IN SEARCH OF COLOR

On this day I decided to drive to Greer Arizona to look for "color" - fall leaves. Just out of Show Low I began to see bright yellow and orange dotting the hillsides. ASPEN!! I took a few off-road detours to explore and discovered a couple of lovely little lakes. When I finally reached Greer, I realized that the best color was toward Sunrise and Big Lake. So I quickly backtracked so as not to lose the light. It was a beautiful day!!

HAWLEY LAKE - AUGUST 2013

What a beautiful day it was at Hawley Lake! The summer rain clouds were rolling in. There was a lovely breeze that kept us cool and comfortable. And the scenery was spectacular!!

Credits: Beck Higgins' Project Life App

COUNTRY ROADS

Country Roads
Take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia
Mountain Mama
Take me home
Country Roads

~John Denver

AUTUMN - THE YEAR'S LAST LOVELIEST SMILE

Even though we don't have beautiful fall leaves where I live, I am thankful that I can search for "color" online and find an endless array of photographs that help to satisfy my craving for Autumn.

Credits: Becky Higgins' Project Life App

FALL IN SHOW LOW

Journaling:
November 2, 2014 - It's a beautiful fall day here in Show Low, located in the mountains of Northeastern Arizona. The weather changes constantly - overcast & rainy, blue skies & clouds, and then moments when the sun peeks out to shine brilliantly on yellow, orange and green leaves. How I love Fall in the mountains!!

Additional Note: I took these photos in our yard where we park our RV year-round in White Mountain Vacation Village. The weathered wood is the deck patio and the steps down to the storage shed. I love the look of the pine needles on the steps in this photo but not in reality. The needles are dirty and messy and a pain to rake up in the rock landscape and planters.

Credits: Becky Higgins' Project Life App

ONE OF THE MANY REASONS WHY I LOVE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

I love the complete flexibility of digital scrapbooking. If I decide that there's something that I don't like on a scrapbook page, even years later, I can simply open the PSD file and change it. If the photo is a little dark - brighten it. If the word art is a little off balance - move it. If the page needs a border to bring it all together - add it. And that is exactly what I did on this layout of my sweet grandson, Reed (18mo), that I scrapped in 2009. 

Here it is five years (2014) (and for me quite a bit more digi expertise) later, and with just a few adjustments, this beautiful memory is BEAUTIFUL!!

INDIAN SUMMER

Fall is my favorite season. If it was up to me, Fall would be 6 months long, and the rest of the year would be divided equally between Winter, Spring and Summer. In the Arizona Deserts where I live, we have two seasons: Hot and Hotter. The leaves don't change until February. How I would love to live where there are 4 seasons - or at least a beautiful Fall!!

Credits: Indian Summer kit by Scrapyrus Designs

FALLING FOR YOU

15 October 2004 -
We love searching for fall leaves in the Arizona mountains. In the valley, the leaves don't usually change until after Christmas. We stayed a night in Flagstaff and then spent the next day taking photos of Garrett, Amy, Bailey(4) and Alex(2). The leaves were the prettiest on the NAU campus. They were already gone at Lockett Meadow where the aspens stood bare and still. It was a wonderful day!!

Hey Sucker!!

I am a sucker for this boy with his luscious milk-chocolate brown eyes, rosy red cheeks and his golden sun-kissed hair. And those expressions!! Whether it's dreamy, goofy, scary, or just plain sweetie . . . I love them all. OK!! I admit it . . . I can't get enough of this boy!!

(Which is best - the lighter or darker blue background paper?)

AZ SUNSET

09.08.11
i LOVE az sunsets!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Can you believe this Gorgeous Group of Grandkids?!! 

This was taken Thanksgiving Day a few minutes before dinner. 

(See - their clothes are still clean!!) Love these kids!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Rob, Melis, Reed & Quinci ~ Newport, California ~ 11/2009

Quinci - A Perfectly Ordinary Day

October 2009 - 10 months old

Just a perfectly ordinary day ~ Miss Q exploring her world

Trying new tricks ~ pulling up - sitting down

Being her adorable little self

Beautiful Quinici

Quinci - 18 months

Autumn Rose

REED at the DALLAS ARBORETUM - 2006

May your troubles be less, your blessing be more, and

nothing but HAPPINESS come through your door.

We Gather Together To Ask The Lord's Blessing

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
Sing praise to his Name, He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning:


Thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be Thine!
We all do extol Thee, thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation:
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Words: Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck 1626;
Translation: Theodore Baker (1851-1934), 1894.Music: 1626 Dutch melody
Arrangement: Edward Kremser (1838-1914)

Nothing says "Thanksgiving" to me more than this hymn. As the temperatures "fall" and the calendar page is turned to November, I start humming this tune. The words are inspired and inspiring. In years past I would envision humble pilgrims bowing gratefully over their harvest meal and think, "What a lovely and wonderful tradition."

But now, as I study the words, a veil is lifted and a vision of that great "fight," even the War in Heaven between good and evil, is recalled to memory. And as I read the words in this light, the hymn has so much more meaning to me - for we are all, right now, in the thick of it. The fight is all around us and has been from the beginning. But with the Lord beside us, to guide us, the fight we ARE winning.

May we always remember and acknowledge Him, our Defender, our Leader Triumphant, who is the Source of all blessings, and who is the One and Only One who will make us free.

CHILDREN HANDS . . .

This is one of my favorite photos -

Garrett and Adam

Flagstaff AZ

10.07

SWINGING ADAM!!

Can you remember what it was like to swing high and touch the sky? Cute Adam's delighted expression helps me remember how it felt.