Grace,

Last summer while we were on vacation, my Sweet Hubby snapped this photo. It is evidently, what I do the most, take pictures. I was so lost in the moment, I did not even know he took the photo until we finally had them developed last week. I do that a lot these days, lose myself in a moment.

When was the last time you felt sheer JOY so strongly?

My life is full of grace. I don't mean that I am graceful (several people who know me probably just spit coffee all over their keyboards from laughing at that thought, I am a bit of a klutz) I mean that I have been and continue to be very lucky. I have so much to be thankful for.

(to see the photo I was taking go to

http://akatscorner.blogspot.com/2009/08/grand-tetons-utah-and-home.html )

I am lucky that I can share my pictures and my thoughts so easily. I am even luckier to have so many people who care about me to share them with. (Do you see the lovely yellow moth on my keyboard?) My big sister Margaret was quite ill not long ago, she is much improved. Her illness was a scary reminder of how much we all mean to one another.

We are connected by unbreakable threads, past, present and future. Family is a word like Joy, it somehow does not seem big enough or strong enough to really convey all that it means. I have an amazing family. I am loved.
Our home is warm and cozy. We have a good supply of wood stored safe and dry for the fireplace. The teapot is still full. Christmas music is playing (we get to decide when it is too early, right now, it sounds just right). Outside the wind is blowing and rain is falling, it is damp and dreary. Inside it is calm and full of love. Our home is a lovely old Antebellum house, yes, the house in the banner and in the photo at the top of the sidebar is where we live. It is our little kingdom, our refuge, a place for our stuff. Even when it is quiet it is full of the memory of laughter and music and cat hair. Spontaneous curls up to sleep and purrs.

We are surrounded by beauty and promises of possibilities.

Step out on the front porch on an autumn evening, the sky has been painted to coordinate with the trees. I have my Sweet Hubby to share sunsets and sunrises with. We have mistletoe in the oak at the end of the brick walkway. Each time one of us must leave without the other, we kiss goodbye under the mistletoe, not just at Christmas, but year round. Next month we will have been married for twenty six years. He is my love, my best friend, my teddy bear, my partner in all things. He understands me. His faith in me has kept me going many times when it would have been easier to give up. His sense of humor keeps me from getting too full of myself.

We live in the woods. Nature surrounds us. We go for walks together three or four times a week. Way back when, a decade or so ago, I took my annual fitness test for the Air Force, and failed (Yikes). We started walking together so I could get back in to shape to pass it. I did. I kept walking because I enjoyed his company and I wanted to keep him healthy, he keeps walking for me. We have been walking together ever since. When we go to shopping, we park at the far end of the lot and walk to the store (if we are together, we are usually holding hands). We walk in all the places we visit and we are in pretty good shape.

Back to the woods, I was just telling you about them. I can show you pictures and I can play recordings of the sounds, but I haven't figured out how to share the smell with you yet. Sometimes you can smell flowers, even if you don't see them right away. Sometimes, like now, you can smell the leaves and the damp. Outside the window, I can hear a silly old crow calling. We see hawks, crows, turtles, rabbits, squirrels, wild turkeys, and deer (although the deer are hiding right now, it is hunting season). We are surrounded by National Forrest.

As the days get shorter, more of our walks are in the late evening. My wonderful little camera does an excellent job with available light. Don't you think these colors are amazing? The woods are truly Mother Natures garden, a cathedral of light, color and sound.

Thanksgiving will be this week. As you can see from the sad state of poor old "Jack", Halloween is long gone. The seasons roll round again and Christmas is nearly here. Each season gives me new things to look forward to. Already there is a local station playing nothing but Christmas music and last night on the way back from Greenville, I spotted half a dozen houses with Christmas lights up.

I stepped out of Barnes and Noble in Greenville to be greeted by this site. My trusty camera was out before I knew it. The first of this years Christmas pictures is one of light. I hope your Thanksgiving is full of light and that you get the chance to feel the full magic in the words Love and Family and Joy. I have much to be thankful for, like I said, my life is full of grace.

Kat