"The Autumn Leaves drift by my window."

 We had our first freeze of the season, last night. Frost, that was heavy enough to linger until eight or nine o'clock. That's a sure sign that Autumn, has truly arrived. And, later in the day, as I drove North, along Ward Parkway, the leaves on the trees seemed to be instantly turning from green, to red and brown, as I passed them. Someone recently told me that the Fall Foliage colors, here in the Midwest, are nothing compared to those of the Maine and Vermont. Maybe, or maybe not. But, Holy Cow, no one can deny that the Ozarks are simply stunning in the Fall.

Fall is, and always will be, my favorite season. Kansas Citians do not boast about their cold winters or stifling hot, muggy summers. In truth we know that Minnesota, has harsher winters and Florida has muggier summers. We tolerate our weather, along with some normal complaining. But, we proudly expound about chilly evenings, fires in the fireplace, apple orchards, pumpkin patches and of course s'mores. 

Welcome Fall.

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Lord. Your blessings are many.

"A was once an Apple Pie. Piedy, Widey, nice Insidy, Apple Pie."

 One of the recurring themes in this Blog has been CHANGE. I'm a proponent of trying new things, experiencing new challenges and moving on. That's been my life, for almost three years now.

I've discovered that Change is constantly with us, whether we realize it or not. Take for instance, food. Tomatoes, to be exact. Along about February, buy a pretty, perfectly round, red tomato at your local grocery store. It's a beauty, but it doesn't taste at all like the home-grown one you had, in August. Seasonal Change.

Or, sweet corn. I bought ears of corn at Walmart, in July, for 33 cents, an ear. The corn was almost, to a kernel, perfectly formed. Whole ears of evenly sized, cream and yellow corn kernels. Never once was there a worm or unformed, unripe kernels. Well, it wasn't like that, when I was growing up. Every other ear wasn't perfect. Big, ugly worms appeared when you husked the ears. Half-eaten ears were common. And, it tasted like corn........not sugar. Nutritional Change

Finally, I have been thinking about apples. My mom had a very limited, choice of apple varieties. She could buy Jonathan (tart, named after Johnny Appleseed) for cooking or Delicious (sweet, pointy ends on the bottom) for eating or occasionally Granny Smith (I think they were green or maybe yellow skinned).  I looked up varieties of apples, on the Web, because the apples, at the store, had names that were totally foreign to me. Well, no wonder. Currently, there are 7,500 varieties of apples. Who knew? Apples must be big business. Change.

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Lord: Help us to embrace the changes in our lives. Your steadfast Love endures forever.

"Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

And, so I thank the Lord.

For giving me the things I need,

The sun, the rain and the apple seed.

The Lord's been good to me."

"Finding Nemo".......................................... and Harmony, too.

 So, I guess I am not through with the goldfish post, of last week. Previously, I wrote about the large aquarium, that stands in our basement. And, you might recall, it is of the salt water variety, with a number of fish and other things, living in it. We spend time watching them, every day. They are fascinating and quite calming to study.

But, were you aware that each of those little creatures actually has a distinct personality? If you have a dog, cat or multiple pets, you are aware that each one behaves in a particular manner. A couple of kids? Each one is unique. Correct? Well, fish have different personalities, too.

The clown fish (they are orange, black and white) are busy little things, that like to move around in pairs or groups.  Our large Marine Beta, hides during the daylight hours and prefers to swim about, in the dark. We have a Dragon Rasp that chugs about, flipping over tiny rocks and diving in and out of the live corals. About a hundred teeny, tiny starfish stick to the glass walls, and when disturbed, just float to another point, in the tank, and stick there. The bubble tipped anemone, seem to multiply overnight, waving at us continually.

Our Large Blue Tang darts around and swims about frantically and aimlessly, just like his look-a-like Dory, from the movie, "Finding Nemo". The large Zebra eel, just lazily moves around, but gets very aggressive, when he's hungry. He'll bite, so you can't use your fingers when you feed him.

A big red starfish is our newest creature. We have yet to find him in the same place, twice. But, we never see him move!

The point, that I want to make here, is these creatures look and act entirely different, from one another. Some of them swim in circles and others move up and down. Some, although they are alive, don't move at all. But, they all reside together, in the same tank.

What's wrong with the human race? We have the whole world, in which to live, and we just can't get along. Fish seem to have some traits, which we humans either don't have or maybe we don't develop them on purpose. Difference is okay. Let's all try to develop some patience, tolerance, and co-habitability. Can we listen to one another? Can we have different opinions? Can we all live in the same tank?

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Dear Lord. Show us how to live intentionally. Help each and every one of us to strive to make the world a better place.

"A Tree Grows in........."

 Every town, worth visiting has it's green space. Most folks when they hear or read the word Urban Park, they think of Central Park, in New York City. Central Park, containing 843 acres, made it's designer the most famous Landscape Architect in the world. In his career, Frederick Law Olmsted designed over 100 civic parks.

In Kansas City, we revere city planner, George Kessler (1862-1923). One of his contemporaries said he "waged a war against ugliness."  He is also known for having designed the St. Louis World's Fair, 1907. Kansas City's  Swope Park, all 1,805 acres of it, was designed by Kessler. Besides being huge, it contains the outdoor Starlight Theater, and a zoo. 

