W.I.P. ...

Click! to enlarge...

First Frost...

'Twas only a little, but the air smells so clean and crispy...

Lots of color still to be seen, but not for long I'm afraid so here are a couple of colorful pics that we can look back on when we are stuck in that grey period...

A bit blurry, but still pretty enough to show you...

"Every Time We Say Goodbye..."

Click on photos to enlarge them...

We spent this past weekend in Spokane, Washington to finally visit Master C. at Gonzaga University. The Fall colors were absolutely splendid!

The school was founded in the late 1800's and we enjoyed exploring all the old halls in the main building. 

Main entry...

The hallways are lined with old pictures starting in 1867 and they continued on until 2000. (then they ran out of walls for display) Here are some impressions...

The rugged guy in the middle reminded me of Morrisey!  <wink>
And the guy underneath him could have come from a Monty Python movie!
Bing Crosby studied at Gonzaga for several years!

Since Gonzaga is a Jesuit school, lots of beautiful leaded pane windows were on display...

--  **  --  **  --

And then of course there was Master C.! {smile} 

It was absolutely wonderful to see him in person again. Miss M. spent several hours on Friday with him and even visited two classes as a guest. A good way to get a feel of college life!

Unfortunately Master C. had just caught a nasty cold & cough and on Saturday he just wanted to stay in bed, but we upped and dragged him off into the countryside to see some of Spokane's outlying areas. Once we finally cleared the fog the views and the colors were just stunning!

I used the 'fake tilt-shift' in the upper two pics...

On top of Mount Spokane...

After a nice breakfast yesterday morning it was time again to head home. So hard to say our goodbyes. Yes, the song "Every time we say goodbye I die a little" definitely came to mind... 

The drive home takes about four and a half hours and there wasn't a lot to see on the way, just lots and lots of gray. About halfway home we had a quick stop at the Columbia Gorge and even though I almost got blown into the Gorge (so windy!) I managed to snap a few pretty pics...

Now I'm sitting here at home on a Monday morning and I feel a bit empty. So glad to see for myself that our oldest is doing so well over there on the other side of our state. He is focused on his future, has made lots of friends and has become quite the independent young man. So happy for him!

And now it is time for our number two (Miss M.) to start stretching her legs. She can't wait! She has already started spreadsheets of universities she is interested in, even though she still has a year and half to go! Just look at all that energy radiating from her!  {smile}

Miss M. at that windy Gorge...

..

Pumpkin Patch...

Last Saturday, after our Costco shopping run, we stopped by one of our local Pumpkin Patches to pick up some Pumpkins...

It was quite foggy (every day for quite a few days now), quite still and quite smelly. The Snoqualmie River runs right by this farm and the smell of rotting fish was quite present, to say it mildly...

Anyway, Miss M. had a great time choosing just the right pumpkins and was very happy when she found a half sized hay bale that we could purchase for the front porch.

She was even happier when we found out that the farm had two two-week old calves on display that we were allowed to pet! Too cute...

--  **  --  **  --

Our big news for this week: the Fall Family Weekend at Gonzaga is coming up so we will finally get to see Master C. again, after an absence of eight whole weeks! {biggest smile!}

Fall Light...

Yippie: The little birdies are 'back'!
Of course they never truly left since these little guys are always around, but I'm starting to notice them again.

Enjoy the views from my front room...

PS I took a week off from running after last week's fabulous 5,12 miles (my ankle was hurting, the one that I broke about four years ago), and this morning I was able to get another 3,2 miles in: yay!  {smile}

A Tale of Life & Death...

Snoqualmie River

This morning my Dutch friend A. came over and after a quick cup of coffee and some banana bread we took off for a walk along both the Snoqualmie and the Tolt Rivers...

Tolt River

The temperature was only around 37F/ 4C and it was still very foggy out, but oh boy, what beauty all around us. Breathe in, breathe out...

But not too much breathing in because the smell in certain areas was horrendous: dead salmon everywhere!

Salmon eggs (caviar!) and maggots...

The struggle between life & death...

Some wore still alive thank goodness, struggling up the river...

The salmon have been 'running' for a few weeks now and I think we are nearing the end of their season and with that their life cycle. We were surprised not to see any Black Bears (thank goodness for that!) or any Eagles flying around trying to feast on all this bounty, but we did spot Mr. Heron, spying from a log...

One leg...

Two legs...

And off he went...

We walked back through the park and by the time we got home the sun had come out and the skies were bright blue. What a beautiful place we live in!  {smile}

Mirror in the pond...

Poplars...

Beautiful droplets on this Blue Spruce...

PS Thank you so much for all your positive comments on my last post (and on all my other posts as well of course). Selling your own work is a rather scary endeavor and it is nice to have such wonderful support from all of you!

Still Here...

Just a quick post to show that I'm still here! This last week we had an exchange teacher from Shanghai staying with us, who only had about three words of English. Rather uncomfortable I must admit, even though we all tried very hard. I do think he had a good time here. It must have been so foreign for him, all this nature we live in. (compared to such an enormously large city as Shanghai!)

I was able to get some more sewing for the school's Auction in (see pictures above). I dropped off all the items yesterday and am rather nervous about it all, never having sold anything as it were. Fortunately the Auction isn't until later in November, so hopefully by that time I will have forgotten about it...

Miss M. ad Mr. G. took a lovely walk to our river over the weekend (we had absolutely glorious weather for four days in a row!) and here are some of the pictures Miss M. shot. Isn't this bird just spectacular?

The salmon are running this time of year so lots of food for this fellow...

I'm off now for my yearly mammogram. I'm always happy when that appointment is over and done with for another year...

Tolt River...

PS:  I managed to run 5.12 miles (= 8,3 km) last Monday! That was absolutely fantastic, but now my ankle (that I broke almost four years ago) has been protesting ever since. I think I'll take it easy for a bit...

Silver Threads...

seven-thirty am...