All to myself

No wind among the aspens

I stopped my car to enjoy the sight of leaves fluttering down.

Beckley River Road

On FS6530 off the Beckler River Road

An autumn day that's hard to top, with blue sky after morning mist, and the ground carpeted with big leaf maples.

I’ll get you, my pretties

In my neighborhood for Halloween.

Seen from Snohomish

A spectacular fall day for a 19 mile bike loop.

Seen on my Saturday morning bike ride

Now that "the big wet" is upon us, it'd be a crime not to take the bike out between October storms. On one of my preferred routes, in a godlike sunny morning, I've been noticing progress on this DADU (detached accessory dwelling unit) aka granny flat, for a while. This one is actually 2 units, on a major arterial road, abutting a light industrial area, but given the constraints,
I think it works. I fantasize about building a "tiny" in my backyard as a crash pad for me when I am retired and traveling 50% -90% of the year. Like V. Woolf wrote, women need a place of their own. But the logistics and cost of doing one of these properly in the gung ho supercharged Seattle real estate environment of 2017, well, I haven't broken ground (yet).

Barber of Seville at Seattle Opera on a stormy fall Friday night

The current show in town shows its sunny Australian pedigree, with flamboyant Queensland colors and the sugary sweetness of a Weiss ice cream bar. And, almost 40 years on, I can still sing this:
"Figaro? Sono qua! Figaro? Sono la!"
I'm so overdue for a visit.

It's all about knowing where to look

My favorite Silver fir forest

Today's turnaround point

Repaired!

This is a pleasant surprise on the Necklace Valley trail.

One born every minute...

Honestly, this is solution in search of a problem. (Reported in today's New York Times.)

Volcanic pinnacle in the canyon

Poison ivy never looked so pretty

More Umtanum

Nothing tops Mother Nature in the fall. I'm

Umtanum Canyon

Superb autumn colors on my hike near Ellensburg today.

Last ones for 2017

My gorgeous roses that smell as sweet as they look. I bought the plant in 1998 with a Molbaks gift certificate from my old job. 19 years on, they still remind me of my old friends. The rose needs to go dormant for a while until next June it'll deliver, like clockwork. It's planted on a south facing wall, next to (but outside the burn range) of an outdoor grill. While i knew about the heat retention of the wall, the BBQ was a happy accident, like so many things in life.

Emeralds at PNW Ballet

Today is the final performance. Sparkling.