Getting Out of the House

 The rains have come. Going for a walk was not promising, as squalls moved in from the Pacific. But I needed a change, a diversion. I needed to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

We still had some money on a gift card from Molbak's nursery up north of Seattle. They preferred that visitors make reservations, so the day before we called and reserved for 11:00. That gave us plenty of time for our slow start and getting my physical therapy exercises done.  

We started out with no rain, but by the time we got to Bellevue it was raining hard, which then turned into torrents of rain. Walls of water came at us and hydroplaning was happening under the tires. Tom slowed down and hung on. 

Just as we reached Woodinville and Molbak's, the squall had moved on and the rain stopped. We enjoyed our walk around in the open parts of the nursery and then the covered sections. 

Since the money remaining on the gift card was a gift, we felt we were entitled to a gift. We bought one of these green metal pumpkins. It is now sitting on our hearth, waiting to be joined by our other autumnal decorations. 

I always admire the plant bench arrangements. They'll be clearing out most of this stock to make way for poinsettias soon.

I really liked this green on green chrysanthemum. 

The transition to Christmas stock is beginning. It takes a lot of time and work to set up the stock and displays for their large Christmas shop. 

There were a few fun Halloween items too. 

If you look closely at the photo below you might find a masked lady being reflected. She is not quite a scary witch. 

These felt owls tempted me. 

We spent a little over an hour enjoying Molbak's. I didn't get my miles in, but I at least spent an hour walking about.

Then we went across the street to Panera for  lunch, where tables were spaced and we could dine it. Somehow our order didn't go through, so when an attendant noticed we were still waiting  she got the order going and compensated us with free cookies. I saved mine for dessert.

After lunch at Panera, we stopped next door at Starbucks, where I had a free rewards points beverage coming. I enjoyed my vente non-fat, decaf, extra hot latte with my chocolate chip cookie on the way home. 

It was a fun outing. It was good to get out of the house.