OCTOBER; MUST YOU GO SO SOON? NOVEMBER; MUST YOU ARRIVE SO EARLY?
Either way; the wonderful days of fall are coming to pass with full force, and both the past and the present have been and will be packed-full of blessings and amazing events, adventures and discoveries here at The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community.
It is hard this month to even try to divide what we have already done from what we are planning to do; it is all overlapping and running together into one long, happy, continuous pattern of Fall.
OCTOBER
The time that just passed in October was great.
October is one of my favorite months of the year. I always hate to see it go. This year it felt like October ran in and out of our lives like a short blink of an eye. The whole month was like a wink and a smile that flirted with the idea that autumn had arrived and in case you didn’t notice; October managed to just skip away when we were not paying attention.
I wasn’t finished Mr. October; please don’t leave in such a hurry!
NOVEMBER
Unfortunately; there seems to be no stopping time!
November is at the doorstep even as I write this Newsletter.
I have not blogged nearly as many subjects as I had intended for October. That statement probably sounds like a re-run from September. Life is so full it is hard to contain it all in words.
Fall is so full and time is so short!
A lot of November will be playing catch-up from what we did not get around to in October; but November will also surprise us with some wonderful new features as well.
OCTOBER REVIEW WITH SNEAK PEEKS OF NOVEMBER THINGS-TO-LOOK-FORWARD-TO
Here is a recap of what we DID squeeze into the schedule as well as a few hints for new articles that are up-coming.
COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY
The bible study this past month was intense and diverse. I think we might have touched on a few subjects that are new to some of you.
We went from The Bread of Heaven to Blasphemy to The Annual Sabbaths and The Year of Jubilee all in one month.
Now that is covering a lot of territory!
I hope these lessons have been helpful. There is never enough room in any of these articles to say all that we have experienced and learned from God on so many different and amazing subjects. We could dwell on some passages for months if we wanted to do so. I like to think that we will just get another glimpse of some of the same subjects only from a different perspective in the other books coming up for study. The lessons really have no safe ending places. No subject is ever completely finished or completed. God never stops teaching His people. The beginnings just turn to endings that return to beginnings again. It is amazing to think about.
Don’t you just love walking through the Old Testament together?
There are only a few more lessons left in Leviticus and we will be headed toward a new journey through The Book of Numbers which will begin sometime around late November.
Stay with us if you want to make this journey all the way through the bible together!
Our walk so far has been a great adventure and I expect that to continue as we move on.
If you missed any October lessons; you can review them here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/year-of-jubilee/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/shemitah-and-isaiah-61-come-as-a-child-lesson-232/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/shemitah-the-annual-sabbath/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/blasphemy-judged-by-god/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/bread-of-heaven/
AN APPLE A DAY
Are you missing the 365 days toward a healthier lifestyle articles which we started and stalled on in this column yet? I think we made it through day 18 before we got side-tracked. Don’t worry we will take up on Day 19 as soon as we cover a few more bases in the latest series of side-articles.
Mental health and physical health are so intertwined. They just seem to go together and I’ve been having lots of thoughts about that fact this fall. The question arose about mindfulness, meditation and yoga; as to whether or not they were each Christian activities and if we can separate them out and split them off from one another, or even find alternatives if they are not appropriate for us. I had so many unanswered questions!
I’ve prayed about this subject in my own life for a long time now. I want to do what is good and healthy for my body, mind and soul. It is my strongest desire to lead a godly life. Balancing out what the world teaches us about health and comparing them to what the biblical definitions are can be tricky sometimes.
My constant research on these subjects has spilled over into to a series of articles that have been part of AN APPLE A DAY during the weeks of October. The discussion and information on these particular topics is vast; so we will continue giving you more and more information to consider in November.
Here is a recap of the articles we have discussed so far: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/mindfulness-yoga-meditation-and-they-make-you-feel/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/mindfulness-meditation-yoga-series/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/mindfulness-and-absolutes-article-two-about-mindfulness-meditation-and-yoga/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/mindfulness-meditation-yoga-thoughts/
SEASONS
Fall has arrived in all of her splendor.
