November Rain

It rained today.  It will rain a lot more in the coming days and weeks and months.  But it didn't rain lots.  Just long.

Seattle is known for rain, but we really don't get huge amounts.  What we get is long, slow, steady rain, and lots of gray days.  The Big Gray, we call it. 

I posted about sun breaks on Tuesday.  We had them again Wednesday and Thursday, and I had lots of time outside.  On Wednesday I got my 3.5 mile walk in the morning and then spent much of the day raking the leaves and debris off the lawn and mowing it.  On Thursday I worked outside at Jill's house, cutting up the shrubs I had removed earlier, and then attacking some other brush and overgrown bushes.  I cut everything up into small enough pieces to fit into the yard waste bin.  She'll have stacks ready to be loaded for pick up for the next several collection days.

I was happy to be working outside.  Being outside during the day helps me with the long dark evenings.

Today I thought I might be stuck indoors.  After breakfast with friends, I did some grocery shopping, read the paper over lunch, and did some accounting of the expenses so far for Jill's house.  I had planned a slow day, with some actual sitting and reading!  I got the pot roast browned and into the oven to braise and at about 2:45 I just needed to get outside.  It had been raining all day, a light, steady, dreary and cold rain.  But I decided I would put on rain gear and head out for a half hour anyway, just to get some outdoor time and exercise.

I was expecting to get wet.  It looked like it was raining.

 I dressed for getting wet.  But I didn't!

When I got over to the park, the park maintenance man was just finishing up.  He had mowed the lawns, probably for the last time until spring.  I waved to him, and he warned me not to walk in the woods. I could get hit by a tree.  

The wind was blustery but not that strong.  However I heeded his warning and walked laps around the open areas until the last time around.  

The wind had calmed down and all was well in the woods.

The sky got darker and darker, but not a drop of rain fell on me.  

I got my three and a half miles, felt refreshed, and still had time for some reading in my recliner before dinner.

November rain can be awful here.  45° dampness is penetrating.  But sometimes we luck out and it only looks like rain.  And when it does rain, we quote that song from Guns and Roses: "Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain."

Oh, and the pot roast was delicious!  With plenty of left overs.

Making Time for Me

This morning we didn't get out of bed until after 8:30!

Jill's house has been keeping us very busy.  We are all making progress, but it can be exhausting.  We all worked Sunday afternoon and all day Monday getting more things set up and more boxes unpacked. I even got started on a yard project there.  We have to remove some shrubbery in order to put up the shed we moved from the rental.  I began the bush whacking yesterday.

It rained over night, and this morning was gray and drizzly, a good morning for a slow start.  And not a good morning for more bush whacking.  My other choices were to get a blood test, go to the pet care store for food for Josy, find batteries for my digital scale (weight watching is important right now), and restock the grocery supply.  Then there was my own house to clean.  

Tom went off to the other house to get indoor mechanical/ electrical projects done.  Those are not things I can really help with.  I went off to tackle that list I mentioned. 

By 2:00 I had a decision to make.  I could finish the housework, go to Jill's house and work, or go for a walk.

You see, after the rain, we had afternoon sun breaks!  That's the official weather term here for when the clouds clear enough for the sun to shine through periodically.

 I went for a walk!  The heart shaped puddle on the sidewalk was newly filled. 

It did great things for my spirit to walk in the sunshine and an almost warm 60°.

My pedometer registered 3.77 miles as I returned home, and checked out a few things in my own yard that I hadn't taken time to look at for a while.

I discovered that a diseased native dogwood had come down on the garden deck trellis.  More work to do when we get back to our yard. 

 The clematis in the rose tree said "Take your time.  I'm still blooming". 

And then I went back inside and finished the vacuuming and dusting!  

Sunday Brunch

We finally got around to using the free Sunday brunch tickets to Ivar's Salmon House.

 They we a reward for the commitment of making a monthly donation to Treehouse for foster kids that I made last December.  

 Here's how my first trip to the buffet looked. ↓ There were more.

Tom had a lot more seafood than I did.  I'm sure I had more calories.  

The view was great and the water traffic was entertaining.

 The last trip was to the dessert bar.  It took me a long time to work my way through this plate, but I managed.

Of course I had a stomach ache from my gluttony, and I needed to walk a bit of it off right away so we went down to the lake/canal front before going back to the car.

 Under the I-5 bridge.

 Child's mosaics in the sidewalk.

 This old willow is quite the survivor.

After some moving around I felt a little better.  He headed home, but made a stop at the SODO Home Depot for shelving for the kid's new rooms, since they were out of it at our local store.  

We finally got home about 2:45, just in time to catch the last few minutes of the Seahawks game, where they were winners again.  Seattle is very much a football town right now.  We had been keeping up with the game at the restaurant, where there was cheering coming from the bar area. 

We spent the rest of the day working at Jill's house.  I did get away for my 3.5 mile walk, which I REALLY needed, around Jill's new neighborhood.

It is now 6:30 in the evening, we are back home, and I think I will find a little fruit and yogurt to have for my supper.  I haven't eaten since brunch and I do believe I am finally hungry.

