Friday Favorite

Friday Favorites: A Blessing of Leaves

71 Comments

On Wednesday we had a wild rain, much-needed in our drought- stricken state. With the rain came a wild wind that knocked power out to 114,000 homes in Maine, including our home.

But glory be, our power was only out for a few  hours. Clif and I practically had to pinch ourselves to be sure we weren’t dreaming. When our power gets knocked out, it can be out for days and days. Sometimes even a week.

The wind blew leaves and pine needles everywhere.

On our front steps,

In the backyard,

in the birdbath,

on top of the glass table,

on the bulkhead door to our cellar,

and, on the ground where the sun could shine through the leaf.

Now, you might be wondering exactly why this post qualifies as a Friday Favorites.

Maybe it’s because the sun came out and the yard was aglow and everywhere was the nutty smell of autumn. The leaves seemed like frisky sprites that had come for a visit.

Yes, the leaves will need to be cleaned from the yard, but for now I am just going to revel in a Maine autumn day, after the storm, when the rain came and went and the air cleared and everything seems as fresh as clean laundry hung on the line.

Despite all that’s going on in this country, it felt like a day to rejoice.

Here is Thistles and Kiwis take on the week’s small pleasures.

And All Things Bright and Beautiful’s small pleasures as well.

Let’s hear it for small pleasures!

Addendum: What. A. Week. Just learned that the president and the first lady have tested positive for Covid-19.  Hardly a surprise as they, along with their team, have been so irresponsible about mask wearing and social distancing. However, over the years, I have worked hard to cultivate the Buddhist notion of compassion toward all, even to those who don’t seem to deserve it. Perhaps they need it most of all.  I wish the president and his wife a speedy recovery. I also hope that from now on his supporters will realize what a serious disease this is and for God’s sake start taking Covid-19 seriously by wearing masks, social distancing, and doing what they can to stop its spread.

71 thoughts on “Friday Favorites: A Blessing of Leaves”

  1. Those are beautiful autumn shots and glad the rest is all fine. And the plus point “the sun could shine through the leaf”. I am still waiting for sun 😦
    Moreover today our air quality is very bad which is not due to traffic but according to the meteorological institute the possible explanations can be either the fires in California or dust from the Sahara.

  4. Glad the power came back on as soon as it did. Sorry about the storm spreading leaves and pine needles all over, but oh, what beautiful photos. There is always something to bring us pleasure and you certainly found some things.

  5. Autumn was truly blowing in your area. It left it’s sweet remnants without causing too much damage; that’s wonderful. We are basically in a drought here in SW MO. I agree with compassion and your thoughts on POTUS and FLOTUS. Blessings to you!

  8. Several of those shots are true works of art (the birdbath and the red cellar door especially). You are a bigger person than I am because I can’t wish either of them well. He’s such a liar if you get on line you’ll see half the comments are along the lines of “how do we even know it’s true? It could be just a sympathy thing, or getting out of the next debate.” (And the reason I don’t like Melania either is she is a gold-digger. I read that after the Access Hollywood tapes came out she re-negotiated their pre-nup. Devious and probably smarter than her husband, but then my dog is smarter than trump.)

    1. Thanks you so much for the kind words about my photos. I will admit it is not easy to extend compassion to someone like Trump. But I feel as though it does me great harm to harbor hate against someone. So I guess I don’t it as much for myself as for any other reason.

      1. I tried to be compassionate but lost it when he said people shouldn’t be afraid of Covid. I lost all sympathy then. That had not happened yet when you wrote this entry.

  10. Lovely leaf photos! I can just imagine you delighting in each new vignette, so pretty!
    Yes, can this be divine justice? A message from the Universe? 😉

  11. I’m liking this post, not because of the storm, or the lost electricity but because it came back and because the leaves are all so pretty. I’m waiting to see how the President and the First Lady do…I don’t believe everything (or much of anything) he says, but if they are ill I hope it’s the mild variety and they get better soon.

  13. I am glad that you got your much needed rain and that the cost wasn’t too high. It certainly gave you the opportunity to take some lovely pictures of the aftermath.

    As regards your president, the thought that it might be fake news did cross my mind. What times we live in as you say.

