Beginning of Fall

I know a year has gone by when Autumn arrives. New Years Eve/Day just doesn't do it for me. Fall does. You can say I'm a little obsessed with the season, if you haven't already guessed. Our transition from Summer to Fall this year has been gradual and perfect. We've had many rainy days, then just as many warm sunny days in between. It was sunny and about 80 degrees today!

On the day of the Equinox, Esperanza and I hung out at home and did some nice Fall things. We baked pumpkin muffins with walnuts after eating rice, black bean soup and a sweet potatoe for dinner. Esperanza loves to cook with me and gets excited when we bake something yummy like cookies or muffins. The pumpkin muffins were delicious and Esperanza actually ate them! Sometimes when she helps me cook or bake something she doesn't appreciate the reward in the end.

We also set up a nature table to display all the many things we collect when we go on walks, to the park or even just from our yard. Some of the things that have been in various places in the house, and are now all nicely together on the nature table include a ton of acorns from our neighborhood park, some dried moss, a few pinecones, various rocks, some fallen leaves, a few beach shells (one from the Columbia River walk the other day) and a walnut shell. I decorated the display area with some fall colored play silks, a pumpkin and a few other seasonal things. It's really pretty and I expect it will probably get a bit cluttered as time goes on: Esperanza is just getting into collecting these kinds of things! The plan is to change things out as the seasons change, clean it up every now and then throughout each season and keep it going all year around.

I've fallen behind on blogging, as well as taking pictures. Here are a few recent photos from the past few weeks...

Have a tomato, fresh from my garden.

Her first discovery of mushrooms in natureSwinging with two Fall leaves and her stuffed kitty at the park She loves to help me do the dishes! Nothing to do with the season, just cute This past Saturday we had planned to go to the zoo. We underestimated how busy it would be. Once we got there, the zoo parking lot was maddening and even the line to get on a bus from the overflow shuttle parking lot was insane. So, we changed our plans and went to the Portland Farmers Market for lunch then headed to Multomah Falls. Much better!Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall!!! Bring on the rain, wind and pumpkin ale.