not a fan

Once upon a time the light fixtures in our northy house were ...


well they, uh ...


defied a sort of ...


hmmm.


Not good.
Last year I took photos to make peace with fake brass and tassels which worked like a charm because now it's just funny.

[Sidenote: I have a very difficult time writing the word funny without adding two exclamation points and a smiley face.

Dear Colon and Closing Parenthesis,

Thank you for teaching me how to express my true happiness.

Sincerely,
Colleen

End of sidenote.]


Anyhoo, I think I might put together a triptych or two for our next place - call it something like Ode to a Northern Trailer no, no! Northern Lights. Yeehaa! Perfect.

bounty hunter

"I am rich today with autumn's gold,
All that my covetous hands can hold ....

                  ... Golden rays of balmy sunshine spread
                  Over all like butter on warm bread ....

                                                  ... Oh, who could find a dearth of bliss
                                                  With autumn glory such as this!"

Gladys Harp

between

focus

      Yup! More leaves. Presently it's almost impossible for me not to take photos solely of leaves. Autumn in southwestern Canada is like a novel in which I don't want to skip any chapters, a single word! But the best part is that Fall here is this thick, meaty tome of a thing which just goes on and on and gets better and sadder in all the right places. I have the comfort of knowing there is time to enjoy it and that if I do miss a word or two, sleep in and miss the perfect morning, it will still be there the next day.
      Let me explain why I'm so thrilled with this. Fall in Yellowknife is beautiful but very short. It begins at the end of August and within three or four weeks we'll have experienced full green-leaved trees, yellow-penny birches and bare and waiting for winter. What's good about this is that it forced me to enjoy each day as it was happening. Last year I was seriously bummed about fall. It was over before it started and I was irritated with myself for being miserable about it because if there's anything that can't be changed it's weather (and age - but that's a different post!). I want to hug and kiss grey days, search for their not-so-glaring qualities. September 2008 I was housebound by rain and wind and stood watching helplessly, camera with the flu, as tree after tree was robbed of gold.
      This year I feel I was given autumn in quintuplicate to make up for things. (Thank you!)


      I don't know where Mark and I will be a year from now. We could be here, we could be there. Each place brings its gifts, its sorrows. If we find ourselves back in the Knife I hope the wind will stop fidgeting long enough to let me to show you how lovely autumn can be.
      That said whilst I am here you will forgive me for photos of leaves, leaves, leaves!

in a grey world

synonyms

"Aren't they something?



They're like butterflies



or little pieces of wrapping paper



blowing around."


Kaylee - Firefly

love waiting

      At this moment I feel skin weary. It isn't five am as the post suggests but Saturday evening and the day was beautiful. I spent time with my family in Abbotsford. We laughed alot (ie. silliness reigned supreme) I snuggled a nephew (all sweetness and autumn), we ate good food and I frowned at a napkin that told me to live life to the fullest (really, you can't buy a coffee without it telling you things). To finish a perfect day an opinionated drink was purchased to help me navigate the half hour drive home. I turned music on, then off when I realized I wanted the night quiet and my java introverted. The evening's lights, my thoughts, God, safety. Home to love waiting.

How to Make a Grey Day Sweet:

Just add honey sticks ...


and stir!

head rush

more with the fences

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don't fence me in.

Cole Porter

autumn and st. andrew's

I Have a Turtle

written by Kathy Bing and illustrated by R.J. Davidson

      There was something about this little book that wriggled its way into my child-heart while I was growing up and it never wriggled back out.



      It's about a boy who has a turtle hiding under his bed. The whole world is oblivious to the fact he exists! But ohhhh if they knew!



      I love that he likes his secret and that it's SO great he has to tell at least one person ...

      ... me.

fellowship

                                                  beneath my feet
                                                  sunlit curl
                                                  on dust
                                                  on leaf
                                                  the ordinary
                                                  the leftover
                                                  everything
                                                  made beautiful
                                                  in light

where've you been?

      One afternoon this week I went outside, after having stuffed myself behind doors the morning long, and drew in a great breath. The kind that takes in all the smells of autumn and says haahhhhhhh afterward. There was something in that whiff that whirled me back to being eight years old and building forts in the trees behind the house with my brother. I tried to define the ingredients to myself but they only laughed and circled me. Pale in nature, revealing little but, darn it all, making me feel so much. I didn't know I knew that smell or that I'd forgotten it, that I even liked it and that it had powers! That I'd missed it!

from to

"All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, traveller to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken."

Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River

that subtle something

"It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."

Robert Louis Stevenson

jonny apple

Maybe shake an apple or two down with that stick.


Or climb!
Yes, perfect.


Here, take these.


Hello?
Seriously, take them.


Apples for all.


By hook or by crook.


It's what I do.

at the teahouse

"...what I feel we ought to do at this juncture is to dash off somewhere where it's quiet and there aren't so many houses dancing the 'Blue Danube' and shove some tea into ourselves. And over the pot and muffins I shall have something very important to say to you."

P.G. Wodehouse, The Amazing Hat Mystery

waiting for dusk

"I lit the Coleman lantern this evening.
A bright friendly glow in the wilderness, the warmth of home."

Richard Proenneke in One Man's Wilderness

cloudada

Yep.

You could say

I might be

reaching a bit

with that post title.

blue

wain on a weaf

evening sun

doodle deux

can't move on

I know the rapsberries are over but I'm, like totally, not over the raspberries so may I please post just a little more of them?


Raspberries in yogurt, on waffles and french toast, homemade raspberry jam, and (the best) - one for me, one for the bucket, one for me ....


What's your favourite berry and how do you like it best?