Watching A Sunflower Bloom

 If you could stand in front of a sunflower and photograph it each day,

capturing all of the stages that bring it from bud to bloom. 

It might look like this...

Now that the featured flower has bloomed, 

I will share a few other pictures we took while we were out in the sunflower fields at

Holland Ridge Farms

- keep your face to the sunshine and you will never see your shadow, it's what the sunflowers do -

Wise Words On Sunday

 

Saturday Critters #617

My wildflower garden still has a lot of Cosmos and a variety of Wildflowers.

The garden looks both beautiful and ugly...it's an

 -  oxymoron -

It did however provide the following images that were taken yesterday...

I am used to hurring to capture both the bee and the flower but yesterday

the bee's clung to the Cosmos and were not willing to budge.

I was surprised to see the Common Buckeye so late in the butterfly season.

the Buckeye would not survive our cold winters, and migrates south for winter.

- flowers from the garden -

We are waiting on a big storm, a nor'easter they say...

I love a good storm, and always hope others can enjoy it and stay out of harm's way.

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 

Viewing Nature With Eileen 

for Saturdays Critters

Bits & Pieces

 Hello Friends

Life is full of bits and bobs, different little things that need to be celebrated.

I know that sounds a little corny, but it really is true.

I have so many small things that happen or things that I do throughout the week 

that must not be overlooked.

The front porch looks so pretty, I don't overdo it but I like to have a little fall color.

These mums are so full and just gorgeous, I buy them in support of Liz's sons soccer team.

I have a knitting friend in Washington D.C. 

that buys them also and then gifts each of us knitting girls a few since she is so far away.

I love that, many thanks "sassykaren" she did it last year also.

This candle "sweet farmhouse" from

 Vida Life Style NY

has the BEST scent, even when it is not lit. 

I purchased this last year at The Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival and have still not burned it...

I know I must but I love it so much, even without lighting it.

Vida Life Style NY

 is a great website to purchase yarn, soaps, bath bombs, body butters, oils, lip balms and so much more.

Each time the hubs and I go on any kind of trip, we try to purchase postcards that we send to ourselves.

We each fill one out, including what we enjoyed most about the trip, where we ate, 

information on how the weather was...and so on.

We mail them home and receive them here a few days later...they are really fun to read and collect.

I wrote a blog post about The Postcard Collection Book, if you are interested in putting one together.

Since I started my blog in 2010, I have tried to transform it into a hard-cover book every three months.

I recently printed Volume 3 and 4.

I had to change companies...the company I was using stopped providing that service.

I'm not sure why I started with Volume 1 when I changed companies, but I did.

I wrote several posts about printing the books, you can view those posts here and here.

The new books are really beautiful, I am using Pixxibook and I am very happy with the first 4.

For some reason I had a really hard time putting together these last 2 volumes 

and their customer service was excellent.

The quality of these books are superior to the service I used in the past...this post is not sponsored.

Cupcakes from Simonas Bakery are always a treat.

These are Blueberry with white chocolate and in my opinion, they are the best.

My KC Chiefs lost on Monday night...

they played well and at one point they were winning 14 - 0.

Patrick scored a touchdown here in the first picture and celebrated in the second.

What a bummer to see them fall to a 2 - 3 overall record.

The hubs picked up this Teriyaki Stir-fry Udon at Costco...enough for 4 servings, this was really good.

Closing with this fun graphic created by my friend 

Denise at An English Girl Rambles

I love this...thank you Denise for sharing this with us!

Holland Ridge Farms

Last week we visited

Holland Ridge Farms...U-Pick Sunflowers Fall Festival

This 300 acre farm transforms each spring with 8 million tulips 

and during the fall, the land comes alive with sunflowers and wildflowers of all kind.  

They provide large buckets and clippers 

so you can cut the perfect stems and take home a beautiful bouquet.

The whole farm is staffed with so many kind and extremely helpful people.

- cosmos -

- cosmos -

- sunflowers, with the Windmill in the background.

We had a little "Where's Waldo" fun...

- cosmos -

- white sunflowers -

if you have never seen a white sunflower....

I like them just as much as the yellow ones, they are uniquely pretty!

 - the cosmos were blooming, sporting their familiar colors.

They have a lot of these "Floral Photo Props" scattered about the farm.

The hubs wanted a lick of the ice cream cone.

Beside the sunflowers, 

they had fields of mini sunflowers, gladiolus, dahlias, zinna and so many other varieties.

I have at least 100 more pictures we took on this super fun day...

the family that owns and runs this farm is amazing.

The people who work here are double amazing.

They are so helpful, they ride the property in golf carts making sure you are ok

and offering help if you need it.

Holland Ridge Farms

 if you are ever in central NJ look them up and see what's in season.

It is a wonderful way to spend they day...I will be sharing more pictures next week

Scarecrows In The Village II

 I know this is total insanity but try to remember there were 150 scarecrows,

and so many of them were so unique and colorful.

Keep in mind, they call these "scarecrows"...

but they are really unique "creations" made by very creative people.

I shared a lot of my favorites on Monday here.

These are the rest of my favorites, there's a lot...scroll quickly and feel free to pick a favorite,

or even skip this and miss all of the wonderfulness.

We had such a fun day.

The weather was perfect for autumn scarecrow viewing.

I only went in one shop and bought 2 postcards for us to send to each other.

I'm not much of a shopper but the stores here are really unique!