We finally had some good rain this week, almost 2.5"!
Temperatures came down some, although not that much, but a couple of the nights were cool enough that we both reached for an extra blanket in the early hours of the morning.

Several mornings I started my walk in the fog .. something I love!

                                         

                                            

Still not too many fall colors around the house except for few small maples our landlord planted 2 years ago. It's a start! 

          

At least the willows at the river are turning:

                             

 

I searched online for a website that predicts fall colors and found this one which shows we're still a long way from 'high/peak color'  ... heck, we're not even in 'moderate color' yet!

                           

(It's hard to see but if you look closely you'll find Willamina and Sheridan at the bottom of the map, right in the middle).
Oh well, patience dear Watson ..

After a couple of days of rain, today (Sunday) was a beautiful, sunny day and we decided to take advantage of it since the forecast is for more rain in the days to come.
Each fall, the Art Harvest Studio Tour of Yamhill County invites the public to to have a look behind the scenes and into the creative spaces of Yamhill County’s working artists. 

Over two weekends, painters, potters, sculptors, printmakers, jewelers, fiber artists, and more open their studios to the public for an inspiring self-guided tour.

Although I've seen it announced in previous years we never participated so we agreed it was about time to do so.
Our plan was to see the studios in Amity and Mcminnville but it quickly became clear that it would take much longer than we thought, they're all rather wide-spread through the countryside, so we concentrated on Amity alone.

We followed a map that was given with the entry-buttons, which was a good thing because we would never have found the majority of them.
I guess many artists like to hide away where they can create in solitude ..
 
In a way it added to the tour since we came through some beautiful, rural areas of the Yamhill countryside we'd never been before! 

I made a few pictures, but most artists usually don't want you to make any so I stole most of them from the Internet.
We enjoyed seeing the wide variety of objects although our (very) limited space prohibits us from buying anything. 
It was fun to be able to look around in the studios where things are created and actually see some of them working on new pieces.

Depending on the weather we might go to Mcminnville next Friday or Saturday although it looks like it could rain ..
Since a lot of those studios are actually in town a little rain might not be such a problem.
(And there's always coffee-shops with pastries to visit!)

Talking about pastries, during a rainy afternoon ... I did a little baking myself (surprise, surprise):

                                             

Oatmeal raisin cookies, raisin soda-bread muffins and a 'boule' of sourdough bread (of course).

Baking gets my 'creative juices' flowing. Hey, I'm an artist too!

 

Yes! It's here! Fall! 
Once again my favorite time of the year is here ... and of course I wasted no time decorating:

The straw-man I usually place outside somewhere was demolished last year by the pesky ground squirrels so I went ahead and brought out a few small pumpkins and another foam pumpkin arrangement in it's place.

 
Which was a big mistake because Samson immediately stole one of the smaller ones and tore it apart in 1 minute flat, and I could only just rescue the larger one from between his teeth, before he took of with that one as well!!

                                                     

So, inside it came and I found a perfect place for it on top of our little heather (that doesn't get hot on top by the way).

Still very little fall colors .. the maples in town are starting to turn but unfortunately we don't have any maples on the property, so we have to do with the yellow of ashes and a little orange/brown of the blackberries:

The blackberries above actually turned brown due to the drought but hey, they changed color, so I count them in .. 

                                               

The first spiderwebs are appearing .. totally fine, as long as they're not in my way, otherwise ..  brrrr!

                                 

I'm finally having somewhat of a harvest to speak of from my vegetables. 
Still not much if you count all the planning, watering and protecting (from sun and/or bugs), but I take it!

I love the look of those 'rattlesnake beans'! Too bad they turn completely green when cooked ..

                                 

The new barn has a roof, which has been covered with roofing felt, and one of the 'wings' is up and covered as well: 

   

 

The metal that goes on top of it is coming on Tuesday, so they're right on schedule.

 

We're about to loose the little view we had for a while but it will block a lot of the sound of the mill again, shield us from some of the weather and give us back the privacy we had before.
It will look a lot better than the old, falling down shed that was there as well!

And finally, finally I finished the puzzle I was working on! 
This was the one that came in the surprise package we received from my family for our 25th anniversary.
Since we met in Japan it was a very appropriate one of course:

But boy, oh boy, this was not an easy one! Let's just say that a lot of bad language was used in the making of it! 

