crunch time...

the colors become more intense every day now...

and with all the clutter...

there is not sneaking up on someone...

but it's the crunch...

even if it's been in the 80s...

it's finally starting to look like fall...

Bebe was having so much  fun...

rolling and running...

the railroad has been very busy here lately...

the crops are coming in...

and good  news on the beans up  north...

65-70 bushel an acre...

that's good, real good...

after being dusted off...

yeah, you know someone got a bath before bed...

this tree is special...

we planted it when my mom died...

17 years ago the end of this month...

and it was a fall like this one...

late with tons of color...

and the drive to the cemetery following her body was the most magnificent fall scene...

the road twists and turns on its way back to a little church with the grave yard next to it...

and the woods were ablaze...

and sky was the most blue...

so, I went out and bought this tree...

a red maple...

to remind me of that ride...

that moment...

funny how things can take you right back to a specific place...

and my memory is pretty good...

but I remember sitting there, just absorbing everything...

the colors...

the breeze...

so I would never forget that beautiful day...

this tree was one trunk...

planted it and it made it through the winter...

that summer and fall...

but the next spring it had died...

this is the shoots that grew up beside it...

it is reborn...

a second coming...

and it marks the passing of time between then and now...

17 years...

now, let's get back to the topic I started off with...

fall crunch time...

but with so much fading...

there is still brilliant life...

that is a falling walnut caught in the air before it hit the ground...

crunch, thud, crunch, thud...

that's what we heard out there...

and there is one happy boy...

loving the weather...

the leaves...

the crunch...

the fun...

he had a good day...

well, here it is...

almost 5am...

got up way too early...

had fried potatoes and eggs...

and need to head back to bed for an hour or so...

got more sorting and purging to do today...

and of course...

I want some outdoor time...

got rain coming in tomorrow...

mostly cloudy today...

but still crunchy...