She snuck in on tip-toes this year; and her appearance was not very prompt in our area of the country. Nevertheless; she came in late (like most very stylish ladies do) all dressed up and just as beautiful as we expected. We were holding our breath waiting; and now we’ve been very busy noticing and enjoying all of the seasonal activities that came walking through the door with her.
Of course, I gave my usual commentary on Halloween; you may have already guessed what I would have to say; but if you missed it you can catch it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/halloween-and-christianity-a-haunting-subject/.
I’m simply not into witches, devils and scary characters and it seems ironic that I can’t give out candy to my grands any other day of the year; but this day is a sudden and total switch-a-roo; and I sort of resent it.
No child is ever denied candy by this grandmother; ever – on ANY given day of the year; nevertheless, I don’t encourage evil themed holidays. I’ve asked my grands to save their costumes and share them with me in a Purim party I want to throw for them later on this winter.
What is the difference you say? Well, one holiday is all about promoting evil, bad health practices and commercialism and the other holiday is all about knowing the DIFFERENCE between evil character and good character as well as right and wrong. One holiday puts the emphasis on Satan, demons and witches and the other holiday puts the emphasis on true biblical prophecy and events of God’s providence.
Guess which one I want to celebrate with my own grandchildren this year?
It was a no-brainer.
We off-set some of this un-welcomed and un-invited spookiness by attending some lovely Fall festivals this year.
I love the harvest festivities as much as I detest Halloween. God is all about a harvest; that is for sure!
All pumpkins and all scarecrows do NOT have to be centered around evil themes; so I’ve enjoyed the harvest themes and rejoiced in the abundance of the land and God’s blessings of the season.
These celebrations brought our lives into a better balance and I try never to let a year go by without visiting Baker Farms. We wrote about it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/beautiful-october-days-at-old-baker-farm-oh-the-places-we-will-go-fall-festivals-series/.
I had originally intended to look for a pumpkin on the Ozone Wine Train and go visit a few other fall festivals; but time got away from me this year.
However; I DID squeeze in a lovely stroll up and down the fall decor of Main Street in the lovely town of Columbiana, Alabama and some beautiful fall photos resulted; plus a visit to a wonderful and fairly new historical museum that is all about the history of Shelby County, Alabama is now displayed in that little town for the public to enjoy. I was amazed at how much history they had collected into one place.
As of yet; I haven’t written all of that little adventure down in an article; but you can expect to hear more of the story in November – so keep reading. Fall was so pretty on those Columbiana Streets; and those people from Columbiana certainly do have a lot going on!
I love small towns that take an interest and act like community; especially whenever fall rolls around. For November I want to give you another article about how the people of Blue Ridge, Georgia accomplish some of those home-town wonders. Eventually we will try to put together a summarized article about our favorite small towns to visit in the fall. Each one is so different and unique. It is wonderful to take a stroll and drift back to simpler times and simpler days even if for a moment in these quaint places that are scattered all across our landscapes.
Fall festivals were the main seasonal theme for October; but Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day will be the two main seasonal themes for November.
PEN ART
Fall brings out the poet in all of us. We shared some poetry about Fall at the very beginning of October and we also wrote an article about 10,000 reasons to celebrate the arrival of Fall.
We hope you caught on to some of those ideas and tried out a few of our suggestions; which were in reality only twelve in number. If you didn’t get around to any of those specific activities; it is never too late. Here is the article: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/fall-10000-reasons-t-love-and-celebrate-it/.
You know I do try to always keep my promises. I had promised to write a movie review on the movie called “Christopher Robin.” Finally it was published. If you missed it; you can catch it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/has-winnie-the-pooh-become-a-socialist-a-strange-look-at-the-movie-called-christopher-robin/. Please don’t get mad at me if you are a Winnie The Pooh fan no matter what – because actually so am I, but; I might have said more than some of you wanted to hear about this movie.
