A Riot of Color Has Been Bombarding Our Senses

The area around us is now blazing with color. I don't remember the last time we had so many brilliantly red, yellow and orange trees. Thankfully the rain and some recent winds haven't blown the leaves off before we are able to admire them everywhere we look. I keep thinking that the colors are more vivid and there seems to be more of them this year but then I wonder if I'm already missing the changing of the seasons since autumn has been one of my favorites. We had the pumpkins out front and welcomed a good number of little "creatures" for trick or treat and I realized that I'm going to miss that too.

We’ve had an autumn packed with work, visits from UK friends and house renovations but as a belated anniversary and my birthday trip we took a trip to Longwood Gardens for a chrysanthemum festival. The highlight of their exhibit was one plant that had 1,416 blooms – the biggest in Northern America. There we saw so many varieties of chrysanthemums and colors that you don’t normally think of that it’s hard to imagine that they originated in China hundreds of years ago and the first ones were only yellow. This link will provide you with some of my favorites https://picasaweb.google.com/102840684536112573599/LongwoodGardens?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPD40qyS8qCQVw&feat=directlink.

One of my treats to myself this year was to take a Vegan ‘holiday cooking’ workshop. It was really good fun and packed with oodles of nutrition information and recipes. I won’t get to try them out at Thanksgiving but they’ll be waiting for me when I get back. The stores are already getting stocked for Christmas, nearly crowding out the turkeys that instantly say it’s Thanksgiving time. I’ll be missing that holiday this year since I’ll be working in Spain but since I spent several years in the UK, it’s importance to me has lessened.  I’m taking a few things representing Thanksgiving so that I can explain the holiday to the Spaniards. I’ve realized that by the time I return in December, it will be only a short time until Christmas.

I probably won’t be posting a blog for another month as my schedule for the month that I’m in Spain followed by a few days in the UK will be packed to the brim. I hope that all of you Americans (and ex-pats) who celebrate Thanksgiving have a great holiday and enjoy the time with your families. For those of you in the other countries, whatever the season is now in your part of the world, remember to take time to enjoy what you are currently celebrating. Although the season will come back you might be in a different part of the world next year and everything will be totally different. Enjoy the moment!