Autumn Leaves!

Last year we completely missed the second coolest thing about our backyard: the leaves on our huge Box Elder tree changing color and falling. When Charlie had his accident they had only just begun yellowing and by the time we came home time and weather and rendered the tree barren. Also, our house is going on the market this winter, so we are experiencing our last autumn here. This tree is undoubtedly one of my favorite things about our home. There was something extra nostalgic about watching the season happen this year in our little corner of the world.

We actually had two or three separate leaf raking/jumping parties, plus cleaned up the back porch (especially sandbox) for winter, and Mark fixed the sprinkler valves. He had trouble getting them to blow out and ended up discovering some sea shells blocking on of the valves!

Though size has it's advantages when it comes to playing in the leaves, clearly Isaac enjoyed himself. And so did I, watching them.

McCall Snapshots

A dozen years, or really just eight months ago, I wrote here of begrudgingly going up to McCall but with hope for heading there again in the summer. Continuing the trend of this mostly fabulous year, we did make it up to the condo before Labor Day. Our week included warm sunshine on the beach, playing in the water, hiking into the woods to make our own secluded smores firepit, riding ATVs (Mark spent the better part of one day fixing the older one), Ice Cream Alley, and even having breakfast at The Pancake House one morning -- something I cannot recall ever doing with our kids, and so not in the past ten years.

Pancake House by Tom Stewart Photography

Another surge of awesomeness in my August was finally getting a smartphone, an iPhone 4S to be exact (picked because it's connector would attach to all my iPod compatible devices). I mention that because I chose to use the phone's camera in place of any of my fancier models for sheer portability and perspective (I did it again on my quick trip to Seattle), and to explain the noticeable difference in quality of photos.

On our drive home we passed a roadside fire that was clearly just beginning to take off into a much bigger disaster. Shortly after rounding the bend past the worst of it, our truck broke down. We were so grateful that it was shortly before closing time at the NAPA in Council, a few miles behind us on the other side of the fire, because Mark convinced a couple employees to bring a new battery to us on their way home from work. Our boys made the best of this hot, boring wait. We got to watch firefighters, including a helicopter, put out the fire in the distance.

The truck problem turned out to be electrical beyond just the battery and it was another stroke of luck that it was temporarily fixable - enough for us to drive home safely and be put more completely to rights the next day.