A Mix of Fall Blessings~ in Photos

 A warm hello to you on this crisp, fall day. 

I am so grateful for so many reasons.

I try to keep my blog pretty upbeat as I feel there is

always hope and much to celebrate. 

May I say that I have much more hope for our 

country today than I did yesterday.

I understand that politics are very personal but I must say that

I am thankful for the turn out of our presidential election.

Without sharing details, I feel that there is much to be 

thankful for in our country.

And one of those is freedom. 

And you may have heard about the incident involving the shooting of

an AZ police officer and the taking of a 15 year old hostage.

 My son in law is a highway patrolman and was called to assist in the situation.

My 13 year old granddaughter was in the area as well. 

We are 45 miles from where it took place.

And I am just so very thankful for their safe return.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of

the police officer who lost his life. 

He was due to retire in two weeks.

I appreciate the multitudes of brave men and women

who work so hard and sacrifice so much to protect us.

Thank you for bearing with me. It's good to be positive and uplifting

but sometimes the real world needs and circumstances call for our attention.

I have many photos to share with you today.

I hope you enjoy your visit. 

Below is a golden hour walk through the Sugartree woods.

Such beauties in nature. 

The warmth and brilliant color I find in this woodland world

sometimes takes my breath away,

The path that I share with the deer and other wild animals.

Have you ever read Walden by Henry David Thoreau?

It's very fascinating and thought provoking. When I am surrounded by such

beauty in nature, it makes me think of his long walks and obsession with

the outdoors and the simple life.

 Are you familiar with Sweet Stock?

They are some of my favorites. A few years ago, I planted some here but they didn't

do well. The plants were growing in the planter from mid summer but I didn't know what they were. The foliage looked somewhat like Petunias. I let them grow as I

can never pull anything that could be a flower! 

My patience paid off and when I returned from Ohio, 

these beauties were there to greet me! Oh they smell so heavenly and have 

the prettiest, old-fashioned looking blooms! I do hope that they continue

 to come back and grace my yard with their loveliness.

 Here are a few shots from The Narrows in New Mexico.

 Such majestic and gorgeous formations. 

 I made many new kitty friends while in Ohio. This sweet fellow came to 

visit me during my quiet times in the Sugartree gypsy camp.

The others were all met while shopping. 

They were sort of store greeters! There were three in all. 

It was so charming to have them follow 

me around while I shopped.

Do you enjoy backroads?

I do. 

Honestly, this is one of my favorite things about being

in Ohio. Such rustic charm and it's so peaceful.

I have so many girlhood memories of dirt roads.

Picking wildflowers and visiting neighbors.

I road my horse, walked and bicycled for miles all over the countryside.

My wanderings began when I was about 10 years old and

I love to wander still~

Here we are back in AZ.

 This is the last of the tomatoes and I had some fun with

gathering herbs and flowers around the yard to make this arrangement.

Aren't nature and gardening glorious?

And so beautiful how they blend together in perfect harmony.

I have been working every spare minute that I can on Christmas

offerings to sell and give away. I have also

been working on some pie pumpkins to give as gifts.

The past two weekends were so fun as we had the kids over for a 

big breakfast with all the fixins and fried apples too!

It was a lovely time.  We also had a fall party one evening.

It was complete with a bonfire, with the gypsy camp trails all aglow

with white and orange twinkle lights and caramel apples for dessert.

We adults played some music and sang around the fire while the kids

ran the lighted trails like wild Indians!

It was VERY chilly but so fun!

I hope you've been enjoying your autumn. 

I'd love to hear about  what you've been doing.

Thanksgiving is just a round the corner!

I have a simple project to share next time.

Have a wonderful week and thank you for your visit.

You are all so special and I appreciate you so much!

Hugs,

Tamara

Fall Beauty in the Sugartree Gypsy Camp ~

Hello hello hello!

I hope this finds you well!

I am home and very happy to be here.

Thank you all so much for all of your sweet travel thoughts and wishes.

I'm so glad that I made the commitment to keep in closer touch this time. 

And being able to get a little internet in the gypsy camp helped a lot.

Though I try to keep that as a sort of sacred place for

music and special visits, sometimes it was

necessary for keeping in touch with the rest of the world.

It was a memorable trip!

So many good things happened.

The gatherings with family are always so special and 

it makes us all happy.

The beauty of the country walks are incredible. 