But I persevered and voila! Done!

Other than that I don't have much to talk about this week. 
It is getting a little cooler, we only had 2 days in the low 80s and a few surprising cold nights of 46F but it's still quite warm outside, especially when the sun is out.
The forecast is for an inch of rain this week though, god knows we need it, but I'm not so sure. I guess we'll see it when we see it .. 

We went to McMinnville yesterday to drop off a couple of boxes of papers to be shredded.

The bank we use has a yearly shredding-day, when they have a couple of trucks of a shredding company come to their parking lot and you can have things shredded free of charge.
When the trucks are full it ends so we made sure to be there early, which paid off since it wasn't very busy and we got it quickly taken care of.

We'd planned to have coffee in town and although a little early we went there right away.
This time to a coffee place we hadn't been to before, a little bit away from 3d street, the center of town, where we usually end up.
The sign on the building says 'MacMkt' .. (for Mac Market).

                                                                                     

                                                   

This is a collaborative and community-driven eating, drinking, shopping and gathering place housed in a renovated historic warehouse. 
Locally known as the “ol’ shoe grease building,” this 10,000 sqft building began as a manufacturing hub for Huberd’s Shoe Grease in 1929.

Now a part of McMinnville’s developing Granary District along Alpine Ave, the space has been lovingly restored to support adventurous small businesses.

It claims to be: "a place where a James Beard “Best New Restaurant” finalist, your favorite NY-style pizza joint, a drag show, and a weekly knitting circle can co-exist".
From your morning coffee and WiFi session to a post-meal drink with friends, it’s easy to make Mac Market your home away from home.

 
We enjoyed a good cup of coffee and relaxed and fun atmosphere. We even 'met' that 'weekly knitting circle' who was sitting next to us.  
Only complaint: 2 cups of coffee and 2 pastries cost us a whopping $17! But I guess that's quite the standard these days, especially if it is made with any of the popular 'green' ingredients .. I think it's quite crazy though .. $5 for a little pastry?

                      

Anywho ... to burn of the calories of the pastries we decided to check out the Joe Dancer park just south of town.
We'd never been there either and were impressed by the huge seize of it. 
The 100 acre sports field complex and community park features a dozen baseball/softball fields of various sizes and the same number of soccer fields. 
It also features both hard surface pathways (1 mile) and soft forested trails (1.2 miles) and a wetland for viewing nature as well as a skate park and playground equipment.

We hiked the loop that leads you all around the periphery of the park .. it's a nice path bordered by huge oaks and maples.

  

                                    

                                 

The Yamhill River runs along the park’s south and east boundaries making a couple of big loops.  Unfortunately you can't see much of it. 
In the next picture you can just see a glimpse of the river in the foreground:

It was a nice little hike, I'm glad we finally checked it out.

Wildlife is elusive these days, hardly anything crossed my path this week although I suddenly see a lot of California Sister butterflies ..      
              

                                        

They hardly ever land anywhere, I was lucky to get a few shots ..

         

The Turkey Vultures seem to be gathering, I come across some small 'flocks' every now and than, more so than before.
I guess they will be migrating to the south real soon. 
Turkey vultures migrating from Oregon in the winter primarily go to California and Mexico, but some individuals can travel as far south as Central and South America. 

                                                                                                      

(FYI, a group of turkey vultures is called a kettle when in flight, a wake when feeding at a carcass and a committee, venue or volt when at rest or roosting). 

                                                                       

Ugly and somewhat scary looking, especially up close, like this one was posing at the end of our road, they nevertheless do a good job of keeping the roads and fields clean of dead animals in the Summer. 
There's something to love about all creatures isn't there? Except spiders of course ..

Temperatures have been going up and down this week and last night we even had some rain again, mother nature is getting ready to make a change!

Tomorrow the Pacific time zone (that's us) can expect the fall equinox to arrive at 11:19 a.m.
(but who's counting? ... me, me, me!) 

Yes! Time to decorate! 

 
We're halfway September and only a week away from Fall (Yeah!) but it's only now that I'm seeing the first trees and shrubs putting out a little bit of color.
Looking back at last year's posts it seems like everything's a little later this time around.

