LITTLE THINGS

<<Featured Image: This week’s featured image is a close-up of one of my habanero peppers.>>

We all have certain things that we especially appreciate in life. Most of the time they are what I like to call “little things,” such as the simple beauty of a pepper. Mother Nature gives to us, in perfect form, a small wonder. The pepper’s beauty is evident by the play of light and shadow on its subtle curves and the contrast in color between the pepper and the stem. The wide variety of shapes and colors add to the collective beauty of the fruit.

I pulled up my garden this past weekend, so I harvested all the vegetables that were out there. I came away with about half a bucketful of peppers of different kinds. As you can see from the picture above, they were in various stages of ripeness. I am hoping that some of them will continue to ripen inside the house. I chose to pull up the garden because we have several nights coming up where the temperatures are going to be at or near freezing. Plus, I decided to do it while the weather was still somewhat warm during the day, because it is miserable work pulling up a garden when it is freezing cold outside.

***SOME OF THE TOMATOES RIPENING ON COUNTERTOP***

Another little thing to appreciate is the sunset. Mother Nature puts on a show for us every night (weather permitting), free of charge and complete with shadow, light, contrast, and form (or lack thereof). I admit that I don’t get myself outside as often as I should to enjoy this show. The last couple of weeks we had several good nights to go outside and watch the ISS pass over, so we also had an opportunity to watch the sunset. One particular night had all the components for a beautiful picture.

Another little thing to appreciate is when you get a surprise package. Linda and I were eating supper yesterday when we heard a “thud” out on the porch, and the doorbell rang. Linda went out to find a small package addressed to us both. Of course it was from our wonderful daughter, Emily. Linda opened it and we found inside two beautiful Starbucks Pride t-shirts, a gorgeous hummingbird ornament, and a bag of our favorite coffee beans.

It certainly is nice when someone sends you a “care package” out of the blue. It felt like it was Christmas! Thank you again, Em.

During our time of being home-bound, it is especially appreciated when we get the chance to get outside and get some fresh air. On Saturday morning, we planned to walk the Arboretum so I could get some more pictures of fall colors to share with you. We actually had some rain that morning, but since the Arboretum pathway is not paved and we’d be walking on wet grass, we decided to postpone that walk. We did ride over to Randall Park, though, to check in with things there.

I’m sure our duck and geese friends have missed seeing us at the park. Now that the weather is changing the crowds are gone, so we will soon be taking cracked corn to the park to feed them. As we arrived at the viewing deck, we could see a few ducks out on the pond (see video below), but curiously, no Canada geese. Maybe they were sleeping in.

VIDEO OF DUCKS ENJOYING THE POND

I love the way the duck’s little feet paddle while they are dabbling underwater. Is there anything cuter? If I had to do that every time I ate, I would have vertigo 24/7!

VIDEO SLIDESHOW OF DUCKS DABBLING

Back at the house, I was getting set up to grill outside when all of a sudden the birds just started having a fit. Of course, by the time I got my phone and started recording, they were almost done. But I did get in on the tail-end of it. Most of the noise was being made by several Scrub Jays flitting about in our tree. However, the neighbors dog did get in on the action as well. I don’t know what had them so upset, but they put up quite a fuss for a few minutes.

VIDEO OF CALLING JAYS

PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about either, but just to be on the safe side, she tried to disguise herself as a bird. I had to tell her that one feather does not a bird make.