There Is a Light in the Forest

My husband and I ran some errands in town and grabbed a bite to eat. We had thought we were going to Olde New York for Iron City salads, but as it turns out, they are closed on Mondays. Fortunately, I looked online before we left. So it was that we ended up with takeout from Perkins instead, and we sat happily in the car in the sun, splitting a fish dinner with extra shrimp on the side, plus a salad with ranch, and the always-favorite crispy golden tater tots.

I've been looking for the Hershey's Kiss flavor called birthday cake for months, but apparently, they don't make it anymore. The closest thing I could find at Big Lots was a holiday flavor called sugar cookie, which is similar but without the little crunchy bits that birthday cake has. Two bags of sugar cookie kisses came along home with me. And I grabbed a bag of that salted caramel crunchy stuff to bake with; I've never tried it before. (Any and all recipe suggestions for salted caramel crunch will be appreciated!) Holiday fun, already!

After that, we lit out for Cherry Run, where we spent the afternoon hiking along the stream. We had our water shoes along but it was chilly enough in the shadows that we didn't feel the need for a wade. We sat by the creek and read some magazines, including Smithsonian, which has some good stuff in it about the Aztecs this month.

The sun was on the creek, and I had a great time making some fun reflection shot abstracts on the water surface; then, with darkness arriving more quickly than usual, it was time to go. On the walk out, I noticed these several trees, shining out like a light in the forest. Many of the leaves are down, but these are still here, and they are just gorgeous. It's part of this time of year's special magic. The darkness may be gathering. But the trees make their own light. Sometimes they almost glow. I love that. Be a light.

My soundtrack song is Thomas Rhett with Reba McEntire and Chris Tomlin, with Be A Light.