I pass this gorgeous maple in our neighbor's (Doug's) front yard every day, it's one of two, or actually four if you count the one's outside the gate as well.
They're just spectacular right now, but I can already see a lot of leaves coming down and with the rain and wind in the forecast (yes, rain!!) I'm afraid they will not be looking this good for much longer.
Same for this row of bright yellow cottonwoods a little further down the road ..

And yes, it looks like this (Indian) summer will finally be over by Friday, there's rain and much lower temperatures in the forecast:

This last week has been glorious though, perfect temperatures, cool nights and moderately warm days, just like I like it.
We took advantage of a quiet Friday and the beautiful weather and took the day off to visit a small park in Lafayette, about 10 minutes away from us, the Lafayette (Historic) Locks County Park.
Listed on the National Historic Register, this 7.1-acre park features the remains of the old locks that once permitted boats to navigate up the Yamhill River to McMinnville.

That's James there on the far right, halfway up ..

Although there's not much left of the locks themselves it's a nice area to see the water rush by, have a little picnic and learn a bit about the history of the area and the river ..

The first flatboat to go down the locks in 1850 was powered by four Klickitat Indians, whom it took one day to peddle down to the flour mill in Oregon City and two to come back up, for which they were paid $16. Those were the days ..

We sat at the river for a while to eat our picnic lunch and walked the few meandering paths and picnic areas which, under a canopy of ancient Douglas-fir allow for nice views of both river and locks.

To top off this perfect day we met up with Doug and Brenda at the Triseatum Winery on the outskirts of Newberg for a winetasting.

 
From their terrace you have a nice view over the vineyards and with the leaves just starting to turn yellow and the warm, late afternoon fall-light it was picture-perfect!

                                                                     

The wine-flight was very good and the accompanying charcuterie plate a nice addition .. it also keeps you from getting too tipsy when you're such light-weights as we are!

Life's good!

Sunday was an exciting day for me, I finally got to visit a 'fiber-event'!
Something I'd hoped to do for years now, but with all the traveling we've been doing for the last 10 years we were just never 'in the neighborhood'.
These large fiber/wool/sheep events that usually take place once a year in the fall or winter in various areas all over the country are a Valhalla for anyone that likes to knit, spin, crochet, felt and what not, and this time one took place in Albany, only an hour away from us! Yes!

James found a nice golf course close by that he had been willing to try which would keep him happy for the day, so early on Sunday morning we drove south to the Lynn County Expo.
I first hit the food court for some coffee before stepping in the first hall where all vendors, I think there were at least 100, had set up shop:

Holy, moly, look at all that woolly goodness!

There was so much to see and try and yes .. buy .. it was overwhelming!
Everybody was having such a good time, I chatted with numerous vendors and many other friendly people, all of us united by our love for all things woolly ..
Lots of vendors were either knitting or spinning or weaving and several spinning guilds had set up areas where you could try out wheels:

After a while I walked over to the exhibit hall where creations of fiber arts that people had sent in to be judged were on display ..

And eventually I made my way to the livestock show in yet another hall of the complex.

This is the area where farmers show off their prize animals and compete in the different breed shows.
Among the many different sheep, and goats, I found some of my favorites, the Pygoras:

                                                

And the Icelandic Sheep:

             

This was some sort of mixed class:

After the judging some farmers chose to bring their animals to the on-site sheep-shearer for a haircut:

The wool was than bagged and put up for sale at an adjacent area. You were allowed to put your hands in all those bags, guess who dove right in ..

But probably the softest fleece of all comes from these little creatures:

                 

Yes, those are rabbits. Angora rabbits to be precise!

This little girl, competing in the 4H class, has hers on a Lazy-Susan (rotating turn-table), so she didn't have to touch it every time to rotate it while she was blow drying it's hair. What a smart idea!

               

The bunny (yes, there is a bunny underneath all that) was obviously used to this treatment and didn't seem to be bothered .. ?

Last but not least I watched a few of the Llama showings:

Such regal animals! And no spitting at all ..

And now of course the biggest question: "did she buy something"?
Well yes! Look at this beautiful cloud of blue/green Merino!

At only $7 per 4 ounces it was a great bargain .. of course .. I seldom pay full price for anything, I'm such a 'sheep'-skate! Ha, ha ..

When we came back we were both pooped, so we threw a (flank)steak and some sweet potato fries on the BBQ for an easy dinner:

                   

Done to perfection by the master-cook himself and accompanied by fries and a mix of our very own home-grown beans and broccoli, it was quite delicious!

We're definitely going to try to squeeze a few more BBQ's and outside happy hours and dinners in before the rain hits us on Friday! After that all bets are off I'm afraid.

Talking about happy hours .. this is what happened one evening:

Fortunately I wasn't holding my glass of wine ..