October beauties

Where did October go? I blinked, and it’s already almost gone.

Fall is putting on a beautiful display here, and the rains have returned. The salmon are back, and the vultures along with them. Where there were one or two vultures flying around at the river a couple of weeks ago, now a dozen or so try to fit into the same tree at one time. Not beautiful. But important.

The trees have turned showy with the shorter days and cooling temperatures.

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Pumpkins dot front porches, and children run past in partial costumes, preparing for Monday’s trick-or-treating.

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Summer hasn’t quite loosened its grip, though. Recent rains and my deadheading efforts a month ago have resulted in one final crop of rose blooms. I wish you could smell the perfect fragrance of this rose:

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The last few buds promise to welcome November, but they’ll be gone long before December arrives.

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Whether summer pinks or autumn oranges, October has its share of beauties.

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I hope you’re able to get outside and enjoy what’s left of the month. We have more rain in the forecast here, a blessing for sure, but also one that keeps my camera and me indoors more than I’d like. (I’m fortunate, at least, to have a dog who doesn’t mind trooping around in the rain. She’s a lot tougher than the camera.)

It’s good to know that November will bring its own kind of beauty when it arrives. I look forward to sharing some of it here with you in the coming weeks.

October’s colors: orange and … pink?

Let me begin by saying that my prayers are with all of you who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. For those who want to help with recovery efforts, the American Red Cross is a great place to start.

October’s colors
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the colors of October. It’s hard to get through the month without seeing a lot of orange and black as we begin our preparations for Halloween. But these days, it’s hard to go without seeing a lot of pink everywhere, too.

I’m grateful that there are organizations raising money for research to defeat this illness. I’ve known too many who have lost friends, sisters, wives, mothers to this disease. You probably can list too many names of your own.

Everyone seems to be getting in on the breast cancer awareness act, and I worry a bit about pink ribbon weariness. Komen races/walks popped up all over the country to celebrate October as breast cancer awareness month. At least one recent NASCAR race had a pink stripe painted on the inside edge of the track (don’t ask me how I know this). Delta’s flight attendants wore pink shirts and served pink lemonade for a donation. I even saw a Delta plane tug on the tarmac painted pink. At the gym today, I saw someone carrying around a pink-ribboned Evian water bottle. Like I said, pink everywhere.

For me, seeing pink everywhere complicated my emotions, and I struggled with a rising anger over all the pink. I was being selfish, because of what I was facing in my own life this month. The second week of October, I went for an annual mammogram. Continue reading