AUTUMN AT TAHOMA CEMETERY ~ A MOVIE RECOMMENDATION ~ PUZZLE OF THE MOMENT ~ PARTING SHOT

AUTUMN AT TAHOMA CEMETERY

Linda and I took a walk yesterday at the nearby Tahoma Cemetery. I decided that I wanted to walk somewhere there were big trees. One big difference between Eastern Washington and North Carolina is the fact that there are far fewer trees here. There are places in Yakima where you can go and see a view that has no trees whatsoever. You would be hard-pressed to do that in North Carolina, there are trees everywhere there. Out in the desert proper they are nonexistent. So we are glad that we have a place close by that has huge trees.

A gorgeous sight

By now the trees are starting to lose their leaves, but they still look beautiful dressed out in their fall colors. Although the temperature the night before took a nose-dive well below freezing (27 degrees), yesterday was a nice sunny day with the high in the mid-60's.

Sun's out!

I have tended to be a couch potato the last couple of weeks. The weather has been getting slowly colder, and so my activity level usually drops when that happens. There is nothing out in the garden to go check on, so I've been busy dehydrating and making various pepper relishes and pickles. But that didn't occupy much of my time, so I've been kind of lazy. After several days of not doing much, I felt the need to get out in nature and look at the fall colors, because soon the predominate color around here will be brown...and white.

Fall shades of brown

There were a few other interesting things on our walk besides the trees. We came upon a rose bush that was almost bloomed out. There was one lavender rose left on it, a silent testament to the resiliency of rose bushes here. They seem to thrive in this hot, dry climate, as long as you give them enough water to survive.

One perfect bud

It's always a good thing to have more than one set of eyes when looking for photo opportunities. Linda is good at spotting a nice scene or still life that is just begging to be photographed. She is much more in tune with her surroundings than I am, so she often points out something that turns out making a great photograph. Here are a couple of examples below of things she pointed out to me.

Beautiful rose hips

The evergreens are loaded with cones

Some of my favorite trees that we see all around Yakima are these weeping trees with white bark that I have been told are Paper Birch trees. I think these are so beautiful.

Some kind of Birch tree

Close-up of the Birch tree bark

Everything is not golden at the cemetery. There are several trees there that turn a different color before they drop their leaves. Soon they will all be bare and the beautiful colors will just be a memory.

A study in red

Red and green on one tree

The trees are so beautiful from afar, but if you move in closer you can see the individual leaves and the intricate detail of their veins.

Getting ready to let go

Sunlight through the leaves

Towards the end of our walk Linda spotted another good photo op. There was a large evergreen tree right beside the paved road that was just oozing sap. Although it made for a beautiful photograph, it isn't a healthy thing for a tree to be doing.

Sparkling diamonds on a tree

Not only does Linda spot a good shot every now and then, she also takes them with her iPad. Here is a photograph she took that same morning, evidence of the cold temperatures the night before. The birdies had to wait for it to warm up to get their morning drink!

Ice in the bird bath

A MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

We don't often go to the movies, usually about once or twice a year. This year, however, seems to be a good year for movies because there are several coming out that we want to see. So this past week we decided to go see the new version of A Star Is Born, featuring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. We both adore Lady Gaga, so it was definitely a given to go see her. But Bradley Cooper, who we remembered from his days on the TV show Alias, was an unexpected delight. Who knew he could sing so well? In my personal opinion, he held his own with Lady Gaga (although just barely). Linda and I both gave this movie a "thumbs up." But having said all that, the definitive version of this movie, for me, will always be the one with Barbra Streisand. She is most definitely in a league by herself.

Go see it

PUZZLE OF THE MOMENT

We've done a few puzzles lately that I haven't posted, mainly because they were repeats of ones we had already done. We stopped by our local senior center, The Harmon Senior Center, a few weeks ago and picked up a couple. One of them was unopened, so we were stoked as this one would most likely not have any missing pieces. We've been working on this one for the past couple of weeks, and we are all done with it except for the black area. This is going to be hard, which is why we saved it for last. But when we get done, I think it is going to be one of my favorite puzzles, for obvious reasons.

Drinkiepoo time!

PARTING SHOT

When we got back from our walk at the cemetery, there was one absolutely beautiful photo opportunity in our own front yard. I couldn't pass it up.

Behaving herself for a change

That's all for this week, folks. Please join me again next week, when it is bound to be even colder! LOL

SPECIAL EDITION: BITS & PIECES ~~ PARTING SHOT

BITS & PIECES

Every week when I sit down at the computer to do my blog, I wonder what in the world I am going to write about. Sometimes I do have a few topics in mind ahead of time, but then other times I have nothing when I sit down. But it usually comes to me when I look back over my pictures. Most weeks I have WAY more pictures than I can post. I'm sure the photographers out there understand this! Inevitably things keep getting put off. So this week's post is going to include some of those pictures that were previously consigned to oblivion.

