Feelin' Fallish

Sarah came home this weekend (woohoo!). She is seriously thinking about making photography her field of emphasis and was in need of some models to practice on. Her dad and I dressed presentably (on Saturday!) and headed to the Field Station for a photo shoot. She has a gift, I tell you--she was perfectly comfortable ordering us around, making us lie in the leaves and stand outside without coats till she was perfectly satisfied and the film was used up! Perhaps you can see what is sure to be magnificent portraits on her site in a couple of weeks. She used 'real' film--not digital, so there's nothing instantaneous about these pictures! If you want a sneak preview of what she can do, visit this site. She's great! I'm thinking that she's taking Molly's senior pictures and saving us some money!

This week Fall has really arrived! the wind has been blowing. Leaves are drifting against the house and it's a constant battle to keep the leaves out of the garage. A walk through the yard is accompanied by a satisfying crunch of dry leaves under foot. And I love it when we are outside in the evening and can smell the wood smoke from fireplaces burning around the neighborhood.

I gathered some leaves from a neighbors sweet gum tree a few weeks ago and pressed them in an old phone book. And then promptly forgot about them! Thursday night, (while watching Les vacuum leaf bits!) I remembered them and pulled a tray photo frame out of the cupboard for display.

They look so pretty against the black background and I love how the gold and purple of the leaves look with the scarf Molly brought me from Budapest.

I spent some time playing around with the camera settings and dragging candles out of drawers to make this little vignette. The pumpkins came up in our yard this summer, courtesy of the birds. I'm not sure if they came from the bird seed or if they were an avian by-product (if you know what I mean)! And they are a bit strangely colored and misshapen but I like them. Probably cause we grew them! Well, sort of!

Our house is a fall and winter house. There is a large sycamore tree in front, so in spite of large windows, there is never enough sun in the spring and summer. But it is cozy and welcoming by firelight and the accessories (pretend you're reading a County Living article, will ya?) are in the rich colors of fall and winter--golds, oranges, reds, deep greens.

I love being at home and being with my wonderful family!

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Isaiah 32:18

p.s. the cat is limping again. Sarah and I held her down and medicated her leg (which of course she immediately licked off!) and I had a flashback of this event--this cat has been spider bit before and Sarah and I had to doctor her by lancing the bite with a needle. Ick. I don't want to do that again. But if I have to put my doctor's mask on and scrub up, so be it.