Have you seen how freaking awesome Nature is? (and how its the same as it was in 1836...)

Isn't that lovely? Ivy on the walls of the Stronghold Castle in Oregon, Illinois. This is my favorite season, fall. I give thanks every year that I live in an area that has lovely, distinct seasons, and the transition between the heat of summer and the snows of winter (or more often, rains in Chicago) is my favorite time of year. Sometimes its short, sometimes its long, but its the end of the riding season for me by the end of the fall, and I love what I get to enjoy of it.

I don't often post photos of the Vespa (there on the right) but riding season is always the highlight of the year. It starts out cold and wet, gets nice, gets too hot, starts to cool, gets to be cold and wet before I finally cease riding for the year. That doesn't stop my husband, of course, he has much more gear than I do ( heated vest, pants, boots, etc.) so he usually rides much longer (and is incredibly gleeful when he gets to do something like ride in January because the weather is cold but not wet and snowy and icy). 

Photo by Bill and Vicki T on Flickr

Riding around when you see beautiful colors like this just puts a smile on my face, even when its a bit chilly.

Photo by Kymberly Janisch on Flickr

I know some people might be thankful they live in Florida or Hawaii or Arizona or something so that they never feel the cold nor realize when its spring, summer, fall, or winter, but I am thankful that I live in a place that has all these distinct seasons. And coming from a hardy line of ancestors that made their way from New York to here, I think my ancestors really appreciated nature's bounty as well. 

When I think about the fact that there's a centennial farm in Michigan for my grandmother's family, it blows my mind that the Snell family was in Michigan just after it became a state, and is still there. The last name changed, but the descendants of Sylvanus Snell and Susan Tunison still live in the exact same location that they purchased in 1836! 

I took this over the summer, of course, but I can just imagine the trees changing color, the soybeans and corn stalks in the fields turning yellow and decaying back into the land, and the wondrous changes of Michigan in the fall. 

So I give thanks that my ancestors had the foresight to move to an area with such lovely seasons, and I that I am blessed to continue to live in the region and enjoy many of the same sights and sounds that they did.