A hiking we will go ...

Today was the first time in two weeks since I have seen the grandchildren. Everyone had been sick at their house, and they had kind of passed it back and forth between them. But today, for the first time in a very long time, all three older grandkids came over to my house. We had a quick snack first, and then headed out to the woods ...

Since Pickerel Lake is so close by and SO perfect for hiking and exploring, we went there!

 Christopher was just positive he was going to be "bored out of his mind" ... but he did not stop smiling, laughing, running, climbing, joking, exploring for the few hours we were outside together.

 I love to see the grandchildren play like this!

 Just about every single leaf was OFF the trees. It was fun to shuffle our feet in them. The kiddos had a leaf fight too.

 Since, without question, I cannot live 10 minutes from Lake Michigan--it is a comfort to be this close to hiking trails, beautiful woods, an interesting lake (I don't say a beautiful lake, because Pickerel Lake is one of the oddest lakes I have ever seen!) ... to enjoy throughout every season of the year.

 The kids were so much fun today. I told them that "magic" happens out in the woods.

 And I believe that it does! Look at these great kiddos playing, laughing, joking! So happy!

 Christopher even hammed it up for me a little bit and smiled sweetly for a picture!

 So thankful, so blessed to be a grandma to these children. Thank you so much Lord.

The JOY of Little Fellow ...

Since I have a membership at the Grand Rapids Children Museum, I can take up to five grandchildren anytime that the place is open! Brendan and I have special fun there.

The sand table was interesting for quite a long while ... but the BEES .... wow!

Brendan loves to look at the bees with the magnifying glass. "Mr. Queen Bee is my favorite, Grandma. I like his tail. Did you see his tail?"

We played in the puppet theatre for a little while too ...

We made lots and lots of bubbles ...

Brendan was very serious about the whole process ...

Doesn't he have the best expressions on that adorable face of his?

Ah! He kills me. I could kiss that little face forever.

Brendan was the doctor over in the Emergency wing. The dummy had a stomach ache and Brendan was making sure it was going to feel better soon.

Brendan went on a shopping spree. He was especially fond of the fish market and just dumped the whole case of fish into his cart. Yes. A man after my own heart.

We went through the bank too. Brendan decided to take TWO of the bank containers into his car and take them home with him. I tried to explain to him that you are not allowed to do that at the bank ...

Brendan climbed, barefoot, naturally. When some other kids came over to climb, he very emphatically told them to take off their shoes because "it works better that way." What a fun way to spend two hours with you, dearest!

The Mary Free Bed turkey!

So this is the city-famous Mary Free Bed turkey that I had been hearing about for ... months! Co-workers would tell me that this quite large bird just roamed the neighborhood around the hospitals. I was jealous! I had never met this turkey!

Dylan and I had met for lunch one afternoon ... we each walked from where we work and met together at a little Chinese buffet place. We enjoyed a nice 45 minutes together, but then we went our separate ways. I was SO pleased to run into Turkey-Joe here!

Quite a handsome bird, don't you think?

There is actually an enforcement officer (by the Yield sign) warning me to "stay my distance." I guess Joe has a reputation of being somewhat aggressive.

It just seemed pretty weird to me to watch a wild turkey crossing Wealthy Street.

He turned and looked at me while I was photographing him -- very friendly, I thought.

We actually had a patient last summer who was on a city bus on the corner of 28th Street and Division, when the bus door opened, a wild turkey flew in, ran up the aisle and nearly scared her to death. She injured her knee (enough to where she needed to see a surgeon) trying to protect herself from the turkey ...

I wonder if Turkey Joe was the culprit! Oh my.

A few mid-fall photos ...

If it weren't for the sobering fact that winter follows right on the heels of fall, autumn would be my favorite month ever--simply because of the stunning beauty, sometimes exuberantly colorful, and other times just so ... peacefully quiet. I love it so much.

We are way past the color heyday of fall at this point, but even with the poor trees being naked (almost), it was just a lovely day to be out walking and enjoying the clear fresh air.

Below is a place just around the block from the hospital (where I work). I would LOVE to climb this fence and see what is on the other side! Because whenever I take a walk around the block, I can hear birds singing from blocks away and they are ALL right behind this fence, coming and going, chirping and singing and gathering ... it is a beautiful sight and sound.

I haven't decided if ORANGE is my favorite ... perhaps RED ... ah--but YELLOW is so lovely too!

Here it is, practically mid-November, and we still have plenty of blooming flowers. What a beautiful fall it is!

Yellow mums ...

Last week when my dear childhood friend, Laurie, came to my beach house for a Sunday afternoon lunch, she brought me a pot of yellow/golden mums. They are beautiful!

I have been struggling with my old photo program ever since my computer was rather accidentally upgraded, making it incompatible with the tried-and-true program I had used for so long. So I am making myself learn a new program on my Mac. It is not as user-friendly, but I think I will master it if I just work at it. This is my first attempt to add text to one of my photos using the new program. Anyway, I snapped this picture of my mum plant tonight, edited it and tweeked it just a tiny bit and this was the result. I do love this verse in Psalm 145. God does, truly, satisfy that deep longing inside our hearts.