Happy HalloweenI

 I mentioned in my last post that I was going to carve my pumpkin.

I did. I even roasted the seeds.

Because we live on a street with no sidewalks, and we have a 150 ft. driveway, we don't get any trick-or-treaters any more. When our kids were young and we knew other kids in the neighborhood, we would line the driveway with luminarias and get kids we knew. That was fun.

Then when we had grand kids, we would carve pumpkins together and take treats to them on Halloween. Now Isaac is away at college and Irene might do something with friends, but tricks and treats are over. I didn't even buy candy this year.

But I did buy a pumpkin, just for me. I still like to have fun.

I'll light our Jack-o-lantern just for us on Halloween evening. 

During the day we have another activity. Some of you remember our family cider bees. We didn't go last year, even though there was one, because it was before vaccinations. This year it is being held on Halloween and we will be there. I spent time today preparing food to take: a Raw Apple Cake and a macaroni salad. 

It's colder today but the sun is shining. The trees outside my home office window are glowing. 

I am looking forward to a fun Halloween. I hope you are too.

Happy Halloween!

Some Good, Some Not So Good, But All Is Well

 We are experiencing an "atmospheric river" today. It's WET!

Yesterday, with a dry day, we got a start on our clean up. 

I raked the gravel driveway of debris and topped off our yard waste bins.

Tom took the blower to the asphalt and the front steps and walk. All the that debris went into the surrounding beds.

There will be lots more pretty leaves to fall.

Then I raked the patio and Tom hauled all the the cedar debris down to the path to add a new layer. When the piles of cedar were removed I took the blower to the patio. No more table coverings. 

There's still plenty more to do.

In the afternoon we got new glass installed in our patio door. This was a long time happening, but Tom finally made the right connections to get the cloudy glass replaced under warranty. 

Monday I spent an unpleasant 1.5 hours in the dentist chair having one molar filled and another prepared for a crown, which involved removing an old filling. I was uncomfortable when I arrived back home, and was then greeted with the news that our washing machine wouldn't spin. Tom had wrung out the white clothes by hand and finally got them dried. We spent several hours looking at how we might DIY a repair, but finally had to abandon that idea. We also discovered that chat line help wants your credit card number, and we weren't playing that game either. Since our machine was already 22 years old, we went shopping on line for a new one, found one we liked at Home Depot, went in person to purchase it, and it will be delivered next Monday. 

Meanwhile my temporary crown popped off and I was back at the dentist to have it replaced. That was easy though, and now all is good. 

The rain is still falling. My morning has been filled with Physical Therapy and in person grocery shopping. Now it's past my lunch time. I always enjoy my lunch hour, that's when I read the paper.

And after lunch, I'm going to carve my pumpkin. Nobody comes here for Halloween anymore, so I just make my own fun.  

Stormy Weather

 

Our place is a pretty mess these days. Eventually there will be a lot of cleaning up to do. But for now the rain is still falling and the wind is still blowing, though not as hard, and the leaves and needles are still falling.

Our weather this Tuesday is a stark contrast to last Tuesday, when we spent that lovely day in Kubota Garden.

We did have some decent weather for a few days, and we got all of the tulip and daffodil bulbs planted in the beds we had hurried to get cleaned out before. 

I took some "clean photos" of parts of the garden then. 

The Japanese Maple, Korean Dogwood,  and native Vine Maple in the back yard were beginning to color up. 

Cedar needles were creating a carpet on the garden path. 

Tom's lovely bonsai suddenly dropped its leaves. 

His little grove will be next. 

Beauty Berry leaves will highlight the purple berries until they drop. 

Fir needles had been falling for a while.

By the time the storm hit this weekend, the Fern Leaf Full Moon Maple in the front yard was coming into it's prime, with shades of red and orange and gold layering over green. 

By then there was a glow right outside the bedroom window to greet us every morning, even as the sun had disappeared. 

The tree reflects in the mirror on the wall. 

It was called a Bomb Cyclone, that storm that formed in the south Pacific. When it reached our west coast, California got the brunt of it. Out on our Washington coast we have yet to see what kind of erosion was done. Here in Puget Sound country, wind gusts were varied. While we have branches down and the lights flickered, we have no downed trees and no power outage, but other neighborhoods are not so lucky. 

What we do have is lots of cleaning up to do. It's a mess, but a pretty mess. 

Charlie/Mewdini keeps checking in. 

These photos were taken from the bedroom window this morning. 

The color on the Fern Leaf Full Moon Maple has deepened. 

Leaves drop even as others color up. 

In the back yard, more color, and it will be a while before the lawn gets cleaned up. 

Mushrooms pop up. 

Seasonal table coverings. 

The power was interrupted just now enough that I had to wait for the internet to be restored. Time to sign off before that happens again.

All is well here at the Reeder Homestead.