I was driving home from church a few days ago and found this tree right down the street from me. Its beauty stopped me. I pulled over on the side of the road hopped out and took this photo of the sun shinning brightly through its leaves. It was pleasant to feel the warmth on my face as I took this picture.


We are having an Indian Summer here..Many days have reached temperatures as high as the 80's.




















This second tree was out in the country.. Next to a cream colored home. The former owners use to raise sheep, and I miss their sweet little faces peeking through the fence.

I use to drive past there everyday just to look at them. They were so pretty.







This cottage was tucked into the woods a few miles away. The red roof beckoned me. It was a whitewashed stone cottage..

I wondered how long it had been there. How many lives had unfolded in its rooms?
How many lovers had made love in the bedrooms that overlooked a small lake beside it? I imagined the moon peeking through the windows at night casting long shadows of filtered light across the floors of this home in the woods.




The rays of the sun were so bright on this barn that it looked like the sun was casting silver light upon the roof..It was magnificent to look at in person..

I sat for a long while and just took in the surroundings.






This field was further down the road.
Golden fields of Soybeans getting ready to be harvested. I saw 5 coal black Ravens flying across this field. I tried to get a good picture of them but couldn't.

They were beautiful in their velvety blackness. And, with their wings stretched across the October sky reminded me Poe's Raven..













This field was about 3 miles from the first field. The farmers are making hay..I love the way it looks. So old fashioned.









My brother always called a perfectly cloudy day a Monet Sky.

It was definitely a Monet sky that day...



Many times John and I drove around out in the country looking for roads we had not explored. It was one of our favorite past times. Just driving and talking..

He loved this stretch of road. It has a field of cedars on the other side of it, and when the wind is blowing just right you can smell their scent waft across your face on hot Summer days..

The blackbirds love to make their nests among the cedars, as well as the Cardinals. Often fighting each other for territory.

We use to love to make up stories while driving around. We often had contests on who could make up the scariest stories..LoL

Some Saturdays when he didn't have to work, we drove all day long. We knew the back roads for 60 miles in every direction around us.




We had the dream to drive the Highways across the United States. Not the Interstate but the Highways..

There is something so deeply personal about a highway. Have you ever noticed that?

It is a slower pace. There are small cafes along the way. More scenery that you never see on an interstate. We often drove to a small city called Prairie De Roche. It has a fort there called Fort Chartres. One of the first forts that was ever built in America. It is a beautiful little town sitting on the Mississippi River.
They have a craft festival there every year. Our kids loved it.


This is a picture of a small creek a few miles from my home. I can sit on the bridge for a half hour and no one passes. In my mind I can Indians gathering water from this creek. Washing in this creek. It is buried in the woods like a green jewel. Its waters flowing and flowing to somewhere different. How I wish I could follow them.



I leave you with 2 favorite quotes:

What if you slept?
And what if in your sleep
you dreamed?
And what if
In your dream,
You went to Heaven
and there plucked
a strange and beautiful flower
And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1834)



In quietness and solitude lays our strength.
T.D. Jakes

Tonight's song, Boondocks by Little Big Town
1st video, 2 nd clip