'Tis the Season

I was in Wal-mart this morning and they were playing Christmas music! Whatever happened to Thanksgiving?? Oh well, Merry Thanksgivoween! Oh yeah, have you got your Valentines bought yet?

Autumn Leaves

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

Poetry

I have to admit, I do love poetry. Probably something I got from my mother. One of my favorite poems is called If and it was written by Rudyard Kipling. I had not thought about it in a long time, but after I heard a portion of it recently on Music and the Spoken Word, I looked it up again. It is very timely, thinking of our candidates for President. It is a little long, but worth thoughtful consideration.

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

My Barack O'Lantern

I also HAD to do this pumpkin for the election year. The stencil came from a cool website called yeswecarve.com. Check it out! There are lots to choose from and photos of everyone's obama-esque creations. Grab change by the stem!

Karen's Pumpkins

Here is my pumpkin-- A Jack-O-Lantern devouring another Jack-O-Lantern. This one was fun to do.

Pumpkin Carving Night

Last night the girls carved their pumpkins. Mine are still "in progress". Gabrielle carved the cat one (she needs more scooping and scraping). I was trying to help her hold her pumpkin as she was getting some of the details and she slashed my finger too. She is dangerous with a knife, but it's only once a year, right? Madison did hers all by herself-- nice expression, huh? Happy Halloween!

King of the Bayou

One more shot from Louisiana. One of the gators must have taken this one.