“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ~Albert Camus

Fall is my favorite time of year. I especially love it in the Northwest, where there are so many more colors than I experienced in Wyoming. I had the day off from work and it was gorgeous. Who could pass up a drive into the Gorge and then around Mt Hood to come home?! Not me.

Mt Hood from Gresham.

 Colors in the Gorge!

 Mt Adams from Rasmussen Farms with some fall leaves.

 Gourds!

 More gourds!

 Old broken down tractor in the pumpkin patch.

 Pumpkins with Mt Adams in the background...

 ...and color altered.

 So pretty and Mt Adams looks SO big in this picture.

 Apples....

 ...lots of apples...

 Drive home on Hwy 35 among the beautiful yellows.

 Mt Hood!

 From another angle...

 Mt Jefferson among the fog from Timberline. Amazing!

I came home refreshed and content with the fall experiences I've been having! I also came home with lots of my favorite apples! Mutsu's!!

How I feel about the day:
“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall....” ~Ann Patchett

She's 2!

My precious Goddaughter, Josie turned 2 on Tuesday! She was sick, so we celebrated tonight. I baked a fun, gluten-free cake and joined their family for dinner, cake and some preliminary (pre-party) gift opening.

Yummy chocolate cake with yummy homemade buttercream icing (minus the frosting of the dots...that was store bought and gross, in my opinion, but it made the cake cute)!

 The still recovering, newly 2 year old!

 She was color coordinated with her cake-completely unplanned!

 Smiles while we were singing Happy Birthday to her!

 Dad helped her blow out the candle!

 I held baby Ella! She was happy...

 ...we even got a smile and a cute little tongue out of her!

 Gift opening time!

 Help from Dad and attempted help from big brother.

 New sheets for her big girl bed!

 Mom took most of the pictures...she's got to be in one...even if something else got in there as well...I'm not sure what that is...card opening.

 Pig flashlight!

 I got Josie blocks with pictures on them...they were a hit and they come in handy for stacking, too.

 Someone's been eating chocolate cake...and looks tired.

This little party was a good practice run for the bigger, weekend party!

A week or so before birthday celebrations I met Stasia and the kiddos at the park for a few minutes and Josie and I went down the slide a few time! Fun!!

What a special girl!

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ~L.M. Montgomery

Jenny fell in love with Hood River and all things Hood River, when I took her last year. So, when this fall was approaching she insisted we go again this year. I won't complain whenever someone insists that I go to Hood River. Weekends were tricky between our schedules this October, so we settled on today, sort of last minute. I think it was meant to be. The weather was amazing...down right warm.

Here is Mt Hood with orchard in the foreground. There'd been a nice layer of fresh snow on the mountain to make it look pristine.

 Pumpkins and gourds and hay at Rasmussen Farms.

 Where the Wild Things Are Pumpkin people. There were more...they were creepy.

 Jenny and me and the pumpkin people! Smile.

 Snow covered Mt Adams.

 Classy with the fanny pack! Ha!

 More Mt Hood!

 Lunch time BBQ. A bit disappointing. We decided we prefer the chain Famous Dave's to this...we will go there soon.

 It's hard to tell, but if you look at the ridge on the lower left side of the mountain you can see the snow that melted a bit to form an ice crust that shines in the sun. More of it shines than that part, but that's the easiest place to see it in this picture.

When all was said and done we had lots of apples, pears and other fruits and veggies to bring home. What a glorious day! Thanks, lady!