The winds of winter

This almost looks like a painting. In reality, it's a photo taken yesterday by Brian Davies, our local newspaper photog whose work I idolize. He called it 'before a parade of storms blows all the autumn out of town'. And the winds definitely came in late yesterday afternoon and overnight. Nice that he preserved this so we can remember what it was starting to look like. I guess I especially like this because when I lived in Eugene last time, I lived on the top floor of that building on the left, with the blue-green roofs. I lived on the backside, facing east, which gave me wonderful sunrises and moonrises. I probably loved that place as much as -- maybe more than -- anyplace I ever lived and if I could afford it, would be back there in a heartbeat.

Another photo from Davies from yesterday. Both of these were sent out via twitter, which is how I managed to steal them. I just love the guy's work, what can I say.

Not a lot going on in my world, I guess. Rain -- for days now, and for days to come -- but that's life in Oregon and it beats hell out of drought. I still get out and walk in it, as most of the time it's just gentle rain or drizzle, rarely heavy and rarely wind-driven.

Yesterday I walked around and ended up with about 20 new earthworms for my garden. That's always a bonus. I should have plenty of them come spring, assuming they stick around all winter.

And, yesterday I finally found a small dropleaf table so I can actually have a place to sit and eat when I have someone over for dinner. It's a very old, but very sturdy, gate-leg style that's painted white over a lot of rough paint underneath. But it works. Takes up very little space but opens up easily when needed. I'm thinking I'd like to do some serious sanding all over during the winter, then repaint so it looks a bit better. I like painted and old, but this is not charming 'painted and old', it's rather sloppy 'painted and old'. What the heck -- it'll give me something to do. Just need to hit up Home Depot for some heavy-duty sandpaper and a drop-cloth to make clean up easier. Soon.

Still working on my sourdough focaccia recipe, learning the foibles of my particular sourdough starter (it is a very active starter!) and how to get it to come out right. I've made three now, and am making good progress. Will try again next week and see if what I learned this week helps. Friends enjoy these experiments, as I pass the focaccia around to welcoming hands.

So I guess that's it for now. Happy autumn, everybody.