In the Northern Hemisphere, October is one of those months of dramatic change. Summer is quickly fading to memory and the weather has become unpredictable – sunny and gloriously warm one day, followed by days of chilling rain. In fact we may see snow flurries over the next day or two.
October is the month when Nature throws one last party of celebration by dressing up in brilliant colours of gold, orange, and red before she retires for the winter to rest.
Is everyone tired of yet more photos of autumnal colour? I hope not … this is simply the best party Nature throws all year.
The evidence of an unnaturally dry summer can be found in the roadside fire hazard signs while driving down country roads. In spite of the amble rain we’ve had over the past month, the hazard was still notched at “Moderate” on all the signs I found north of Toronto.
For much of the summer, fire bans were in place throughout many parts of the province, but on this rainy October day, everything was soggy.
While Nature has been busy tossing change around getting ready for her long nap, I have change on the horizon too. After 5 years of retirement, I just accepted a part-time consulting job for the next 6 months. Time will tell whether I made a monumental mistake or not.
If I wasn’t busy before, I’m going to be.
Changing Seasons is a monthly photo feature hosted by Cardinal Guzman.
Fab colours — the prairies just don’t get quite that intense and it never lasts long enough. We’ve had a snow 4 times and I think it’s now here to stay.
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Ooooh – I’m so sad for you. This is much too early for snow. It just makes the winter so unreasonably long. The prairies have really been battered the past few weeks. My sympathies.
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Thank you for the autumn colours. October has been doing much the same to us but slightly crueller in that just when we think summer is finally on its way, Mother Nature chucks in a day so cold it snows in the hills. Or rain. More rain. Much rain. So over rain.
Ooh. Exciting about the job. Hope it goes well.
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After such a dry summer, I’m still not at the stage where I’m complaining about rainy days.
…. not to mention the fact that rain doesn’t need to be shoveled.
So far the job is interesting and keeping me on my toes 🙂
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The summer was indeed dry, many places had total fire bans. It ruined a few weekend camping trips for some folks. But the fall colours so far have been amazing.
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I agree. It’s been somewhat of a surprise because I think most people (like me) assumed it would be a bust.
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Hi Joanne, a reader from England here. Arrived at your blog via another one and glad I did. I’m very much a novice blogger so trying to pick up tips by reading as many blogs as I can. Hate to say it but the quality of blogs from US and Canada seems higher than in the U.K.
Looking forward to your future posts.
John
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thanks John, and welcome. I think you will find the blogging community a very friendly place.
There are great bloggers out of the UK …don’t give up on them yet 😉
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Wow, congratulations Joanne, I hope you enjoy the consulting. My first thoughts with that is more $ for holidays 🙂 Photos are lovely.
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Thank you. I’m already being challenged in some new ways 🙂
More money is always a good thing!
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Beautiful colors. Let’s hope we don’t have to deal with snow yet!!
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Sadly, we got snow overnight. Not a lot, but enough to make me cringe.
The good news is, I don’t think it will last long.
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Glad to hear that the snow won’t last long (for now). I’ve started looking forward to spring already. 😀
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ha! Sadly, me too!
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[…] https://mylifelivedfull.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/october-a-month-of-change/ […]
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There can never be too many beautiful fall colored tree pictures, especially seeing as we are missing Autumn in Chicago ~ it is such a gorgeous time of year. Crisp and bright. I love the photo of the steps in the forest, it reminds me of walks we used to take when we lived in Chicago and went to the nature reserve with our dogs nearby.
I am amazed at the fresh water beach… IS that beach a lake beach? When we lived in Nicaragua, we enjoyed the very huge fresh water lake, Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca, which actually is reported to have sharks in it.
Stay warm!
Peta
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Wasaga Beach is on Georgian Bay – a very large body of water off of the Great Lakes … Lake Huron to be exact. It’s 14 km long (almost 9 miles). In the summer time, it becomes party central.
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When do you start? Back at the job, I mean?
And how’s that shoulder/collar bone coming along?
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Hi Simone! I started yesterday. So far so good.
The collarbone continues to mend. I have another x-ray in a few weeks that will hopefully be good news that all is well and complete again.
How are you doing in your job situation?
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That’s good to hear 🙂 Moi – snowed under… but NOT complaining (much).
