Winter Wonders

We have had a few days of warmer weather and the snow around our house has mostly melted. I think I prefer the fresh snow to the mostly melted kind! We have had marvelously wintery days around here. The fog descends and we get spectacular ice forming on everything. It only happened once last year (i thought it might happen all the time) and so this year I rushed out to take photos of it!

On these branches you can see the ice formed on only one side.

This is a bough of Douglas Fir!

 It can be treacherously icy around here and it is essential to have "yak traks" or similar grips on your boots for those icy days. I am still liking the 4 seasons "thing" but I am very much looking forward to spring and getting outside and mucking about in my garden. This year I hope that Timo will be past the "insatiable desire to put everything in his mouth" stage by the time i need to start digging!

betwixt seasons

As I told you before we have had our first snow. It seemed impossible that it could happen as the days had been so warm and the leaves were still on most of the trees. Just like last winter the tendency around here is to snow, thaw and freeze. It did a bunch of that but now it has melted (apart from the snowballs in the backyard) and now most of the trees have given up their leaves and we get to see the cover of unraked leaves that has been languishing under the snow (not so nice...).

Even with the snow I am glad to say that my garden is still producing veggies for us and I got to pick carrots and kale from under the snow drifts!! I had to wear gardening gloves so that my fingers didn't freeze in the snow. Seems kinda miraculous that I can still be eating out of my garden!! Yippeeee!
Here are some pictures from about a month ago. I love how these plants change their colours in a rainbow fashion.

pines in the fall

The Pines here in Spokane are really beautiful and when the fall comes they make their presence known in a totally profound way. The dropping of the needles. I have never experienced this before. Massive amounts of needles everywhere. Manito Park has lots of pines and this is what it looked like in one of their parking lots after they had cleared the roads and paths. Amazing.
I wonder what you could do with all that fiber...?

Fall Fruits

The kids are really getting into the rhythm of their new school routine. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk to school. However we are increasingly getting a bit lazy about leaving enough time to get there. Now that the time has changed I see no reason not to get there ON TIME!!

Yellow plums, pears and a few apples from the urban forest.

can't you just taste these?!

I have had a wonderful time this fall searching out urban fruits for picking and preserving. I found pears (and made awesome dried pears with them) and yellow, little reddish and Italian plums (in the freezer waiting for cobblers) and a few concord grapes. Most recently I have acquired a whole wallop of beautiful Macintosh Apples. We have daily been passing (4 times a day for me!) a yard with 3 little apples trees on our way to school.  One tree had yellow delicious which didn't look too healthy. One tree looked barren and the other was the prize MacIntosh tree. I was watching the apples drop to the grass with no signs of them being used or appreciated in any way. Last week after I picked up the kids I got up the nerve to knock on the door to ask about the apples. The old man who answered said that they weren't going to use them and that we could have as many as we wanted. He said they hadn't sprayed them so they were probably full of bugs. I thought "HUZZAH- no spray"!!! They were gorgeous, hardly any worm evidence, no huge bruises (they were landing on mossy grass) and only a few holes where some buggy friends had taken their fare share. I took as many as I could in the bottom of the stroller. When I got home I determined to go back the next day to gather the rest of the good ones. That I did!!!
I filled a 20 lbs tomato box with my apples. I am very pleased.

Fall in Spokane

It's time to get writing on here!!! You can attribute this inspiration to my sister.
Life is very full and there has been much to blog about but I have been out of the habit. I have used the excuse that my computer not been willing to participate in my blogging habit but I can no longer use that one. I have a shiny new computer to use and it is beautiful! It supports me in all my endeavors.
So here goes...
Since I moved here at the beginning of December last year, Fall in Spokane is something I am appreciating for the first time. I know I have said before that I am enjoying living where there are real SEASONS and I can still say that is true. The amazing trees that I watched change from their wintery sticks into beautiful yellow green buds to glorious green canopies are now dazzling fall colours. We have a stunning maple tree right outside the livingroom window that is shockingly yellow.

We are understanding the work associated with having these gorgeous trees when we have to rake our back yard but it is much better than going to the gym to work out! The kids are troupers and have helped me a great deal.

My favourite tree on the way to school in the morning

I'm playing with my camera to take arty shots!

A Horse Chestnut in Manito Park

Arboretum

Late in July the kids and I went with our friends from church Becky and her kids Jo-jo and Zoe to a place called Finch Arboretum. We got advice from our mutual friend Erin what to do there. Head for the shady place beneath the willows where the creek goes and where the rocks are good for adventuring. So we did. And the kids got to do the "stuff of summer". Mucking about in the water, playing with the mud, throwing sticks, sending things down the stream, adventure walking in the creek-bed, bounding on the rocks and eating a picnic, all amongst beautiful trees. Can you think of a better way to have lunch?