And I have many friends and neighbors that I enjoy

seeing. There is never enough time!

But taking the time to be with all of these people is

important to me.

It's very disruptive to my Arizona life though and I hope to be able

to figure out how to smooth out some of those rough

spots in the future so I can continue these lovely and

priceless visits.

Here are a few highlights..

*seeing my kids and new grandbaby in OK

*visiting my brother in the nursing home

*my nieces wedding

*seeing nieces and nephews

*being with siblings ALtogether

*watching movies with my other sister

*time crafting with my sister

*walks with my daughter

*filling the van and going for ice cream

*visiting friends

and then things like:

 *shopping

*beautiful walks

*listening to the geese fly over camp at night

*collecting a hornet's nest

(smiles)

 I've always wanted one to hang in my art room

strange... I know!

*********

And now, I invite you to enter my woodland sanctuary...

I am so thankful to be able to have these places where I can create my

outdoor sanctuaries. It seems to be a need for me to be outdoors.

I think I must have some true gypsy ancestry somewhere in my background! 

 It seems that my posts are not complete without some kind of critter! haha. 
And there's a little story here. 
I met this colorful creature while hanging my lights. I
 actually touched him, (eek) he moved, I screamed.
But it stayed.... and stayed.

That evening, he was hanging on the lace curtain.  

My daughter and I were happy to have him join our party.

 I hope he enjoyed the music!

He/she could've been singing along as we could hear
 many of the forest creature's singing in the night.

(He was probably a nice tenor ;)

I love those sounds~

The next morning, 
I went searching and our little friend

was in a different tree.

After that visit, it went on it's way.
Au revoir,  little friend.

I was glad to have seen this unique little frog. 
I thought it was quite pretty..
for a frog...  haha! And it actually looked more like a toad to me. 

I've never seen a tree frog like it. 

Golden hour glistening through the tulle..

One evening when some plans fell through,

I indulged myself with an entire evening out in the enchanted forest

 just playing music and listening to the crackle of the fire.

I rarely get an evening alone.

I made a s'more with dark chocolate and sipped some red wine.

It was lovely.. and the treat is a new favorite.

Do you enjoy time to yourself?

If so, what do you like to do?

There are so many wonderful things to choose from!

Thank you for joining me for my tour and adventure.
I do hope that you're having some wonderful and amazing adventures of your own!

Life is good and hard and rich
and sometimes circumstances are crushing and take our breath away...

In the midst of all it's goodness and harshness, we hold on
and create memories and grab the nuggets of beauty.

I have a prayer request for a blogging friend of mine.
We've never met in person but she is one of the sweetest, most sincere
ladies. She has just lost her daughter in an accident. 

Thank you so much and sweet blessings to you.

Hugs,
Tamara XO

Book Altering Fun...and Life Photos

Hello everyone..

What a lovely and festive autumn it's been so far!

I am still at our lovely Sugartree place and will be headed out on the road this Saturday and by Monday, if all goes well, we will

be back at our Arizona mountain home.

I'm at the laundromat and have only a few minutes to say hello

and then I will be going to visit my brother

in the nursing home. I'm so happy

that I'm able to see him several times while I'm here.

My time here has been most wonderful. I have photos to share when I return home. My editing and time is so limited.

The nights are cooling and the heat from the campfires in the gypsy

camp have felt very good and the draping twinkle lights

 warm my heart!

***************

I have altered and embellished

 some simple composition books and would like to share 

them with you!

They are the black and white, dollar type. 

This and the one below are mini comp books.

These pictures are from a walk that we took in the early fall. 

The wildflowers come late to the mountains.

There's a canyon that runs behind our house and we walk

there when we can..

It has beautiful rocks and cliffs and views of the

mountains that we're so blessed to live in!

I can just imagine how the water must rush through

this canyon when it rains! I've always wanted to watch it but 

never have ventured back that way. 

 And then there's Brutus..

being his charming, dramatic self! 

haha

This is the picture that I spoke of a few posts back.

What a ham!

And some of two-legged friends:)

And this ones on a mission!

I'm sorry if this seemed rushed.

I'm looking forward to having more time again soon.

In the meantime..

I remember the seasons and living in the present.

Embracing the moment and the special

things that it affords.

Such as visiting my brother

and a little less tech time.

Blessings to my friends.

Have a wonderful week and thank you

so much for coming by! 

I appreciate you so much.

Tamara XO