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I had to read this twice before I realized you didn’t literally mean *snow*. It’s on my brain right now – we got snow last night. Ugh. Not a lot, but enough to make me cringe.
Busy is good 🙂
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I am definitely not tired of seeing photos of fall colors as it seems that I’ve barely had a chance to see them this year. Then again, we are further south that you all are.
Your photos are lovely!
Congrats on the consulting job!!
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I would imagine your colours have barely started. Even we feel a bit behind. Enjoy while you can!!
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Congrats on the new part time job. It will keep you out of trouble!
I never tire of fall colors and the smell of those beautiful leaves. We’ve had a wonderful fall, plenty of warmer than normal days. Even the last two, although the highs were only in the low 50’s, were so nice that they inspired me to keep walking at lunchtime.
Wednesday will be a different story. Cold and rainy. The weatherman even said the “S” word. Ugh.
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Our temperatures are now in the mid-forties and I’m finding it cold. Time to break out the gloves and warmer jackets.
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Love your Autumn photos Joanne. Most of our native trees are evergreens, so our autumns are not quite as colourful, relying only on the exotics planted by settlers. Good luck with your new assignment.
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Thanks Su. Where I come from in the North, we have mostly evergreens too. I’ve been in love with autumn ever since I moved to the south and get to experience all the colours.
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I can understand that! I really appreciate the big city parks created by the Victorian settlers because they “do” autumn just so damned well. 🙂
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I love autumn’s colors. It’s like a blast of color before everything goes dark and dreary.
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Exactly!!
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Congrats on the new assignment – I hope it works out okay. October is my favorite month as well.
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Thank you! I’m looking forward to stretching some brain cells again 🙂
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The bridge and the leaf-covered stairs are both exceptional shots – nicely done.
Good luck on the consulting gig 🙂
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Thanks Norm. When I saw the stairs, it made me think of your photo from the Abbey I liked so much. I was pleased with how it turned out 🙂
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Who can ever have too many photos of autumn? Not me! Very foggy here today though so not much of anything to be seen. Good luck with the job, I don’t think I will ever go back to work – too busy enjoying my retirement 😀 😀
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I know I’m needing more intellectual stimulation than I’m getting. I was starting to look at going back to school for a new undergrad, but this opportunity came along and I decided to grab it.
If I don’t enjoy the next 6 months, I’ll know not to go it again 🙂
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it can be a bit lonely at home, but I am done with college stuff, or at least anything that requires studying for an exam! I wouldn’t mind a photography course or a garden design course or maybe even a writing course, but not many of those about around here! I went back to teaching for a term about two years after quitting and knew then that I didn’t want to do it again. Hope you will enjoy your return 🙂
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As you’ve shown, sometimes you need to do something just to prove to yourself that it’s no longer desirable.
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I’m not sure teaching ever was! Desirable!
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hahahaha!!
Towards the end of my career, I was doing a lot of training within the company where I worked. I had been challenged to make training on privacy and security “fun” … so with some help from the Sales Dept (those sales guys are cut from a different cloth 🙂 ), we developed a training program based on a game show format. It was the most fun I had working 🙂
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I never get tired of fall photos – love the color. Good luck with the work commitment.
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Some people think the fall colours are depressing because it’s a sign of dying and oncoming winter. I think of it as a celebration 🙂
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You can never have too many pics of the brilliant fall colors! You’re right, it is such a crazy time of year – hot/cold/sun/rain – you never know what to expect. But that keeps it interesting. Congrats on the new job, I hope you will enjoy it.
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Fall is the best! … it’s what follows that I’m not so fond.
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Congratulations on your part time job, I have a feeling you will love it. Great fall pictures!
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I’m really looking forward to the intellectual stimulation – especially over the winter months when I start to get really antsy.
In a few months, we’ll see if I’m still as enthusiastic 🙂
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Just be careful, that’s how I ended up with my workshop until I semi-retired. I just wanted to give it a try for a few months and well, the rest is history. 🙂
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From the sound of it, your workshop is something you are both good at and really love doing. I think that’s a perfect combination and I hope I could be so lucky!
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It was my hobby, I started when I was a very young student. I had good taste but not the wallet that needed to go with it and so I learned.
I LOVE doing what I do. Didn’t think I would be so happy in my little world, but I am.
