It has been a dark and rainy and cold week here in the PNW. We got about 2 inches in 2 days and than some more in the days after.
Following that, we had some very cold nights and foggy and frosty mornings with temperatures in the low thirties!

And if that wasn't enough, of course darkness has descended on us ...

                                                                          

 
Rather spooky, isn't it, that sudden loss of daylight!
Talking about spooky, it was perfect timing this year of course, since the weekend it happened coincided with Halloween!
Willamina, the town we're next to (as in 2 minutes away), organized it's yearly Trunk-or-treat event:

                                    

We'd been wanting to go and have a look-see for the last two years but we chickened out each time because of rain. 
This year the weather cooperated so off we went!



Besides the decorated cars, parked with open trunks towards the center of the parking lot, the local police, fire-station, chamber of commerce and various other local businesses were represented with booths and cars & trucks.
Grand Ronde's Tribal police were appropriately dressed up as superheroes!                      

Like I said, the weather was rather perfect and it got very busy! It was still light when we left but I suppose it got a little spookier in the dark.

We got a kick out of this older gentleman ... definitely young at heart!

Despite the rains I managed to take some nice walks in the cool mornings where I came across some wildlife, like these deer:

     

There's three of them in that picture, the third one all the way to the right, which I think is a buck.
The zoom in my camera does a rather good job ...

                                        

But the biggest surprise encounter this week was this:

After seeing that first Racoon on our road last week, this week it was the turn for a Bobcat!
It was sitting in the meadow quite a ways away and I wasn't sure it wasn't a 'normal' cat but I took a picture nevertheless.
Enlarging it on my computer when I got home it confirmed my suspicion that it was a little bigger kitty after all!

How cool is that?

My weekly walk to the pond granted me another two nice shots of Fall.
A beautiful row of blazing Poplars and this very tiny but bright yellow little mushroom ... it's the small things!

                                                                   

 

And here's for a little miracle ... my little Thanksgiving cactus, which I bought three years ago when it flowered and which hasn't flowered since, is showing some tiny, tiny buds!
It's hard to see in the picture but they're there. So exciting!

Like I said ... it's the small things!

By the way this is the difference between the three different 'holiday'-cacti:

                       

It's all in the spiky- or smooth-ness of the leaf edges!

  

But yeah, darkness, rainy and cold ... time for flannel sheets, which are on the bed as of Tuesday (check!) and hanging the velvet curtain in front of the door to keep the draft out (check!) and of course lots of comfort food (check and check and check and ..!)

Like this 'Boerenkool stampot' (farmers cabbage mash) which I made with our own home-grown kale! So proud of that (again .. the small things).

                                       

And last but not least, the soup-of-the-week .... (un-stuffed) cabbage soup, which was delicious! Another winner, as James said.

                

                      Which was a lovely warm-up meal after our trick-or-treat outing ... !

James had a very busy day last Thursday with 3 large properties to appraise, each with multiple buildings and outbuildings, so I went with him to make things a little easier and faster.  
The properties were in Yamhill, about 40 minutes from us, which made for a nice drive through the beautiful rolling hills of the countryside in that area.

                        

                        

It was a beautiful day and the fall colors of the vineyards were spectacular!
I forgot to bring my camera, as usual, so these were made with my phone. 
Not the best but not too bad either ... 

The pond in Willamina never disappoints in the way the light hits the water, creating a different atmosphere every time I'm there.
This day the night had been really cold (39F) and when the sun came out the pond was steaming ...

                                             

I was a little too late to catch it but you can still see some of it ...

There are always several Kingfishers around, always busy trying to catch fish and always quite loud about that. You can't miss them!

And here's something new! Yesterday I met my first Racoon here on our road!
So far I've only see them as roadkill, and they actually seem to be 'on the move' at the moment because we've seen quite some casualties lately ...

                                                               

He came walking towards me and didn't notice me for quite a while ... of course I had frozen by the side of the road as soon as I spotted him ... and it wasn't until he was quite close that he suddenly saw me!

 

                                                      Eeks! A human! 

He quickly disappeared in the forest after that but fortunately I'd had enough time by than to come away with a rather good picture!

As far as nice pictures go, this one isn't too bad either.
Like I said last week the colder temps make for better sunrises and the same goes for sunsets as well:

And I tried my 'new' camera on a moon-shot ... it did surprisingly well!

                                     

I finished the traditional fall-puzzle I make almost each year, a fairly easy one ...

And our soup-of-the-week was a delicious 15-bean soup. 
We try not to eat red meat anymore but for this one I made an exception and added a ham-shank ... boy-oh-boy was it good!

                                                         

We'll have enough for another two meals at least so into the freezer it went. Perfect for an easy meal on a dark, cold day sometime this Fall!

The nights are getting colder which makes for more colorful sunrises ... that is, if I'm up early enough to catch it or, like with this picture, if I notice the colors peeking out from behind the curtain.
I just grabbed a sweater and my jogging pants and stormed outside to try to get a somewhat decent shot before it disappeared .. which happens surprisingly quick!

