About ten days ago, my blog was hacked.  “They” shut it down and I hired a Mac guy to come over and sort me out.

It was an interesting ten days.  It was a bit freeing not to be able to post, but it was heartbreaking to think that all my previous posts — my personal journal for the past five years —  was no longer accessible to me.  It’s all good now, thanks to my new BFF, Salem Mac Guy Brant. Near or far, if you need an Apple Boy, Brant can do it through the magic of remote access.  Because I wanted some on-site hand-holding, he came over to my kitchen table late one night and did, indeed, sort me out.

And during the “radio silence interim,” fall arrived.  My favorite season.  September aways seem more like the New Year to me that January 1 does.

Had the best fall paddle ever up on Trillium Lake below the south face of Mount Hood last week.  Dave managed to batten down all three kayaks on his Suburban so we could all go in one car which is so much more fun — especially that Dave and I have now taken to wearing our hearing aids in the car so we can actually hear each other.! It was Roxanne’s first outing with us.  We are a great threesome.

We were having so much fun following the exciting Clackamas on the on the drive up that we missed our turn off.  It was definitely worth it though to see the Clackamas showing off after the first big rain.  It was incredibly windy there, so we weren’t sure what we would find on the lake.

Trillium was perfection, still, warm, and sunny.   

Back in our beautiful valley, the trees were doing amazing things.

No one in the neighborhood can remember what kind of tree this is. It’s not in any of my books.

There’s a prize if you can name it.

Earlier, I had gotten a couple of gnarly pumpkins for the porch from our favorite farm stand at Green’s Bridge.

Found some things around the house and garden to assemble this for the front hall.

Some of my neighbors go all out.

We just put a jack-o-lantern in the window and Roxie wore a seasonal bandanna to welcome the trick-or-treaters.  Lots of great costumes.  

And now it is November.

It amazes me that I can still pick a handful of ripe, red raspberries out back most days.