Rekindling the Light

Picking Honeysuckle by Sophie Anderson

" Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light." Albert Schweitzer

I am blessed by an amazing group of friends I have met through blogging. This is a circle of friends I have never met, yet feel I know as well as friends I chat with after church on Sunday. I didn't expect this to happen through blogging. There have been many days when my light has been rekindled by reading a blog post, looking at a beautiful photograph, reading a newly composed poem. receiving a surprise in the mail, hearing about an award, or even winning a giveaway!
The surprise in the mail came from my friend Marcy at My Knitting & Other Stuff. I had gotten an email from her saying she was sending me a gift she saw at a church bazaar and as soon as she looked at it, it said "inland empire girl" to her. The gift was a beautiful book called A Victorian Posy : Penhaligon's Scented Treasury of Verse and Prose. The book is full of lovely Victorian pictures including the one above. It is also filled with poems and prose about the four seasons of the year and.... the book is scented. Every time you turn a page the scent of your grandmother's garden surrounds you. Thanks again Marcy. Here is a verse from "The Autumn":

Go sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them-
The summer flowers depart-
Sit still- as all transformed to stone,
except your musing heart.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
This colorful award helped rekindled the light also. Rosanne at Firefly Nights bestowed it upon me. This is part of what she said about my blog. " Since I have many fond memories of state park camping trips in a Coleman pop-up, I enjoy reading about her outings in the family’s Jayco. She always tells us some of the history of the regions she travels through in addition to sharing many photos. " She did make my day and thanks for the award.

My last rekindling of the light came when I won a giveaway. I had won a handmade sampler last year from my friend La Tea Dah, but this was a photo giveaway from Rebecca at Rambling by Reba. You can go here and see the photo I won. It is the first one of the yellow leaf. I will have my own framed print to enjoy myself. Thanks again Rebecca for doing such a fun giveaway.

Go visit these blogs and you will see why they rekindle my light. Again, thanks to each of you.