mom, dad and chicks

SandhillCranes

We had to take down our Christmas tree today because it had dried out. We put up a little tree with lights around the base. We did leave the Christmas train up. Here is a 2 minute video of that train as it passes through the little village. I added the sound from a sound track.

The train has 12 cars representing the 12 days of Christmas. Hope you enjoy.
You can also view in HD on my MobilemMe gallery (larger download and requires more bandwidth)

Yesterday we had the chance to visit with 2 of our adult nieces, there husbands and children, in-laws, etc. It was really a joy to spend this day with them. We ate lunch at the spaghetti factory and then visited fairy tale land where the little ones (and big ones) really had fun.

Pied Piper at Fairy Tale land

I had fogotten how much I liked the Spaghetti Factory signature dish of spaghetti (not pasta) cooked and then served in browned butter with Mizithra cheese. Really yummy.

2 brief rainstorms here in Northern California foothills since last April.  Temps been in 70’s during daylight hours.  I ride my scooter to office around 8:30 AM with a sweater and jacket and again in evening at dusk.  during the day I need shorts on.  Tried it yesterday and froze on the way home <G>.

This past weekend we dug up the summer vegetable crops and hauled it all to the community compost pile.  Took the truck into town for a load of fresh compost (still warm) and turned into the garden areas with more phosphate then we planted about 200 tulip bulbs followed by various winter green vegetables as an experiment.  Will post photos later if successful.

The fall colors are finally beginning to appear.  Not as striking as in, say Portland, nevertheless still remarkable with most leaves still on tree.This seems unusual, as I am normally out raking them all up by now.  Why do it twice though.? After all, I only mow the lawn once per year.

Will it rain for THanksgiving? If it does then we will truly be thankful.

We work hard all summer and then spend days preparing to depart and then spend 3 days traveling and seeing freinds, then finally arrive at beach.  What do we do?  Sleep…Feels good.  Quiet and rejuvenating.  Walks on beach, good coffee.  Sunsets, Divine Mother exuding the prana everywhere.