Autumnal Abundance

Merry Christmas To Me!!

Yup! Christmas came early to this house! Yesterday morning my son came over to help me with a 'little' job around the house and after some raspberry-filled Munchkin's from Dunkin' Donuts out on the patio, we ended up going shopping instead! It wasn't planned, but you know how sometimes those spur-of-the-moment shopping trips turn out to be some of the best?? Well, let me tell you, Christmas came early to this house!! I've coveted one of these for several years now and any time I see someone with theirs, I think "Gosh, I wish I had one of those.... do you know what I could do with one??!!??"

Behold my new present from Santa (aka myself):

That's right! I got a new CHAIN SAW ON A TELESCOPING POLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Behold its glory and omnipresence!!! Behold it's power and possibilities!! Behold its promise of dead branches gone!! Isn't it gorgeous??!??

After a bit of assembly and some oil to get things lubed up, the time came to power this baby on and get to work - and WORK we did! Actually, I should state right now that of ALL of the branches we cut, my son did them all, but one. To tell you the truth, he was stunned by the shear power of this little gadget and after the first 'little' branch came spear-heading down into the ground, impaling itself upright and proving to be more like 18 feet tall, he was like a little boy with a new choo-choo train to play with! Of course, others gathered to witness the greatness, too!

We spent 4 hours trimming off branches from my back jacaranda, my pine tree in the English Garden and my front jacaranda. He even cut up 20 foot branches by detaching the chain saw and cutting them up into firewood logs for his outdoor fire pit! This toy works like a CHARM and made child's play of every branch we tackled. It was awesome!!!

Yes, there were a few bumps in the road - like me falling flat over the extension cord - in front of prospective buyers for the neighbor's house. (I'm sparing you pictures of my bruises - trust me, they are not pretty.) An injured thumb was acquired on the way down, too. We started early in the day to avoid the desert heat, but there's no way to do that at 1:00 in the afternoon. It's never a good sign when it's 100 degrees outside and you're getting 'the chills' (even after drinking plenty of water). But we managed and I dragged, raked, carried, stacked, crushed, swept and trashed all of the big limbs, broken branches, pine cones and other debris into the driveway for bulk trash pick-up this week. And the result is this:

It makes me want to do my happy dance!!

After a cold, cold shower and more water, the Magster and I headed over to son's house and I treated everyone to a pizza dinner (and ibuprofen, too!). So I don't get that macro lens for my camera this year....it's okay. I'll just place a big red bow on my chain saw and carefully lay it under the Christmas tree. (Oh, I hope my tree is okay with that!)

And the beauty of all of this????

Bulk trash pickup week for the month of October!!! I can't wait!!

Is There Really Such A Thing......... ??

......as too much of a good thing????

Can you really love the clouds too much? Can you see too many clouds?? Can gorgeous clouds of all shapes, sizes and colors become too much? Too many??

Last night a bestest friend invited me out for dinner with her family and a cousin from 'across the pond'. We went to a wonderful steakhouse up on a mountain here in our desert land. All afternoon the thunderheads had been building - some releasing their rains, others lying in wait for a later pour. Heading to the restaurant, I could hardly keep my eyes on the freeway; the bank of clouds was unlike any I had seen all summer!!! OHHH, I wish I had had my Nikon with me!! We were seated in a comfy booth by the front of the restaurant - with its floor-to-ceiling windows and let me tell you .... the view was nothing short of SPECTACULAR!!! There were several huge thunderstorm cells surrounding the valley and the lightning was unbelievable! As the sun set, wispy pinks, lavendars, steel blues and grays shared the stage - with bumbly cloud tops illuminated by bolts deep within. Through all of this, plane after plane after plane glided in on their approach and decent at our airport....like brilliant diamonds hanging by invisible threads ... dancing through the energy of the storms unfazed. Wonderful company, an excellent steak and the most incredible display - compliments of Mother Nature and God.

I know there's such a thing as too much roast turkey, or too many 'nectar-of-the-gods', or too much chocolate (well, fortunately, that's a very rare occurrence!)....

but clouds????

.... never.

From This To This

When you wake up to this.... and this.....

and it's so dark that your garden lights look like this....

and you begin to hear this....

and you start to feel this...

and the scent of the desert rain makes you do this....

then you have to make this....