There are things I can always count on when the seasons change. In the winter when the snow comes deep and still, I can count on my dog to abandon her favorite “business” spot in the yard and crisscross the blanket of snowy beauty with tracks that leave it looking like the wheelhouse at Grand Central Station.
In the late spring and early summer the lilacs bloom first, followed by the peonies, then 
when the heat comes on the irises and roses bloom. At that point I can count on fierce storms and torrential rains to beat them to smithereens the instant they’re at their loveliest.
The sky gets that crisp blue in autumn and the air fills with the sound of migrating birds. But the very week the trees deck out in fabulous color, you’d better not blink. As oft happens during season changeovers, the winds come to strip the branches bare. It happened exactly that way 
again. I no sooner commented on the flaming orange hazel bush out my window the other day, when high winds blew all the color away.
😦
One early autumn not long ago, my husband and I chanced upon a field of giant puffball mushrooms. Hundreds of them. It had a surreal look to it. But then I find freshly rolled hay bales sitting in a field rather surreal–like something Salvador Dali would paint. If only we had come the moment the puffballs emerged to see it unmolested, because for some people walking those woods that same day, the staggering awe of hundreds of mushrooms the size of soccer balls 
was nothing more than how many they could stomp on. Rather than enjoy a precious and fleeting moment with nature, they missed the point entirely. Someone with an active imagination might have imagined them as fairy tents for a giant once a year fairy gathering or a fairy-sized world’s fair. I did.
This time of year, there are all kinds of mushrooms out there. It’s also the time of year where amateur mushroom hunters trod over the landscape looking for mushrooms to snatch. I get it. They’re tasty. But people often forget the important roll mushrooms play in the grand scheme of things. I’ve seen people take them all rather than just some. The eco system needs those mushrooms. People can sure be short-sighted in their greed.
I think the fleeting beauty of nature is what makes you appreciate these things more. If you saw it all every day it would soon become so common to your eye that it would get lost 
among your other thoughts. Things like amazingly colored leaves, huge heavenly-scented lilac bushes, and puffballs are meant to be savored in their moment. It’s like a sweet spring-only Vidalia onion, summer bing cherries, or a Christmas tangerine. No, I take that back. This small window to appreciate the seasons’ beauty is more like a Marshmallow Peep or a Taffy Apple.
Get ‘em while they’re here for they will soon be gone.
♥♥♥ I’ve never had a professional promotional tour before for any of my books so it’s all new to me. From now until the end of the month, I’ll be a featured guest on many blogs and websites. Some posts will be big and others small.
Here’s today’s tour stop for The Changeling~
http://get-cozy.blogspot.com
And a 5-star review of The Changeling!
♥My other new release~
Entice Me – a multi-author collection for 99¢. My story is Heart of Stone
And a 5-star review for Entice Me too.
Words worth mentioning for October
“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.”
~Jack London
Today is Author Fran Lee’s blog day
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/
♥♥♥ CHECK OUT OUR ENTICE ME CONTEST♥♥♥
In honor of the first anthology by the Authors of Romance Books ‘4’ Us, we’re running an additional October contest. Prizes include a $100 Amazon Gift Card and a terrific “super power” Romance Reader or Romance Author t-shirt. If you’re into romances, the t-shirt will make you smile.
There are three ways to enter!
😀
Romance Books ‘4’ Us
The October contest is on! We have $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N. Other prizes often include ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items.
http://www.romancebooks4us.com/
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