Not much has happened this week at all .. other than Fall steadily advancing and more and more leaves that are falling ..

                      

We went for a walk around the golf course where the Chehalem Park and Recreation District has created 2 beautiful trails, the Chehalem Glenn Loop (2.23 miles) which loops around the north portion of the golf course, and the Gettman Loop (1.6 miles) which encircles the southern portion.

                                                                   

We went for the latter ...



Portions of this trail are alongside the course, and some duck down into surrounding forest which  transports you from town into fern-covered creek-side trails shaded beneath dense fir trees.
                                  



The trail is mostly flat, with some gentle grades. Some portions have chips underfoot and some, in the wooded areas, are dirt floor and fallen pine needles.
Some areas give you a glimpse of the golf course ..

                                                                        

And there are places where you walk alongside a fairway for a little while .. with just enough distance in between to not get hit by a stray ball!

                                 

We emerged from the forest and passed some farmland ..

And ended up on the street that bisects the course into the front and back nine ..

I thought these gorgeous trees were maples but at a closer look they turned out to be oaks, Pin Oaks to be precise, which have really stunning fall colors ..

Around the RV it's a coming and going of wildlife at the moment. I've 'lost' several bird species who have moved to 'warmer pastures', as in they moved south for the winter, mostly house- and gold-finches, but have welcomed back the titmice and chickadees and our Downey woodpecker couple.
The last ones have been around all summer I suspect but I had taken the suet-feeders down so I bet we were on their sh*t-list for a while ..



And yes, some of the deer are here quite often as well, munching on the blackberry leaves, and on occasion on my precious strawberry leaves (#@$^!).
Since they weren't producing any fruit anymore I'd taken the netting off, but I guess the leaves are tasty as well .. sigh.

She looks well-fed to me .. I can't see her ribs

It's also that time of the year again .. Sinterklaas has arrived once more!
I watched his arrival (in Holland) at BVN (the Dutch/Belgian television station for us who live abroad) where a special edition of the Sinterklaas Journaal followed his arrival:

                                    

                                    

I'd managed to find some Windmill cookies at our local Bi-Mart grocery store, a cookie that's eaten traditionally around this time in Holland and instantly transports me back to my childhood and all the excitement of this special season ..

Which brings me to another exciting announcement .. drum-roll please .. we're going to spend the holidays in Holland!

Since work is very slow at the moment and James has to study for his appraisal license and we haven't been back for 1,5 year and spending the holidays in Holland is soooo 'gezellig' and tickets are ridiculously cheap at the moment and we can stay for free in my niece's rental cabin so it won't break the bank ... we decided 'why not'?!

We're leaving on the 13th of December and won't come back until the 10th of January.

Yoohoo! I'm so excited!