I recently took a walk on a bright, warm and sunny, fall afternoon. To me the colors of fall in New England are “Magic“! But this one, once I made some changes with the Pixlr app, looked just as magical as anything I’d snapped in color. It’s Queen Anne’s Lace which grows everywhere around me, particularly on the edge of wooded areas near my home. In the summer, the plant is a beautiful bright white against it’s green stem and leaves. Now that we’re deep into the fall, all that remained is the dry brown stem and beige flower. I did take a bunch of shots of colorful leaves, too; but, I’ll save them for another day. Enjoy!
I guess I’m completely obsessed now with this prompt for the Weekly Photo Challenge; if three posts for the same prompt can be considered obsessed.
I was looking through pictures on my laptop for some to send to a co-worker for an upcoming publication. She asked if I had any from the recent Annual Walk that we do in the Spring. I trolled through what I had and thought this one would fit the bill for the Challenge.
It rained the day of the Walk. Not just a few drops here or there, but full-on, down pouring rain for three hours. All through the set up of tents, the 5k run, games for the kids, a check presentation; it rained and rained, but people kept coming! Not as many as in the years before but enough to keep it interesting and to raise over $80,000!
My Thank You today is for the souls who braved the weather to make our day such a success! After all the sun came out as soon as we’d finished the clean-up!
Tonight I had to stop atWalmart at the end of my very busy work week, to do my shopping for the holiday drive where I work. My husband and I are sponsoring one of the 1,200 families that will be helped this year by Children’s Friend! I am so proud to work for this agency, I can’t tell you enough about it!
You can call me “Al”!
Anyway, earlier in the day I’d read about this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge: Community. As always, bloggers are encouraged to show their stuff; how we individually interpret the challenge. Well, as I mentioned I was at Walmart tonight and as I left the store the Salvation Army Kettle Bell ringer was at the door. Wishing shoppers a happy holiday and a friendly “stay warm”, I dropped my dollar bill into the round red pot and thanked, thanked him for doing a great job, and made my way to the other end of the lot where I’d parked my car.
As I walked away I thought, “this is it, this is community!” I turned on my heels and headed back to the front door of the store. I asked the bell-ringer if I could take his picture. I explained that a I write a blog and that I wanted to write about him tonight. I asked his name and with the biggest, broadest smile he jumped up from his seat and said, “You can call me Al. Where do you want me to stand?” As you can see he stood next to his kettle. I took the picture and after getting approval from him I shook his hand, wished him well and went on my way.
This season when you see a bell-ringer, drop something–anything, into the bucket. And, say thank you to that person weathering the cold, wind, snow, rain; doing his or her best to make sure the kettle gets filled and the Salvation Army can continue to do its good work; this is COMMUNITY!
