“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!

Work Rememberances

I left the original site that I worked at over a year and a half ago and I feel like I left part of me there with the wonderful people I worked with. My great friend, John wanted to have a dinner with some folks who'd left for various reasons. So...potluck and BBQ we planned. If you plan a party that involves food they will come. :) So, in the picture below at the end of a lovely dinner, catch-up, therapy session and a surprise guest are these lovely folks: John, Jackie, Suellen, Becky, Diane, Jan and me kneeling in my Spirit Week Hero Day Superman outfit. Aren't we a grand bunch?!  There is only one person in this picture still at that site, four that are retired or "retired" and I miss them and their laughs and lives and impact.

Crazy Hair

The Wellness Committee that I lead at work likes to plan fun things. Last year we had our first Spirit Week with themed days, 'classes' for team...Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors...based on years of Service with the company. The goal was to participate each day, do it up big for extra points doled out by Wellness Committe Members. The competition is wonderful to see and it's just plain fun to participate and get creative. We decide that with great participation last year we'd do it again this year. One of our themed days this year was crazy hair day. My hair eventually morphed into this hair-do for crazy hair day...and for bonus points! I reminded many people of Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch movie (picture below from IMBD website). BTW, there is a pencil in mine and LOTS of hairspray and rubberbands. S'pose I could pull of Cindy Lou's hair-do with a bit more hair and hairspray and a red bow?!

The things I do...

They leave fingerprints on the walls of my soul...

I'm a lucky girl! Even though I don't have my own children, I do have special children in my life. Stasia and Dave's kiddos have a big piece of my heart. My Goddaughter, Josie has gotten to the age that I can "kidnap" her much like I've done with big brother Myles. I try to take Myles out for a special day twice a year. A summer adventure didn't work due to schedules so we resorted to early fall...once preschool was back in session...so I'd get to kidnap him for an afternoon. I asked Stasia if I could kidnap Josie for the morning and she was elated for a break and to only have one child with her on a shopping errand! 

So...off Josie and I went for our grand adventure. She loves, loves fish so I took her to work to see the fish tank, which she loved and I couldn't pull her away from last time she was there with me. When we arrived she saw one of the buses and wanted to explore it. Driver Melissa asked if we wanted to go see some chickens. Josie enthusiastically shook her head yes. So we meandered down the street to a yard full of chickens...

 Josie thought they were so fun.

 Melissa even showed us their favorite greens so we could feed the chickens...

 Eyeing those "chickies."

 Look at that smile!

 Then we headed in to see the fish!

 We didn't want to leave them and every so often the rest of the time we were there Josie would say "fishies" and take off down the hall to see them.

 Eventually we did leave the fish tank area and played with a cat on a tablet that was fun and watched participant do some Wii bowling.

 Then we went back into the 'business' part of the building to kill people with cuteness. Josie situated herself at one of the computers and had control of the mouse and even picked up the phone! So stinkin' cute.

 Oh...this call is for you...

I'd had plans to take her to a park that has a pond and geese and ducks so we could feed them but she was having so much fun at work that by the time we needed to get home we were just leaving there. So...away we went to exchange kiddos with Momma. Josie was SO tired, but so resisted sleep. Her brother is the exact opposite...he'll fall asleep no problem.

When I got Josie home Myles was ready to go. Off we went leaving behind Mom and a very upset sister as she wanted to come on round two of adventure, but desperately needed a nap.

Stop number one was Burgerville for our traditional "grand adventure milkshake" that we have each time we go out. I also had lunch as Myles had eaten at home.

 Then we went to Sauvie's Island for some fall fun. Corn Maize, Hay Pyramid, Animal Barn, Pumpkins.

Here we are at the corn maize entrance...looking excited!

 He had a plan!

 Cheese! Or, corn?!

 He looks so grown up to me in this picture...

 Corn and blue skies!

 Curly silks....

 He's 4!

 Up the stairs of one of the bridges to survey how lost we were...

 "That's a lot of corn Miss Stephanie!"

 Taking a juice break and doing some more stragegic planning on the juice box turned corn maize map.

 And, we made it to the end! Woohoo. It was touch and go there for a minute or two.

 We then climbed the hay pyramid and celebrated that!

 Look at him way up there!

 Pumpkin face!

 We also stopped of at the animal barn, freaked out a bit and quickly left and went into the market for a pumpkin. Myles also wanted to pick a pumpkin out for Josie, as well as a sucker for each of them. So thoughtful.

Once we had pumpkins and suckers in hand we stopped to take a quick "ride" on the tractor. Myles loved it.

 Myles had heard about Josie's morning adventure and pleaded with me to go see the chickens and fishies that Josie saw. I figured, why not...so we went to see the fish, chickens and say a quick hello to people at work. Myles even sat with participants during Happy Hour and I continue to be impressed with how calm and open he is with older people. He'll go right up and shake their hands, sit next to them by himself, etc. It's good to see.

 We also went to see the chickens and to feed them.

On the way home he crashed, unlike his sister who resisted. What a full day and I was so glad I got to spend it with these two special kiddos. 

They really do leave fingerprints on the walls of my soul-how true.