black and white Wednesday - orchard

Autumn Haiku

'Old pear tree

starlings announce

harvest time.'

~ Philip Noble

For us as a family no Fall is complete without a visit to a local apple orchard.
Where (on Saturday) some raspberry tasting was done.

And on our trek up the hill to the orchards, we met a couple of new friends.

I don't know what he was thinking when I captured the image below,
but shortly after that Will said,
"That's a big horse, Mommy!"

At the top of the hill there were rows and rows of apples.

And more varieties than we could imagine.

So they started picking a few.

And munching.



And playing...

We came home with bags of tasty apples.

So far I've baked 2 apple pies (one to eat and one I gave away).
I still have apples on my kitchen counter.
Will is my apple lover and eats at least 2 a day.



This was a dreary and rainy morning,

 thankfully the rain stopped just as we arrived.
To me there's nothing better than spending time with family
on a weekend day like this.

It's Black and White Wednesday again. :)

Hope you're having a great week.

why, hello Fall!

I'm so happy you've made your entrance

 (though yesterday was literally 90 degrees with almost gale force winds).

I have all the confidence in the world that temps will be more Autumn like soon,

 because that's what it's like here in the northern Midwest.

Lots of change.

Last weekend I took Grace and Will to this adorable little farm.

I drive by it probably 3 times a week and had never stopped before.



It's called the Prairie Garden Farm and it sells locally grown flowers, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables.

And right now pumpkins and Indian corn.

The property has beautiful barns and farm buildings.

2 large barns are painted blue with vibrant orange - red wooden doors.
A lovely opportunity for pictures and enjoying time together.

My kids were quite taken with a friendly mama cat and her almost grown up kitties.

And why did I take them and Dan didn't go along?

He's been in Sydney, Australia for business for 8 days, and will be returning home tonight.

We've missed him terribly, but it's probably been hardest for Will.

He and his Daddy are inseparable.
Welcome home Dan!

(On the pumpkin image above I used 2 textures

(Pumpkin and Morning Light) from Chasing Dreams Fall texture set).

 And Happy Fall y'all. :)

black and white Wednesday - portrait

'No road is long with good company.'

~ Proverb

'Remember we all stumble, everyone of us.

That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.'

 ~ Emily Kimbrough

(Post processed with One Willow's Lightroom preset, 'Caramel Creme', and tweaked a little in PS to bring out the mid tones in their jeans and hair)

Brother and sister.

 Their relationship is simple,

and occasionally a bit complicated.

 They get along famously and are best buddies,
and sometimes not.
Through it all they have an underlying bond that's special.

 And I'm always thankful they have each other.

Check out out more black and whites at The Long Road to China. :)

Big Man on Campus

He's disarmingly handsome...

...popular, and quite the 'ladies man.'

(with the 4 and under crowd)



Is a fabulous dancer and loves a great par-tay!



He's hilariously funny and will most likely be the class clown.

Who am I kidding, he IS the class clown right now in preschool. ;)

And here he comes Class of 2024!

These were taken at the Red Gym on the University of Wisconsin campus on Friday.

Friday photo and a thank you!

My sparkly eyed son with a huge smile on his face.
Lately he's not been too fond of me taking his picture and I got this one a few days ago.
A little bribery was used...c a n d y.
His favorite right now is sugar-free 'Icebreakers Sours.'
He loves the watermelon and green apple ones.
And so do I.

I have a new look to my blog and
 wanted to thank the very talented Rita, of Coffee Shop Photography.
 She's extremely easy to work with and 
I can't say enough wonderful things about her.
The blog design is very 'me.'
If you haven't already done so, please check out Rita's Coffee Shop blog
for all kinds of freebies like actions, Lightroom presets, tutorials and MUCH more.
She's a wealth of information and knowledge.
Thank you again Rita!

And happy Friday!

black and white Wednesday - a welcome change

Delicious autumn!
 My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~ George Eliot

The first signs were subtle...the sun sitting lower in the sky.

And the light, there's something about it in late Summer/early Autumn,

it's different, more of an amber color.

We've had much cooler day and night time temps for the last few weeks.

Over the weekend I saw the first leaves changing color at the top of a few trees.

Vibrant orange and russet.

It may not be Autumn officially on the calendar,

but it's arriving in southern Wisconsin.

And now it's become much more obvious...

when we can find pumpkins.

I never tire of them.

It's the shape, form and color.

The funny looking bumpy ones, smooth ones, orange, green, white..

I love them all.

Orange is not a color that looks good on me as far as clothing, but I love seeing it.

It makes me happy!

I've been blogging now for a little over 3 years,

and every Fall I write about how it is my very favorite season.

So I look forward to posting many more images that capture this season of

glorious change and harvest.

(Color images all processed with Florabella's Ambrosia action).

I took these over the weekend, when Grace and I went out scouting locations

for me to take pictures of clients.

I got lost out in the countryside(which is easy to do here with the many small back roads).

We stopped to turn around, and I took the pictures (above) of Grace on the fence.

On the way home we came upon a roadside stand with pumpkins.

After spending about 20 minutes looking at the great variety

(there were so many types and kinds I didn't capture),

we bought 2 large ones for our front porch.

Grace picked out a few mini-pumpkins for Will and herself.

Next time we'll be back with Will and Daddy.

(Processed with Florabella's Bl/W Rich Vintage action).

It's black and white Wednesday again, please go over to Lisa's blog,

The Long Road to China to see many more images.

And Happy Wednesday,

I hope you're enjoying the early Fall. :)

what we did on Summer vacation

Some pics that I loved (from Summer) and hadn't put on my blog until now.

Grace and Will had many friends over,

 played at the park and indoors when it was too hot to go outside.

Grace attended and had several slumber parties...very fun!
.

Someone turned 8.

(This picture was from her birthday party invitation)

And in Mexico they spent time chillin' by the pool.
(Mommy and Daddy too).

Will learned the joys of jumping off the side of a pool with wild abandon.

Later in the week he was jumping without the floatie, and was swimming back to the side all on his own. He was extremely proud of himself.
I've never seen children that loved to be in the water more than these 2. :)

There was a lot of ice cream eating...
and swinging.

 Belly laughs from a certain little Batman I know...
the silliest ever!

And Will having some one on one time

with me at the park for some quiet reflection.

We'll miss you Summer,
 we made some wonderful memories.

black and white Wednesday ~ late Summer

Autumn to winter, winter to spring,

Spring into summer, summer into fall--

So rolls the changing year, and so we change;

Motion so swift, we know not that we move.

~ Dinah Mulock Craik

Celebrate each season, for you too, are transformed with the turns of the earth.

~ Arthur Dobrin

Two images I captured this week

of some of the beautiful flora and fauna that is here in early September.

I don't know how much longer that will be though...

Fall is definitely in the air!

{school days}

Yep it's that time of the year again.

Backpacks, shoes, school clothes and school supplies have been purchased.

They've had hair cuts, pediatrician visits(with only one shot thankfully for Grace)

and dental appointments.

All to get ready for that first day of school.

Grace is now in second grade...

And mr. Will is in his last year of preschool.

Next year will be Kindergarten.

Is it just me, or do both look like they've grown a lot over the Summer?

Both have had a fabulous week with easy transitions to their new classrooms and teachers.

They are making new friends.

And this mommy is happy about that.
Though the return to school is always a little bittersweet for me.

As I write this, it feels like Fall today...it's cool with temps in the 50's.

With the kids being being back to school and College football starting this weekend, the only thing missing is the leaves changing.

And that will happen soon. :)