  14. Oh the photos look so pretty. I’m glad you got the rain, fingers crossed next time it doesn’t have to come in such a fury but so good you still see the blessings 👌

  17. Marvelling at the artistry that nature wields – and your positive perspective that sees the beauty even in a storm complete with black out! I am a particular fan found art, and yours are so fabulous. My favourite has to be the glass table capture.

    I was just cursing the construction noises which are coming from a large site nearby (it is only 9:30am, and the drilling has been going on for at least 45 minutes!). I am once again reminded through your post that I can choose to feel better about my surroundings. So, I made myself peanut butter & banana toast, and had a strong cup of tea with it!

    P/S Loving Husband and I were also talking about the First Couple’s sitch yesterday. I had to swallow a number of “serve them right”s! I, too, hope this will serve to drive home the severity of what we are facing.

  18. Beautiful photos, Laurie. But I’m sad that the wind brought down so much of the splendid foliage, which started earlier than usual anyway. It looks more like Oct 20 now instead of Oct 2!

      1. I’m glad. We got the same wind storm and now have more bare branches than I would like for early Oct. Still lots of leaves, but another week with the ones on the ground back up on the trees glowing their colors would have been most welcome!

  19. Autumn rain, and after-the-autumn-rain, are a pair of delights without compare. Your phtotos are lovely, and it was fun to see some of your pine needles. The longleaf pines in east Texas have needles that are amazingly long — surely half again as long as these. Happy autumn, for sure!

  22. You certainly have an eye for a great photo Laurie. The bird table, the glass topped table and the cellar door – all works of art.
    ‘Sun shining through a leaf’ – a beautiful metaphor for truth shining through artifice.
    I can’t bring myself to wish terrible harm to others but I have to admit I felt glad when I heard that Trump has contracted Covid19 and I do hope he suffers enough to take it seriously and that it changes his attitude for the better towards his fellow Americans and the rest of the world.
    I felt similarly about Boris Johnson who had the same disregard for the disease at the beginning.
    But I can’t trust anything either of these so-called world leaders say.
    Thank goodness for the comfort of discussing these things with like minds. It helps!

  23. You get such lovely colours on your leaves. Glad the storm was kind to you.

  25. I totally understand why fresh autumn days with the colorful leaves and sunshine is a favorite, Laurie. Beautiful photos – nature is the master artist and all we need to do is observe and have the camera ready. I’m glad the storm brought such beauty and needed rain. (And only a minor power-outage.) Enjoy

  26. Such beautiful photographs and delight in the rain that I can identify with. After five years of drought (with very little rain in between) we have enjoyed a most unusual day of thick mist, cold, and – best of all – very light rain. It is sheer bliss: clearing the air, reviving the plants, and injecting a sense of hope. Greetings to you from South Africa!

  28. It has had wall to wall coverage on our TV news for the last two days. I saw his team of doctors earlier – eight or nine top people – and heard about all the treatments for ‘a mild case’, and the irony of your last post about possibly losing your health care insurance immediately struck me. Of course, like you, I wish him and all the others affected a very speedy and full recovery. I do hope that after this experience he thinks about how worried he would have been without anyone to care for him.

    1. So touching that you thought of me! As for our president…miracles can happen, but with him, I am extremely doubtful. All he thinks about is himself and his power. He just can’t learn another way, it seems.

  30. Pingback: Small Pleasures: noodle pancake, seed bank, serenity – All things bright and beautiful

  31. Oh the beauty of leaves! And you caught it all so perfectly. I’m so glad the power came back quickly, though you’re pretty well prepared for outages. As for the president, I was figuring it would happen. He’s lucky he can get the care he’s getting, though at $750 in taxes, he’s not contributing much to his upkeep.

  33. I came to your blog via Ju-Lyn’s and I have to say it was a pleasure to visit. Autumn leaves falling are a favourite of mine, perhaps because we don’t really have any kind of Autumn where I live in the subtropics. I am thankful for your rain and the beautiful photographs.
    We will watch the POtUS situation carefully in coming days.

    1. So glad you came to my blog. Welcome! I have enjoyed reading your posts, too. The political situation in the U.S. is heartbreaking. No other word for it. Hope a big change is coming in November.

  34. I wish your wishes about his followers realizing the serious of the disease had come true. They have a terrible leader to follow.

    Your leaf photos are all ever so beautiful. I love autumn, even though we do not get such great leaf color here.

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