Autumn's Glory

Some people view Autumn as a time of decay and death. But Autumn has always been my favorite season. Maybe it's because it carries elements of all four seasons...some plants and flowers actually begin to bloom or go into their second blooming/fruiting, the days are often warm and sun-filled with incredible blue skies like summer and yet winter is nipping at your heels and creeps in through the nooks and crannies of windows and doors. Occasionally there is a dusting of snow...like powdered sugar over the trees. And last but not least, who can resist the glorious crown of color that Autumn wears? I cannot.

My cousin has SAD (Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder) where she feels depressed when the sunshine is gone and the days are shorter. I think I have the opposite. When the temps start cooling (no more triple digit! Hurray!), I begin to thrive. I wake up, I enjoy going out doors and I love breathing the crispness of the cooler and clearer air. During CA summers I feel smothered, claustrophobic and isolated.

The past month with illnesses and rain, we have really been feeling like we have had cabin fever. Our weather is much cooler and there has been more rain than usual, so sadly we haven't enjoyed the fall as much as we usually do. Saturday we decided to do something about it and went up to Apple Hill. It was a quick trip, but nice to get our noses out! We didn't go as many places or stay as long as we wanted because there were just way, way, way too many people. There were more people than we have ever seen up there and we could hardly walk two feet without people bumping and pushing and there were lines for everything!
We stopped first at the VFW memorial in Placerville. That's me back in the bushes taking closeup pics, while the kids had fun running. A is in the pink, J in the stripes and of course D is in the green shirt. I didn't get any pics of hubby. :o(
Hubby took this shot of D examining the colorful leaves.
He gets credit for these mushrooms too. We had a lesson on not touching and eating things that you see in the wild because they might be poisonous. This was especially important after A swallowed either two dimes or two nickels (or possibly one of each) the other night. I've been calling her "Piggy Bank" which makes her giggle! LOL So far nothing has come out of the bank...that we know of!
Hubby caught A seriously inspecting some leaves. Yellow is her favorite color, so she had fun looking at all of the leaves, but especially pointed out the ones that were yellow.

While I took pics, the kids had fun running. We don't have any grass at home, no place to really run, so this was a treat for them. When D saw these pics, he said, "There's me beating A in a race!" I asked him why A was in front if he was winning, but he didn't have an answer.
Apparently this last minute agonizing push attained the win for him! But A looks doubtful! LOL I had to put this picture up because it just cracks me up. He looks like he is agonizing in a marathon instead of having run 20 feet!
Here is J next to the monument, sitting down to think awhile and watch everyone else.
A pointing up at the yellow leaves on the Pomegranate trees. Here's another picture hubby took of J. I thought this looked funny like she was sitting against one of those fake photo backgrounds or something.

Hubby snuck this shot too of me taking close ups of these berries.
A pretty leaf I saw. I enjoy the leaves that are not just one solid color. The girls saw me doing this and brought me more things to photograph! :o)
I thought this red looked neat on the lucious green...we don't have much lucious green in CA, you have to shoot it when you can! LOL
A collection of leaves the girls brought me to photograph.
Berries on the Mountain Ash tree. I wondered if people dye wool with these?

An oak leaf, partially eaten, shot a couple inches away with my new closeup lens. I need to do some reading and get to know my camera better before I can really get some nice shots. There is a very shallow depth of field, so while you can get very close to something, it is not always easy to get it in focus!
I don't know if you will be able to see on this tiny photo but the trees are reflected in the rain drops.
And the berries are reflected in this rain drop, but I suspect it won't show in this tiny of a shot. They aren't the sharpest of shots, but it was fun to play anyway!

One last raindrop on these unknown berries.



VFW Memorial, Placerville, California. The red tree is Mountain Ash and the yellow are Pomegranates.

The Three Musketeers! A, D, J
We love our brother. But, we hate looking at the camera!
See, it's a conspiracy so Mom will never get a great christmas card shot! LOL
We saw apples...
and more apples... you can find and buy anything pertaining to apples up there...if you are willing to stand in line!

We waited about 15 minutes just to buy apple donuts...but the short ones were happy! :o) D, A, J
There was a really nice farmer there from Mountain Lavender Farms. This is some of his cut lavender. I purchased a little to put in my wool. I am sensitive to it, but I will be incensed if the moths eat my wool!
Hanging lavender from Mountain Lavender Farms.
And aprons hanging in one of the craft booths. I thought the array of colors and patterns were pretty.
I've always loved Indian corn. I thought a lot of them looked like different sock yarn colorways I have seen. See, there is nothing new under the sun and He is the greatest Creator!

While I was taking pics, D had a meltdown and here the girls are waiting patiently, J on L and A on R.
This is Boeger Vineyards on the road out of Apple Hill.
It's mostly over for the grapes for this year. Since we don't drink, we don't know if there wine is any good or not, but we always stop by and take pics of the vineyards.
Aren't they beautiful? They look so velvety.
The last of the 2007 harvest of grapes.

On the way home we stopped at Big Lots! and Ross. Just the girls and I went in and we found some deals. We are preparing to rejuvenate the kids' room, including purchasing a bunk bed now that D is 6 (CA state law requires that). A found a cute Care Bears bedspread and J found one with Precious Moments on it. The walls are going to be painted "Pooh Yellow" which is neither the color of the old or the new Pooh, just yellow! Yellow goes well with all their favorite colors and since they are in the same room, that works out well. We are going to put in laminate flooring as well. We will probably do that on Veteran's Day weekend. The girls and I had fun picking them out together. It was the first time we did any "girly shopping". Of course they don't have any concept of waiting and planning so they are uncertain of why they don't get to put these on their little toddler beds, but I think they will be pleasantly surprised when they get their twin beds! D and A are going to be in the bunk bed and J will have D's twin bed. We are hoping this will give D a place where he can get up and away from his sisters when he needs to, until we can live somewhere that has 3 bedrooms.

On the knitting front, I have finished and started several small projects and I have also started a shawl I am test knitting for a friend and will be sharing more about later! Hopefully I will have time this week to do that.