A Winter Storm

We awoke this morning to snow falling in our area of the Northwest. It has been intermittently snowing this morning and early afternoon. This picture is of one of the Hawthorne trees heavy laden with snow.

This picture is of the patio off the solarium.

This is another picture of the patio with about four or more inches of snow on the bench and grill. Our wee fir tree branches are loaded down with snow in this picture.

This is a picture of the front yard looking out the office window to the left. One can see the snow coming down in this picture.

This was taken looking out of the office window to the right. When Steve came back in he said the expressway was backed up for twelve miles coming into Olympia. Today, he took the 4-wheel drive small SUV instead of the car to drive around the city. It appears as though we will have more of the same for tomorrow, if the weatherman is correct.

To those of you living in the Mid-west or up in Canada where this weather is the norm for the winter months, one has to remember we usually have rainy days in the winter months and a snow storm is rare. In any event, it's a nice day to stay indoors by a wood fire reading a good book.

Stay warm.

Yuletide Wreath

This is our Yuletide wreath placed over our hanging Mexican sun artwork peaking through it. As we wait for the solstice and the days becoming longer. This photo shows the sun waiting in anticipation of of longer days and shorter nights.

We are in the middle of our first real snow fall today that is not melting once it touches the ground. Our high temperature for today was 31 degrees F. I think the snow is going to continue throughout the evening and into the night. Tomorrow morning's look out the window will reveal if my prediction was correct or not. Winter has finally kissed and embraced the Northwest.

Preparing for the Yuletide

We were the first to put up our lights on our block, which was a first. I didn't capture all of the lights in this picture but, plan on trying it again this evening from a different angle, going down the street a little farther. That should do it.

Revised with an additional picture today.

There are a few gatherings happening this month, having dinner with our neighbors, a birthday party at a restaurant, and a Christmas tree lighting at a friend's home. All should be very festive.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Have a joyous and happy Thanksgiving !!

A Last Look Before They Fall

Most of the leaves have fallen in my neck of the woods save, this grouping on our Wedding Tree. The colours vary from yellows, oranges, greens, browns to red. I don't recall this tree ever doing a grouping of leaves quite in this way.

Enlarge the picture and enjoy!

"Make hay whilst the sun is shining"

This is my wee Yard-Man. I'm not sure whether I out weigh this thing or not but it must be an interesting sight to see me driving it around the yard.

More leaves in the gutters to remove.

These two mushrooms had popped up in the grass. The one on the right was in the shape of a fat heart.

The maple tree in the back yard has just about dropped most of its leaves save a few in the background in yellow. I missed getting a picture of the tree in its complete yellow hat. One almost needs sunglasses to look upon it.

This tall, skinny tree had mostly turned its leaves to yellow as well.

The Wedding Tree, our weeping cherry tree, has some of the most beautiful rusty reds with greens and yellows and those still in the process of changing.

The front maple has dropped another load of leaves and still has a few more to drop. I mulched the first batch of them last week. This week is raining lightly and just enough to cancel any lawn work. The Irish call this "a soft day." The rain and humidity seems to hang in the air.

Click any photo to enlarge it.

Unbelievable

It has been said that any landing one can walk away from is a good landing when flying an airplane. The odds of this pilot coming away from this landing were slim to none.

Take a look at this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCbkBfdBrQ

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Don't forget to get out and vote, there's change in the air!