We had a good time at Art Day today - above is Andy with her quilt, Gretchen hiding, but wearing the hat she just made, and Audrey stuffing little fabric birds for a gift.

Carol is showing Jamie how to apply the binding of her first art quilt. She's been having a good time learning this new art form.

And, I forgot to say that I finally got all the blog posts caught up for the time we were gone in Ohio. You can click on this link which will show all the posts for the month, and then you can scroll back in time to see all the vacation days. Have fun!

Well, I guess it's surprising that I've been taking a photo a day for eleven months and not one is a self-portrait! So, here goes - there I am, modeling my new birthday gift - a (finally long enough!) flannel nightie! It's so comfy that I don't want to take it off! Joining me in the bedroom is Buzz, and behind us on the bed, Amy, both of whom feel that they have to help me dress every morning.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday, and David made a delectible prime rib dinner for me, and friends and family. Above is a card that Russ gave me, showing Buzz-dog relaxing on the deck while we're fishing. It makes you want to climb right into that chair!

Here's the group - Russ is out of sight, then me, Andrew, Cory, Marjorie, Barb hiding behind Janice. It was a really nice evening - everyone enjoyed themselves.

Well, here is the result of the last four days of crabbing season! Four more pounds of cleaned crab meat in the freezer. We have the best recipe for crab cakes, and are already looking forward to having some of those. David freezes the meat in salt water, which keeps it from drying out - you can hardly tell the difference from the fresh meat. The texture is a little chewier than fresh, but that doesn't matter in the crab cakes. It is a lot of work, but well worth it!

The state opened a late crabbing season, just four days. Today was the last day, and David brought home 9 crabs. He had to pull out the pots for two other friends - one was sick, and the other put a hole in his boat. So that was 16 pots - he had quite a day!

These are the Dungeness Crabs - they have to be over 7" wide at the shell.
He also got one stone crab - not much meat on it's legs, except for the claws. The tiles are 6" and 12", to show some scale.

Our run of bright sunny days has come to an end, and it was cloudy most of the day. I just happened to catch the late afternoon sun peeking through the clouds and shining on the sailboats anchored in Holmes Harbor. The sun was so low that only the boats were illuminated, and a spot on the far shoreline - it was very cool. At left I played around in Photoshop a little to emphasize the brightness.

Frog's eye view of the frozen pond. It's in the shade, and although it was sunny and 40's today, it didn't get a chance to thaw out. Beautiful weather for late November.

I cut some greens, and used some to make a wreath. OK, so it needs a little trimming, but it was getting dark, so I'll fix it up tomorrow. I never got around to making a new wreath last year, so I'm way ahead of the game as far as decorating goes this year!

It was nice enough that Cory decided to wash his car. I loved the way the hose spray showed in the sunlight.

Thanksgiving Day! I'm sure every blogger in the US will be reflecting on being thankful, and I am among them. We are so lucky to be living in this country! And, I know I don't think about my privileges nearly often enough. I am so grateful for my family and friends - without you, my life would not be the same.

So although we had only a small group to gather around and feed on the bounty, we were all glad to be there! David, Greg, Cory, Barb and I worked hard on the 18 pound turkey - you'll be proud of us! Of course, more were supposed to be there, but plans change unexpectedly..... The bonus was when Cody's friends Shannon and Kim dropped by and gave us a beautiful pumpkin cheesecake with chai tea frosting that they had made! It was an unexpected and generous gift - and amazingly yummy!!! Maybe a new tradition? Shannon created a lovely frosting - of course, I forgot to get a photo of it before we cut, but, we just couldn't wait.

Thank you!

What a difference in a day! Same forsythia bush, same time of day - but much colder overnight! Our first heavy frost, already starting to melt in the rising sun, but the leaves were falling as I watched, clattering their way down among the branches to nestle in the frozen grass.

The escalonia bush also had some pretty frost on it's leaves, and on the few pink blossoms brave enough to be out.

The sun's circle is coming around - I'm shooting sunrise photos from the same spots as in January. This is the Forsythia bush, which was blooming just a little then, and covered with heavy frost, and now is colorful with fall leaves. Cold and damp, with lots of dewdrops left from the overnight rain.

Once again, Amy provides a reluctant model for me. You can just hear her thinking, "Oh, for Pete's sake, quit with the flash already!" She barely lifted her head to see what I was doing! It's very cold today, so she's all curled up in her blanket, not wanting to be disturbed.

I used up the last few strips of silk fusion to make this tiny pouch. Not entirely pleased with it, but still thinking about things I could do with it. This is very close up - it's only about 1 1/2 inches tall. It's been good to be making something - I've been so busy and haven't been taking the time to use my hands! And, it's time to finish up gifts for the season, so I should be pretty busy with that!