There was some cloud cover, which makes a sunset always more interesting, that got a lot thicker later that day ...

            

We even had a few sprinkles! Not nearly enough to ease the drought we're still in though.

These pictures by the way are made with my 'new' camera!
Since my camera broke down (I guess I dropped it one time to many ) I've switched to a much smaller one which James uses for his appraisals. 
He actually has three of them, as backups for if one misbehaves, so I've claimed one for myself.
It's also a Nikon, with almost as much zoom as my old one (35x versus 42x) , but much smaller (and lighter!):
  
          
                            (My old one on the left, new on the right)

So far I like it but it's only disadvantage is that it doesn't have an eye-piece, and since I'm far-sighted I sometimes find it difficult to see what exactly I'm photographing. 
Oh well, film is cheap these days so I just snap a whole bunch and hope I get at least one good one ...  

The leaves are falling in record-time at the moment, due to some very windy afternoons lately. 
I almost feel a little cheated on, I waited so long for the Fall colors and now they're disappearing way to quickly!

I still have lots of birds at the feeders, mostly house-finches and sparrows, which funny enough go crazy about the water/bath dishes at the moment!

They fight each other for their turn! They never were this interested during the summer, Fall most be the time to get clean ...

This afternoon we went to another Theater performance in McMinnville: 

Written by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Marla Nuttman, this beautiful, inspiring play tells the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, a pioneering astronomer whose discoveries helped change the way we understand the universe. 
Set in the early 1900s, Silent Sky celebrates the power of curiosity, the pursuit of knowledge, and the remarkable women who dared to reach beyond the boundaries of their time.

                                  

We thoroughly enjoyed this play. The, very small, cast (four female characters and one male character) was really exceptionally good, especially Lesli Okorn in the roll of Henrietta!
Wow, what a performance, it was interesting, funny and at times very moving.
We're glad we saw it! 

Of course, since it's Fall, I had to bake something with pumpkin and pumpkin spices. 
My tiny work counter could barely hold all the ingredients:

The result ... a Pumpkin spice-cake!
I added some drunken-raisins (rum) and ginger-frosting ... m-m-good!

And for the soup of the week: French Onion Soup! 

                                     

                               "Oh là là" C'est formidable!

                              

And with Halloween approaching rapidly, here's a fun picture of James at the golf-course, where he encountered this poor guy affected by slow play ... who obviously had to wait wayyyy too long!

  

It has been a nice and quiet week here, just what I needed after being 'on the go' the week before.
I guess I needed a little vacation after my vacation, although it really wasn't a very busy or strenuous one at all.
I took some naps, read a lot, worked on sorting my pictures, did some gardening and cooking and just took it easy.

Of course I took up my morning walks again. The lower light, especially in the mornings is so pretty right now.
Everything gets a little glow, like these Teasels at the Willamina pond on Saturday:

And with that low, glistening light in my eyes I almost flattened this Woolly Bear caterpillar:

                                           

It is renowned for its ability to overwinter as a caterpillar by freezing solid! 
Than in Spring they thaw, feed briefly, pupate in a silk cocoon, and emerge as adult moths.
Traditional weather lore claims that the width of the caterpillar's rusty-red middle band predicts the severity of the upcoming winter (a wider band indicates a mild winter).
If there's any truth in this it looks like it's going to be a rather cold winter!

It seems like the Canadian Geese have gotten the message as well and are already fleeing the North and are on their way to warmer regions.
This flock probably landed here last night and are having a bite to eat and maybe another night sleep before proceeding further south.

                                                     

They were aware of me but fortunately stayed put. 
I always hate to disturb them, thinking of how tired they must be flying these huge distances, so I took these pictures from quite a distance but they came out OK.

My vegetables and flowers survived my absence just fine.
This Russian Kale didn't do to much over the summer but is obviously liking the cooler temperatures of lately and is growing like a weed!

And yes, that's one tiny broccoli-head developing there in between all those huge leaves! There's another one coming up behind it but those seem to be the only ones I'm getting this year ...
On the contrary my tomatoes did much better than last year. The cherry tomatoes are producing like crazy and finally the heirloom Brandy-wine tomatoes are ripening as well.
They are sooooo good!

 

Some of the Bell-peppers are actually coloring yellow and a few even somewhat red. 
They need a little longer/more sun to really turn red but Oregon's season is usually a bit too short for that. We'll see!

My Cosmos took it's time to start flowering but is now going gang-busters and still has lots and lots of buds. I love them!

The Zinnias are pretty much spent now, I should have deadheaded them to coax out a few more flowers. I might still do that actually ...

                        

I'm working on this seasonal-appropriate puzzle. Lots of fall colors and pumpkins!
Not too difficult, perfect for my time of recuperating ...

I'll end with a picture of the soup of the week, an American/Hungarian Goulash soup. 
Great for the cooler days (65F) we're having at the moment and easy to make!