“I love the autumn…when the sky at sunset preserves the russet hue that fills with gold the withered grass…” – Gustave Flaubert
This week, as we begin Thanksgiving festivities, our days are shorter, our nights longer, and temperatures are dropping each day. To combat the growing darkness, let’s celebrate “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” I’m sure many of us are familiar with these words from the quote/song, which came to mind as I prepared my Sunday Stills themes for November.
“All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.” ~ Bright and Beautiful, William H. Monk, 1887. Copyright status is Public Domain.
But first, a cautionary note to bloggers:
Although the lyrics shared above are from the song and are now in the Public Domain, I chose not to publish more than the song’s refrain. If you haven’t read Hugh’s latest post, please click the link and read the sad truths about insidious scams relating to copyright infringement and so-called “free” images.
The Latest Blogging and Publishing Scams by Hugh Roberts
Autumn’s Bright Colors
We enjoyed an extended autumn here, and the trees were bright with colors for weeks! All things must fade, but it was a fabulous show!
As we sink deeper into late fall and winter here in the northern hemisphere, seasonal depression (SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder) may haunt you like it does me with the lack of sunlight and cloudy days. Although the holiday season is upon us, giving us things to look forward to, mid-January might be fraught with unmet expectations and boredom.
The last three Januaries found us traveling to Arizona, but we plan to stay home in 2026 and enjoy a snowy winter. Yes…enjoy!
To combat SAD, I bought a natural light-therapy lamp. 30 minutes in the morning with my coffee does the trick, and the effects are felt immediately.
Or perhaps it was this bright cup of coffee…
…But I was revived and energetic most of the day.
Bright is the Night
Two weeks ago, the Earth experienced another intense geomagnetic storm on both Nov. 11 and 12. You know what that means…northern lights! We’ve had occasional fog and clouds since September, and we’ve missed several opportunities to see the aurora here in Eastern Washington.
“The aurora occurs when charged particles from solar flares interact with molecules in the Earth’s magnetosphere, creating bursts of light.” TIME.com
Eruptions of solar energy known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been hammering the Earth’s atmosphere. Nov. 11th show was a G-4 level (8.7 Kp index).
Red lights filled the skies with impossible brightness even through the wispy clouds still on the horizon. The red glow was visible to the naked eye in our very dark part of rural Eastern Washington.
The farther north one lives in the Northern Hemisphere, the more likely one is to see the entire spectrum of color with the naked eye. Otherwise, smartphone cameras do a fine job of capturing colors!
The Nov 12th show was visible for only a few minutes in our area due to increasing rain clouds.
Perhaps the autumn brightness is over until next year, but she put on a fantastic show of colorful leaves in 2025. Meanwhile, we can continue to look within ourselves to discover what is bright and beautiful.
Sharing this week for Becky B’s November Shadows, Dawn’s Festival of Leaves, and Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday.
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
“Autumn glows upon us like a splendid evening; it is the very sunset of the year.” – Mary Russell Mitford
If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore the season’s rich textures!
For those enjoying late spring and summer in the Southern Hemisphere, share your bright and beautiful images with us!
Wishing everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving this week a wonderful holiday and time with friends and family!
For the planners, please visit my Sunday Stills Challenge page for the December schedule.
© 2025 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved
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