Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

          May your life be blessed with much happiness in the New Year!

Note:

I am taking a few days off or maybe more.  No time for blogging or visiting other people some days. . . and only one friend visits me regularly without me visiting her first so tired of playing games.  If you visited my blog in the past without me coming there first, thank you.  Maybe I will come back and blog again. . . maybe I won't.  I haven't decided.  Thanks for your comments.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas celebration and a bright New Year filled with blessings.

Paulie

Look up . . .

Sometimes you see the strangest things in the ladies restroom at restaurants. . . this one was near the Columbia River.

Before the rain came back . . .

We had blue skies and a colorful autumn!

Rainy days again . . .

 

Not many photo ops with all this rain. . . 

Artistic mailboxes. . .and more

Saw these two unique mailboxes in Port Orchard when I was on a hike in the country.

Mysterious bird. . .

Saw this bird (anyone know what it is) on the sidewalk when I was taking a hike last Friday  near the Columbia River.  It didn't move and if I had so desired, I bet I could have  touched it.  It's webbed feet made me think it was a duck but I have never seen a duck look like this one. . .I hope it wasn't hurt and that's the reason it didn't move.  I find the markings on its tail very distinctive.  Perhapw that will help identify it?  Let me know if you have any clues.  Thanks!

Not only snow but mushrooms in Port Orchard. . .

 

I saw these along side the road before the snows came in Port Orchard earlier this month. I had seen soem on a friend's blog and mentioned that I hadn't run across any.  I spoke too soon!  I liked that they seemed to be different kinds. . . in shape anyway. . .

Ice and fallen trees came with the snow. . .

This is the icy pond near the Walmart store where I braved the slippery roads and went to buy food we didn't have to cook.

If you CLICK on to enlarge this one, you will see the ice better.  Sand trucks had helped to melt some of the snow but if froze again with temperatures in the teens.

This was only one large branch I saw along the road.  Reports of many trees falling and crashing into house roofs was horrible.  I am glad we were safe and only had to complain about being cold.

Sammi, my son's dog in the snow

This is Sammi's dog house that he outgrew. . .the depth of the snowfall shows here on the roof.  The oldest grandson swept the balcony patio before I could take a photo there.  This is the second day of snow, the day we lost our electricity before I cleared the driveway.

This is Sammi,  enjoying the snow  and some of his footprints.

Winter arrived a little early for this part of the country. . .

 

 

My son and his family live out in the country.  All these photos are taken from their yard last Monday because there are no sidewalks and the roads had ice on them under the snow, I couldn't walk around and take photos elsewhere.  They have a long driveway tho and a hilly yard. I will have some photos  the next two days of our snow.  It snowed a little on three different days:  Sunday, Monday and Thursday.  It was pretty coming down but too light to roll into a snowman which youngest grandson tried to make and I could not do it either.  I enjoyed shoveling their long driveway tho. . . Monday night and Tuesday, we had a 22 hour power outage.  No fun being in the dark with just candles or sleeping in front of the fireplace with all the grandkids to try to get some warmth but we all survived.  Glad to be home again now.

Sorry . . .

We had a power outage for 22 hours and then the computers didn't work for getting online for two days.  I am back home in Vancouver now and will start blogging again Saturday.  We had three snowfalls in Port Orchard which accumulated about three inches of snow but it was dry snow and partially melted or blew away in the storms we had. Not good for building snowmen. . . sigh   Lots of downed trees and many people were without electricity even when ours was restored.  Anyway, I survived and am back home and you will see me blogging again soon.

Yes, it really is the white stuff!!!!!!!!

This is the  way it looked when it snowed on Sunday afternoon. . . just a dusting to remind us winter is coming!


Having problems with uploading photos so come back later -- maybe even tomorrow to see more.  Meanwhile, I'll be out there playing in the snow.

More later. . .

It snowed here a little yesterday and then, this morning, it snowed more and actually stayed on the ground.  More predicted for today so we will see.  Maybe some photos for you later.

Will it or won't it?

The weatherman was predicting SNOW for us for today. . . will we really get some of the real stuff or just keep being so cold?  The high yesterday was 33.  I put on my winter coat I brought and went for a walk anyway. . . I hope this isn't the only kind of snow I will be seeing today.  hope hope

Busy neighbors. . .

Too busy eating to even pose for the camera. . .They live across the street where I go to pick up the mail for my son and family.

Autumn is almost over. . .

One large lonesome leaf remains. . .

It's Fall in Port Orchard too!

8

All these big leaves in son's yard. . . and MORE!  It wasn't raining  so I took a few minutes to explore outside here. . .

"You didn't bring me a treat??????????"

This is Sammy, my son's dog.  He followed me around on Sunday like a lost soul. . . I think he misses Shaun who is in Honduras with the Navy until May.

Autumn lingers in such beautiful ways. . .

It's fun to be out with my camera again, hunting for unique subjects to photograph.  I liked the leaves that were various colors on this tree. . . and the pods in the one above.

Raspberries anyone?

 

I took this photo Friday on a walk.  Can you believe it that raspberries are still on the vine in November?  I was sooooooooo tempeted to eat them. . . but I didn't.

Walking over to this building on Sunday. . .

and heading down the track to see my grandchildren for awhile while their Mom goes to Guatemala visiting her husband (my son) on Navy duty.

Just blew in . . .

Caught this "oddity" walking to the train station Friday. . . Not often you see a yellow leaf on a tree of red leaves in Fall.

Blue skies for Veterans Day Yesterday. . .

 

I thought these puffy clouds looked neat. . . 

 

so I took a few photos to remember them, along with the blue skies that we haven't seen for a long time.

 

These birds were flying around, circling in the air but landed before I could get my camera focused.

 

This one is being unsociable. roosting on its own light pole.