Yet More Pictures

Washington State is a perfect environment for green and growing things. We have a maritime climate--lots of rain and mild winters (usually) and also lots of sunshine. Rain and sunshine have been in abundance this year, and as a result things are growing as fast as a speeding bullet. (Case in point: the apple above, taken in bright sunshine right after it rained) You can almost hear the vegetation growing in the pasture. So I've been taking lots of pictures lately. Pictures of the cats and dogs playing, of the horses playing, of flowers blooming, of trees in all their leafy glory. Lots of pictures. Here is a sampling.

This is the underside of a leaf from the apple tree. Love the veins!

And if you don't believe in our rains, here's a picture of part of my driveway during a huge rainstorm.

This is a single tree in my pasture, an ancient alder with three trunks. Quite a rarity for an alder.

And last but not least, one of my favorite pasture pictures, showing a meandering path made by my horses and wild critters. I find this picture very calming.

Another Moment of Grace

This morning I had another one of those unexpected moments of grace: drinking a good cup of coffee while standing in front of the slider in a patch of brilliant sunshine. You see, fall is finally here and last night we had our first frost of the season. I woke up cold. But standing in that bright sunshine, inhaling the rich aroma of coffee and taking occasional sips from my mug made the world right again. Isn't it funny how small things like that can have such an impact on our outlook? What was your most recent "moment of grace"?