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Beautiful post and images Joanne 🙂 I never get tired of autumn colors. Best of luck on the new job.
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Thanks Joe. I don’t get tired on it either.
It’s a sunny day today and I’m playing mental eenie-meanie-minie- moe … do I stay and tackle my to-do list or go outside looking for beautiful things to photograph.
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I just love that photograph of the bridge and its reflection in the water. I never get tired of autumn colours, so post as many as you like, Joanne. Hope you won’t be too busy with that job to take more shots like those.
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Thanks Jean. I was so pleased with that bridge photo. On the other hand, I took so many, the odds were in my favour that at least one of them would be good 😉
I hope I can get out for more in the next week, but the season is ending quickly. After a few days of strong winds, we’ve already lost so much foliage.
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Same here, Joanne. Every morning our garden is covered in another carpet of leaves. Good job it’s tiny. 🙂
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Lovely photos Joanne. Your autumn seems as unpredictable as our spring.
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These shoulder seasons do have that unpredictable quality to them … maybe that’s what I love about them. I couldn’t imagine living some place where the weather was always the same. It would eventually wear me down.
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Agree with you. I need the different seasons.
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Congrats on the new job, I am sure you will love it. Nature is indeed throwing everything at us. We have still not had the rain, but this morning we have fog! I love the fire risk sign and the Township of Tiny, this for some reason made me laugh!
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I know!!! Me too. Couldn’t they have come up with a better name than that! … it’s not even physically tiny.
ok – this comment made me actually go and look up the origins of the name. It’s even worse than I thought. It was named in 1822 after a pet dog of the wife of the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (now known as the province of Ontario).
Seriously? Named after a dog *sigh*
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I’m already looking forward to your new blog, ‘My Life Lived Even Fuller!’ How do you fit it all in?
Inspiring photos too. 🙂
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Ha! The problem is I’m not actually fitting it all in very well. The state of my yard says it all 😉
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Congratulations on your new job, Joanne! Selfishly I hope that this does not reduce your blog posts…but gives you additional material to write about.
PS – Brilliant photos!!
Donna
http://www.retirementreflections.com
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Thanks Donna.
Given that my field was (is?) corporate privacy risk, it’s highly unlikely I will ever blog about it 😉
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I adore the colours this fall after assumptions,we would not because of the hot summer, we wouldn’t have a bright display this fall. Ha ha. Mother Nature fooled us.. 😀
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She certainly did. Nature always has a trick or two up her sleeve 😉
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*grin* Yes and yes! 😀
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Autumn is gorgeous there! I love the orange and red, and that old wood bridge.
Best of luck with the new job!
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Thank you! I’ve been out of my field for a while now, so I’m more than a little nervous about getting back up to speed.
I know that once I roll up my sleeves and get back into it, it’ll feel like I never left.
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Good luck with your consulting job.
Hope it doesn’t interfere with Holiday and Wedding plans!
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Yes! I hope I can keep my priorities in all the right places. During my working years, I didn’t always have the luxury of putting my family first.
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Keep those autumnal pix coming. And congrats on your part-time consulting job. I’d come out of retirement for a part-time insulting job. Or even full-time.
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HAHAHA!! That would be a very interesting gig 😀
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I love your description of fall as a party of colors. 🙂
Good luck on your new adventure. Fortunately it’s only six months…and it will be over before you know it.
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That’s the way I looked at it too. It’s only for 6 months. I’m both excited and nervous … 5 years is a long time!
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I never get tired of fall colors 🙂 Congrats on the temporary job, Joanne. That seems like a good way to go as it will end on time for the return of spring! 🙂
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That’s what I thought. I’ve been thinking for a while that I needed some kind of intellectual stimulation over the winter. When this opportunity came up, I jumped at it. We’ll see how it works out 🙂
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Wasaga Beach! We were there a few years ago and loved it! Are you close to there? Congrats on the new job…..that sounds like just the sort of thing for a long winter! Can’t wait to hear more about it!
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This was actually my first time to Wasaga Beach – sad, but true. It’s less than 90 minutes away. My sister lives only about 15 minutes away. I dragged her other there with me because it was on my New Things list.
In the pouring rain on a chilly October day, we had the beach to ourselves … not even a dog walker. I could just imagine it on a hot summer’s day!
