Turn…turn…turn….

 

If you looked up autumn in the dictionary, there would be a picture of today beside of it. I can honestly say that today was the perfect autumn day. It wasn't too warm....but not too chilly. It was sunny. The leaves were blowing around in the breeze. The air was vibrating with the slowing energy of the year. Nature is winding down for a long sleep. And we, as a people, can feel that as we continue on through the days.

Today, Lisa and I cleaned around the house. We cleaned up old leaves. We cut brush. We moved old limbs and cut back old plants. We also cleaned out our flowerbeds and got everything ready for the upcoming winter season. It felt good being outside in the sunshine. I was very thankful for the warm weather because I know that soon it will be bitterly cold outside.

The year is like a wheel. It turns. Just like the year, we turn. We grow.

October is now just memory to us. The golden days are getting fewer and fewer as we move toward winter. The frosty nights fill us with anticipation about the upcoming holiday season. The white ghosts and skeletons have danced away for another year. In their place, we have the bounty of the fields such as squash, corn, and pumpkins on display. Paper turkeys are up in the schools. Everyone is thinking about the upcoming feast of Thanksgiving.

As we get closer to this next holiday, continue putting away the things of the past. This can be literal. For example, put away those lighter clothes for the heavier clothes and coats needed for winter. Burn off the gardens (when appropriate of course...don't break any laws!). Clean and oil the tools of summer and store them for winter.

You can also do this figuratively. Get rid of old negative relationships that are poison in your life. Rid yourself of negative habits. Banish bad energy from your life. As I like to say sometimes, "I banish all negative thoughts and people into the swirling void." I know it sounds silly, but I am stating aloud my intentions of getting rid of negativity in my life. It isn't healthy to keep these things around.

Right now, think of 5 things for which you are thankful. It can be people in your life....your job....your health. It can be anything for which you are truly thankful. For the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays, collect something that reminds you of these things. If you are thankful for someone special in your life, find a nice picture of this person to display. If you are thankful for your health, get some fresh flowers to put around the house. Remind yourself each day that we all have so many things for which we can be thankful.

I want to leave you this week with something that I found.

An Iroquois Prayer of Thanksgiving

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, with sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams,which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squash, which give us life. We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit. We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished diseases. We return thanks to the moon and the stars, which have given us their light when the sun was gone. We return thanks to our grandfather, He who has given to us his rain. We return thanks to the sun, that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of his children.

Until next week....class dismissed!

Wooly Worms and Winter!

Today it actually was chilly the entire day. It was such a change from the warm day that we had just yesterday. It is amazing how things can change so quickly. It is like that in our lives also. We just have to be prepared for change...no matter where it comes from.

The Breathitt County Heritage Fair was held this past weekend. I hope that everyone had a chance to get out and enjoy it. My wife Lisa and I set up a little yard sale this past Saturday. It was cold when we were setting up early that morning! I was glad that I had gloves and a hat! It warmed up nicely when the sun came up though. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our little sale. It was a very good day. We even had some time to enjoy the Heritage Fair. I saw some cool clogging while we were there.

My wife and I still haven't heard anything about our adoption. Hopefully we will get the call sometime this month. I hope that we can have this done by the end of the year. It is just so hard to wait for something that you want so much! I will keep you all posted about any new updates. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

I love seeing all the pumpkins at the roadside stands. I want to purchase a couple for our front porch. It is almost time for my favorite holiday...Halloween! I love everything about it....candy, warm popcorn, costumes, and carving jack o' lanterns. I appreciate that there are new, safer ways to have the same effect with plastic pumpkins and flickering battery-powered lights, but I am an old-fashioned kind of boy when it comes to jack o' lanterns. I love cutting open the pumpkin, scooping out the guts, carving a scary face, and placing a lit candle inside it. This totem of the season always puts me in a great mood. It is a great way to scare away the doldrums and bring about a terrific holiday season that lasts all the way through the new year.

Speaking of chilly weather, Lisa and I had to turn on our heat today! It was very chilly in the house, and Lisa's feet get cold really fast. She finally broke down and turned up the heat. It is very toasty right now.

We went around and visited with Mom and Dad. They had us around for dinner. My mom makes the best meatloaf in the world, and she knows that we can't resist it! LOL! While we were there, we were trying to remember if we had seen any wooly worms this year. We were trying to see what kind of winter we are going to have this year. The darker the worm, the worse the winter. Mom said that she thought she had seen a white one! Does that mean that we are going to have a mild winter? I don't know.

So how do you predict the coming winter with wooly worms? Here is one way to do it:

1. Look for wooly worms under rocks and inside hollow logs.

2. Examine the wooly worm, paying attention to its bands of colors. The wooly worm will curl into a ball when touched or threatened. When they crawl, they can crawl very quickly!

3. Wooly worm forecasters say that the size of the brown band of color will tell you what kind of winter is coming. Legend says that the thinner the brownish red bands, the harsher the winter will be. If the wooly worm is mostly brownish red in the middle, winter will be mild.

4. Wooly worm enthusiasts claim an 85 percent success rate over the last few decades. Scientists tend to disagree and say wooly worm weather prediction is as unscientific as using groundhogs to predict winter weather. The groundhogs likely side with the wooly worms.

So, whether or not you believe in the power of wooly worms, they can be a fun project for children and adults. I don't know what kind of winter we will have here in Breathitt County, but you can go out and look for some wooly worms of your own. Enjoy!

Until next time....class dismissed!