Sometimes when I lay in bed at night and don’t drop right off to sleep, words dance around in my head with no place to go. I’ve had some great ideas for blog posts completely formed in my mind—word for word, sentence by sentence—but when I wake in the morning all those thoughts and words have gone, blown out of my window by the same fan cooling my body. The fan lifts the words and disperses them into the night air, never to all be collected in the same place again.

The following post is a result of my finally getting out of bed to get a pad of paper to write what was going through my mind one night last week.

Our lives are like a woven tapestry. The individual threads and fibers that make it up are our immediate family, relatives, and friends. A tapestry of relationships; all different.

Over time some of the threads fray and break. Whether they just don’t withstand the test of time or it’s just normal wear and tear, some just do not hold up like others do. Some hold true and strong no matter what life throws at us.

Some come unravelled, sadly leaving big gaping holes that never fill back in. Some of those threads that have become unravelled can be picked up again and woven back in, never quite reaching the perfection of the first initial weaving, but still part of the tapestry once again.

Some simply come undone and just hang there and dangle, bereft and alone, with no one caring enough to repair the rift.

Others deteriorate over time, leaving small moth-eaten holes where once a relationship was. Some are too small to even notice.

Many things lead to the ebb and flow of these relationships. We may move away, have different life experiences, or just grow further apart naturally. Let’s face it, life is constantly changing. Relationships and friendships take work and both parties have to participate. It’s a game of give and take. Sometimes you have to give more than you take and hopefully someone on the other end will give you more back when you need it most. Sometimes it’s give, give, give and you get nothing in return. In those cases you have to take a long hard look at the relationship. Do you really want to invest in something that gives you nothing, or at best, minimal results back?

Today I’d like you to think about your friendships and relationships with others and what kind of person the people in your tapestry think you are. Are you a giver? Mostly a taker? Or do you like to think of yourself as an equally balanced participant?

And, if you are reading this you are also part of my tapestry in some way.

Thanks for sitting through my sleep-starved thoughts.

All photos taken at the New Jersey Botanical Gardens before Hurricane Irene.

GOODBYE TO AUTUMN

The leaves are down

upon the ground.

The trees no longer wear

their autumn gowns.

It’s official. Here in New Jersey autumn, with all its spectacular glory, is over. The trees are bare; our neighbors exposed once more. Johnny was switched over to his winter gear on Thursday. We are still waiting for our final leaves to be blown clear of the yard which will probably happen after Thanksgiving since the guy we have do it is running behind. 

This weekend Rick and I did the final wood chores and it’s all now nicely stacked and waiting to be a future cozy fire. We needed a cozy fire yesterday as it only got up to 27 degrees with a chill wind. Brrrr! We had a little skiff of snow the night before, just enough to coat the grass a little.

This particular tree in Long Pond Ironworks was exceptionally spectacular. I stood underneath it for quite some time just taking it all in. Here are a few more photos of its grandeur.

From afar:

From underneath:

Up close and personal:

I know I haven’t blogged much lately. I used to feel compelled to blog, but I don’t anymore. If I don’t have anything interesting to share I don’t blog. Weird, no? I am not stopping blogging, just blogging as the mood strikes me. It’s almost as if the cabin visit this year rewired my whole system. I see things differently now, and I think for the better. 

Thanksgiving is on Thursday and we are looking forward to sharing our feast with friend Carolyn who will be driving down from Rhode Island. After that, before you know it Christmas will be upon us. This year I am going minimalistic on my decorating and I’m going to have just the lighted garlands on the stair banister and around the doorways as I always do and the tree itself. Simple. Pared down. Just like other things in my life.

To end my series of photos of Ms. Magnificent Maple, I thought I’d show you where she lives and whose yard she has graced for a long time now. Do you recognize the house?

 Even though they are now finished blooming I couldn’t let my cactus go unmentioned because this year they really did outdo themselves! They bloomed a little earlier than most years and they produced a bud on nearly every leaf. And, they all bloomed at once in one gloriously colorful bouquet of salmon, white, fuchsia and pinky-red! I kept trying to get a good photo of them but I was never quite satisfied that the photos showed them to their true beauty. At least you can get an idea.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but unlike my Mom’s watering protocol of “starving” them of water at certain times of the year, I water mine all year long. Not much, just a little every time I water the other plants. Even when my neighbor waters my plants when we are gone she tells me “they don’t need much water anyway” I tell her to give them a little drink. They reward me with blooming two or three times a year so I must be doing something right!

The burning bushes at Long Pond Ironworks finally got it all together this weekend. Rick and I took a walk on Sunday and I thought I was going to faint from the sheer beauty of it all. They hide behind green obscurity all year long and then magically transform the woods into a fairy land with a carpeting of various shades of pink, fuchsia and borderline-red.

What’s not to love?

Yesterday was supposed to be rainy but instead it turned into a fairly nice day so I decided to take a walk at Long Pond Ironworks. Like I've said before, the color this year is very blah and not nearly as vibrant as it usually is. I'm not sure what the problem is because this summer was pretty normal with no real rainy or dry spots. I was also interested to see if the burning bushes were turning yet. So were, some weren't. There are so many of them along this trail that it can be quite spectacular. Seventy percent of them were still green. Huh.

I did come across a family of swans. When I first saw them they were on the other side of the lake from me, but eventually glided closer.

They were not bothered by my crashing around in the brush on shore. I could hear them "talking" to each other in low murmurs. I can't describe the sound they were making, kind of like a refined cluck.

The youngsters were curious though. At one point I was focusing through rushes, hence the soft effect in this photo.