From the last of the summer blooms to the changing of the leaves… Fall is Here! The Fall season brings apple and pumpkin season, gentle breezes and the solitary tune of the wind chimes. Fall hints at cooler temperatures, the changing of the sun cycle bringing less daylight creating a colorful change in nature through leaves turning and falling, crunching under foot. The vibrant colors that light the morning and evening skies… Autumn has arrived. As we head into the holiday season, here’s to celebrating Fall ONE last time.
Apples are in Season! Time for pumpkins!!
October Skies… Simply Amazing
Changing of the Leaves
Leafy Carpet Blown Away The Vibrancy of Fall Light filtering throughMajestic Colors Stumped Look Up and Enjoy the ViewA Sneak Peak of Fall In Full ColorAutumn’s Glory Fall Magic The Glory Days of Autumn Finding the Colors of Fall A Walk in the Woods Jethro is enjoying the Leaves everywhereWhere the Leaves Meet the Water Peaceful Retreat Fall Making a Splash Fall SerenityRainy Autumn Days Plentiful Acorns Abundance of Berries A Quiet Place
Thankful for the opportunity to enjoy another beautiful Fall season! 🍂🍁 Thank you for reading and sharing.
Beginning in early 2024, I wrote these opening lines: “I have decided to take this year and document and capture memories… from our everyday life activities. Everything isn’t glamorous, we work long hours, 6 days a week, but Richard and I find time to share and unwind. I hope you enjoy a few of my favorite collected moments via photography.”
What a journey it has been! Here’s a look at a few of my photo favorites from each month in 2024. Below each photograph, I will include the original link to each month from 2024, in case you missed it or would like to see more photos from each month.
This November has been a month of contrasts. Warm weather marked the beginning of the month and ended the month with colder than normal temperatures.
Autumn Glory
I think you will see some definite contrast in some of the photos captured this month. The leaves are beginning to fade away as compared to the glorious autumn colors of last month’s photo gallery. November brings us a time to reflect on our blessings.
November Beauty
My joy this year has been found in finding Blessings in the simple things we have in our lives, like capturing a sunrise moment. Each day brings unique moments and experiences.
Glimmering Sunrise
May you be blessed this holiday season with Thanksgiving in your heart each & every day. Happy Holidays!
First Light
First Fire of the season! About month later than usual. Glorious Beauty: this old, majestic and mature tree is one of the last ones to lose leaves in our neighborhood. Golden Hour: I must admit I’m not a fan of the time change but the Sunsets have been glorious at Wilkes County Hardware this month.Stealing The Rainbow Morning Love Story Blooming Beauties Hard to believe that flowers were still blooming in early NovemberJack Frost: Heavy frosts set in finally in later November, the sun quickly melts it awaySunshine Seeker: Joy enjoys a nap in the morning sunHometown Holidays: November kicks off the holiday season with Light Up Downtown.
Morning fogs, and vibrant colors… the best way to introduce my photography finds for October. The colors of Autumn are majestic, melding together as a kaleidoscope for the camera lens.
Foggy Mornings
Awakening to Fog Sun peaking through the fog Valley Fog
Northern Lights: Aurora Borealis
The unique colors are determined by the gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, the altitude of the collision of the gases, and the amount of energy in the particles… different colors are created. Just a few pictures of what I witnessed during this rare capture this month.
Pink/purple: Produced by nitrogen particles
Green: One of the most common colors at the lowest levels of the atmosphere, interaction of oxygen molecules
Red: Oxygen molecules interact at a higher level in the atmosphere.
Hello Indy!
Waiting for my nephews band to arrive to begin their routine uniform pickup before their performance in Bands of America competition. They placed 5th out of 91 bands in this super regional competition!!! So very proud!!! Go Wando!!! Early morning flight…
The Colors of Autumn
“Nature’s first green is gold. Her hardest hue to hold.” – Robert Frost Vibrant Reds Autumnal Gold and Copper A walk in the woods…Peaking in towards the mountain Colorful Woods Buck Mountain never disappoints 💕Kaleidoscope of Color Melding of Autumn Perfection of Autumn
I had no idea when I began in early September with the idea of focusing my monthly photography blog post from one specific location in mind, that by the end of the month that it would become bittersweet, touching, and memorable. Friday September 27, 2024 was a game changer day in Western North Carolina.
The Western North Carolina landscape has been critically altered due to the forces of nature. The beautiful Blue Ridge has been changed by the devastating path of Hurricane Helene. Towns have been erased by this path of destruction.
My heart hurts for so many families and mountain communities as they begin to try to recover and rebuild. Numb might actually be a better word. Mountain Communities are now isolated from the outside world grasping for all avenues of assistance and support, losing everything they own while helping others all at the same time.
My family, like many of you, experienced several days without power and full internet connection. In our many years of married life, this was the longest stent of power failure that we have ever experienced. I now have two completely clean refrigerators/freezers… all food was not salvageable. But, it’s ok. We are literally several minutes away from a path of destruction and very lucky that our storm damage wasn’t more severe.
During the stent of no power… We had time with family, time to laugh while playing board games, and dinners with friends who had power at their home.
I’m also thankful for the many people who stopped by the hardware store to check to make sure we weathered the storm well , or sent us messages. We simply live in a great, giving community. Thank you!
The news of the storm’s fury was front and center in my social media feed when I had the opportunity for a moment to visualize the aftermath of Helene during the power outage and still almost a week later, it dominates our news cycle. It has been hard to imagine this type of devastation in my mind. Towns and communities are literally gone.
We as business owners, do fully understand the power of water and the force behind it. Flooding is not an experience that we wish share with anyone else, a tremendous amount of empathy lies within.
Last Saturday morning, we began to witness the influx of customers who are traveling down from their mountain homes to find needed supplies. This trek still is continuing into this week. Supplies are selling out quickly and we are trying to reorder as fast as we can to accommodate our customers needs.
Western North Carolina communities need our support wherever you can give it. Do what you can to assist Western North Carolina Relief Efforts. Donate time, resources, or money to those charities that are well vetted where the most money can benefit those in need.
Mountain Communities are requesting that only relief workers be allowed into the area so the clean up can continue and allow for the arrival of much needed materials.
My hope is that this September montage will bring solace to your Blue Ridge Mountain wandering soul and lift your spirits in the coming days. A simple pictorial offering… a remembrance to our beloved Blue Ridge Mountains prior to the devastation we witnessed last week. I present to you, The Blue Ridge Mountains are calling and I must GO! My photographic Blog Journal from September 2024.
An Afternoon Wandering at Doughton Park
Blue Ridge Parkway Sunsetsare simply stunning
Price Lake Never Disappoints
Saturday Evening Sunset Drive
In closing I’m sharing one of my all time favorite benedictions and prayers: The Franciscan Benediction, as we all continue our work to restore and rebuild in Western North Carolina.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort, at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears, to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
AMEN
Living the "hardwarelife", join us in our journey of hardware store ownership
The Hardware Life - A wife's journey into the hardware business 