Fall is Here!

Hello my friends.  Fall has arrived.  We went from very warm temperatures to quite chilly weather over night.  With 50+ mph winds on Tuesday, many of the leaves have been blown off of trees.  The nip in the air makes it perfect for snuggling down at home with some blankets, hot tea and knitting though, so it's not all bad. :-)

Our camping plans fell through for the weekend after we got all packed up and drove to the State Park just outside of Spokane.  Would you believe that every spot except one was taken and the one left was not one we wanted at all.  We ended up going back home, unpacking the trailer and then Dennis winterized it for the year.  We didn't get to use it at all this year.  After getting everything stored away I called my sweet friend Alicia.  She worked with me many years ago and Dennis officiated at her and Jeremy's wedding several years ago.  Their little family had planned to stop by our campsite to visit on their way home after visiting a nearby orchard and pumpkin patch.  I invited ourselves along on their adventures instead!  Here's Dennis toting the boys pumpkins and Jeremy carrying a box of apples we picked in the orchard.

Kale and Hayden don't have any grandparents close by and even though they live almost 2 hours from us, they have adopted us as stand in grandparents.

I love Alicia.  She is such a sweetheart and I love that they like to spend time with us.  We may be with them for Thanksgiving this year too.  After the pumpkin patch, they came home with us and we ate the food we had planned to use on the camping trip so it all worked out.  I had pre-cooked a lot of things so it was just a matter of warming everything up.

Since the camping trip didn't work out, we decided to take an impromptu drive to Canada for lunch on Monday.  We were hoping to see some fall color and we weren't disappointed.  First we drove to Deer Park, WA and had breakfast and then continued on our way.  This ranch looks straight out of the old west doesn't it?

Lots of color everywhere we looked.

We made it into Canada after a long stop at the border.  Either the guards were bored or we looked suspicious, because they had us exit the car and they did a full search of the car.  Since the border crossing took so long, we only had time for a quick lunch in Trail, BC before heading back towards home.  We didn't want to be driving after dark when our goal was to see autumn leaves!  I always have difficulty when the signs are in km instead of miles.  I'm not good at the math conversion.

In Rossland, BC we found a street named for us.  :-)

And this interesting horse on the corner.

On another corner was this girl riding a pig!  Rossland is a really cute little touristy town high in altitude.

We crossed back into the States with no issues at the border whatsoever and stopped in Kettle Falls,  WA at an antique store that I like.  A few of these things are in my own kitchen and I've never considered them antiques!  What does that say about my age? Ha!

This precious pile of quilts and hand crocheted doilies and table toppers was beautiful.  Since we're trying to downsize, I didn't buy a thing, but the prices were unbelievably inexpensive.  A hand crocheted table topper about 28 inches in diameter was only $10.  That is just so sad to me.  So much work by someone and then sold so cheaply.

I've been knitting on a pair of men's socks since Monday.  They are for Jeremy and he wears size 11.5 shoes!  These socks are seriously huge!  As you can see, I ran out of yarn before I finished the toe on the first sock and knew I had to go by more yarn.  I had thought one 50g skein of Patons Kroy per sock would do it and that is turning out to be not nearly enough.

Here it looks like the pair is almost done, but don't be fooled.  I messed up on the top one and did the toe and kitchenered it closed before I measured. Two inches too short!  Oh no!  Rookie mistake.  (Did I mention above that I'm not good at math?)  They fit Dennis but not Jeremy, so off I went to buy MORE yarn and now I have two more socks to make.  I blame it on 1:00 a.m. knitting and tired eyes.  I read the measuring tape completely wrong somehow.  Oh well.  They will both get a new pair of socks and they can match each other. Ha! 

Our princess has been sick this week.  She even had to miss pre-school yesterday.  She was the snack helper and that's a big deal so she was disappointed.  Mandy tells me that today her fever is gone today and she seems somewhat better.  The "bugs" seem to be starting early this year. 

Dennis has one last vacation day tomorrow so we're planning to meet with our financial advisor in Coeur d'Alene, ID in the morning to sign some papers.  We're hoping the weather cooperates and we can play tourist and take a walk around the resort and the boardwalk on Lake Couer d'Alene.  We haven't been there all summer except for just driving through town.  For those of you who don't know, it's a town that the "rich and famous" like to play in.  Lots of Hollywood types have homes in or near Coeur d'Alene.  It really is a beautiful place.  If it rains as forecast we'll have to come up with a plan B.  I refuse to complain about rain after the dry summer we had. :-)

I want to get these socks off the needles so I can start on a test knit I've been asked to do for my dear friend Taci in Portland.  She wants to publish it soon so I have GOT to get busy.  But I promised Jeremy these socks by next weekend when we drive to Moses Lake, WA to watch Hayden's basketball game.  My hands are hurting from these little needles and the wool.  I think I need a break from socks for awhile.  I've been making a lot of them lately.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that I delivered 89 pairs of mittens to the school yesterday.  I forgot to take a picture though.  It was down from the 100+ pair last year, but they were still very happy to get them.  I think with the cold weather we're having lately, they will be needed very soon.  Everything was covered in frost the past few mornings.

I hope you all have a lovely week and are enjoying the change of seasons.

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17

Blessings always my friends,
Betsy