Fall Foliage

It's that time of year when the camera travels with me in the car, all of the time, even when I don't plan to use it. You never know when something will catch the eye, a visual or action that is unexpected, somehow wonderful. Autumn's colorful leaves aren't exactly unexpected, but the slanting rays of sunlight can turn each tree into a neon display of reds, oranges and pinks. 


It's a good thing that I am compulsively early for appointments, tending to arrive with tons of time to spare. This day, enroute to a lunch date in Madison Park with friend Mimmi S., I repeatedly pulled into parking lots along the lake shore to admire the fall color and take a few photos. The waterfront drive from Seward Park, my neighborhood, to Madison Park is one long series of parks and greenspaces. That scenic stretch is a visual delight any time of the year, but it seemed doubly so after my recent weeks in Southern California. Here's a sampling of the foliage shots from my stops. (... and yes, I was on time for my lunch date.)
  

This beauty is a showstopper.

Rollerblade enthusiasts chose a scenic route.

Even the stems lose chlorophyl and turn red.

Hot pink leaves decorated Madison Park street trees.

Nature provided this color, not Photoshop.

It's November, but this little strawberry plant is still productive and optimistic.

Pyracantha berries are ready to decorate Thanksgiving displays.

A Pumpkin Patch Gathering

What is a PPG? This year it was an opportunity to greet old friends and make some new ones, a time to enjoy people, activities, location and more..

She was the cutest little pumpkin in the patch.

What a party! Four generations of energetic guests tromped through the field, searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Everyone took a moment to pose for their annual photo. It's fun to page through the photo albums from the previous ten years of PPGs.

The alpaca were irresistible, whether you chose to feed, pet or just admire the pack. The animals eagerly made friends with anyone with a handful of feed. They were gentle, but their teeth and hooves were a little scary. 

A German Oompah Band kept our toes tapping and our wings flapping as they filled the air with music, even yodeling! Young and old, people loved the Chicken Dance.

Demand was high for a seat on the hay ride.

Family and guests filled the barn to sip and nosh away on tempting treats.

It was a wonderful afternoon in a gorgeous setting, all 50+ acres of it. Showers teased us with occasional droplets, but the heavy rainstorm wasn't invited to this party.

While not actually part of the Pumpkin Patch, the river is just across the road.

Thank you, Rick and Pat, for inviting us all to this very special event. 

Welcome Home

Cookies by Hilary

We enjoyed some good adventures on our 2011 cruise, nonetheless it felt good to return home last week. The trip south from the boat was routine, usually a good thing when you'e on the road. We have run this route so often it seems like our SUV runs on autopilot. (Note: that's my opinion, not necessarily the driver's.) We cleared U.S. Customs at the border in record time and motored on, pausing for a visit with some good friends along the route. 


At home we opened the door to a special treat. Niece Hilary was there to welcome us with a hug, a big smile and a table of treats. The platter of homemade, hand-decorated cookies said it all. Thank you, Hilary.

We've been home for a week and are now focused on life ashore instead of life afloat. The cookies may be long gone, but that warm, welcome-home feeling remains as we reconnect with friends and our Seattle life.. 

The Neighborhood Frog

Here's a new addition to the neighborhood, the Remodel Frog. He grins back at me every morning through our kitchen window bay. This l'il character appears every three feet along the wall next door, making the view through all our northside windows bright and cheerful. I know the view of aqua-wrapped walls and orange trimmed window openings is temporary (and that's a good thing). Still, I will miss that army of cheerful frogs when they are covered by siding. 

Frogs are an inside family joke, occasionally annoying but more typically funny. Green frogs with pink wings... I smile and shake my head at the thought. Nope, I won't go there. It would lose something in the explanation.

Back to the remodel: the house's exterior shell remains the same, though stripped of siding and some of it's stone. Check out the new clerestory window added to the roof. The east wall remains open to the lake, displaying open studs throughout the interior. 

New swarms of subcontractors arrive each week, keeping the site active. Recently it has been roofers, plumbers and HVAC installers that joined the regular crew of carpenters. Big delivery trucks arrive and depart, worker's trucks fill up the street, and I can only imagine the choreography required to keep things progressing inside the house. 

Construction is such fun to watch, even when it's next door.  

Signs... and sounds... of Spring

Spring made an official appearance yesterday, accompanied by sunshine and mild weather. My daffodils are in full-bloom, a few early tulips add their vibrant color to the yard, and the fruit trees are in full-flower. All of that adds sunshine to the soul and puts a smile on my face... even though it's tax season. Today Seattle wears a misty gray cloak and Mt. Rainier is hidden by rainclouds, a typically changeable weather pattern for March in Seattle, but the colors of Spring still decorate the landscape.

The sounds of Spring are another story. The tap-tap-tap of hammers and the buzz of an air compressor greet us at 8:00 a.m. five days a week. Yes, the remodel next door continues, filling our usually quiet neighborhood with construction activity... and trucks... and dumpsters... and a bright green port-a-potty. The crew is efficient, the jobsite is tidy, and it is interesting to watch the structure change.

Spring must have a sense of humor, though I'm not laughing. For several years now Spring has sent us visitors, unwelcome guests who attempt to move into the house via an exterior opening for the clothes dryer vent! The spring that closes the small flapper door must be a weak design, because the birds seem to have easy access every year. 

Noisy bird chirps, very noisy and very nearby, are the first clue as the adults explore the opening. Next comes the scritching and scraping sounds of swallows hopping along the flexible six-inch diameter plastic tube. If ignored for just a day or two, the final clue would be strings and strands of grasses, nest-building supplies, hanging down the outside wall. You can laugh, but it's not funny to me. I have bad dreams imagining the swallows pecking through the plastic pipe and invading the house to nest in comfort somewhere inside. So I turn on the dryer and blast them out whenever I hear bird noises. Tiny bird brains must not remember that exciting event from year to year. I also pester the husband a lot until he drags out the big extension ladder and tacks an square of chicken wire over the dryer vent opening - unsightly but not as messy as a bird's nest would be.