Tonight is the first quarter of the moon - it has been in the sky more during daylight hours than night this month, so we see it in the afternoon, especially now that it's getting dark at 5:00!!! It was very rainy today, then partial clearing with the clouds racing across the sky. Later, we had a few heavy gusts of wind which shook the house. It's definitely November.

Spent the day indoors, but finally went out to run errands, and visited the local holiday arts and crafts show at Freeland Hall. Some beautiful things, and I actually bought some gifts. Can't divulge what, tho! Also preparing for Thanksgiving dinner next week - things really start to speed up now, and it will be busy, busy, busy!

I finally received my Water Photo Art Journal, and it is a treasure! It is the first of an "Elements" series; next is Earth, then Fire and Air. I love the concept, and this book is beautiful! This is the cover.

Here are a couple of the pages - one of my photos is on the right. We make these books in a Yahoo group, and members sign up for whichever book they want to participate in. When Catherine has a list and we know how many have signed up, we each make that many copies of our photo, and send them to her. She makes covers and puts the books together, and sends us back our finished copy.
And some more of the pages.
This is the back - Catherine designed the cover so it can be tied shut, and each of the others in the series will be the same. She also has a box in mind, where all four books can be stored together.

David got a new (to us) boat today! It will be a winter project, but seems to be in pretty good shape overall. Don't know yet about the engine, tho. But it has a full cabin, and something that we have always wanted to do is go cruise the San Juan Islands and camp on a boat, so this will be just the thing for that!

I haven't been to Thursday art day for a month!! It was nice to be back and see everyone again. Gretchen made some collage cards, above, while Janet, Carol and Audrey worked on quilts. I started another silk fusion basket.

I had to pick up a book at the library, and stopped to see the display case. Jamie put together a memorial for her mother Margaret, filling the case with her artwork. It is a joyous and exuberant display of a remarkable woman!

Tonight was our Basket Guild's annual holiday pot luck and gift exchange. While I didn't get around to taking any photos there, I did have a great time while sitting in the ferry line in the rain, taking long exposures of the lights and raindrops.

For this one I was focused on the windshield, so the raindrops are clear.

Here, I balanced the camera on the steering wheel, and rolled it back and forth for a 10-second exposure. Kind of fun!

This is my prettiest tree in the fall - a Scouler's Willow. They grow quickly, with multiple trunks in a circle, then, when they get large, they tend to just fall apart. So we don't know how much longer this one will stand, but it does get pretty yellow leaves in the fall. This year it isn't as bright as in the past.

You haven't seen Buzz for a while! His tennis ball was so full of water that it sprayed out while it was bouncing with Buzz hot in pursuit!

Wow - what a weather day! The wind it blew, the rain it flew, hail dropped, too! Then, as the sun was setting, it cleared up somewhat. There were still piles of roiling black clouds down low, but up higher, the sun lit the clouds from below. Above is looking southwest, and below is looking straight up. Kinda scary!

I had an idea to make a basket with some of the silk fusion I had made and cut into strips. I twined copper wire with beads strung on one strand, and created an open area where you can see the beauty of the silk paper. It looks a little confusing in the photo, but much better in real life! It's quite small - about 2 inches tall. But I really like the contrast of the wire against the silk paper.

And the cat kept trying to help when I was photographing it, so I shot a pic of her ear when she moved her head too fast. Came out kind of neat!

Saturday, November 10, 2007
Cory all dressed up and ready to go out. He just went shopping and bought himself some nice clothes. He hasn't done that for a long time, so it's nice to see him looking so good!

A last red huckleberry hanging on the bush. It was a berry good season this year.

Our friend Terry, AKA Santa Claus, turned 67 today, so we had a little dinner and cake! His wife Judy makes the best spice cake!

He is the #1 Old Fart, as you can tell from his cake. Mark is helping with his image.
I had to visit a job site, but boy, did they have a nice view. Today was blustery, spitting rain here and there, and very blowy. But the Olympic Mtns. peaked out for a while.

We came back from Ohio, and the leaves here are just about done, too. This birch is along our driveway, and I liked the way the sparse leaves glowed against the dark woods.

This birch is also on the driveway, right at the curve. It has quite a lean, but seems stable. It did lose the top last winter, but is still pretty full. I played around with the photo, blurring the edges.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Well, we had a great time during our visit to Ohio, but now it's time to go. It started to snow a little, and the leaves are really falling fast. These are some of the last maples to turn - gorgeous!

And we're off! Lunchtime at the Atlanta airport, where it's all bright and sunny.

The window shades made interesting patterns, especially with the sun behind. Atlanta is a very busy airport, and we got to watch loads of planes taking off.