Let's start off with a new restaurant in the area that we tried out a couple weeks ago, Provisions Restaurant & Market (click on the link to go to their web page). This one is located in Terrace Heights and is both a restaurant and a little attached market. Linda had a gift card that the school had given her for her volunteer efforts last year, so we were excited to give it a try for lunch. 

A new favorite place to eat!

The menu has lots of choices on it, and also has vegetarian and gluten-free options (Emily, take note!).  I ordered a small BBQ Chicken Pizza and Linda had the Three-Cheese Pasta. Both were hearty-sized servings so we had enough for lunch the next day! If you are in the Yakima area, check it out!

Pizza at top, pasta below

Since last week's post, Linda and I have picked all of our produce and pulled up the garden. I know, it's sad. The only thing left is one Delicata Squash plant that still has 2 squash on it. I let it go an extra week so they could get a bit bigger, but I am going to pull it up tomorrow. 

What's left in the garden

A sad sight

We dug up all our potatoes this past week. We didn't get as many as we did last year, but some of them were absolutely HUGE!

Red potatoes

Despite my bemoaning the fact that the garden didn't produce as well this year as previous years, I still managed to get a lot of peppers that I don't know what to do with. In years past I could always make Jalapeno Jelly or Hot Sauce and take it down to Dad, as he loved spicy food. Alas, that is no longer an option, and since I am the only one here who eats anything approaching "hot," I can only make as much as I can eat. I did make a nice Jalapeno Relish...and let me tell you, it is hot, hot, hot! Good on hot dogs, sausages, and such! I also dehydrated some peppers and tomatoes, and ground them up separately into powders to use in spice mixes.

Jalapeno Relish

Getting ready to dehydrate

Speaking of Dad, Linda cut this beautiful rose off of the "Dad Rose" bush this past week. We put it in a vase behind our favorite picture of the three of us. 

We still miss him terribly!

This time last year we were getting ready to head down there to spend three weeks with Dad. It was the last time we would ever see him. He was doing pretty good and we had no idea what would happen in just a few short months. But we cherish all the time that we had with him and are glad that we made the trip so often. Because...you never know.

While we're on the subject of roses, below is a picture Linda took a few days ago. We actually had rain here in Yakima. Not the little sprinkle like we usually get and everyone calls it "rain." No, this was a hard rain that happened during the night. Everything was soaking wet the next morning. It made pulling the garden up so much easier!

The "Precious Rose" with rain drops

Since it is the Fall season, I thought I would include a picture of our current flag in the front yard. You can probably guess why I love this one!

A southern flag in the PNW!

A couple of weeks ago I got my hair cut and my hairdresser friend gave me some eggs. They weren't your usual eggs, though. These came from "mini-chickens" and they were cute as a button! Here's a picture showing the size of these eggs compared to a regular egg. The chickens themselves are so cute! Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them. Thanks, Tina, for the eggs, they were delicious!

Mini-chicken eggs

I belong to a lot of Facebook groups, several of which are nature-oriented. Lots of people post pictures of insects to these groups, and you can learn some fascinating things on there. One thing I learned is what this black stuff is on the lettuce plants that are being eaten by the caterpillars. It's poop! Here's a picture of a caterpillar pooping. Never let it be said that my blog isn't educational!

There is no privacy on the Internet!

We had our last drinkiepoo outside a couple of week's ago as the weather is just too cool at that time of day to sit outside now. This picture shows our set-up for having drinks on the porch. It is so nice and relaxing to sit out there, listening to and watching the birds. The owl statue is one that belonged to Linda's mom, and the little table is one that belonged to my mom. So we have a piece of both of our mom's on the front porch to accompany us.

Front porch drinks

Speaking of birds, you probably notice that I don't have any bird pictures posted so far. That's because the only birds around now for the most part are sparrows and house finches. They are going bonkers eating, though. Getting ready for that cold weather that they KNOW will be here soon! So, in the absence of any new bird pictures, I am going to include one from our walk at Randall Park the other week. I just love this one!

Leaving a trail of diamonds in his wake

I'm including this picture below especially for L.H. I know she loves flower pictures and this shows the last of the sunflowers that I picked and put in a vase, about a week ago. They are all gone now.

We miss our sunflowers already!

PARTING SHOT

I have a few pictures of Summer Girl that have never made it to the blog. I usually have several pictures of her each week, and I have to decide which one or two I want to include. These never made the cut before, so I think they deserve to be in this week's "special" edition. We all know how "special" Summer Girl is, after all.

See those sharply honed blades of death?