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Unfortunately……we were there on that summer day and we still had rain! Maybe there’s a reason you haven’t done this before!
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… or perhaps you were just unlucky!
What made you venture all the way up to Wasaga? It’s rather off the beaten path.
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Off the beaten path is right, Joanne! I don’t even know why I planned that except we had small child along and wanted to do a beach day. That trip was our longest trek up into Ontario finally ending up in Bracebridge for an aerial park that doesn’t even exist now. We started with Elora Gorge and then hit Barrie (I think for my beloved Bombay!) and Wasaga on our way… Bracebridge an ambitious 8 hours for us and son at that point didn’t travel overly well, so we just tried to hit some very different sorts of things along the way and stayed over in each place to break up the ride for him.
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Bracebridge? Wow, you really did venture away 🙂
I’ve only ever passed through Bracebridge quickly on a couple of occasions.
Note to self – must properly visit Bracebridge one day!
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Your photos are great I hope we still get to see some fall colours this weekend when we go to Collingwood.
Good luck with your consulting job. Let us know how it goes.
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Thanks Cathie. I was up not far from you in Creemore. I was surprised how much foliage was still on the trees. Gorgeous.
Unfortunately we’ve had several very windy days since then, so I don’t know how much has survived.
Glad you finally made it back safely. Sounds like that last leg of the trip was an endurance test!
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Beautiful photos, especially the TransCanadian trail. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your own new “season.”😊
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Thank you. I was completely enamoured with that bridge!
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It is impossible that I could ever tire of fall foliage photos 🙂 Lovely, lovely stuff! I especially love your photo of the bridge!
Here our Smokey the Bear signs say that risk of fire is low, but then, I think less sunshine has kept us from more of the red and burgundy we usually see.
Good luck with your consulting work, I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
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Thanks Joey. When I saw that bridge surrounded by colour, I came to a screeching halt and quickly pulled over. Thankfully it was a quiet country road. I could never do something like that on a busy highway.
I too love this time of year and never get tired of looking at the gorgeous colour display. It goes by much too quickly.
I’m a little nervous and a lot excited about getting back into a job. I’m sure the next 6 months will fly by quickly.
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Driving up to Ottawa last week, the colours were absolutely stunning! I never tire of the beauty this time of year, nor of your lovely posts & photos. How exciting to embark on a new little adventure. Hope you still have time to write💛
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Ha, my comment shows as anonymous again Joanne😂 It’s Lynn btw😘
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Hi Lynn! Thank you 🙂
Has the new grandma come back to earth yet? 😉
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Going for a drive – anywhere – at this time of year is breathtaking. I imagine Ottawa was gorgeous!
Thank you for the lovely compliment. This is a part time project and *shouldn’t* take a lot of time … but time will tell. Six months isn’t so long though.
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Wow, Joanne, that’s quite a change for you! I hope it works out great for you and, of course, provides a lot of blogging material 😄. Several of the retired bloggers I follow have mentioned that they were dipping their toes ever so slightly back in to the work world. I don’t really have much interest right now, but who knows.
I love the pics of the autumn leaves – we don’t have very much of that in this area.
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I always thought I’d like to work on a part-time basis for defined periods of time. So much time has passed though since I retired that making the transition back into the working world will be interesting. I’ve never been very good at creating routines, so my big challenge will be ensuring I don’t allow this part time job to take over my life.
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Beautiful photos, Joanne. I love the bridge and the water. I like the element of movement in that first one. Good luck on the consulting gig. I hope that works well.
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Thanks Dan. I take a LOT of photos of the same thing under the belief that at least one of them has to turn out well. Sadly, that’s not always the case and I delete a LOT of photos 😉
I’m nervous and excited about diving back into the working world again. The challenge will be not to let it take over my life.
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Good luck!
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Hopefully you will still have time to
Publish your delightful blogs. There are never enough autumnal scenes if it means a post from you Joanne!
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Awwww – thanks! You just made my day ❤
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That’s rare. I think I’m usually ruining most people’s…
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I find that hard to believe!
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I never tire of autumn photos. I am from New Jersey, where the fall was brilliant. Down here in sunny Florida, it has its bright spots, but not like up North. Bring ’em, Joanne!
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I’m not a big fan of winter, but autumn is highlight for me. Just so much beauty! I would really miss that part if I moved somewhere warm.
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