Monday Moments - Fall Filler

Happy Fall and November.  I am currently in Philly visiting my dad, so I won't be around much to comment.  Here are some random fall filler pics. We've survived Halloween, now it's onward to Thanksgiving, and

 sshh! You know who sees you when you're sleeping, knows when you're awake,  knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.

Have a good Monday and week.

Philly Friday to Wednesday

 Tuesday was Birthday Party Project time - theme was Carnival. Fun time at the women's shelter, celebrating kids birthdays. There was face painting, balloon animals, and more.

 Speaking of birthdays - Monday July 15 will be my father's 88th birthday.  Here's the baby George

 And my dad with his father, Fred - two dapper dudes.

And here's dad three years ago.  I'm headed to Philly for a long weekend jaunt. I'll hang with my father, celebrate 88, and I'm sure we'll have some laughs. He's a tough old bird and still in his home.
Wish us luck and good cheer.

Fingers crossed my flights go as planned. Summer travel = ugh.

Take care all. Happy July and more posts late next week. I have book reviews out the wazoo.

Z - Monday Zounds

 What the heck. Monday shout out to Philly

Zounds - great Z word.  Awesome history. Nifty city. Cobblestone streets, Liberty Bell, go visit and walk where Ben Franklin trod, Betsy Ross, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton.

Seriously what's not to like?

Awesome cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, and Italian food. Need more.......go!

Philly Fall - Radiant

 I visited Dad on the most perfect November week possible. Warmer than normal and the colors were still blasting absolute glory

 From the front porch around 7 am

Crisp air and sunshine. Tough to beat

I've been back in Texas two weeks now. Dad reports he's doing much better.  Getting out and about with some friends. No more visiting nurses, so he has to do his exercises on his own. It's quite positive.

Let's have a good rest of the week everybody.

Philadelphia Freedom - Veteran's Day

Cool replica of the Liberty Bell at Philadelphia Airport.

Let Freedom Ring

Salute to Veteran's Day

Book Review: The Signature of All Things

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert is an impressive story of "desire, adventure, and a thirst for knowledge." (cover blurb). The book covers the late 1700s and into the 1800s following the Whittaker family. Henry Whittaker, a poor English boy, makes his fortune in South America and turns his vast botanical knowledge and connections into a broad business based in Philadelphia. His daughter, Alma, born into a now wealthy household, is brilliant but not beautiful. Her research takes "her into the central mysteries of evolution. But she falls for a man who draws her in the opposite direction - the realm of spiritual, divine, and magical. "

From London, Peru, Philadelphia, Tahiti, and Amsterdam - "The Signature of All Things" is a sweeping panorama of life. Its unforgettable characters - missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, geniuses, and the mad - all tell a tale of life's ups and downs. New ideas, new discoveries are exciting. Then there's heartache and heartbreak - nothing new there. Elizabeth Gilbert's rich writing kept me mesmerized. This is a dense read, but fantastic in its details, emotions, and plot lines.

p. 447 Alma writes "Anything less than a fight for endurance is cowardly. Anything less than a fight for endurance is a refusal of the great covenant of life."

"The Signature of All Things" will stick with you - the characters, nature, and you'll find yourself looking at moss growing on a tree in a whole new light.