Dear Reader:

One of my favorite quotes that I remind myself to recall when I’m getting down on myself about something…is the idea that each flower doesn’t think of competing with the flower next to it…it just blooms.

What is it with us humans and competition? Why do we think we always have to better someone else to get ahead? Upon reflection…isn’t so much of our short time on earth wasted trying to out-shine or out-do someone else? Isn’t standing on our own merits enough…it sure will be… if we have given it our all!

If we could just learn to follow our own passion…that God-given gift that makes us unique….that makes us want to get up in the mornings and do something nice for the world…  not worrying if someone else is doing something better than us. After all “better” is very subjective…defined only by differing outlooks that have nothing to do with our inner energy and passion.

*I had an epiphany yesterday when I had gotten this far in the post….I looked out my window and I thought initially I saw a flicker of red in a tall tree near the bird feeder. It must be Sammy the Cardinal I thought excitedly…my favorite cardinal. So I decided to stop and go outside to try to take a picture of him before he flew away. *I haven’t seen much of Sammy lately.

But when I got outside it was the very first cluster of orange trumpets growing near the top of a tree that had  caught my vision. I love to see them return and this was the only sighting of the fall season thus far. It made my day!

I then had my second epiphany….What makes the orange trumpet vine clusters stand out are the beautiful green leaves framing the scene. I re-thought the title quote:

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower“ Albert Camus

In the spring… flower blooms take center stage… with leaves reduced to playing back-up for the grand spring floral production. But in the fall…the patiently awaiting leaves, once the back-ups… now get their time to shine in all the different colors of the rainbow…and more!

Look at these birch leaves I found on a blog called microscope….(gorgeous photography!) Now the leaves are the stars of fall like the flowers had been in spring and summer.

We have to trust in our Creator that our day in the sun will come…we must prepare for it so when it happens…we are not only ready…we are immersed in our “second spring in life”….a second peak time on one’s life. We must never think time has passed us by…there is always time to make a difference in someone else’s life.

We just have to always be willing to change…change isn’t risky…stagnant is.

So until tomorrow….

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I made a change in decor a few days ago…I had originally placed the BOO hangings on each front door….but then found these gorgeous wreaths for the two front doors in a closet I was cleaning out. I hung the BOO hangings on the fence by the garden and moved the wreath to my front doors. Meant to be….

Oops…gotta go…the sun is slowly sinking and I must be ready to go watch the Harvest moon climb up, up, up into the October skies. I am so excited! Hope everyone remembered to go see this beautiful gift of autumn…and it is free for the viewing!