An Autumn View

I have a friend I've known for many years, who is in the hospital right now. She was admitted last week, and I visited her both Monday and Wednesday. Quite conveniently, the hospital is five minutes from where I work. My Wednesday afternoon visit was a mission of mercy: I had promised her some trashy tabloids to help pass the time.

But it turns out that trashy tabloids are not so easy to come by as they once were. The hospital gift shop didn't have any, and neither did the two gas stations I stopped at on this day. So my friend had to settle for the latest editions of People and Us, which is pretty tame fare indeed. But she was grateful to have any reading materials at all!

My friend looks to be recovering (thank goodness!), and she will go to rehab for a few days, perhaps even as early as later this week. So it's possible I may not be back to the hospital any time soon. Which is a relief to me on several counts, as I cherish the few very close friends I have, and I don't like hospitals at all!

But as I went out to my car in the parking lot after I saw her, I stopped to watch the sky. The wind had picked up, and the clouds and light were doing amazing things over the stadium. Do you ever have a spare moment? Or maybe you don't? Stop for a few seconds to breathe deeply and watch the sky.

And as I looked out over the landscape, I spotted some lovely golden trees, and I took a few photos. Above is one of them. I have no idea what that red building is, but please enjoy this foliage shot, taken from the hospital parking lot on a pretty November afternoon.

The mission that brought me to this place was friendship, which provides blessings to both parties. For instance, this view is a gift that I got, that I wouldn't have had otherwise, because I stopped to visit a sick friend. The soundtrack song is James Taylor, with You've Got a Friend.