Tee-gee-eye-eff! I am looking forward to a break this weekend. The weather has been fantastic. Maybe we’ll get some time in the yard and in the shop varnishing. Most of all I look forward to spending time with the people I enjoy so much.
The trees out back are starting to show their colors. It won’t be long until everything is green again. can’t wait!
This little rock (that’s a dime in the background to get a sense of its size) was in a baggie on the kitchen counter this morning.
It is our very own meteorite.
For the roofing project last weekend, we bought one of those large magnetic sweepers on a stick that roofers use to pick up stray nails off the ground. It was actually amazing to see all the seemingly invisible nails that it would find. (We’ll have to remember to bring this to the lake with us this summer, maybe we’ll be able to dredge up that fishing pole of Kurt’s that was dropped in the lake…)
Anyway, on one of the sweeps it brought up this tiny pebble – which monte declared to be a meteorite. Hmmm. Maybe.
In the stand of trees out back there are very aggressive thorny vines that love to climb all the way to the top of the canopy of the 30+ foot tall trees. When we first moved in they were pretty well established. But we tried to pull most of them down and cut the new growth. Every Fall we fight the ones that have grown since the last time we cut them down.
This is what they do if left alone for many years. Poor tree.
We enjoyed a lazy Sunday. A light mist of rain keeps falling, so the yard is still very wet. This one red berry stood out amongst all the barren branches in the way back. I went out later in the day and it was gone. One of the birds must have seen it, too.
Temps outside were around 28 degrees again last night. I figured the water in the bird bath would have frozen, so right after the sun came up this morning I went outside to check it out. It was frozen all the way through.
I like the effect from the frozen bubble paths in the ice.
Brrrr. Time for hot chocolate!
It was very cold last night and into today. Well, cold for Austin. It got down to 28 degrees here last night. It’s going to continue to be at or below freezing for the next few nights.
I took a walk out back tonight. Most of the perennials I planted in the Spring are dried and dead above ground and need to be cut back soon.
An exception is the lamb’s ear that I planted. They are doing great! I love touching these plants. They are so soft and fuzzy on the outside, but must be tough on the inside to ride out this cold.
My Aunt in San Antonio gave me these from her garden last year and I’ve really enjoyed them.
We had a most awesome sendoff for our friends Tony & Michelle last night — in true B-dock fashion. We will miss them dearly but know we’ll sail with them again.
It *finally* rained — bringing some welcome relief from the dreaded cedar pollen, so I took a walk out back this afternoon. The red berries on the nandina caught my eye, especially with their dangling rain droplets.
I’ve found it difficult to manually focus this little camera. Though I love this Powershot D10 very much, it may be time to upgrade to a DSLR. I’ll wait until after I finish this 365 project.
I raked and bagged many, many leaves this week. There are many more yet to fall.
I used a sepia tint and some fuzzy/glowy treatment with Picassa. I like how it turned out.
This is the 5th winter we’ve lived in this house. The first year the pistache out back turned a phenomenal shade of yellow before all the leaves fell. We haven’t been treated to that again until this year. I guess the drought/rain, heat/cold balance has to be just so.
Many of the leaves fell before turning yellow this year. But this shot gives an idea of how pretty it is.
It started out foggy and overcast, but has turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. I took one more drive down to the waterfront today. No sandy beach here — lots of rocks worn smooth from the endless wave action.
Saw lots of shore birds. Someone was diving about 20 feet offshore. A ferry went by. No orcas in sight, though. The seals can rest easy for another day.
In the local newspaper the other day there were reports of orca whales right off of Manette in East Bremerton, a few miles from my mom’s house. We went for a drive in late afternoon to look for some. Well, we didn’t see any, but it was a gorgeous clear day today and the mountain was out in all its glory. Mount Rainier is my favorite mountain (I may have said that before). What, doesn’t everyone have a favorite mountain? If so, how could it be any mountain other than this one?
Last night I watched Francine play soccer and visited with her afterward for a bit. Then spent the night at Noreen’s and got in a nice visit with her, David & Jared. Tonight mom and I went to see Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo with Fran & Art, Rebecca and Aaron, and met up with Colleen and her friend Pat afterward for dinner, so I got a visit in with her as well. 1 mom and 3 sisters down – 1 brother to go 😉
When my family first moved up to this area it was 1974. In the preparations for yet another family move, in this case from South Carolina, I can recall being very excited about moving to a place with mountains and snow. And I REALLY wanted a house with a fireplace.
Well, I wasn’t disappointed. 36 years later I still love the mountains. And, I do still enjoy a fire in the hearth. But the joy of the cutting/stacking/hauling of firewood that goes along with it — not so much.
This area is on the west side of the Puget Sound surrounded by the Olympic mountains to the west and the Cascade mountains to the east. Long before I knew how to tell direction by looking at where the sun was in the sky, I knew to look for the mountains to get my bearings.
This is a shot of the beautiful Olympic mountains from outside of Seabeck.
The weather has been chilly here, kind of rainy, but it was a nice day, for the most part. I went to an appointment with my mom, ran a few errands. Went to lunch with her, my sister Noreen, her daughter Julie and her friend Sierra. Then my mom and I visited a scenic nearby Nordic-heritage town called Poulsbo for some shopping.
It is truly beautiful up here.
Now that so many of the leaves have fallen, you can see the sun rise over the house across the street .
This shot is looking through the branches of a crape myrtle and a few other big trees in the neighbor’s yard.
It’s not a scenic view, especially with the power lines going across the shot. But I took a picture of this particular Thursday morning moment because I thought the sunlight was brilliant,and I also like the silhouette of the big bird nest in the tree near the top of the frame. I think it’s one of the many blue jay nests in our neighborhood.
Sheila365 