Alli and I went on walk-about Saturday through the neighborhood.  One thing about walking with Alli - the pace is slow enough I can take pictures.  (The dogs don't want to stop for a photo-ap.)

 

Another beautiful fall day in the valley - and more leaves!  

This guy seems to be confused about the time of year....parts of the Lantana bush that he is on are already frost-bitten - it's partially sheltered by the guesthouse.  I don't think he's going to make it....

And did I mention more leaves?  Alex and I took one load to the green waste facility (where I managed to back the trailer right where I wanted it!  Woohoo!!) and then I blew/raked up another load.  This one will go next weekend - and I'm sure I'll have another yard-full to rake up.

 

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  As usual I was busy in the kitchen on Thursday, but on a much smaller scale.  It was just us - no family this year, but I still made turkey and all the fixings - dressing, potatoes, gravy, etc.  But before I could start all that - look at what the wind blew in....leaves, leaves, and more leaves.

Ralph cooked the turkey this year - it turned out quite tasty!

And I made cranberry parfaits (and a pumpkin cheesecake) for dessert.  I put the parfaits in sealable containers this year - hopefully they keep for a while, since it looks like I'll be the only one munching on them...

More pretty leaves pictures!  I do love my tress - while the leaves are still on them....my view of the front yard.

And my neighbor's tree from one of my many walks

 

My winter garden is growing!  So far, it's survived the low temps of 28 degrees, so I'm impressed!  It's not a huge winter garden, I admit, but I have snap peas coming up from seed.....

Sweet Gem lettuce (the BEST for lettuce wraps)! kale, swiss chard, and mixed lettuces plants from the local nursery....

And little tiny spinach plants coming up from seed....  

 

We are forecast to have sunny days for a while, so they should get a good jump start.  We could use the rain, but I'm enjoying the sun while it's here....

It's official - I'm done with 2020!  Piecing the back of the quilt at least.  (I'm done with 2020 the year as well, but still have a few more weeks to slug through...)  Doesn't it look so bright and hopeful?  The quilt was designed as a block-a-month project that started in January, 2020 - who knew then that 2020 would end up like it did? 

I thought I heard Alli up the other night and checked our nanny cam, and, while Alli wasn't up - her stuffed Pikachu staring back at me is pretty terrifying....

But she looks pretty cheerful in the daylight.....

I love the beautiful fall leaves - as long as they stay on the trees!  I raked the first batch of fall leaves yesterday, and noticed how beautiful they are on my trees, but also just many I'll have to rake up....

 

Done!  Well, almost done.  The blocks are finished and put together for the Bloomtopia quilt!  I have 5 inch borders to add, but then it's too big to put up for a picture.  The next step is to put the backing together and send it out to get quilted!  Woohoo!  I just might get this finished in 2020!

The trees are turning - I love all the colors!  These are in the Walmart parking lot....

 

I apologize, once again, for the long period between posts - to be honest, not much is happening around here.  (That's not a bad thing - it's just quiet here...)  I've spent the last couple of weekends working on the Bloomtopia quilt, and finished the last block yesterday!  The next step is putting all the blocks together - a daunting task all on its own - and then make the backing (I'll send it out to be quilted - it's way to big a project for me to do).    The backing is also quilted - it has "2020" pieced into it, and I'm determined to finish it in 2020!  I also got a request from Dave for more masks to send up to him, and Meredith pre-ordered a couple of dozen decorated gloves for Christmas presents.....I'm behind before I start again....

I had company while I sewed yesterday - Luna was keeping an eye on the neighborhood for me.

 

Last set of photos from last weekend....

We stopped at a grove of oak trees on our way back from Castle Lake for more pictures - there was a slight wind, and leaves were drifting down all around us - it was so cool!!!  (Hopefully the video shows the leaves....)

 

More weekend photos - The colors are changing at the higher elevations - we stopped a couple of times just to take pictures of the light in the leaves.  

We took a detour up to Castle Lake on the way home - well worth the stop!  I've never been there before, but I'll be back.  Because we were there in the afternoon (in fall - the sun's angle was wrong....), the photos didn't show the opposite side of the lake very well - there's a granite cliff that drops down to the lake - gorgeous!

This is pretty much the view from the parking lot:

And a little bit of color on the surrounding bushes

Just above Gumboot Lake is part of the Pacific Crest Trail - and it had some beautiful views.

Here's a panoramic shot of the Trinity Alps

And Mt. Shasta - this was pretty much my view when we stopped for a snack.

And Cedar Lake (None of my pictures of Gumboot Lake were worth posting - I need a new camera - the settings are beginning to shift on the old one...)

 

Sunday, I took a break from reality and went on a hike with Chris. (Reality was waiting for me when I got back though - laundry and house cleaning just don't do themselves...)  We explored the area around Cedar Lake and Gumboot Lake outside of Dunsmuir.  Beautiful area, and the weather was perfect!

Check out this huge cedar tree by - you guessed it - Cedar Lake.

This was the majority of our trail up - a 4-wheel drive road.  (Yes, Chris has 4-wheel drive, but some of the areas would have been too narrow for his Explorer - it was much more of a 'skinny jeep' road....and we went up there for a hike, right???)

This is typical Chris - I stopped to take a picture, and he stopped to look at a rock.....in his defense though, he left the batteries for his good camera home, so had to use his cell phone for any pictures - not nearly as good as his brand new camera!  He is a bigger rock-hound than my brother though, and that says a lot....