The big ash tree in the meadow of our neighbors down the road is showing some yellow at the top and the poison oak covering the base of the oaks on our property are just now turning red.
And yes, I stayed away from it this year, lesson learned! 

                                                            

We finally had some good rain last night, almost 1.5 inch!

                       

Which probably made our landlord very happy since that means he doesn't have to water his trees! 
He worked hard this very dry summer to keep the young Christmas-trees they planted this Spring alive by diligently watering them every morning, but it looks he still lost quite a few again ...
The summers here in Oregon are definitely getting hotter (and longer) than they did before!

He also tried to keep the work on the barn going as much as he could, in between visiting his son in the hospital.
The lower walls are up and the roof is on (and watertight) on one side as well.

His son was slowly doing better in the beginning of the week, but suffered a set-back 2 days ago when he developed an infection in the stump of his amputated leg.
Surgery on Monday will show if maybe they have to amputate higher, above the knee this time ... it looks like the poor guy is not out of the woods yet. 
It's hard to imagine what they all must be going through ... 
                                                               my heart goes out to them ..                                            

                      

Walking around the barn the other day, I came across this little guy. 
He immediately curled up and prepared himself to strike if I would come any closer, so I quickly retreated.
This is a harmless Garter snake and his bite isn't venomous at all (like a scratch from a thorn bush), but it still smarts, and I also didn't want to upset him too much. 
He was a feisty little thing though!

My vegetables are still producing .. at least the ones that did anything at all to begin with:

 

                                                                  

And since the weather looked quite dreary yesterday I made us the first pea-soup of the season .. which will most certainly not be the last! Yummy! 

While I was at it, I also baked another sourdough bread, this one with a little spelt in it, just to make it even more healthy:

                                         

And for good measure I threw in a triple-berry pie as well. 
Sometimes you just need a little pick-me-up ..

 

                                                        

                                 

Cow Parsnip 

The first week of September brought some slightly cooler weather and the first signs of Fall are starting to show.
The wildflowers, as well as many of my own flowers, are all forming seeds. 
I'm trying to gather some (Hollyhock, Cosmos, Zinnias) and will try to sow them in my borders by just scattering them on lightly raked soil later in the fall. 
Hopefully they will grow without me having to 'do' much with them? I mean, it's only natural?

Many shrubs, like this Hawthorn, are loaded with berries!

                                                      

They are actually edible, but the seeds must be removed or carefully strained out, as they contain cyanide.
They can be eaten raw, but they are pretty tart and they're better processed into jams, jellies, and fruit leather, or dried for tea.
I don't really feel the need to try that .. yet.

The rose-hips and snow-berries are appearing as well:

     

I found some more of the local wildlife on my walk. The fawns are getting big!

           

                                                                      

And, of all things, a small flock of chickens! They must have escaped from somewhere. They were not that afraid of me, but I have no clue who keeps chickens here? 

I'll put the word out on 'Nextdoor', maybe someone recognizes them, otherwise I'm afraid they will be lunch for some lucky racoon/coyote/bobcat ..

Over the summer Samson started to cool off in the pond on hot days ...

 

... where he would do a little bit of doggie-paddling...



... but at the moment he comes out looking like a pig! ..

                                                                

The reason he looks this black is that there's very little water left in the pond, it's pretty much all mud right now:





'Normally', it's full of water but we haven't had rain for months. 
Last February it looked like this:

                                    

Fall is approaching though and the weather is changing ever so slightly. 
We've had a little rain last week, although barely measurable, but the last two nights a thunderstorm came through during which it poured for about 10 minutes!
So .. there's hope!

Talking about hope ... a terrible tragedy has happened here last Thursday ..
Remember the last post, I in which I wrote about the trusses of the barn being installed with the help of our landlord's son Josh .. well, I don't even know how to begin to write this down, but the sad truth is that he was in a horrible motor-crash accident and, although slightly improving, is still in critical condition as we speak ..

   

He broke his arm and his pelvis and due to a severed artery they had to amputate part of his lower right leg ...  he's been operated on several times already and has been kept sedated and intubated.

We've talked to Bret almost every day and he's keeping us updated, but God .... there are just no words, are there? We're all still in shock.

How fragile we are and how precious is this life we have ...

So, yeah, hope .. it's about all we have right now. Let's hope he'll keep improving.

                        At least the doctors are 'carefully optimistic'...