Yeah! It’s Thursday again. And we all know what that means…almost weekend!

The theme for You Capture this week was signs…and I was a little more stumped about this one at first. But when I finally went out with my camera into the great wide open, the signs were everywhere.

Some of my signs are literally signs on posts…but others are more subtle signs form nature. Hope you enjoy!

And if you haven’t voted yet for my Sigma photo entry, it’s not too late. Please, please help me win!!

Don’t forget to visit the other YouCapture participants as well — or join yourself!!

As I started taking these photos, I realized that there sure are a lot of signs in Germany…especially signs that prevent you from doing things!

This one is one we’ve often frowned about while driving in the Defender, which is just meant for off-road and dirt road driving. It prohibits vehicles from using the street unless they have a land- or forest-related reason to be there. That means if they have a garden or property off the street, they can drive on it. But if you just want to take a nice Sunday drive to the middle of nowhere, forgedaboutit.

This sign (as you might have guessed from the sign above) prohibits people from riding horses here. This is posted on a path where we always walk our dog. I guess someone stepped in some horse poo and thought it was offensive. People still ride their horses through here, though. Such rebels!

Another fairly new sign in our dog walking area is the following one. It’s taken us a little while to figure out exactly what it means…even with a native German speaker in the house. But we’re fairly sure now it’s giving the right of way to tractors. There is a lot of farming land near our house and the street where this is posted has a lot of people walking dogs, riding bikes and otherwise strolling along it. So I guess some of those people decide they wanted to tango with a tractor and wouldn’t give up their right to walk down the street. Personally, since I know those farmers work long hours and usually don’t get well compensated for it, I get off the road anyway. Plus those tractors are HUGE! I wouldn’t stay on the road if I car wanted to pass either…but that’s mostly because I’m scared of how fast most of them drive. I do glare at some of them though!

But enough with the metal. How about a few signs from nature that fall is coming??

Like this cherry tree in the public orchard. They are always one of the first trees to turn and drop all their leaves.

The changing and dropping of the leaves is definitely one of my favorite parts of fall!

What’s crazy is that there are still peaces ripening on the trees here and even raspberries still to be harvested. These two things are usually done in June at the latest…the weather was just really strange this year. And in addition to those things, the apples will soon be coming in to. We’re estimating we’ll harvest ours next weekend (assuming no one has stolen them this year!)

And finally, this one is a more personal sign, that has a spiritual meaning to it. In Psalms 91, verse 4 (which you can read below) there is a reference about being taken under God’s wings and His feathers will cover you. Since I was in about 8th grade, that passage has spoken to me. And whenever things get hectic in life and start seeming glum, I’ve always found a perfect feather which seemed to have been placed purposely in my path. Sometimes they show up in very strange places…other times they are a bit off the beaten path where I have to actually look for them. But they are always there when times get tough, to show me that God is with me and He never leaves my side. So maybe the next time you find a feather somewhere, remember that whatever you might be going through in life, you’re not alone.

Psalm 91: 1-4

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴ He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.