My 'Lil Punkin

I'd rather sit alone on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
 - Henry David Thoreau

Week #39 LIFE'S simple pleasures - Fall

 

Are you experiencing the first days of fall in your neck of the woods? 

 

The nights are cool and crisp, the leaves are beginning to turn colors and fall from the trees, the newspapers are advertising fall festivals, coffee shops are promoting warm specialty spiced drinks and pumpkins are sitting, waiting to be purchased at the garden center.

 

LIFE'S simple pleasures: thick orange or yellow shelled winter squash - the pumpkin.

 

I like to decorate with pumpkins.   I have a few here and there.

 

Did you know that Illinois is one of the top providers of this crop?

 

 

Four fun facts about pumpkins:

• During colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient in the crust, not the filling
• The largest pumpkin has weighed in at 1,140 lbs
• The flowers on a pumpkin are edible
• 90% of the pumpkin is water

 

It's been years since I had to try and figure out what an author/poet meant by his writing.  I always thought... they could write for only writing sake, couldn't they?  Not everything has to mean something else?  That, it why I'm just a little blog writer I guess....my meaning behind my posts is to expose friends and family who follow me... to enjoy the simple pleasures in LIFE. 

 

Maybe a pumpkin brings back memories of when you were a child and you went to the pumpkin patch each year, and wondered around looking for that perfect shaped pumpkin with the crooked stem.  Or maybe as an adult you love the pumpkin spiced candles that great you when you walk into Bath and Body Works. It could be that you look forward to fall, because you know that you will be able to order (or make) delicious pumpkin pie with cool whip!

 

So? Is Henry David Thoreau talking about being well rounded and grounded as an individual as he sits on his pumpkin?  Be unique and set yourself apart from the crowd.

 

Now go Brighten Someone's Day

Go SHINE!

Feeling a Little Stuffed

I haven't really learned to laugh at myself...

I tend to giggle....
...sometimes with extreme excitement when things come together! 

And yet most of what I do... is quite simple.  I'm not out to create or design something fantabulous, but I do know my purpose is to put a little SHINE in my corner of the world!

 

Week # 38 LIFE'S simple pleasures - fall

 

So many things come to mind when I think of fall.  It's sweater time in the Midwest (which means hopefully, no more sweatin') oh, a cute boot weather!!!  It means pumpkins and jack-o-laterns.  Apple cider and pumpkin spice. Crunchy leaves and corn stalks.  And scarecrows.

 

I giggle like a little school girl because I remember I had this picture.  Now, where to find it after 2 moves to different states and 15 years!!!!  I think I always wanted to be a clown.  Perform, act, dress up and wear make-up.  One particular neighborhood we lived in, parent participation in our annual  Halloween parade was 'almost' mandatory.

 

What can I say?  Fall and scarecrows are synonymous.

 

Scarecrows or hay-men are human shaped decoys dressed in old clothing out in the field to protect the crops from seed eating crows!  They can be scary with ugly masks and dangling limbs that wave in the wind... or they can be cute with happy smiles on their faces! I don't want to scare crows, let alone people with my cute and whimsical scarecrows, they are a staple in fall decorations and on greeting cards!

 

Can you tell which one of these scrappy, floppy, happy men I made? And which is store bought?

 

I'm a little scarecrow stuffed with hay,

Standing watch in my field all day.

when I see a crow I like to shout,

"Hey Mr. Crow, you'd better get out"

 

I think I might go outside and just stand in the sun SHINE.  No crows to chase away here.... maybe a hawk or a cardinal! 

 

And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.

 

Fall into Autumn

No matter what you call it, a lot of people are excited that yesterday finally arrived, I believe at 3:44 PM central standard time.

A few weeks ago I posted on my blog, that it 'un-officially' began Labor Day Weekend.  Anything for a celebration and a sale.... I guess.

But it's finally here...

Autumn
Fall
Fall Harvest

WEEK #39 LIFE'S Simple Pleasures - Fall

 

I brought out my 'fall decorations' a few weeks ago. 

 

It's not that I'm wishing the seasons by, but I was ready to change out some of my home decor.  I can't help but 'fall' in love with all the bright reds, oranges and yellows.  Especially when I go into Hobby Lobby almost every week and the foliage and wreathes, and the bows and the raffia and the card making papers are so darn cute. And then of course there are... the pumpkin spice drinks, the sweaters and scarves, the changing leaves, corn stalks, scarecrows, hay rides, apple picking, festivals etc....

 

I try to recycle or re-use or up cycle or thrift shop for things.  Anything from clothes to cooking supplies. It's the challenge of the find.

 

The old chair in the top photo (my mom found on garbage day or somewhere)  has been sitting around waiting for something to do forever.  I just haven't gotten around to painting it, but it fits the rustic look. That's natural wear and tear on the edges of the chair!

I've had the sunflowers, the fall leaves and the pumpkin for what seems like forever.  I just dust them off, pull the cobwebs clean and try to rearrange them each year.  I found the tub at $avers for $4.  It still had the tag on from Home Goods at $15.99.  I was going to paint it... but I liked it.  Everything does kind of blend into my house color... but then the orange pops out.  I found the metal scarecrow at Old Time Pottery and it was $4.99.

