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Posts Tagged ‘autumn colors’

Autumn Leaf Colors Shorter days and cooler air send signals to leaves to change their colors. As their veins constrict, leaves gradually loose their dominant green coloration, unmasking inherent yellow and orange pigments. Reds and purples, newly produced at the end of summer, make their appearance. But no matter what their color, these leaves ultimately fall slowly to the ground. Autumn is a season of change, revelation, and closure. And so it is with the autumn of our lives.

#1 – Art That Moves
soap, Oil and Ink by Ruslan Khasanov Time, color, and movement are key components of Russian artist Ruslan Khasanov’s work. Like a scientist, he experiments with the properties of soap, oil, and inks, but like an artist, he plays with their colors, shapes, and movement.

#2 – Fabulous Pumpkin Treats

12 Pimped Out Pumpkin Treats

Chocolate Pumpkin Pecan Cupcakes

During this time of the year, a title that reads, “12 Pimped Out Pumpkin Treats You Have To Try” cannot be ignored. If the title doesn’t lure you to click on the links, the mouth-watering photos will!

#3 – Setting The Table
Whether you’re having an informal or formal gathering this Thanksgiving, you might want to review this table setting guideline:

Thanksgiving: Formal vs. Informal Table Setting

#4 – More Christmas Ideas
27 Christmas Decor Ideas In last week’s Friday’s Fresh Five!, I featured a link to 25 DIY Christmas Ornament Ideas. To top that, this week I’m presenting 27 Christmas Decor Ideas. Unsurprisingly, my favorite project is the one using photographs. So many cute ideas, but so little time!

#5 – I Meant to Do My Work Today

I meant to do my work today–
but a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
and a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand–
So what could I do but laugh and go?

Richard Le Gallienne

Now Go and Spread Joy!

This post is dedicated to the memories of Yvonne Hall and Andy Mar.

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Scarves for Homeless Rainbow lint covers every imaginable surface in my home. T-shirt scarves tagged and waiting to be bagged lie in yard-high heaps on my dining room table. 344 scarves to be exact, an amount that far exceeds my original goal of 100. These scarves and the two dozen t-shirt tote bags will go far to warm the bodies and hearts of the homeless. My right hand and wrist ache from all the repetitive cutting and pulling, but as I view the piled scarves, I am overwhelmed. Many thanks to all those who contributed t-shirts to my project and to my wonderful friends who shared part of their day to help me create some of the scarves. Start saving your clean and gently-worn t-shirts for me, because next year my project will be bigger and better!

#1 – Live Longer
Secrets to a Long Life Knowing the incredible feeling I get from helping others, I’m not surprised that number 13 of Secrets of a Long Life: 25 Simple and Surprising Tips to Help You Live to 100 is “Be helpful and lend a hand to others.” The article goes on to state that “A long-term US study found that people who volunteered regularly over a lifetime lived significantly longer than those who didn’t. Volunteers also experienced less depression, fewer pains and better general health.” Find a way to expand your heart and, perhaps, you’ll live longer.

#2 – One Second of Every Day
Time flies by. Hours become days, days become months, and months become years. How can we remember the many significant moments of our entire lives? Cesar Kuriyama talks in this TED video about his ongoing project of recording one second of his life everyday and why he does it.

#3 – Fall Fantasy
Japanese Garden at Royal Roads University in British Columbia Fall Fantasy is a photo collection that captures glorious fall images from around the world and pairs them with inspirational sayings. Autumn’s beauty is displayed at its height of splendor!

#4 – Christmas, Already?
25 DIY Christmas Ornament Ideas It’s only fall, so this entry may be jumping the gun. However, if you’re a DIY-type-of-person, the time to start holiday crafting is right now! There are so many cute and clever re-purposing ideas in 25 DIY Christmas Ornament Ideas, you’ll want to start a few projects today!

#5 – Relativity of Life

Strange is our situation here upon earth.
Each of us comes for a short visit,
not knowing why,
yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose.
From the standpoint of daily life, however,
there is one thing we do know:
That we are here for the sake of others,
for the countless unknown souls
to whose fate we are connected
by a bond of compassion. Many times a day, I realize
how much my outer and inner life
is built upon the labors of others,
both living and dead,
and how earnestly I must exert myself
in order to give in return as much as I have received.
– Albert Einstein

Now Go and Spread Joy!

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Autumn leaves turn color and drop not because the weather is cooler, but because the nights are longer. If the nights are longer, then the days are shorter. And with shorter days we have less time to enjoy the beauty of autumn. So don’t waste time! Get out there and revel in all that autumn affords us – clear blue skies, colorful foliage, leaves crunching under our feet, fresh apple cider, pumpkin pie and longer nights to enjoy our families!

#1 – Movember
One of my sons started to grow a mustache at the beginning of the month, but not to look older or more debonair. He’s doing it to support a good cause – the Movember campaign. As a “Mo Bro,” he and other men across the world are growing mustaches during the month of November to increase awareness of men’s health issues, particularly prostate cancer, and to raise money to fund research. According to the Movember website, “Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.” To learn more about Movember or to make a donation to this inspiring men-helping-men effort, click here or to donate directly to my son’s team, click here. It all goes to a good cause! Although Tom Selleck he’s not (despite his “enhanced” photo), I’m still proud of my son!

#2 – Calcium in Food
Bone health or heart health? I can’t win. My ob-gyn wants me take calcium supplements, but my cardiologist wants me to stop taking them. I’m on a six-month trial period of eliminating daily calcium supplements and receiving calcium only from my diet. Why? I guess calcium can irritate the heart. Since going off calcium supplements, upping my ingestion of calcium-rich foods, and changing my magnesium supplement, the number of atrial fibrillation episodes I’ve had has diminished. Always check with your doctor before making any drastic changes in your diet or your supplements.

Calcium can be obtained from these high-calcium foods:

Dried herbs
Cheese
Sesame seeds
Tofu
Almonds
Flax seeds
Yogurt, milk, and other dairy products
Green leafy vegetables (turnip, mustard, dandelion green, collards, kale)
Brazil nuts
Herring

Links to articles regarding high calcium foods:
Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet on Calcium
Calcium Foods Summary
Top 10 Foods Highest in Calcium

#3 – Grab Your Smartphone and Shape Up!
Here’s a review of smartphone apps that can help you get in shape! For example, download Fooducate to let your phone’s camera scan barcodes of foods and find out how healthy they are based on ingredients and nutrients or download Tempo Magic Pro to “adjust a song’s tempo to match your workout speed without making it sound at all weird.” Who would have thought that a phone could help you get in shape?!

#4 – Daily Dose
I love looking at interesting and well-taken photos from around the world and was happy to get my daily dose of photos from One Big Photo, which has 400 gorgeous high quality photos uploaded. Enjoy browsing through the categories of photos or submit one of your own!

#5 – Your Autumn Colors
“You can’t hide your true colors as you approach the autumn of your life.” Unknown

Enjoy these beautiful autumn days!

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