Monday, October 27, 2014

A Beautiful Day


I woke up to beautiful sunshine this morning, 
after a very stormy weekend. 


The wind and rain created a lovely carpet
of fallen needles for my morning walk. 


A golden carpet. 


A casualty of the storm....
My rose arbor.....
Luckily the roses survived with minimal damage. 
Another project for my sweet Ramblin' Man. 


There were also plenty of fallen branches 
for Champ to play with. 


I interrupt a game of 'tug'! 
Whitey Bear knows I have treats. 

We take our morning walk to feed the birds. 


A surprise along the path....


I  have never seen this variety growing here before,
aren't they beautiful?

Don't let their beauty fool you, though, 
these are the poisonous Amanita muscaria



I believe this subspecies is called Flavivolvata. 

You can see how large the opened cap is 
next to my hand. 


They are delightful to look at, 
just don't touch! 


I look around to see there is a little colony
hidden among the leaves. 


Tiny 'magic mushrooms' also reside close by! 

Nature is not to be feared, but respected. 
Each species serves a purpose in the delicate 
balance of life and needs to be protected. 


We leave behind the magic of the forest and head for home. 


We are in between storms and the sky is quite moody
despite the sunshine. 


I took this photo of dramatic skies over the weekend. 


But I had plenty of 'sunshine' over the weekend, 
as my sweet daughter, Heather and cousin Shawnee
stopped by for a visit! 





Heather made homemade lemon cookies :) 

We had a wonderful visit and stuffed ourselves
with homemade minestrone soup, slices of banana bread, 
and cookies for dessert! 


She gifted me with the charming cookie dish and this 
sweet bouquet of flowers
in the painted canning jar. 

In my favorite color, turquoise! 
(notice there are a few cookies missing :)


My Ramblin' Man bought me sunflowers...

You see, it was my birthday....


Today I am celebrating the first day in the last year
of my 5th decade. 

My goodness, where did the time go? 


But I am feeling so blessed on this beautiful morning. 


I have so many wonderful memories to look back upon...


And so many yet to come....
(including a shared birthday celebration
this coming weekend with my Dear Daughter-in-Law, Erica)


As I reflect upon the years of my life, 
and those yet to come, 
I am truly grateful for every moment- 
the struggles that gave me strength and clarity, 
patience, resilience, and courage...
and the sweet things that fill my life with 
joy, contentment, fulfillment and love. 


Yes, it is a beautiful morning - 
the first day of the rest of my life. 

xoxo 

Wishing you, Dear Friends, many lovely blessings 
for your 'first day', too! 

xoxo

28 comments:

  1. Hello Beatrice, Happy Birthday to you! I hope your day was wonderful, sounds great to me.. Your daughter and cousin are lovely. And the cookies, I zoned right onto. Wish I could taste one too. I love your cute puppy dogs.. You live in a beautiful area, gorgeous photos.. Have a happy week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. a very happy birthday to you, karen! your skies are/were gorgeous. champ and whitey made me smile. if i'm good, may i please have a lemon cookie? ;) so glad you had visitors for your birthday weekend. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Birthday sweet lady. Sounds like you had a wonderful day. The pictures on your walk are just amazing. The sky, the forest, the walk way, all glorious…..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy birthday I wish you many happy years to come filled with laughter and love.
    I think it's raining everywhere we had a bit lately too.
    Merle..........

    ReplyDelete
  5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!!!!!!! Such an amazing post! I love that perspective shot of your stairs with the pine needles and those mushrooms! They are out of this world!!! I am so glad that your roses weren't hurt badly. And Oh how I could just cozy up at your table! It has that warm feeling that makes you want to eat, share, and be happy! And you are so right...so many blessings all around! That is what I realized when I was away from my blog. Blogging always reminds me of the simple and wonderful beauty in this life! Have an awesome birthday celebration friend!!! Nicole xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dearest Karen,
    Happy belated Birthday to you! How fast those years tick away...
    Lovely photos of the younger generation and also from your walk with the energetic duo.
    The sky was indeed moody looking.
    Oh, such an arbor has almost to be anchored into some cement, embedded below ground level. The elements can be so rough!
    Sending you hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Karen,
    Happy Birthday to you and a wonderful day!
    Lovely pictures, you live in suhc a beautiful area! Thank you for this wonderful walk. I am glad, your roses survived in the storm!
    Sending much Love and hugs and blessings,
    Claudia xoxox

