Fall Festivals

Oh how I love the fall festivals here... One of my very favorites of the year is Johnny Appleseed. You can read more about it here. In the meantime, why not check out the video of my son and his family among all the other festival goers.

What a blast!

Crusade 12 - Crush

I just found out about this yesterday and have thought of little since. I have several 'crushes', but for the sake of time (and what little is left of my sanity) I've narrowed it down to one.



I had two running neck and neck, but after careful consideration (and the fact that I could gather these photos quickly), Volunteer Travel came in second to my number one ...CRUSH on Redwood Trees.



As a young girl - it was my favorite vacation with my parents, driving up the coast of California and camping in the redwood forests.



I have been back many times to various places within the Redwoods, from the Giant Sequoia's further inland to the breathtaking Coastal Redwoods along the Northern California coast.

One of my favorite drives is up/down the Redwood Highway.



Traveling to/through the Redwoods for me is truly a spiritual experience.


Here is a poem written about the Redwoods by Joseph B. Strauss, Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge...

"The Redwoods"

Here, sown by the Creator's hand,
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.

The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now - their splendor gone;
But these proud monarchs still live on.

So shall they live, when ends our day,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennials' span.

This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal;

To be like these, straight, true and fine,
To make our world, like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, oh traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.”

Last days of summer

I snapped this photo a couple of weeks ago - since then, this fuchsia has started to lose its blooms. The weather is changing, well it was until today when it hit 90 degrees (a record breaking weather day). The feeling of fall is still in the air regardless of what it says on the thermometer. I look forward to the change of colors, I do not look forward to leaf clean up. It is a big job!

After moving here I began to see leaves in a whole new way. There are so many things that did not occur to me when moving from California to Indiana. Sure, I thought about the big things, snow/ice and how to drive in it, the potential of tornadoes and it seems many other weather related things. I admit - it never dawned on me that there might be a specific way to handle leaf pick-up/disposal. I suppose I should have done some research although I am not sure how I would have even known to think of it in the first place.

It dawned on me during my first autumn here that things were a little different. As the leaves began to fall, I noticed that most folks were fairly diligent in raking them up and pushing them to the curb. I assumed the garbage man must pick them up weekly with the rest of the garbage. Not so - there are crews that pick up the leaves in sections of the city during a window of time as assigned by section.

While living in California - I do not ever remember raking up so many leaves that the disposal of them was a conversation, let alone an issue. These are some of the little things that I find fascinating in the differences between the west coast and Indiana.

Here is a photo of the leaves from our yard during the first fall we lived in our house in 2005. A wall of leaves 4 feet high that ran the width of the property - and that was only the first pile of the season - there were several more to come and we had the sore muscles to prove it.

Hawks and other backyard animals

We have a bird feeder in the back yard by a big pine tree . I love watching the birds come in to feed. I put squirrel food out as well at the base of the bird feeder. Squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies and other animals feed there too. That is until recently... We have had some hawks that roam the neighborhood and picking off small animals. I had not seen them in the prior 2 years that I have lived here - not so visible anyway.

I think they are Coopers Hawks, but am not certain - I'm not skilled in the identification of birds, but understand they are somewhat common in this area. Maybe they are babies learning to hunt? They are fascinating to watch, but not so much when their lunch is the squirrel or bird you've been feeding.

Here's a photo I snapped of one of the hawks standing guard at the bird feeder, it's cloudy because it was taken from my dining room through the window. This was after it ran off a squirrel - without blood shed, thankfully!


Am I leading these little animals to slaughter because I put food out? I certainly hope not, but will tell you that I have cut back on the food supply.

I am happy to report that I have not seen any hawks in the last few days, and have seen lots of squirrels and birds again at the feeder.

Summer storm

We had a nice summer storm yesterday afternoon. It was balmy all day, the thunder started up in the afternoon, followed by a nice light show and lots of rain. We ended up with thunderstorm warnings, flood warnings and a tornado watch before it was over with. I captured bits and pieces of it on my digital camera between 5:30 and 6:00 pm and thought I'd share it here.

Here is the thunder off in the distance working up to a big rainstorm.


Here is some footage of the rain that came shortly after the thunder began.


I love the storms, the sounds, the smell - all of it. Weather fascinates me to no end. I wonder sometimes what it would have been like growing up with storms and 'weather'.

The weather...

A sunflower in my garden last summer

The weather is a hot topic in this part of the country. Being from California, I was not used to it when I first moved here. So much depends on it - and it can change so radically from one minute to the next, it seems it is always in the news.

I have come to enjoy the change of seasons and the varying weather patterns - most of the time. I do not care much for Tornado watches and warnings, but thunderstorms and lightning fascinate me to no end. Well, until it gets really close - then it scares me. And the really cold weather isn't much fun either..

There are many farmers in this area and from what I have seen, the vast majority do not have irrigation systems. They depend on the rain to water their crops, when it doesn't rain they suffer.

And on days like today and yesterday we have too much rain - several inches in a short period of time. So now there is flooding. It's always something with the weather around here.

There are 3 rivers in close proximity to Fort Wayne. The St. Joseph River and the St. Marys River join to form the Maumee River. Needless to say, when it rains a bunch - like the past couple of days - there are flood watches and warnings throughout the area.

Speaking of watches and warnings - it seems there is one or the other pretty consistently. Wind, hail, snow, freezing fog, heat. Again, coming from California this was foreign to me. For the first year I lived here I was alarmed whenever I heard the warning signals on the radio or the TV. Now I have become used to the little map up in the corner of the screen showing which counties are being affected by the weather flavor of the moment. I truly understand now, that as a Californian, I never really appreciated the temperate climate, but that is how it goes right? You never really appreciate something until it's gone.

Here's a riveting video of the rain (and a little thunder too) I shot today using my cheap digital camera, if you have absolutely nothing else to do, by all means - check it out.

Amazing Grace by Wintley Phipps

What a perfect first post!

I have been wandering around You Tube looking for music (thanks to my buddy Monica). I found one clip that was particularly moving to me and thought I'd post it.