You were all scarves and suitcases,
scented candles and autumn leaves.
You welcomed the dreary gray sky
with a sunshine smile
and I swear
the snow danced with you every year
on its first night in town.

~ Alicia N Green (Contemporary American poet and writer)
Shared whimsically by Betty Hanselman
Gardener’s wife (& enthralled by all things autumnal)

Autumn … the year’s last, loveliest smile.

~ William Cullen Bryant

Gladly shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& thankful)

With the Thanksgiving Holiday officially over, can we stretch it out a bit longer and share a few of the grace gifts we’ve noticed and given thanks for lately? Please consider slowing just a bit; sit in the moment and look around at the beauty in the people, vistas, life around you. What loveliness is filling your heart right now? Feel free to share it in the comments below:-)

“For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
over and around us lies;

For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light;

For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild . . .

Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.”

~ Folliet Pierpoint (English poet and hymn writer; 1835-1917)

We wish you much joy as you gather with loved ones to give thanks on this special day. As we count our blessings, we think of you!

Sincerely,

James and Betty Hanselman

(for all of us at Hanselman Landscape)

“The wind that makes music in November corn is in a hurry. The stalks hum, the loose husks whisk skyward in half-playing swirls, and the wind hurries on… A tree tries to argue, bare limbs waving, but there is no detaining the wind.”

~ Aldo Leopold (American author, philosopher, naturalist, ecologist, and conservationist; 1887-1948)

I invite you to join me on a walk outside in the blustery joy of a November wind. Gather and savor the liveliness of leafless trees scraping the sky and a skein of southbound geese cleaving the clouds. Rejoice in the unique beauty of your late autumn garden . . . .

Gratefully shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& joyful wind-walker)

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
With all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The gray smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

~ Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer; 1850-1894)

Joyfully shared by Betty Hanselman
Gardener’s wife (& autumn campfire enthusiast)

“November with uncanny witchery in its changed trees. With murky red sunsets flaming in smoky crimson behind the westering hills. With dear days when the austere woods were beautiful and gracious in a dignified serenity of folded hands and closed eyes–days full of a fine, pale sunshine that sifted through the late, leafless grandeur of the trees and glimmered among the grey beeches, lighting up evergreen banks of moss and washing the colonnades of the pines.”

~ Lucy Maud Montgomery (paraphrased slightly, with apologies)

Gratefully shared by Betty Hanselman
Gardener’s wife (& gladly reminded of November’s beauty)