Despite trying with all my might to hold back the days from racing forward as they do and enjoy the anticipation for just a little bit longer, Thanksgiving was here again .. I just can't believe how another year has gone by again.
I say it every year but really .. Fall-season, my favorite, is just too short and before you know it it's all about Christmas already!

Any-who, there's nothing to do about it, I guess you should just try to enjoy it as best as you can when it's there ... so, a pie was baked:

James had requested a 'real' dutch apple-pie this year, which is a lot more work than an American pie, but it's definitely worth it! 
I added a few cranberries to the raisins to Americanize it some which worked out very well. 

                                             

Of course we watched the Macy Parade:

And of course Santa showed up in the end ..

They always use a snow machine to enhance the fun when the sled arrives but although the weather was pretty good, sunny and not too cold, it was a little gusty this year which caused veritable blizzard conditions!
You could barely see the 'big guy' .. quite hilarious!

 

The traditional deviled-eggs and cheese-platter was munched on, accompanied by leftover sparkling Martinelli's from breakfast ..

                                                  

We'd hoped to go for a walk, like we usually do on this day, but elas, it was raining almost all day. We managed to have a short walk around 'our' grounds a little later but this year we spend most of the day inside .. on the couch .. watching TV.

Where we watched a Belgian Sheepdog named Soleil be crowned the big winner at the 2025 National Dog Show.
She edged out the second-place finisher, an American Foxhound named George (my favorite), to bring home the title at the prestigious competition. 

No turkey this year .. gasp! .. but chicken. If truth be told, I don't really like turkey that much to begin with. 
I find it a little too dark/gamy and often rather stringy, cooking takes forever and even a small turkey is too big for just the two of us.
Chicken is easier to cook well, is cheaper, just the right size and tastes better. 
So ... chicken it was and not only that, but it was actually a supermarket-rotisserie-one. 
I know .. total sacrilege, but you know what .. it was delicious!

Surrounded by the usual 'stuff' it looked just like the 'real' deal! 
(That green bean casserole had bacon in it .. you just can't beat bacon .. so good!)

And if that wasn't enough to kick of the holiday season we decided to attend a Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting in 'real life' in Mcminnville, one town over from us, where I do my weekly groceries.
(Here's a thing: apparently the parade cannot be called Christmas parade anymore, not 'inclusive' enough, and is now called Holiday parade ... sigh ...)

Historic Third Street was packed to watch brightly decorated floats, marching bands, and community groups spread holiday cheer.

                    

After days of rain we were very lucky to have a dry, clear evening. 
It certainly cooled down though and waiting for the parade to start I got a little shivery, but it certainly could have been worse! 
(It actually often rains on these Christmas .. eh .. Holiday parades)

Even Elvis made an appearance (you see, he's not dead!) singing about his 'blue Christmas (Holiday?) without you' ..

                                                       

The parade ended of course with a grand entrance from Santa himself, waving and ho-ho-ho-ing to us from atop an enormous firetruck:

                      

This next picture was made by the local newspaper with a camera-drone. Look at all those people!



A little before 6pm, when everybody was assembled at the library at the end of 3d street, the Christmas Holiday tree, after an enthusiastic countdown from the whole town, was lighted:

I think that's about the ugliest tree I ever saw but o well, it's bright and shiny and sort of festive so I won't let that affect my Christmas Holiday spirit.

Point in case .. I started decorating the RV the following day:

                                              

Let me take a picture of you with the lights, James said ... and than he takes forever to take one .. and your smile is starting to hurt your face ..                                                 

Make one already, I'm freezing!

Sunrises always get better with the cooler weather and this year is no exception. 
In order to 'catch' one though, I have to remember in the early morning hours to check for it.
I'm usually awake around six, so I'm good time-wise, but than I start reading and when I'm all caught up in a book I often forget to look .. like this morning ... 
Than it's a chaotic race to put 'something' on .. slip in my Crocs without falling on my face, grab the camera and run outside.
Often I'm too late (it's amazing how quickly colors change and fade), or it's not that spectacular, but this one was OK .. nice enough!

The last few mornings started out foggy ... not very colorful  at all ..

                

As I've said before, I happen to like gray weather, it's so much easier on my eyes, and I find the whole atmosphere so much more calming and peaceful than those sunny, blaring summer-days!
I know, I'm weird ..
                                                        
And there's nothing I like better than to take a nice, long, invigorating walk on those days ... although lately they're not always that serene and calming anymore.
Here's the reason why ..

   

When I take my 'longer' route following the old logging road into the forest, I'm now accompanied by my fearless horse .. eh, I mean dog, Samson .. our landlord's one year old, 100 pound dog!
He has 40 acres to run around on but still has way too much energy for his own good and could do with some (more) exercise!
And I could do with (at least the feel of) some protection when hiking that very remote path where cougars and bears have been spotted last winter ... it's a win, win!
                               (and nobody knows he's afraid of his own shadow)
 

He's OK on the leash, besides some pulling when we first set out when he's as hyper as a caffeinated squirrel, but than he calms down and behaves much better, which is a good thing because I don't think I'll be able to hold him when he starts running! 
Carrying a stick helps ..

