Black-capped Chickadee

Since they forecasted rain for a couple of days I made sure to have all my outdoor tasks done and my longer walks in before it arrived on Wednesday.

On my walk into the forest on the logging-road I finally managed to get a shot of the above chickadee! 
They're always around but they're so busy, always in motion which makes it hard to get a decent picture.
And although they're not rare, and I have seen them before, they never show up at my feeder over here so I was tickled pink with this shot. It's the small things ...

And than on Wednesday, right on cue, the rain arrived.
Besides Saturday, when the weather-gods were nice to James and kept it dry so he could golf, it rained every day, and at times pretty heavy!
As of me writing this on Sunday afternoon, we've had almost 3.5 inches!

                                                                                

We still had some drizzle this morning but it has been dry since about noon and I chanced a little walk to get some fresh air.
The slugs and snails were out in force. 
I liked this one with that red stripe on his little house and the slightly reddish color of its body. 
So color-coordinated!

The Queen Ann's lace flowers have all gone to seed now and have turned into a nice rusty fall color:

Some of my vegetables are only now reaching their full height like this huge mass of Basil (on the left) and a wild tomato which I definitely haven't planted there in the tub on the right, but I take it!

             

I hope to make that Basil into some nice pesto!

Next up for the weekly Soup-Saturday routine was a (dried) Black Bean with carrots, onion, garlic, some spices and (plant-based) ground 'beef':

I made it in 30 minutes in the Instant pot and smoothed 2 cups of it with a hand-held blender.  
Served with a little yogurt and avocado, it was delicious!

And here's something exiting: maps, notebook, computer searching ...

Yes, we're planning a little (5 day) get-away at the end of this month!
We're thinking somewhere north, like the Mt Rainier State Park and maybe a little further up to Leavenworth, a little 'Bavarian' town in NW Washington.

It will probably be a little early for Fall colors but hopefully we'll see some. 

I'm looking forward to it, we're due for some R&R!