Beautiful Fall is in the Air

"All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all."
Fall is here in New York, and all the beautiful green trees that line the parkways and streets are showing their fall colors. Yesterday, Dick and I took a walk along the path that is behind our apartment building, and these are some of the gorgeous scenes we saw.

This is our street, Garth Road. Our apartment building is on the right of the picture.

Today as we drove to Church, we saw more and more colors. Two weeks ago, when Billy and Amy were here, the colors had just barely started to turn.

Last night, there was a couple's dinner at the home of the 1st counselor in the mission presidency, Bill Darger. His home was built in 1929, and all the houses on the whole street were built by the same person. The builder really liked the sea, and on each fireplace, there is a brass sculpture of a ship on the sea. I didn't get a picture, but it was very impressive. This house reminded me of an English house. Sister Darger LOVES Halloween, and she decorates her whole house in Halloween decor. Here is the table that the couples sat at. Sister Darger is on the far left in the above picture. I might mention that she is an attorney in New York City and is the Stake Relief Society President. She's quite amazing.

Here is the living room in the Darger's home.

Here's a picture of all the senior couples. We get together for a dinner about every two to three months. The Dargers home is within walking distance of our apartment. Sister Darger made wonderful enchiladas, and the couples brought salads, sides, rolls and dessert. We really had an enjoyable evening just mainly visiting and getting to know one another better. Some of these couples don't have much interaction with the other couples because they live too far away.

As we came home from Stake Conference today, we saw children all over the place painting Halloween pictures on the windows of the businesses along Garth Road. They were helped by their parents, and everyone lookedl like they were having a great time. Dick and I walked along the street tonight and looked at all the paintings. What a fun thing to do for Halloween.

I thought this little girl was SO cute and asked if I could take a picture. Later, when we walked by, the pumpkin head was filled in with a face, and there was a golf bag and golf clubs painted in the picture. Notice that the pumpkin is wearing a Scotish kilt.

I couldn't end without saying what a wonderful Stake Conference we had today. The whole conference was about missionary work. The first speaker was a Chinese convert who told his sweet conversion story and how the Lord directed him in his and his family's life. He set the stage. Then, a returned missionary spoke about his conversion and his desire to go on a mission despite the fact that his father was in a care center. He went to North Carolina. Two mothers told about their missionary sons and the growth they had seen in them. President and Sister Smith (the mission president and his wife) spoke also. Sister Smith told how much she loved the missionaries, and President Smith told about his barber and the things he had learned from him as they discussed the gospel. The Stake President closed with a strong testimony of missionary work. The spirit was strong and we were blessed for attending. The Gospel is true and does change lives. One of the ladies that we have been involved with is investigating the church. She has a Word of Wisdom problem, but she wants to get baptized. We are praying that she will be able to overcome her problems and get baptized.. She's Jewish, but she has a testimony of Jesus Christ. Her name is Kim Leibskind. Her baptism date is set for November 27th.