This another photo from Door County, Wisconsin, along the Mink River. I thought the sky that evening was quite unusual, and a reminder to take my camera with me all the time. Photos like this are an encouragement to me to go looking for an opportunity to take a picture.

I've owned some kind of a camera my entire adult life. Just by writing that statement I realized that is not impressive nor unusual. My granddaughter has an iPad which uses to take pictures and she even uses it to create movies. Everyone who has a phone has a camera. And life on this planet is recorded millions of times a day.  And on the back of phones or posted to social media sites we show friends and families photos after photos. Nothing so unusual about taking and sharing photos. But our enthusiasm is not dimmed as we say, "Look at what I saw!" And joy is doubled.

Our good friends, Mike and Marcia, always help us see the most interesting places when we visit them in Door County, Wisconsin. But I was perplexed when Marcia said we were going to a cemetery. Pastors spend a lot of time in cemeteries, and I don't usually visit them when on a vacation (Can you have a vacation when you are retired?). "There's a tombstone I want you to see, it's over here." And then the mystery deepened. Three names on this creative marker: a man and woman, each who lived to be nearly 100, and a younger man who died nearly the same time. But who made this marker, with shells, and broken pottery, and engraved rocks. It was something to see.

The Gospel lesson today is Mark 10:46-52, about Bartimaeus, a blind man who is restored to sight by Jesus. Bartimaeus could only beg, until he could miraculously see. There's more to ponder in the passage and the surrounding stories, if you can see.

Another photo from Copper Falls State Park, Mellen, Wisconsin. The delight of autumn in the far north is that the peak color season is compressed so that the trees are "dressed" all at the same time. I thought that the season moved south down the country like a wave. But it doesn't. Autumn seems to progress in pockets, and can vary from year to year (which I knew). Our red maple tree next to our driveway is glorious this week even when there is little color here in Nashville. Our friends in Maine and Door County have sent images near their home and fall is beautiful this week where they live. Enjoy the color wherever you are.

Sony a7rii, 70-200 mm lens, A3E adaptor, iso 400, 135 mm, f 6.7, 1/500 sec, tripod

I photographed a sunset over Loon Lake in July 1998. I was proud of the image at the time. I looked in my slide books (I have thousands of slides) to find the previous photos. The old image doesn't begin to compare with this one. And I was one of those who thought digital images wouldn't measure up to those taken on film. I was wrong about my photos. i even met someone recently, an accomplished photographer, who said film was superior to digital. Maybe he can do it, but I can't. The dynamic range in my new camera allows me to make photos I couldn't do with my film camera. It's tough to admit when you're wrong, but, in this case, it sure feels good.

Details: iso 100, 35mm setting on 16-35 mm lens, f/13, 1/30 second, tripod. Processed to brighten the shadows.

How many years does it take for water to carve rock? Patient, persistent. The solid obstacle gives way. Disappears.

This is the Presque Isle River in the upper peninsula of Michigan, just before it empties into Lake Superior, and joins more water, with more power. A photo that I took years ago at this very spot was one of my mother's favorites.

Every one with a camera of some sort, not just photographers, pause on the small (bouncing) suspension bridge to capture this scene of the solid rock and water-carved potholes.

Details: Sony a7rii with 90mm lens, iso 200, f/13, 2 second exposure, polarizer and neutral density filter.

Every since our first visit to the shore of Lake Superior, we have been fascinated by the variety of rocks. And we always seem to bring a few home. During both of our visits this fall, we encountered significant waves which made for challenging conditions for photography and rock picking. I did make a number of photographs along the waters' edge in several locations, but I did respond to a simple rule of photographers: turn around and look behind you. And in the stream that emptied into the Lake was this scene. What caught me was how the sun made an interesting pattern through the ripple of the water.

Before dawn on Farm Lake, near Ely, Minnesota, the sky begins to announce the morning. Autumn is beginning with the cool air drawing the mist from the water. Another seasonal change. Another morning for wonder!