There may be a few good new children’s movies this fall which we hope to publish reviews about in the month of November.
As far as books go; we will be reviewing a really cute and warm-hearted Fannie Flagg novel called “The Whole Town Is Talking.” She is definitely one of my favorite authors. Look for it in November.
OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO
Again, my trips were more limited than anticipated in October, and I only made it to Baker’s Farm and Main Street in Columbiana. Not much of a world traveler; huh?
While shopping in the Greystone area on the way to Columbiana though; I accidentally stumbled across some information about a farm called The 1818 Farm which is on the Birmingham, Alabama side of Huntsville. I’ve been doing a little research on that place; and I suspect it will be on my list of November places to discover.
I had also intended to share some articles about Montreat, NC; Black Mountain, N.C. and Saluda, N.C. during the month of October (that is when they are the most beautiful); but these were not fitting properly into the busy October writing schedule. These will still be appropriate for our fall sharing in November; so be watching for them.
THE HOUSE DOCTOR
This column was deliberately ignored during the month of October.
That was for a good reason.
November is going to be so full of articles about fall decorating and entertaining that you may not have time to read them all. Stay tuned. You are going to love all of the Thanksgiving ideas.
MONDAY MENUS
Speaking of Thanksgiving; there are so many different approaches one can take to making out their Thanksgiving menu.
We have several scenarios with appropriate menus that will match your home decorating themes for this year.
All of the recipes are available to our readers; so be watching and making your plans.
I promise there will be lots to choose from around early November.
PRODUCTS AND THE IN SEASON COMMUNITY STORE
We didn’t display too many products for the month of October; that month was all about information and events.
November will be more of the same; but we will give you lots of added products to make your home look more like fall and to help you with your Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day celebrations.
Our featured product package for November is The IN SEASON Fall Family Tree. We implemented this crafty tree into our family’s Thanksgiving celebrations several years ago and everyone still loves it. You put up the tree and write down the dates your family members came into the family onto all the leaves and hang them on the tree for all to see. Everyone always looks to see it their leaf is there. Our tree usually hold the names of those who have traditionally celebrated Thanksgiving with us year-after-year. To make the Thanksgiving IN SEASON Fall Family tree even more exciting; I am currently editing a children’s book called “Charlie The Leaf.” You will be amazed at how many adventures Charlie gets into this fall. I hope to make this book a free download to anyone wishing to read it when they decide to order the IN SEASON Fall Family Tree package from The IN SEASON Community Store. Be watching to get your free download this month.
We also have some amazing books in the store which are just for children and most of them have Thanksgiving themes.
There are also some interesting books on sale for adults to enjoy which will be coming out in November.
Why not anticipate doing a little Christmas shopping early this year? Every penny spent on the blog goes to support our efforts to be your all-around, best Christian lifestyle publication. We aim to provide hours of seasonal enjoyment and interesting reading for you each month. Amazon profits the most from your purchases; but we DO make a little profit some of the time and every little bit helps our blogging to continue.
NEWS OF EXCITING NEW BLOG DEVELOPMENTS
The IN SEASON Lifestyle is excited to announce that we have created a beautiful new logo which we think is appropriate for our mission with this blog. We will be heading up the blog with that logo soon and hope you love the new look.
Expect to see it appearing everywhere in the blog in the future. You are going to love the pretty artwork and the eye-catching logo. How nice and convenient that you can now easily pick us out from the crowd.
We can’t wait to show it to you! Hopefully that will happen sometime this November.
In this season of Thanksgiving we are so very thankful for our wonderful reading community. You guys make the world go round; and we never take that for granted.
May the month of November bring love, laughter and blessings to each and every one of you.
Here is wishing you many blessings for a very happy and joy-filled Thanksgiving!
Gail Landgraf
Editor, Owner and Writer for:
The IN SEASON Lifestyle
Via Wordcastle Publications LLC
3685 Pine Lane
Birmingham, Alabama 35242
(205) 532-9893
wordcastlepublications@gmail.com