November Harvest

1 - What on earth does this ugly bird have to do with a beauty harvest, you might wonder.  Well, first of all, he's really not that ugly if you take a minute to stare at him.  Actually, he's quite remarkable and I do find his feathers (and his face) rather beautiful.  Second of all, this is a roadrunner, and he - in my backyard - represents a beautiful part of November for me.  Of course, you'll need a short explanation in order to understand why.

We'll be real for just a minute and admit that November was not really a month of happys for me.  With November came the realization that--- I moved.  And that this place is very different than the other places I've known and loved.  Of course, there is a lot of hope that I will come to love this place too.  But I guess with November came the fear that I might not. 

You might have noticed that I fell quite far behind on my Harvest posts and that this is the third one in a row to complete the catch-up.  The reason for this is kind of coded in the words above.  This place is very different, and the beauty here is hard for me to find.  I have kept my eyes peeled and my camera close, but at the end of every month I have been scared to sift through and count the number of pictures I'd taken of Beauty because, what if I didn't have enough to fill a whole post?  Of course, the post is not really the important thing here.  But the symbol of the post... the proof that I can live here and love it here because 'here' is beautiful, too... 

Anyway, we're almost to the roadrunner, I promise.

I was feeling quite down one mid-November day, mulling through all of these thoughts in my head while cleaning the kitchen, and sent a silent prayer to the heavens that went something like, "Okay, Heavenly Father... I need some beauty.  I don't know if I just can't see it here very well, or if it's really not here, but please help me figure out how to fix this problem."  An hour later...

Enter Mr. Roadrunner.

He came into our backyard and ran around in circles while those of us who were home stared, laughing, with our noses pressed against the glass.  Have you ever seen a roadrunner run in circles?  You would laugh, too.  Brian dropped some bread outside to encourage him to stay, and despite TK chasing him out of the fence a few times, he did.  I'd never seen him before and I (sadly) haven't seen him since, but he sure picked the perfect day to come.  So he was an answer to my prayer, you see.   That's why he's beautiful to me.

Also, this funny (true) story:
The alarm clock rang at 6:00am this morning.  I hit the snooze button without opening my eyes and, as always, wished the night would have been longer.
"know what you should do?" I heard Brian slur through his sleepy cobwebs.
"hmmm?" I responded without moving my mouth
"you should post one of those pictures of the roadrunner on Facebook and see if anyone knows what it is."
"...?..."  I processed his sentence for ten seconds before mustering up enough energy to say, "that was your first thought this morning?"
We laughed, and it started our morning off beautifully.

2 - My sister's bouquet at her wedding.  So many ways beautiful.
3 - The boutonniere (geez!  had to look up the spelling on that one and check it five thousand times before I was sure it was correct!).
4 - Who knew Cold Stone could make their goods beautiful enough for a wedding reception?
5 - Sun kissed clouds
6 - Love this guy
7 - One cool thing about this city is that we are quite close to the airport, and that the skies are generally clear, so we get cool designs drawn in the sky.
8 - Patterns and textures
9 - Light.  Such beautiful light.
10 - Really beautiful if you think about it.

11 - This girl.  So beautiful from the inside on out.

12 - Just melt my little heart
13 - And then do it again.
14 - I loved the way the sun came through these puffy flowery things
15 - Okay... this may be one of my favorite pictures of this place so far.  I love the color of the sky, the hiding sun, the lines, the palm trees, the mountains in the distance... dreamy.
16 - You funny little flower, you.
17 - Oh Mr. Roadrunner. 
18 - My handsome men.  Beautiful that my husband carried around my scarf for me and largely forgot it was around his neck.
19 - Sweet feet.
20 - Pies! Pies! Pies!

21 - See, we are making friends.

22 - Another line in the sky.  And two beautiful kids to make the picture great.
23 - Oh Miles.  Please don't grow another second.  You are perfect.
24 - Yummmmm... Chocolate and pumpkin spice.
25 - So many places to explore.
26 - More puffy bushes!
27 - Love the light coming through these leaves.
28 - Some color.  I love the green wherever I can find it.
29 - I made the pie, one of my best friends made the gorgeous lattice top... beautiful.
30 - Bellagio fountains.  I really don't think I will ever get tired of watching them. 

31 - One more little tree trying to represent fall.  You are loved and noticed, beautiful little tree.