Happy Halloween!

Autumn Fairy & the Headless Horseman, ready for trick or treating!

 

 

 

We met up with the Olivers in Winslow.

 

I love this place! 

Spooky music fills the air, costumed children everywhere.  

Ben met up with a fellow Headless Horseman...

And Jillian tried to get a picture with another fairy, but the mini-fairy wasn't too happy about it!

 

Tif's always happy to have her picture taken, though, especially when she's holding a cute little puppy!

 

Jillian's friend Calyn's family owns Café Nola, so they got to hand out candy together for a while.

Right before we were done, a Thriller "flash mob" broke out on Winslow Way.  It was hard to get close enough to see well with all the people there, but it was fun to hear the music and see how many people packed in!

 

After Winslow, we headed to Ben's friend Henry's neighborhood.  This was our third year trick-or-treating with Henry and Aidan's families and has become a much anticipated tradition. 

As is counting the loot afterwards! 

 

 

 

Tradition!

We have been carving pumpkins with the Kollodge family for at least ten years!  That's as far back as my digital photos go, and I think that's when they first moved to Bainbridge. 

 

 

Angelina gets detailed!

 

Andre explaining to Chantal what he wants his to look like.

 

Nate had an idea right away this year!

 

Jillian still hates gutting the pumpkin.

 

Ben and Adrian hard at work...not sure what Kylie's doing in the background...

 

 

 

 

Ten years ago:

Angelina and Andre weren't even born yet, and I'm not sure why Adrian isn't in the picture.

This year:

Aubrey is away at college, and Nate and Kylie didn't stick around for the picture.

Autumn Beauty

We have had an unusually beautiful autumn this year. All the trees are gorgeously arrayed in red, yellow and orange.  It seems everything is brighter than usual, maybe because we've had less rain and more sun...and more fog, too.  I'm not sure if that plays into it, but I've been enjoying it whatever the reason.  I've been taking pictures on my phone almost everywhere I go, trying not to cause accidents when I see a particularly gorgeous tree while stopped at a stop light!

Ben and I saw this beauty as we walked to the bus stop one morning:

I captured these oak trees on my way to the dumpster at one of my cleaning jobs:

Close up of the oak leaves:

The wall at Rotary Park across the highway from my house:

Views from my run along Lemolo Shore Drive:

My front yard:

A stunning tree at the corner of Hwy 305 and Winslow Way, in front of the police department:

A beautiful fall day at Battlepoint Park:

The stairs behind the church leading up to Ordway field:

Apple Picking & Pressing

Our Ward had an apple pressing party a few weeks ago.  We wanted to be able to contribute to the apple supply, so we asked around about trees that we could harvest from.  A friend told us about a King apple tree near them that we could pick from, so Brad, Ben and I went to check it out.  It was amazing!

The branches were so thick and well groomed.  All the apples grew on the outside of the tree. Ben asked, "Can we get a tree like this?"  I wish, Ben!  It was probably at least 50 years old.

Check out them apples!

The tree was covered, and so was the ground.  When we first drove up, there were three deer grazing on the fallen apples.

In about 20 minutes, we picked these three big boxes full!

The next day, we went over to the Bountiful Farm to make cider.  

Washing the apples.

We added ours to this huge wagon load! The Hooyers went over to Quincy, WA to an apple orchard and brought back almost a full load of Honeycrisps.  Other people brought different varieties to add to the mix.  

Kylie, Jillian and Russ chopping the apples and cutting out any bruises.

Proof that Nate was there, too! 

Carlyn had the job of pouring the cider into the containers people brought.

A closer look at the press, with the delicious cider pouring out!

Brad and Bruce preparing apples for the press.

This was maybe half of what we ended up with, before people started taking their containers home.  I wanted to get a picture of at least some of it! We ended up taking home five gallons, and it is delicious!  We put four gallons in the freezer since you have to drink it, freeze it, or can it within a few days or it will ferment.

The mashed up apples...or at least some of them!  This was only one wheelbarrow load of many that went to the sheep, cows and chickens.  I hope they didn't get sick from it!