Home weekend

What an awful irony to write about "World Kindness Day" on Friday morning and then watch the tragic news from Paris the same evening.  Sometimes you just want to hide your head under the covers and stay in bed.

It's been snowing like crazy in the mountains, which is good weather news for the Northwest after the long drought. Down here in Seattle, it rained without cease on Saturday and then got dark about 3:30.

We had some plain old comfort food for dinner.  The price of beef makes it somewhat of a treat these days, doesn't it?  I roasted a nice big medium rare "joint" with mashed potatoes and gravy.   In England, they call that "hot meat and two veg."  A traditional Sunday lunch served with red wine, of course.

The Wine Drinker

Unknown British artist

On Sunday afternoon the storm front blew through and it was kind of shocking to suddenly see sun and blue sky.  People emerged from their houses again, and there was the sound of raking leaves all over the neighborhood.  The next storm is due in on Tuesday.



I did some yard work and then played outside in the bright light with my new iPhone 6s.  The camera is supposedly "better" than my old iPhone camera, which basically means I have a new learning curve.  I kept inadvertently taking movies and bursts of 20 pictures at once.  Oh well, digital film is cheap (so to speak.)

One of the most difficult photographs is the simple bird-at-the-feeder shot.  I don't why, because our feeders are swarming with gobbling birds all day long.  That is, until they see me sneaking around with my scary iPhone.  

Cropping the photo afterwards makes you look like a better photographer.

After I gave up on wildlife photography, I threw the ratty geraniums in the compost and made some fall arrangements just with greenery from the yard.

John gave me a nice compliment when he said it looked like Martha Stewart had dropped by.

My new camera also has a slick panorama feature.  Look at that big yard! Now I see how they take those appealing pictures on Realtor.com.  You drive out to look at an expansive home, but instead find a cottage on a postage stamp lot.

And the panorama shot makes our teeny, weeny kitchen look like a palace.
Gee!  I wish I lived there!

And so another fall weekend passes by. With much to be thankful for.