I'm loving the muted colors of fall

I don't like it getting dark so early on these late autumn days, but there's something very beautiful about the soft greys and browns of a bare Kentucky landscape.

I like this photo that I took today.

First snow of the season

 It's a bit early for snow here, but we had a pretty dusting this morning.  I stopped and took these two photos on the way to town. The hills look like a winter wonderland, but the roads were clear, so the kids still had to go to school, much to the disappointment of some of them.

Evoking "home"

I'm probably nuts, but I'm gonna give it another shot.  I either attempted or completed the National Blog Posting Month challenge the past two years, and I have the itch to try it again.

Never mind that I've already spent approximately 50 hours staring at a computer screen this week.  Never mind that my mind is numb after production day is done at the paper on Tuesdays.

One of the daily prompts said to post a picture that evokes home for you.

That's pretty easy.  It would have to be food--or the hills.  Maybe I'll do one of both, hills and food.

Homegrown home-prepared food definitely evokes home.

And if that doesn't do it, then the sight of these hills in front of the house will.

Note the sugar snap peas growing in the foreground. Maybe, just maybe, they will yield before they freeze.

Simply Sunday

Chicken man

The leaves hung on longer than usual this year, but the wind and rain stripped many of them away the last day or two.

Still, there are enough bright ones left to make the hills beautiful.

I drove to a place called Crowe Hollow today, where I was told that the last man hung in Estill County on the court house square once lived there.

My plan was to take a few pictures of an Old Time Arts and Crafts Gathering for the paper, and while I was driving between the railroad tracks and the river to get there, I thought how the valley looked like a giant stained-glass bowl with the patch-work hills surrounding me.  

The river bottoms roll on and on along that stretch of two-lane road, filled with soybeans and corn ready to be harvested.

I wish I could have taken pictures between the tracks and the river, but the road is narrow through there and to do so could have been hazardous to my health.

Instead, I got a picture of a sunlit tree.

And here's Chicken Man, with one of his pet Bantams perched on his head.  

Chicken Man said the trick to getting his chickens to obey is to treat them with dried mealworms.  

First trick or treat for this dude!

Cowboy Clay didn't want to wear his cowboy hat...or his cowboy boots...or carry his six-shooter, but he was still stinkin' cute when we took him out trick-or-treating tonight.

I'll have to admit it was a better night for it than last night would have been, with the wind batting the leaves around and howling through the hills...Mmmaybe.

Anyway, we had a good time checkin' out all the other little kiddies in their costumes and just walking around town in the cool fresh air.

First raw days of fall are great for being cozy--and grateful!

I've had a pretty busy day considering it's my day off.

Yes, Wednesdays have become my new weekend since I began this news editor gig at the Citizen Voice and Times.

You see, Mondays and Tuesdays are long days as I finish several news stories and we prepare the paper for sending to the press.  Because these days are so long, the office is closed on Wednesdays.  I'm learning to allow my brain to relax on this day of the week, at least.

One of my favorite ways to restore my mind, body and soul is to spend time in the kitchen--and with Clayton Cash, WHO WILL BE TWO TOMORROW!

Thinking back to a much warmer fall day just before the day Clay was born, we had no idea what a ride his arrival was about to launch us on.

A rollercoaster ride it's been, full of highs and lows and twists and turns. But you know what?  The little booger has been worth every second of pulse-pounding fear and mind-numbing worry.

His irrepressible personality has brought joy and love and delight to so many people.

So, while Hannah and I messed and gommed in the kitchen all day, making pepper jelly and drying apples and cooking a big homegrown supper, I enjoyed the heck out of singing him silly songs while we "worked" and taking plenty of play breaks to read him stories and such.

Clay's rebounding quickly now from that last surgery and the respiratory infection.  He seems to feel good and is obviously happy--and he is no longer throwing up!

These pictures are from his birthday party last Sunday.  

 Yay!  New books!

 A cake by Aunt Pam...

And a big boy who's growing up so fast.

Thank you, thank you, Lord, for every good and perfect gift.