James did some work on the gas-hose today. We've been smelling the typical 'rotten-egg' smell of propane, not only outside but lately also a little inside, which of course needed to be addressed asap!
(By the way: 

Pure propane is odorless. The "rotten egg" scent comes from an odorant like ethyl-mercaptan that is added for safety purposes)

Since we have had this problem a couple of times before, he now changed the connections into a somewhat different configuration, replaced some of the older ones and put everything back together.
Hopefully this time it will hold!

I didn't do anything as significant .. although taking care of 'baking our daily bread' is nothing to sneeze about either .. right?

This last picture shows the new barn from yet another angle. 
After finishing the roof and siding they're now working on installing the doors and pouring concrete for the floors ..


I keep forgetting to take a picture from the inside .. this thing is enormous, it feels like a cathedral inside! OK, next week ..

Yes, I know  ... more mushrooms .. enough already!

                                              

But I can't help it that they keep popping up everywhere! And there are so many different varieties ... 

This plant, arum maculatum, grows under a tree at the bottom of the sloping field at our property where it's always shady and the soil nice and moist.
It's also known as the Cuckoo Pint, Jack-in-the-pulpit or ladies-and-gents, due to its flowers which somewhat look like male and female parts.

It's a 'painfully' poisonous wild plant, secretly full of little needles that injure the skin and cause your throat to swell ... it could end up killing you!
Oh well ... just don't touch or eat it I guess. Right now, in the fall, their fruit emerges on tall spikes, slowly coloring from green to bright orange.

The weather has dried up some over the last couple of days but the days are mostly gray and foggy.
Now we 'gained' an hour after the ending of daylight savings time and darkness is arriving earlier it makes for very short days already ..



The pond in Willamina loomed rather gloomy when I visited the other day ...
The first ducks are arriving, coming back from their northern summer vacations. 
I saw some American Wigeons ..

          

... and a few Buffleheads :

                                                

Still no ducks in our pond but the water is rising so they could be arriving soon!

I finished my Halloween puzzle, thank goodness, that one is not for the faint of heart (!), started another and did a little baking.
These cookies look like speculaas but they're actually 'Jan Hagel', another dutch cookie, covered with pearl(or nib)-sugar, hence the 'hagel' which translates to 'hail', and almond shavings. 

                                                 

In hind-side I probably should have gone for speculaas since Sinterklaas once again 'arrived' in the Netherlands this Saturday (which is the 'official', televised arrival).
This year he arrived on the Wadden-Sea island of Texel, which so happens to be the island just above the city I used to live in!

It's a very pretty island, I've always said that if I would have stayed in Holland I would have liked to live there ...



Speculaas is eaten especially during the time St. Nicolas is in the country, but it's a favorite during all of fall and winter.
Jan Hagel is very similar though so I think I can get away with it ... I'll bake some (the thicker variety) speculaas on the 5th of December when we celebrate his birthday!

And that was all she wrote for this week ... life has slowed down with the change of the season, and the holiday-events haven't started yet .. soon though .. time flies .. less than 6 weeks to Christmas!

  

 

Look at that sky! As we say in Holland: 'daar komt een schip met zure appels aan' or 'there's a ship with sour apples incoming'.

Well, another rainy week has past. 
So far we've had 3.03" in this first week of November, which is almost as much as we had over the whole month last year, when we ended up with 3.70", and this last October totaled 3.95" versus 1.60" last year!

   

 

I discover more mushrooms every day .. it's funny how I sometime walk the same path twice, back and forth, and still almost miss them.
Of course there's a thick layer of leaves they have to pop through, which makes them almost invisible until they do, and their colors blend in very well with the leaves as well ..

       

I like these dainty ones the best!

More and more leaves are coming down, even the oaks are starting to look barren ..

      

But look who's still here?

We haven't seen much of him/her all summer but he's been hanging around all week now. I think there's actually two of them because every now and than this one is chasing 'something' ... they're so fast when they're in attack-mode, they're just a blur!

The new barn our landlord is building, in between rain-showers, is really taken shape now ... quite literary:

 

 

The last two days have been sunny and dry, which might be the reason for these dandelions to decide to all of sudden flower again ...  that, and all the rain before that of course: 

One last hurrah I guess!

I'm working on this Halloween puzzle .. of course Halloween has already come and gone but, in my defense, this is not the easiest puzzle ... I shall persevere though!

This week's culinary masterpieces (ahem) were:



Banana chocolate chips muffins and Cabbage soup (enough for an army) :

                                                        

The muffins were delicious and the soup very good as well ... only disadvantage with cooking cabbage is that the strong, sulfur-y, gassy smell lingers forever, especially in an RV .. bleh ..

Well, I think that was all there was this week .. I've been trying to get a shot of one of the nice sunsets we have lately but every time I think of it I've been busy and totally forgot to look ... 
I got this one tonight. Not too bad but not as good as some have been ... maybe next week!