Out and About on a Beautiful Day

Pope Francis‏Verified account @Pontifex 46m46 minutes ago

God does not disappoint! He has placed hope in our hearts so that it can blossom and bear fruit.  

Thank you, Pope Francis.  Your words today serve as a good reminder for all of us in these times of natural disasters, senseless and murderous violence, and juvenile soap operas with allegedly "adult" actors.

The current year has been a currant year around the Lovestead.  I've seen the leaves before but never the berries, and I find them in interesting places.  

This particular "currant bush" is located inside our far shelter shed where horses can get out of the rain when they're grazing in the hay field. 

Maybe, as the years go by, there'll be more currants, and I can harvest enough to make some jelly.  For now, they're just pretty bright red surprises, mostly along the fence lines. 

Yesterday was another day of cleaning out beds----the outside kind.  It's a tedious job of snipping and pulling weeds but well worth the effort come spring.  I also pulled up a lot of dying flowers bitten by the previous night's hard frost. 

Throughout the day, I kept hearing about the horrific forest fires raging in California's wine country.  

Turns out the second person (beyond my penpal) with whom I've corresponded from New Zealand over the years is in the United States for a month-long Rotary Exchange.  He has been staying in the wine country, Calistoga, to be specific. 

His post on Facebook yesterday provided a first-person account of the devastation and horror these residents are facing as the "epic drought," fueled by fierce winds wreaks havoc in that beautiful area. 

from Ray Toms of Taupo, New Zealand:  

An update. Sorry I haven't been able to respond to messages directly but as you know I had to leave in rather a hurry last night and although I still had my cellphone I didn't have my charging cable (or clothes or toiletries) so had to leave my phone off most of the day. 

We had a pretty hairy night last night.  Ed, my host, and and I were sitting around watching movies and talking, huge gusts of wind came through I believe they were up to 70 mph things were banging and crashing around but nothing really to worry about then Ed got a call from a neighbour to say a fire was threatening his main house and as he had it let out for the weekend he should ring them and warn them to evacuate which he did. 

Within minutes we had the fire brigade up our drive telling us to evacuate and when we looked out saw that the fire was close to our boundary. 

Jumped in the car and left, the wind had brought down trees and big branches all across the road which made the drive very interesting to say the least also the fire was blocking our route to Calistoga so we had to head in the opposite direction towards Healdsville. 

The biggest fright we had was the wind whipping downed power lines within inches of the car. Eventually made it to Healdsville and managed to book into the Travel Lodge for the night. 

Next morning found it difficult to get back to Calistoga, fires and smoke and closed roads everywhere, had to drive way south and head back north it took 2 and a half hours for a trip that would normally be 20 minutes. 

Eventually got back and was let through to check Ed' s main house which tragically had burnt to the ground but miraculously his bnb where we were staying was in tact the fire had burnt tree stumps at the back door but had no serious damage. 

So I have my luggage back and have been rehoused and all is well feel really sorry for Ed and hope he gets it all shorted out and there is doubt as to whether we will be able to Windsor tomorrow.


Wishing Ray and all the people in that area in California the best as they struggle with yet another tragic and destructive situation stemming directly from climate patterns.

We are happy here to have pretty much gotten past the wrath of Mother Nature without losing so much of our pristine landscape, and as the fall goes on, so do the priceless images associated with the season. 

My photos today are pretty much a hodgepodge, some scenes from around the place, some taken in between weed pulling sessions, and others taken during a driving break around our general neighborhood, including my favorite red school house where students are getting ready for Halloween with their slightly wind-blown stuffed humanoids. 

Today, I'm thinkin' is going to be a zigZAG day.  Most people who have followed the blog for any length of time probably have a good idea what that might mean.  

If not, stay tuned, and tomorrow you'll all know for sure. 

Happy Tuesday.