The city parks in my hometown, include Schangler Park (a real Train Engine), Lincoln Park ( a teeny train to ride) and Lakeside Park (The slide I fell from). I also remember visiting Shifferdecker Park, in Joplin (a very small roller coaster) and Riverside Park in Independence, Kansas (a zoo). Ottawa, Illinois, has a city park, that was the site of a Lincoln-Douglas Debate(1858). Winamac, Indiana, has a city park, located on an island, in the Tippecanoe River!

Parks, no matter their size, are important to a city kid. Even a small town kid. 

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                                            Thank You for the world so sweet.

"Baby shark do-do-do-do-do-do."

 

Years ago, everyone I knew had a pet goldfish or two. You could buy them at Kresse's, from a tank at the back of the store. They cost around a dime, each. Goldfish didn't last very long (sometimes they didn't even make it home). We either overfed them or underfed them. Their habitat was usually a small clear bowl, and we didn't change the water, enough. So, more often than not, "belly up" was a term we learned quite early in life. 

Well, an aquarium is quite different. It's a lot bigger, for one thing, and it needs, depending upon the type of inhabitants, salt or fresh water. It needs to be regulated for pH, and temperature. It needs machines, hoses and electricity to keep the water moving. And, any aquarium worth viewing needs lots of different species. Not just a few simple goldfish. 

So, in our house, we have an aquarium full of beautiful fish. Starfish abound. Gobis and clown fish, an eel and a Tang, all live in this huge tank. It also contains live coral, bubble tip anemone and soft corals. There is a shrimp and snails. It's a showcase, and it's so much more interesting to watch, than live TV or any current Sit Com.

The whole thing is like a small universe, constantly changing, right in front of you. I love it.

So, I don't know any poems about Aquariums, but I learned one, a long time ago, about goldfish. And, it still rings true. 

My darling little goldfish,

Hasn't any toes.

He swims around without a sound,

And bumps his hungry nose.

He can't get out to play with me,

Nor I get in to him.

Although I say,

"Come out and play!"

He says,

"Come in and swim!"

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Thank you God, for everything.

 

Who Really Cares?

 Is it fair? Is it fair to travel back into time and change a person's legacy? I mean, a hundred or maybe two hundred years from now, will it be important to know if, let's say Taylor Swift, wrote pornographic limericks in her spare time? (As far as I know, that is definitely not true. I made that up. Please, don't quote me.)

I have recently become interested in the literary works of Lewis Carroll, author of "Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass". I've watched a couple of videos concerning his life, his books and of another of his great skills, photography. He was a pioneer in the art of photography, taking pictures in the 1850s. One of those biographies, alluded to the fact that he enjoyed taking suggestive photos of young girls. Now, the photos are still there for us to see. Maybe they are a little bit odd. But, not one living soul remains around, after nearly 200 years, to give us the true facts.  And, if we knew the truth, would it change the fact that he wrote delightful, fanciful fiction?

Today, I read that Abraham Lincoln was probably gay.  Oh my, what difference does it make, whether he was gay or not? Did that have anything to do with him writing the Emancipation Proclamation? Or, for being a martyr, in 1863?

These days, very few folks believe all of what they see or read? "Just the facts ma'am", said Joe Friday. Stuff gets published today, that simply isn't true. And, with AI, a lot of what we see, isn't real. Changing history, isn't the best use, in my opinion, of our intellect.

Don't forget......"Judge not lest ye be judged." (Matthew 7:1)

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Good and All-knowing God. Remind us to mind our own business. Most of us have enough trouble trying to manage our own lives. Why do we insist on interfering with others, on another path? Why do we insist on trying to change the minds and hearts of those we know.....or don't know? Keep us on our own journey.

"...............a room in Bloomsbury."

 For the last two weeks, my friend and I have been living and traveling in a great big pick-up truck. It's been our transportation and our home. It's a great vehicle, but did I mention that it is Big! And, I am short.

I first noticed how big it was, when I tried to climb into the front seat. Thank goodness it has a handle that I can use to haul myself up into the seat. The floorboard of the truck, hits me at the top of my legs. Over the duration, I got pretty good at hauling myself up into the truck, but climbing out of the front seat was another matter. I'm past 75, I do not just hop down. I don't hop anywhere, so I learned to ease myself out of the seat and carefully, oh so carefully slide, without hitting my tailbone on the floorboard, to the ground.

I'd like to say that it became easier to haul myself in and out of the truck cab, as the days wore on. But, seriously it got harder. Maybe I gained some weight or maybe I just aged, but by the last couple of days, I was using two arms to grab onto that handle and I'd added several minutes to my slippery exit.

So much for traveling. Fortunately, we had a fine new bench to help me climb onto the lowered tailgate. From the tailgate, we had access to the inflatable mattress on the bed of the truck. Never having done it, I was skeptical about sleeping in a truck, but it was actually very comfortable. Cozy and warm, for those cold desert nights.

We had a really cool, second tent, that sat on the ground, and became the second room of our traveling home. The first room, was the tent over the truck bed. Two room camping is really first class. Having the tents attached to the Big pick-up, really helped during the winds and dust storms we experienced in the Nevada Desert. And, I will also give credit to my tent mate, who fastened all of our tents to the ground with screw-in tent pegs. And he brought his electric screw-driver to install them!

Getting a late start, towards home, we did end up sleeping a few hours, in the front seat of the Big pick-up. It has (and who knew such a thing still existed) a bench seat. A couple of pillows and a blanket and we were all set.

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Dear Lord. Thank you for presenting adventures. For allowing us to make choices. For keeping us safe.