This is why one of Summer Girl's nicknames is "PigPen"

She can be so cute...look at those feeties!

That's all for this week's edition, my friends. Be sure to check us out next week for more of what's happening around these parts!

CHECKING IN AT RANDALL ~ UPDATE ON THE GARDEN ~ PARTING SHOT

CHECKING IN AT RANDALL

We decided to take a walk at Randall Park this past week, just to check in on how things are going there. The weather here in Yakima is decidedly Autumn now, with cool days and even cooler nights. Flowers and plants are starting to go through their fall transition into hibernation. Evidence of this was everywhere at the park. The leaves on the trees are turning colors and are already starting to fall off. This beautiful tree below greeted us just off the pathway. Nearby was another tree with gorgeous leaves.

Fall in Yakima

Absolutely gorgeous!

Captivated by more colorful offerings off the beaten path, we ventured over the little bridge across Wide Hollow Creek to the little nature trail that runs adjacent to the park.

Linda admiring the foliage

Some kind of tree with berries

Close-up of the berries

Eagle-eyed Linda spotted a couple of critters on the fallen-down branch of a tree beside the creek. They both didn't seem to even notice us, and flew away after a few minutes.

Painted Lady butterfly

Dragonfly

The walk along the nature trail is not very far from the paved pathway, but since it runs alongside the creek, the flora and fauna are much more varied than in the park. It was quite windy that day, so the sound on the videos is the wind in the trees.

We came upon another lady walking the path, so we stopped and chatted with her for awhile. We all were wondering about this peculiar looking plant we were seeing everywhere. She said that she thought it was the Milkweed plant, because they were abundant on the farm she grew up on in Minnesota. I took some pictures and Linda got a leaf, and we Googled it when we got home. Sure enough, it is Milkweed, which is the one plant that Monarch Butterfly caterpillars eat. Too bad it was so late in the season, any caterpillars would have already turned into butterflies. We will have to check it out next year during the summer.

Cottony substance produced by the Milkweed plant

Milkweed plant pod and seeds

Here are a few more pictures of the sights we saw on the nature trail.

Colorful Berries

The canopy above

Purple thistle plant

Cat Tails along the creek

On our way back from the nature trail to the park, we crossed over the bridge again and spotted these little guys in the creek, skimming across the water.

A walk at Randall Park would not be complete without a visit to the pond to check on the ducks and geese. When we arrived at that area, we were greeted by this!

Talk to the butt!

There were lots of Canada Geese at the pond. These large birds are sometimes considered a nuisance by some, but I have come to appreciate them for their beauty. Whenever I hear a flock of them flying over, I always stop what I'm doing and watch them. They really do not do anything to deserve their bad press because they are just doing what comes naturally. Below is a close-up I took of this one swimming around the pond. The detailed feathers are just gorgeous!

They really are lovely birds!

While at the pond area, we noticed one little duck who was searching for food by diving around the pond. He was smaller than the other ducks, and colored differently. Back at home, I looked him up to find out that he was a Western Grebe.

There's nothing like getting out into Nature to reset your mind and restore your soul. The troubles of the world just seem to disappear, which enables you to appreciate this planet and the amazing creatures that inhabit it.

UPDATE ON THE GARDEN

I'm sad to say that the garden is almost done. I picked the last ripe tomatoes this past week, and there are only a few small squash left on the squash plants. The cucumbers are still producing small ones, but I think the peppers are probably done producing anything of any size. Within the next week, Linda and I will pick all the produce and bring it inside to finish ripening. I will have to figure out what I am going to do with the remaining peppers, either pickle them or dry them and grind to powder. We will also dig up the rest of the potatoes and store them in our guest bathroom tub, like we did last year.

While out in the garden I checked on the asparagus plants. They are almost all turning brown now, but I was delighted to see several ladybugs on the pepper plant right beside the asparagus. Then I saw that there were still some of the ladybug caterpillars on the asparagus, but I looked closer and noticed that some of them looked like a cross between a caterpillar and a ladybug. These were in the pupa stage, which is right before they emerge as ladybugs. Click here for a link to a very interesting article on ladybugs. It seems that these ones on my asparagus are the Asian ladybug, also known as the Harlequin Ladybug. Too bad they aren't the more desirable native ladybug.

Adult ladybug stage on left, pupa stage on right

Close-up of pupa stage

I'm including this picture of a leaf I found on a walk to Kissel Park one day, just because I think it's beautiful.

Love the autumn colors!

PARTING SHOT

The other morning while I was making my coffee, I shot this video of our resident weirdo entertaining herself.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Alyssa Davis (from View From My Window Photography) for helping me today with some technical photographic aspects of the blog. That's all for this week, my friends. Join me again next week, same time (approximately), same place!