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. 
They're OK, but I need a much better, as in 'more expensive' one, for them to come out more decent ... oh well.

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 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 somewhere this Fall!