"Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits."

All of us have memories of childhood experiences. And, often we never know when they will suddenly manifest themselves. to remind us of times long ago.

It's autumn, and today, I found myself in the country, in an unplowed field, next to a barbed wire fence. I had hopped out of the car to open a gate, for our car and driver.

The memory was of hunting, with my dad. Between the ages of 4 and 6, when my mother was at her day, job, my dad, a nighttime worker, was my main caretaker. He was a squirrel and rabbit hunter, and he took me along, with him. Maybe he thought I liked hunting. But, more likely, he didn't have anyone to take care of me. He was being the best parent he could be. So, a-hunting we would go.

I remember I always wore a wool, one piece, maroon colored snowsuit. It did not bend at the elbows, knees or any other joint, on my little chubby body. That itchy, cumbersome suit, made it impossible for me to climb through the barbed wire fence, that my dad tried to make me crawl through. This problem was always solved by him grabbing my snowsuit collar and hefting me over the fence, dropping me a bit roughly, on the other side. Then, I would watch as he casually and nimbly jumped over the fence. He made it seem so easy.

Next, we would find a place for him to take the perfect shot.  I was told to be absolutely quiet and sit (I couldn't do that very easily in my snowsuit, either) perfectly still. I did. And, I would watch for him to raise his shotgun. Invariably, I would then yell, "Wait." Because, I had to cover my ears, from the sound of the gun, firing. By that time, the rabbit or squirrel was long gone. Losing the shot never made him happy!

Hunting with my Dad, is not the best memory from my childhood. But, it's a memory, and I do believe that your experiences, good or bad, make you a stronger person. 

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Lord. Thank you for lessons learned, for fears conquered, for challenges faced. Give us the strength to be the best we can be. You are our Perfect Example.

"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."