Paved Paradise

I'm not sure what the plans are for this former parking lot along the bank of the
Columbia River in Vancouver, but it will likely be a welcome improvement.

I think this construction zone was probably looking its best this afternoon 

with these great puddles reflecting the winter sky and trees.

Linking to Weekend Reflection.

Backyard Study

Ah, November.  This might be a good post to make my annual declaration of November as my very favorite month.  I've been thinking about why I love November so much. It definitely has a different feel here in Washington than it does in the Midwest; we're well into our rainy season now, although we did have a good spell of morning frost last week.  Still, there's something about this particular change of season from fall to winter that I find so beautiful. 

I'm still working away in the kitchen.  And I'm still photographing the little tree near my kitchen window, but this time from the sliding glass door.  As I'm posting, it's gorgeously sunny; the rain spell I photographed was our second of the day, but probably not our last.  A good rainbow day.

Counting My Blessings

Today has turned into a big prep day for Thanksgiving, mainly because I've got to get some fermented veggies and chutneys going so they will be done in time.  It's got me reminiscing about past Thanksgivings, family, my own childhood and my grandparents. Playing charades, wearing radishes on my fingers, making a fort under the table as the adults had their conversations, the dessert table at Strongbow's, the turkey platter shaped like a turkey. And it's got my thinking of Thanksgivings to come.

It's a rainy day, and sort of unusual to have the rain hit the back window like this, but I thought it was especially pretty. Somehow the warm kitchen, the festive cooking, the beautiful scene out my kitchen window, and fond thoughts of family have all come together in my mood today.

Baking lots of love into my Thanksgiving dishes...

Refenced

Along my dog-walking route, at the edge of subdivision and country, sits a house on a multiacre lot.  This house has been for sale since we moved here almost a year and a half ago, and one of the problems was it has poor "curb appeal" as they say.  The fence was makeshift and the top edge hadn't been trimmed evenly.  It wasn't that surprising to me that no one was making an offer.  Last week the owners finally got serious about selling; they completely tore down the old fence and reassembled it with a nice clean edge, reusing the old planks.  The result is a really pretty patchwork of fresh and weather wood. 

Linking to Thursday's Good Fences

November

I photographed this tree last November 1st and happened to notice it again this year on the first (without my camera) looking pretty full of leaves.  We're having a very late fall this year, maybe because it's been so warm.  So I decided it would be interesting to photograph it again for comparison, but didn't remember to bring my camera on the dog walk until today.  What a surprise to see it looking almost identical to last year's photo!  And a nice little pile of leaves under foot.  The only difference I can tell is this year's leaves are much more yellow.  If I'm still living here next November, I'll have to continue the series...