And the fun sprigs of color in the ball jar (in the 2nd photo) is something I 'whipped' up last year after seeing hundreds of different uses for glass ball jars on Pinterest.  Fits my decorating purpose, perfectly!!

Do you like it when the season's change? Simple pleasure or LIFE altering?

LIFE starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Secret Heart

Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows.

** title of this post is the title of a song by Feist

 

Week #38 LIFE'S simple pleasures - hearts

 

I've been looking for hearts.  Collecting them with the lens of my iPhone.

 

When we go Geocaching or a walk around the neighborhood, I'm try to find nature working it's magic, creating this simple shape.  Above, seeds together fell from the tree and landed on the ground and I saw the heart!

 

Love in unexpected places.

 

I'm still going to collect hearts on nature walks and when they just happen!  A sign from the universe? It's like a secret!!

 

Sometimes, on personalized creative greetings, I doodle a heart. They may be obvious... or they could be slightly hidden.  It's like a "where's waldo" game! 

 

Where's the heart???

 

Dear Heart:

please stop getting involved in everything.  Your job is to pump blood, that's it!

 

Off to look for secret hearts!

Heart Check

Write it on your heart that everyday is the best day in the year - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Week #38 LIFE'S simple pleasures - hearts

 

Just like the word SHINE and being a part of the House of SHINE - finding things that SHINE...

 

This year of simple pleasures I having been trying to find things that are about the heart.  Hearts in nature, hearts in art, hearts on cards,  I heart ♥'s!!!!

Although I don't think it is sign language, a lot of Instagram and Facebook pictures have people holding their fingers together in the shape of heart.  Do you know how hard it is to take a picture like this by yourself?  Ha ha.... I had my hubby help me.  Neither one of us have ever really formed our fingers like this ... there is something about it though.... holding your fingers and hands together and raising them above your head up to the beautiful sky... that truly means love!

 

Put you heart, mind, intellect and soul even into your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.

 - Swami Sivananda

Wikipedia defines heart : The heart symbol or "heart shape" (♥) is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense as the center of emotion, including affection and love, especially (but not exclusively) romantic love

 

I've taken on a personal challenge not only to SHINE, but to look for hearts in nature.  I think it's a sign ...

 

It's a wild and wonderful LIFE (world)... follow your heart and let the adventure unfold!

Change of Heart ♥

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart  - Mahatma Gandhi

The shape of a heart doesn't need to be perfect for you to know what it is.

So, can you tell where I found this heart or what it is made from???  But you still can see that it is a heart, right?

I picked up my recycling container and below it I on found this on the garage floor.  It's the stain left behind from some sort of 'liquid' from the open holes of the bin.

Week #38 LIFE'S simple pleasures - hearts

 

I was looking back through my LIFE book and discovered I have touched upon the topic of hearts before, around Valentine's Day, Week #7.  There are no rules when writing my blog posts, so I can touch upon a simple pleasure again, there is always another twist to the topic.  As I mentioned yesterday, it is amazing when I choose a topic for the week, how many different things I can find about it with a quick search on the Internet.

 

Another example would be like in Week #24 the simple pleasure was the Front Porch....a google search brought up cafes and antique stores with that as their name.  Sounds of Summer from week #36 is the name of a Beach Boys Album.

 

Home is where you hang your heart.

 

I like to add secret hearts to some of my artwork.  Not that I'm specifically trying to hide them, but it's like my little trademark for some of the journaling art I do and on some of my special cards.  Because I truly create from my he♥art.

 

What makes your heart flutter?

 

Every Beat of My Heart

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart - Helen Keller

Week #38 LIFE'S simple pleasures - hearts

A lot of people collect hearts!

Not the loving hearts from a family member, but actual hearts that they find on their journey though LIFE.  Real heart shaped 'things'.  This week I want to explore hearts.

On one of my walks I found this heart shaped leaf.  There are a lot of leaves in the shape of the heart and each one I see is beautiful.  I like how there are two different leaf shapes in this picture and there is a small stream of light separating them.  But the way I stood on the path I only really noticed the top leaf, the dip in the center made the heart ♥ shape say....'hey, look down here!'.

 

It has been an interesting journey seeking out LIFE'S simple pleasures for me personally and for my 2013 posts to my blog. 

 

This is week #38 and I've seen an interesting pattern in my search and research.  Many of my simple pleasures are names of musical groups,  civic organizations, titles of songs/books/poems, or something defined completely different than my initial idea.

 

Heart is a singing duo from the 70s, Mended Hearts is an organization to aide awareness to prevent heart attacks, Achy Breaky Heart (* the title to  my blog post is from a Rod Stewart Song) A heart ♥ is a symbol for love or it's an organ that keeps you alive.

 

Do you collect hearts?  

 

Stay tuned to see what else I found. Nature has an interesting sense of humor.  I've also made a lot of he♥ART art!

 

Wherever you go, go with all your heart - Confucius