November rolled in and out already!!! 

It was a gorgeous fall, full of more color than the past few years.  It seemed that the trees all waited and turned color at one time. We had warm sunny skies most of the month. 

Josiah is a teenager now! 13 magic years!

One night when I was gone, two coyotes decided to keep John company.  They wandered the front flowerbed and just sat there looking in at him.

Meeting up with Maria and Alison.

I love the colors. I love the carpet of leaves on the ground. This year, John left them on the ground for me instead of blowing them away each day. By the time they turned brown and ugly, they were all wet and too deep (I thought) to blow, so I spent the day raking them into a huge pile. Then I found out that they blow just fine even if they are wet and packed up. Oh well, the exercise is good, right?

And here it is the end of November and I have daffodils in bloom!

Thanksgiving was a small gathering. It was the first one Mom has done since Cyndi and Dan's plane crash. With Lindy now living in Colorado near David's family and now Matthew's family moving to Mexico, we are getting small. Dennis' family all stayed in California for Thanksgiving this year. 

Mom's 86th

October started out with a new member being added to the family.  Nyssa. She looks like she could be a one of Charlies puppies. Jessi's friend, Julie flew up from Phoenix with little Nyssa and surprised Jessi's kids with her as a gift.

I did the final gardening for the year, pulling up all of my carrots. I was pretty pleased with them! What a variety of sizes. Next year, I have plans to plant them differently, so hopefully they will be more uniform.

I added strawberries and raspberries this fall. Hopefully they will be able to produce a few berries next summer. 

Arianna did fantastic this year in volleyball. What a great server she is now! Its so much fun to watch her play and see how much she has learned.

My two cousins, Janet and Susan came for a visit to my parents, so of course, I joined in.

                             

John and Rachel had different ideas on getting the bed ready for Beau's visit. 

                                   

The robins know just when it is the perfect time to harvest the fruit from the trees planted in my yard. They can clean off a tree or bush in just a day or two.

I planted a tiny poppy last spring. It finally bloomed, a little late, but it sure was special.

When I was growing up, there was a broadleaf maple just outside my bedroom window. It was an upstairs bedroom on the side of the house that didn't get the sun. Every fall, when I would enter my room, before even turning on the light, I would be greeted to the most awesome golden light. Those leaves turning to gold made it look like full sun shining in. It always made me think of the song  "Heavenly Sunshine". A few years later, married, there was a maple right outside our bedroom window of the house we built.  The same thing...it looked like full sun, even on a rainy day. Now here at this house, there is a maple right in front of the house.  I am posting the tree, the golden yellow light entering the glass window on the front door and a yellow leaf heart in the hedge. I find myself humming the tune as I wander the house. 

"Heavenly Sunshine, heavenly sunshine, flooding my soul with glory divine. Heavenly sunshine, heavenly sunshine, halleluiah, Jesus is mine."

The necessary paperwork arrived and I was able to send Jimmy's ashes to the Navy in San Diego. It all seemed so strange to be putting him in the mail. But I am happy that he will be taken out to sea on a Navy ship. I know he would have liked that. 

Once again, Halloween arrived. The kids had a good time dressing up and going trick-or-treating.

The last sunrise for the month.  What a beautiful way to start the day.