Tomorrow - back to counting calories! 
( All photos take with my iPhone 5c )

Catching the Fleeting Light

I don't actually have SAD, Seasonal affective disorder, but I do miss the light as the days grow shorter and the nights longer, so I know it's important for me to get outside into the natural light each day that it is possible.  

We have been spending time at Jill's house again this week, getting it moved into.  There is still a lot to do, but it's coming along.

Yesterday was dark and stormy.  Today we had some actual sun breaks!

This morning, after our Friday  breakfast with friends, we headed over to the house to be there for the Comcast cable guy.  By the way, he was a delightful young man.  Anyway, while he was busy installing cable outlets for TV and internet all over the house, Tom and I did more projects.  It was mid-afternoon by the time we got home for lunch.  It was 3:45 before I set out for what I planned to be a shortened walk.  

I usually plug into my iPod rock music to keep the rhythm as I walk, but today I went silent, listening instead to the rhythm of my own footsteps, and letting random thought flit through my mind.  It was peaceful, and I found myself just keeping on going.

Over at the park, I caught the last golden rays of the sun.  

 And then the light began to fade and the moon popped out.

 By 4:40 the sun had set, and now as I post this it's almost dark outside.  

But I'm OK today.  I caught the light.

Time is Precious

We brought my mother's clock home today.

The clock was originally her grandmother's, my great grandmother's.  It was given to my mother early in her marriage.  But in our poor little house, there was no special place for it and it became a plaything for me and my sisters where it sat on a dresser in our over-crowded bedroom.

Eventually my aunt asked for it.  My mother didn't want to part with it, she had so little, but she knew my aunt would take care of it and give it a proper place of importance.

Last spring, when we emptied out my aunt's house, I asked my cousin for it, and she gave it to me.  It sat in a bedroom until we got around to getting it restored.  Restoration of old clocks in not cheap.  This one cost $200 to bring back to life.  But it was my Great Grandmother's, and my Mother's. Today it came home.

This style of clock is called a kitchen clock, and that is where it is, in my kitchen, now ticking away.

We have other old clocks.

 This mantle clock belonged to Tom's grandparents.  It's had some work done on it over the years, but has been quite reliable for the more than 30 years it has had a prominent place on our family room mantle.

The tall case clock, or Grandmother clock, sits in the living room.  We have had this clock for about two and a half years.  It isn't especially old but it belonged to my mother and dad.  When we moved Mom into assisted living, it needed a home, but no one else wanted it.  Tom loves clocks, so we took it home.  It needed new works, estimated at $1000 by a clock maker, so Tom bought a kit and did the work himself for half the cost.  Still, this clock is a considerable investment too. It does have lovely chimes, and reminds me of my mother.

This mantle clock was a gift from me to Tom one Christmas.  It is an almost identical model to one that his grandparents had.  That family clock went to his brother.  Tom always looked for this type of clock when we visited antique stores.  I bought it on line and we put money into having it restored too.

 Finally there is the completely extravagant, non-family clock that Tom just kept admiring at the clock shop in Langley, Whidbey Island.   With our kids raised and out of the house, we had a little money for extravagances  so I talked him into buying it.  It turned out to be a money pit in its purchase price and restoration.  

It lives in the dining room where it keeps great time, but the hour/half hour bim-bam striking is totally confused and we have not been able to fix that.  Now we don't care.  You never know what twangy hour it will strike, usually on the half hour.  I love its quirkiness. 

As I was posting this blog, the clocks all began to strike the hour, 4:00, down stairs, each a minute of so off from each other.  Some may find it noisy, but we like it.

Each Sunday evening it is Tom's job to wind the clocks and correct the time if necessary.  Old clocks can't be set backwards, so last Sunday it took awhile to adjust to the return to Standard Time.  

And so you see, in our house, time is precious.

A Pretty Mess

 Autumn's beauty is fleeting, and after Saturday's windstorm, most of that beauty is on the ground.

Soon all of the bright colors will be gone.

Two weeks ago the front yard looked like this. ↑
Today it looks like this. ↓

 On the patio, the cedar tree has shed its old needles.  Its ever-green will be appreciated through the winter. 

It was a good Monday.  Tom and I cleaned house, got the laundry caught up,  and did a little clean up outside this morning.  We both fell asleep for a bit after lunch when we finally sat down long enough.

Tom took off to go over to Jill's house to let in the hot tub repairman and to help transfer vehicles.  Gus the Bus, the old family VW camper van, needs to get settled in his new home.

I went for a walk.

It took me a bit longer than usual to get my 3.5 miles, because I was a little slow getting going, but mostly because I kept getting out my iPhone to take photos. 

It was a pretty mess over at the park too.

 The trees on the Safeway lot were still showing glorious color.

 The tones in the park are muted now.

 The wind brought down snags ready to fall.  There will be a big clean up job here for the Parks Dept.

The lawn won't need to be raked though.  The wind swept it clean.

 It will be a while now before we see this kind of color again, but it was wonderful while it lasted.