The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow

 It seems as though I am stuck in a bout of the blues right now. Yesterday something I had hoped would be resolved instead remained active. I retired to my bedroom early, closed the door, indulged in a private pity party and turned out the light early. But this morning, y'know what? - the sun did come up...and the wind did not. Oh happy day! I have been watching the beauty of those red maple leaves react to the season for the last week and this morning the wind quit tossing them to the ground.

The dogwood tree is a beautiful shade of maroon.

The morning sun begins to light up the spirea bushes.

 And this one lower branch of the maple tree really lights up when the morning sun catches it.

 The potted pansies on the deck are patiently waiting and hoping that they will get planted into bigger pots to stay through the winter and on into spring.

 Out front a few rogue coneflowers defy the odds and send out their blooms.

 The chrysanthemums bought as a potted plant display for Studio Tour last year made it through a late replanting and have burst forth gloriously this fall.

 The red maple at the beginning of the week when there were also leaves still left on the black walnut tree.

 That same lower branch of the maple tree a couple of days earlier.

 Today I think the temperature may have almost reached 70 F and we needed to refill the water in the one remaining birdbath. These two robins hung out there for quite some time.

 Last week the crepe myrtle was at peak while the summer salvia and pelagonium in the foreground are looking a little frazzled.

 Another "can't resist" shot of the crepe myrtle.

 Last week, when it was so windy every day, I had to resort to cutting small branches from the maple and bringing them indoors to photograph.

Not only did the sun come up today...it also went down.

Hope springs eternal.