Autumn in California.

 Fall comes late to California, the leaves slowly change color as the weather turns colder with each day. By late November we get to enjoy the beauty of changing leaves, crisp air, perfect weather- not too hot, and not too cold. I am blessed to be able to live here and enjoy the beauty of the season.

I really enjoy the red, orange and yellow colors of the autumn leaves. There is just something amazing about all of nature changing, evolving into something beautiful, before it all just falls off and gets ready for cold bare winter.

You only have today to live.

Today is here, tomorrow is not here yet, while yesterday is gone already, and not coming back.

(a wild flower grew up in my back yard, a gift)

Live today to your fullest, enjoy your loved ones, enjoy nature, enjoy the smell of life, enjoy now.

Live your life so that when tomorrow comes you wont feel regret in how you lived today. Be kind to your husband, to your children, to your neighbor, even if you don't feel like it, smile.

Cultivate being thankful to God, to your husband, to your children, to others, even to yourself. We are truly rich in this time and age, so many people don't have what we have in abundance.

Anxiety among beauty.

Blackberry bushes grow in our yard. This year we have lots of pretty flowers on them, for a nice harvest come July! I love their beauty, don't you? Such gentleness among the thorns. Sometimes life is a bit on the prickly side, with many problems, many things that may keep us awake at night. But just like a pretty white flower among the thorny bush, there is always hope. Hope is in God alone. He is the one who can keep our life afloat, keep us going forward with strength and joy.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Wild plants.

According to the Wikipedia, aloe has about 500 species or so. I have one of those prickly plants... a beautiful wild aloe in my own front yard. It blooms so prettily every spring.

I also have this wild plant, that I think a lot of you have in your yards as well.:)

Lovely.

Colorful life.

I love my life to have color. Color is a beautiful thing. Thank you Lord that we have eyes to see the beautiful color all around us.

~~He makes me lie down in green pastures.~~

Sometimes life is green. Green grass, green leaves, green foods. Awaiting life to change colors.

Sometimes I get to see some purple color, with light green sunshine streaming through.

~~ Her clothing is fine linen and purple.~~~

You see purple is good, especially when it turns to almost blue. Blue flowers, blue sky, blue birds.

Pink rose bud, the last of the season. Soon winter winds will blow all the petals away.

~~I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.~~~

The gentle beauty of yellow and white, is truly a love gift from our Lord.

~~The wings of a dove covered with silver~~~

The orange and red are truly the best colors yet! God did create everything lovely, if only we stop and open our eyes to see, open our ears to listen, to breathe in the fresh crisp air around us and truly enjoy what is right in front of us....:)

~~Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us.~~

3rd year of gardening.

This is my 3rd year of gardening, wow, time flies, it seemed just yesterday we moved here, and now this will be my third gardening experience. The first year we only had one little spot for gardening, where we grew tomatoes, and some dill. The second year, I realized that there is an amazing world of seeds out there, so I bought a whole bunch of seeds from Bountiful gardens, which I really liked. We had 2 spots where I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, a lot of different herbs, sunflowers, and other veggies. This being my 3rd year, I couldn't wait for spring, to order new seeds, to get my hands into dirt, to see the miracle of plants grow from tiny seeds. This year I ordered from Rare seeds which I love the catalog, it has a lot of colorful pictures, and all the veggies are heirloom, which are rare, and more natural.  So here is what is growing in my garden. Some onions. Everyone loves onions, they go with everything, in salads, into soups, into casseroles. My dear hubby loves to eat them raw....:)

Some early red beets, which we will use for salads, for Russian red borscht.

We have lots of different types of tomatoes, red, yellow, black, and others.

Beautiful cucumber plants. I love a salad made with cucumbers and onions, and some olive oil, salt and pepper. Yum.

...and zucchini plants.

Have you ever tried a french sorrel?

Also strawberries, cabbage, lettuce, Chinese mustard, and radishes....:)

Fall is here finally...

The nights are turning colder, the days are shorter. The sun is not as hot anymore, the wind has more bite to it. Yep, the fall season is here alright. One early morning, I went on a ride, enjoying the beauty of the season, the fresh air, the quiet and the cold. Thinking my thoughts, rain drops hitting my face and camera.

 (the first two pictures I took the day before, while we had blue skies and sunshine)

 I was dealing with some seasonal blues myself. A bit sad, a bit unhappy with the summer ending, I loved the warm air, the flowers that were blooming in my yard, the homegrown tomatoes. But with the change of the season, it all had to stop. With the rain the flowers fell, the tomatoes started to mold and stopped producing, the sunshine turned to cold rain. They call it a seasonal depression. I call it unwilling to let go of summer.

 It rained during the night, and early into the morning. You can still see the drops on the leaves and wild berries. The beauty took my breath away. Woke me up.

By taking the beauty walk, or drive this morning, it opened my eyes to the lovely colors. The royal quietness of the season, that is preparing us for the colder months. As the trees change the green appearance to an orange, red or yellow dress, makes me change my attitude and be open to new possibilities. God has truly created a lovely season. A season of colorful leaves, thankfulness and learning to let go.

Wilting garden gives me seeds.

Is your garden wilting about now, turning brown? As the days are getting shorter, the nights colder...and the garden is getting ready for winter-to sleep and rest. I took some lovely pictures of my wilting flowers, I believe they are still very pretty, don't you? :)

~~To the attentive eye each moment of the year has its own beauty; and in the same field it beholds every hour that was never seen before, and shall never be seen again. The heavens change every moment and reflect their glory or gloom on the plains beneath.~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here is what dry dill looks like... well the seeds at least.

~~ Autumn into winter, winter into spring, spring into summer, summer into fall-so rolls the changing year, and so we change.~~ Dinah Muloch Craik

A lot of my flowers are turning dry, as soon as they turn a nice crisp brown and die that’s when I can collect the seeds for another year. For another beautiful colorful spring. The flowers I had this year were the seeds my mother in law had collected the previous year, who is teaching me when I can collect my seeds. At first not knowing any better I collected the almost dry flowers, not really ripe for the seed collecting. There must be a scientific reason why the flowers need to die before I can collect the seeds. 

My garden is wilting, my garden is dry.

The flowers are fading

The grasses are wild

The wind is much cooler

The sun not as hot

The blooms full of seeds

To harvest I must

To wait until spring

For beauty to bloom

As soon as its warm

Here are some lovely verses from the Bible about gardening, harvest and seeds. 

Gen 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Jer 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Psa 103:15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

Isa 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Amazing and lovely photos of all kinds of seeds.

Here is another pretty book, such colors, such detail of each little seed. Its a fun book to take out and show your children, but very fun for adults too.

Such pretty drawings of each seed.

If you never gardened before or just want to brush up on some skills, here is a link you can use:

How to garden? 

~ If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak.~~

-William Shakespeare, Macbeth