Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Autumn has arrived. Although today was fairly warm, this means cooler days, colorful leaves, and a belly-full of horror books and movies! From now until November, I am on a steady diet of the horror genre, starting with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which always kicks off the season right and sets the mood.

In honor of the season Google has helped me to create a movie. Please enjoy!

Still Sporadic and Some Autumn Photos

I was hoping to be posting more regularly by now, but my emotional state has still been too volatile from dealing with my son's issues. I yo-yo between bleak despair and guarded hope, sometimes within just a few moments. Sometimes I'm able to take the long view and trust that everything will work out in the end. Other times I feel so mired in adverse situations that I think we'll never raise our son to be a happy, productive adult. Rather than subject my readers to my emotional states, which could cause whiplash, I've been posting less frequently. Perhaps someday I'll come out on the other side of this!

I am getting very excited for autumn though. It's my favorite time of the year and we're starting to see the signs around here. I have been trying to take photos again because it makes me so much happier to do something for myself.

My husband and I took a walk this evening after dinner and I got a couple of shots of the changing leaves.

The light was starting to fade on this one below and unfortunately I only had my phone camera, but you can still see the cherries and yellow leaves.

I love these rust-colored chrysanthemums that bloom in late summer/early autumn. These are in my front yard.

The apples and cherries are nearly ready for harvest around our neighborhood.

I've seen a couple of really cool spider webs lately, too.

Probably my favorite photo that I've captured lately was the nearly full moon the other night.

I hope that all of you are doing well and getting excited for the season. I don't think I have any readers in the southern hemisphere so I think we're all heading into the same season!

Rocky Mountain High Labor Day

Today was Labor Day, and what would have been my dad's 70th birthday. Two years ago in September we spread my Dad's ashes in Estes Park, and then hiked to Gem Lake. We were going to hike at Lion Gulch today, but the trail is still closed. Three years after the flood, they still haven't been able to get it reopened. So we hiked to Gem Lake again today, which was really very fitting. This is a great trail to take into Rocky Mountain National Park without fighting the traffic, or having to pay to go into the park since you hike in.

It's a great hike with amazing views which I had to share.

The sky was an amazing shade of blue today.

Some of the leaves were starting to turn up in the high country.

The distant peaks behind the pine trees.

The town of Estes Park.

There are wonderful rock formations all around this area.

Yellow aspen leaves on the shaded path.

A pine tree through a hole in a rock.

The rock hillside behind Gem Lake.

At Gem Lake.

An old tree and it's reflection in Gem Lake.

Another view of the distant peaks and interesting rock formations.

The blue sky and the hint of color on the aspens.

A view of the trail

Another rock formation that looks to me like a child talking to an adult.

A rock formation that reminds me of a brain.

September Has Arrived!

Although it's still in the 80s here, fall is on the way! I LOVE this time of year when it starts to cool off and I can start to think about autumn and Halloween.

I know that when my chrysanthemums start blooming that summer is on the way out and autumn is on the way in.

We're also getting to harvest from our garden now. The tomatoes went nuts this year, and my husband is making dinner from the garden tonight. We planted a blackberry bush several years ago, and this year we had an amazing yield from that bush, which is taking over the entire area where it's planted.

The birds have been frolicking in the yard all day today.

I'm especially grateful for the cooler weather on the way since I just had to spend several days in Arizona. My company held a conference in Scottsdale. The resort was fabulous and my room was enormous! But it was hot; I was a drippy mess more than once. I work for a wonderful company though. The people and culture are amazing, the company is doing all sorts philanthropic activities to help end childhood hunger, and they did drunken history videos (yes, just like the show) of the company's history. They also allowed those of us who had to be there the entire time to sign up for an offsite activity. So I got to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West. 

FLW's office. The docent is pointing to his portrait.

The oasis in the desert. The town apparently laughed when he bought the water rights, but there was indeed ground water and the facility is still not on city water.

A beautiful, if harsh view.

The inner courtyard.

The docent showing us the back view of the kitchen area.

A lego reproduction of the compound. I think we were told it had 185,000 pieces.

Interesting colors and shapes in the entertainment room.

The architecture was amazing and very organic. One night with dinner I asked for decaf coffee and think I got the real deal and of course couldn't sleep. So I got a Kindle book about the murders at the original Taliesen in Wisconsin. Frank Lloyd Wright sounds like he was one of the genius types who wasn't sure how to be a human being, but I still had fun seeing the place he had designed out in the desert.