Here it is the 29th of November. Does your yard look this green?

 

Then, just so you don't feel left out with the traditional Novembers as a snow bird we also have things to make the birds happy, too. 

And, yes, things that make the bees go crazy like these

It's been a crazy year, I must say. We have not had a killing frost here in the city. It  got to freezing for a hot second any then went back above. From the flowers and the grass you can see that the lawn landscapers are still cutting grass and blowing the clippings. I saw one yard today that was totally covered in leaves. That part of the landscape companies will come when the growing season ends. It should have done that a couple of weeks ago on average. 

Rain all day tomorrow and then we will be back into the mid to upper 60's for a few days running. 

Mason California; Aidan Adirondack

"Abruptly, circumstances arrange themselves so that the commonplace becomes the significant and the routine the memorable---so memorable that perhaps it changes you for the rest of your life.

Sometimes, what you encounter is simply a time and a place. 

Usually, though, a truly memorable encounter involves some one else. There has to be an exchange of some kind, an insight, an awareness that lingers in the mind, impervious to time. Afterward you know that you have learned something valuable---something that can't always be described exactly, or measured, or fully explained. But something.

When one of these luminous encounters take place, most people feel an impulse to preserve it, somehow. Some try to keep a tangible reminder: a flower, a photograph,, a handkerchief, perhaps.

A writer tries to preserve it in words".

In the words above, they come from one of my most favorite author of everyday life that counts. It comes from a chapter in a tattered and worn book that came to me as a gift from a long, long time friend that is a Methodist. My uncle was a Methodist minister for 50 years. So when I began to read this gifted book, many things just set off bells-a-ringing from what I had heard my uncle say at family gatherings this time of year. 

The chapter is entitled: The Gift of Bright Encounters. The book is entitled: A Tough of Wonder. The author  was: Arthur Gordon. If any of you have read some of my old post on a regular basis, you will note that in some situations, I will write that I had to pull, Author Gordon, off the shelf again. Over the years of this blog, I have made that statement many times. 

Well, yesterday, I met two of the sharpest young men that I have meet  in sometime.  They were polite. They were gracious. They were from West Coast to  almost the Eastern seaboard. And, they were certainly not expecting me and I wasn't expecting them as I rounded a corner. But, as Arthur noted above, it was a luminous encounter. Literately because one of the young men got his brother on the phone for me to say hello to as well. 

Usually, I don't pass out my business cards to the younger crowd but these two just inspired me to offer each one a  card.  Mason, even made a comment about the background on my card, which is native prairie grasses. In short, I welcome any comments that they would have from my website, because they got it right from jump street. Photography is my passion and anyone that can understand the layout scheme of my site are visionaries indeed. 

So, Mason and Aidan ( I hope I got your name spelled correctly) I hope to run into you buds again. It was  a joy meeting you both.  

Any time you, Mason, want to go to Truckee---give me a shout out, And Aidan, I love the Adirondacks, too!

                                            To Mason and Aidan from the bottom of  my heart.

                                                           Have a blessed Christmas, indeed

The E-ticket Weather Roller Coaster Continues

 The Australian Flag is for the man that I meet who was here from Australia, He was working across the street from the White Rock Creek Trail and it's Greenbelt where these images were shot. He had gotten out of the office a bit and had walked along the train. He had also commented on how clear the water was as we watched it flow on it's way to White Rock Lake then to the Trinity River and finally on its final flow into the Gulf of Mexico. 

The gentleman seemed to be impressed that such a large urban area would have this type of nature so close. It is a plus for those of us in the Dallas Metroplex. The trail system is one of the finest in the south and southwest. Greenbelts are such a wonderful way to keep nature close at hand, for sure.

With a drought year, getting a 10-inch rain fall and then these current systems from Pacific Hurricanes and the jet stream dipping down to where it should be again allows waves of low-pressure systems to move across us one after another bringing the fall rains, even the grass has come out of its dormant state and started growing again. And, we have had a frost already on top of that. It's a crazy world today, folks.

There is a light rain falling since last night and as this day moves along, the heavy rain is due later this afternoon and into the night bringing falling temps along with it. I'm house-bound today.

Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard----

 was street to street people, vendors and rides. The size from last year was a quadruple balloon in size. 

The weather was great. The sunshine was fantastic and it was a town square of lawn sitters around the gazebo. The stage area had not only music but dancers included. Carrollton police table had old-fashion suckers that I have loved since first touring the

Spangler Candy Company's facility in Toledo, Ohio. It was fantastic, too. Even the fireman at the table said that he liked them more than any other he had tasted.