SNEAK-PREVIEW SUNDAY

Every year we have a sneak preview of fall colors from one vine maple in our yard. We bought two of them a number of years ago and this one always turns color and drops it's leaves in August sometime. It's a coincidence, I'm sure, that about a week ago I thought I felt the first 'feel' of autumn in the air. This first photo with the daisy still in full summer bloom, shows how off-beat this maple is to the rest of nature around it. This is one from the same tree where some of the light configurations and detail show up nicely.

And lastly, here is a branch that still shows green. I liked the composition and again, the light play and shadows.

Been a nicely quiet weekend. I found a zucchini muffin recipe that I like and so will be making up muffin batches with all the zucchini that is about to explode in our garden. I'll appreciate them as the garden closes down and cooler weather comes. I was telling my friend, Karen, the other day that I like summer dishes, like salads and bar-b-ques in the summer and fall and winter call for the hardier dishes like soups and stews. She thought that since we live on the coast and have chillier evenings, that the stews work all year. Now, I find myself craving a big pot of stew!! Maybe it's the mood set by my vine maple, or that little 'autumn' feel, but my guess is that I'll be dragging out the cast iron dutch oven for some stew within the week. And around this house that also calls for a loaf of crusty country bread..........and of course, a salad, because it is, after all, still summer.

Have many of you seen the movie, Alice In Wonderland, yet? I had heard it was a little 'darker'

than past movies. Actually, I've never been much of an Alice In Wonderland fan. All the characters in the story seemed too bizarre and scary to me when I was younger. Now I'd call them 'disturbing'. So, not expecting much I was surprised that I liked it. Course, just about anything Johnny Depp is in I find great! The special effects were great and I understood the story a lot more than when I was a young girl. For any of you that DID see it, did it occur to anyone else that the Red Queen would have made a very good modern-day terrorist? Lots of "Off with their heads" among other things. Ahhhh, but justice and truth prevail in the end......So, now everyone go out and have a great week.