Portulaca grandiflora, are more commonly known to those of us who can’t pronounce scientific names as Moss Roses. They are marvelous small succulent plants with flowers of many colors within the same grouping.
But this mixture of beauty reminds me of the beauty people can be if they try. We live together in clusters called cities, we all look different, we wear different colors, are different heights, and we have different ways to share our beauty of life.
Maybe you are a rich red beauty looking like a miniature rose…
Or maybe you are the soft gentle soul of light yellow rose…
Which is vastly different than the bright yellow which reflects the brightness of the sunshine.
Or maybe you are the neutral power of strength for all colors having no color at all.
My favorite of these lovely flowers is the mauvy pinkish-red which to me shares the kindness that we should all share with all people regardless of the brightness of the colors we wear.
As flowers gracefully move into the fall season, let us not forget the beauty that they have shared with us all summer. This is how they shared their love and kindness with us. We should take a cue from them and always remember to be kind to others in our “cluster of flowers”, especially to those who may need a little extra kindness.
We know there are many professions out there that require education and training that many of us rely on, like doctors, lawyers, or professors. But there are many amazing jobs that require training and a skill set that many of us don’t have. Jobs that require you to stand on a platform hundreds of feet in the air to wash a window. This past week while I was in Georgia, I watched the tree trimming guys take down an 80’+ tall pine tree. A guy had spikes on his shoes as he climbed up the tall tree, then he had a belt around his waist to secure him to the tree.
I didn’t get the very top shots of him when he started but he dropped down about 10′ below each time before he cut.
After the tree was down, they cleaned up all the shavings, and then the crane truck came in to pick up the logs.
This shot gives you a good idea of how big this tree was. The piece he was trying to roll toward the crane had easily been 40′ up in the air. It was a big pine. It will make some good lumber.
I asked him if he knew how much each piece weighed and he said between 400 and 500 pounds. Knowing this information, it makes more sense of the damage these big trees make if they fall on your house. From inside the house, we could feel the pounding vibration each section made as it fell to the earth.
We need to remember to never look down on one person’s profession as inferior …could you do this? I couldn’t. I am grateful for all the tree trimmers, the window washers, the janitors, and all the professionals who clean up after the rest of us, and of course, the professions that take care of us like firefighters and police. They all deserve the same respect as those who keep our bodies alive, our teeth clean, and our children educated.
So treat each other with respect and kindness and let’s quit judging certain professions as more important than others. Maybe if we can do that, then kindness will be the norm instead of the surprise. There is no job that is not important…if it is not important then it is not needed.
While I was in Georgia, I took pictures of flowers still blooming in my brother’s year. He has a type of Azalea that blooms twice a year. So I was able to get pictures of the fall blooms.
They were so lovely but I also took pictures of other things blooming in his yard, mostly tiny blooms but in my book a flower is a flower is a flower. 😊
And of course, Roses are always beautiful to see.
Remember flowers bloom to share their beauty and kindness with us, so we should share our beauty and kindness with others. That was everybody gets to smile.
Each person has their own perspective on how life moves through our lives but when we are faced with a dramatic shift in the perspective, we review life from yet a different perspective.
As many of you know, my brother has ALS, a most debilitating disease that steals your life one muscle at a time. So I drove again last week(12 plus hours one way) to see him since I know there is not a long time left. While I was there, there was a tree that had died that was being taken down. The analogy of that act I thought was ironic. Let me explain my weird thoughts.
The state of Georgia is home to various types of pine trees and some of these guys get huge. My brother lives in an older section of Atlanta with a beautiful home and grounds. His house was probably built in the 30s, so the trees are probably well over 100 years in age. The cluster of pine trees that held the dead tree were each well over 80 feet tall with a diameter of 4+ feet. The particular tree had disease which caused rot of that over time slowly killed it completely.
I felt the irony of the death of this tree, diseased from the inside, with my brother’s life. At one time they both stood strong sharing their life with the world.
We must never take any part of our lives for granted for we don’t know what disease, accident, or twist of life may change our perspective in how we view it.
And regardless of how we view life, we can ALWAYS…ALWAYS share kindness to help those who are in great need of that extra smile or kind word, maybe even a hug. Sometimes when we share kindness with others, a feeling of peace comes to us allowing us to reflect on the value and perspective of being kind.
We are still in the last throws of summer so we are not seeing much color change yet. But I love the colors of Fall, so I am sharing some colors from last year. My neighborhood has a lot of yellow.
But the reds, ah, they are my favorite. They usually start first and we are just beginning to see a tiny bit of change. Here is a beauty from last year.
Each season has its life purpose and its remarkable beauty. They remind us of our own seasons of life and how we should embrace each season with its unique beauty, sharing that beauty with others…and to always be kind.