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Birthday Karen , I love the place you live , surrounded by so much nature.
    Have a nice day, Sending you hugs,

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy birthday sweet friend! May your life is always filled with caress and love.Your home looks so welcoming and cozy...and this crochet blanket on the little sofa must be a real tresor.
    Wishes for happinness for ever!
    Olympia

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy birthday, Karen! I just love your photos, especially the mushrooms. Yikes!
    Your house looks so cozy and the perfect place for a relaxing day spent with family. Have a great birthday week!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Karen,
    Happy Birthday to my wonderful friend! This post was so nice filled with so many beautiful things, where do I start? I loved how you said, "a lovely carpet of fallen needles" - and these two pictures are so pretty. That is the strangest looking mushroom, and have never seen anything like it before. Your close-ups of it are fantastic. The lemon cookies that your daughter made look yummy, and I really like the turquoise canning jar. Such a cute picture of Heather and her cousin. Did I ever tell you that I love that little table that's sitting next to your white sofa? It's very unique, and do I ever admire different and unique.

    Beautiful post today, Karen. Yes, we are blessed, indeed.

    ~Sheri

    ReplyDelete
  12. A delightful and charming series of photos here. Beautiful girls and the dogs are so cute. I love the warmth in your home, and all the outside shots are gorgeous also.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy, happy birthday to you! It sounds like you had a perfect day with more celebrating to come. Beautiful pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy birthday to you! October is the best month to have a birthday (I can say that as I am a child of October as well) ;)

    Many blessings to you lovely Lady. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Beautiful pictures and beautiful post. Happy birthday! I love the look of your mushrooms, though I wouldn't taste any of them!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Happy Birthday Karen. Such a lovely way to celebrate your special day. Blessings to you for the year ahead. I love the photo of the mountains in the moody clouds. Amazing! xx Pam

    ReplyDelete
  17. Happy Birthday! It looks like you had a great day with loved ones. That was a crazy storm last weekend. I am really glad that there wasn't much damage here other than a few small branches that broke. And I am always reminding my kids to stay away from wild shrooms. Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Happy Birthday Karen. Those mushrooms are amazing aren't they. It is so fascinating to see all the different colours of them. I hope that your rose arbour can be stood up again and that the roses are all OK. xx

    ReplyDelete
  19. A very Happy Birthday to you our lovely Karen! A wonderful walk amongst the needles, and those mushrooms... beautiful but dangerous! Your mountain looks mesmerizing as usual and I am glad the storm passed. I am raising a glass to you in celebration for many more birthdays to come - including the special ones!! :-) xx

    ReplyDelete
  20. Happy birthday Karen! What a beautiful post! Love those amazing mushrooms, like out of a storybook. And the view of the mountains is gorgeous. Cookies and tea, with flowers, are a perfect way to celebrate with loved ones. Your dogs are adorable, how they must love their rambles with you.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Happy birthday to you, Karen! What nice reflections on life. Isn't it fun to have the 'kids' at home. Love your photos and those wild toadstools! They're so pretty. Who wouldn't want to eat them. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Happy Birthday, my sweet, beautiful friend! Your post was a delight just like you :)

    Lets see, where do I begin... never thought I would say this about mushrooms, but the ones you showed us are rather cute and pretty.

    The picture of the mountains and sky is stunning and took my breath away - what a glorious sight!

    Also, Shawnee's hair is supper cute! :)

    Thank you for another wonderful post, my friend. You are a joy and blessing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ummm... not "supper" cute, I meant "super" cute! haha :)

      Delete
  23. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Karen! Wow what beautiful photos and such a nice dinner too. I love your flowers! I hope you enjoy yiur birthday week. Thanks for the lovely walk in the woods too.
    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  24. Aww Happy Birthday, sweet friend! What a way to celebrate, with a lovely walk, sunshine, and a meal with your daughter and niece. You enjoy the simple things and I love that about you. Blessings for another wonderful year ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  25. A beautiful day and so many beautiful pictures from a lovely home...
    Have a happy week and take care!
    Warmly,
    Titti

    ReplyDelete
  26. What a beautiful and simple birthday you were blessed with, Karen. To begin your day with a walk, how glorious is that!? You are surrounded with magnificent beauty.
    Those lemon cookies looked perfect.
    Happy to hear that your roses survived.
    Thank you for your lovely visit and precious words you left on my blog.
    Sweet blessings, Debbie

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are important to me and are very much appreciated. xx Karen

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...