First Snow

Here it is just the end of October and we already experienced our first snow day! Usually, we don't see any snowflakes until December around here. It was a messy, wet snow today. At times, it looked like the sky was throwing down snowballs. Big clumps of snow fell from the sky and thudded on the cabin roof. As you can see from the photo above, it was quite messy as Kevin retrieved our mail today!



Ordinarily, the leaves are long gone from most of the deciduous trees by the time we have snow, but a lot of the tree leaves are still green and others just turning yellow and red. The wind blew pretty fiercely at times today and it was not only snowing but raining leaves, too. It was a good day to stay indoors!

Fall Trip to Washington, DC

This past weekend was one of simply wondrous Indian Summer weather ~ perfect for our visit to our nation's capital. Kevin and I stayed downtown for a couple of days and toured as many of the museums and monuments as we could during our stay. During the daytime, we went to the museums, enjoyed the many exhibits and viewed several 3-D IMAX movies, my favorite one focusing on orphaned elephants and orangutangs and their extraordinary caretakers who nurtured their young charges and then returned them to the wild. In the evening, we visited the Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. memorials which were especially impressive all lit up against the night sky. The magnificent and stately Smithsonian Castle building is pictured in the photogragh above.

My favorite showcase in the American History Museum displayed Jim Henson's original muppet puppets. What a special genius Mr. Henson was! His beloved characters continue to charm young and old alike.

The architecture of the older buildings in Washington, DC is stunning. As Kevin and I took a break inbetween touring and snacked on a bag of popcorn, fresh from the red wagon vendor in front of the Natural History Museum, I took the above photo of the museum's beautiful, finely detailed columns from our seat on the museum steps.

I've always loved the diorama taxidermy displays of wildlife within the Natural History Museum. Even though I enjoy seeing the live deer in our woods most of all, I thought this particular display was so pretty. We also especially enjoyed the Rock and Mineral Hall. The collections and individual specimens are amazing. Much has changed since I worked for the Smithsonian Museum Shops in the early 1980s. All of the shops and eateries within the museums have been updated and most of the exhibits modernized.

Our final evening was spent in Chinatown, where we ate a scrumptious dinner at Tony's Mongolian Restaurant. Kevin chose crispy beef and I chose shrimp lo mein. We were so hungry by the time we sat down to eat. We amazed our waiter, and ourselves!, by how much of the generous portions we were able to consume. Our waiter was literally beaming :) The gateway arch heralding the beginning of the the Chinatown district was a sight to behold ~ so ornate and richly colored ... the gold set aglow by the rays of the setting sun.

Our two day stay in DC went by so fast and left us yearning to return to see and do more ... the best way to feel, as you know your time was well spent and deeply enjoyed. We are so fortunate to live close enough to visit this city with so much to offer and of so much importance to our country. We look forward to coming back and taking in more of our nation's capital!

Early Signs of Autumn's Arrival

Officially, fall arrived on September 23, the autumnal equinox. In this part of the country, that time is more of a whisper than a major word of seasonal change. Generally, the temps are still nearly summertime warm and the leaves are still mostly vibrant green. Subtle changes begin to happen ever so slowly in the days to follow.



Today, I came across one of nature's harbingers of change, foreshadowing for us that colder weather is soon to come...this on-the-go woolly bear caterpillar.

The leaves on the dogwood tree in front of our cabin are also displaying signs indicating more change to come. Red blotches rim some of the leaves, and, as you can see also in the photograph above, one leaf on this branch morphed to yellow.

Fall is such an exciting season with it's changes and it's final expression of colors before the monotone shades of winter set in and take hold. This season of beauty provides a warmth to tide us over until the rebirth of greenery and new life returns to begin the seasonal cycle anew in springtime.

Enjoy the season!!!