A little bit of magic...

The men left early this morning for an appointment and I slept a little longer before getting up, letting the dogs outside for a pee, and bringing my coffee back to bed. I felt pretty good. Then about 1/2 hour later, I felt pretty bad. Things change not daily but hourly, so I'm learning to go with the flow. A little later on I was feeling somewhere in between good and bad, but decided I wanted to go out in the forest. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day and I've missed the forest so, so, much.

So today was the day.

I had planned to go for a walk, but walking was hard because of the pain, sitting was easier, so I decided to attempt riding in the mule for a longer period of time. Even with the bumps... Kevin drove very slowly to avoid them best he could. 

We started down our main trail which was lined with purple flowers... 

And loads of choke cherries still!

Then we got to one of our hay fields which branches off into other forest trails. That's our haying equiptment still out there, covered up. I felt OK riding and I was beyond happy to be outside, so I decided I wanted to get to the creek, if anything... so we pushed forward. 

When we got to the head of the trail that leads to our biggest creek, one of two porcupines who lives there was out in her (or possibly his) tree. I figured I wouldn't see them today with so many leaves on the trees still but I easily spotted her. I was happy to see a friend, a familiar, if not spiky, face. 

This guy was climbing on a piece of hay along the trail... being snow white, he kinda stuck out... 

A lot of the trees are changing color and a lot are not, it's quite a mixture still. I always think the light catches the trees in the most beautiful way this time of year. 

I'm still sitting on a pillow everywhere I go outta bed. This pillow here came from my hospital room in Georgia. It flew home with me, and it's been all over the farm and in the truck. It's covered with leaves and seeds (like me half the time) but it works like charm. I tried sitting without it, and I can, but only for about 3 minutes. It's been a good pillow, I have to say. 

I made it to the creek at just the right time, which is what I had hoped for. When it turns red in the fall, it's at it's most beautiful for a very short period of time before it all turns brown and black. 

This has always been one of my most favorite spots on the farm, and in the fall, she really takes your breath away. 

The buckthorn berries are out every where... 

It has been so beautiful out with clear blue skies every day... we've been lucky... 

I think we will still get some color before the leaves drop but it's been an unusual year, a lot of the trees are turning brown... 

But it's still a beautiful fall... and all of October is ahead of us...

This is one of my favorite spots to sit, relax... clear my head. I could spend an entire day there lost in my thoughts and the quiet. Except that it stinks. It stinks terribly usually in this spot like a wet dog... mixed with a skunk.

Why? Because a bear lives there.

So far we've only smelled him, strongly, and stepped in a whole lot of his poo. I have little doubt that he's seen us, but we have not yet seen him. 

Kevin had his big camera with him and was trying to remember how to use it. He hasn't used it since our last trip to Alaska...

All I can say is the forest is full of magic... always... but certain times of the year it feels like a fairytale forest brought to life... this is one of those times. 

We found this mushroom along one of the trails and to me, it looks like a cartoon mushroom... 

Like anytime I'd be seeing a bunch of Smurfs running out from underneath it... 

and we found these... I'm big on identifying wild mushrooms, both here and in Alaska, and these I have absolutely never noticed before in the forest here.... 

I've been looking them up since I got home, but so far I haven't found out what they are... 

The usual suspects are out too... although I didn't spot any puffballs today, there are plenty of fall mushrooms in the forest right now. 

Coming down one of our further forest trails we got a huge treat. Right in front of us, this guy flew out of the tree. I spotted him in flight and lucky for us, he landed just a couple of trees behind the one he left... 

This Barred Owl wanted to get as good of a look at us, as we did at him.

It was amazing. My first time in the forest in months... with all the leaves on the trees and being deep in the forest, the chances of us spotting him were slim. I had also just made a last minute decision to follow this trail in this direction instead of the opposite one. 

Most of the apple trees are still full of apples, although most of them are smaller than usual this year... 

But still delicious.



A lot of my favorite trees are still turning, most have just started...



When we got home I spent a little time on the deck because it was so warm outside. I started out today in a wool shawl and ended the afternoon in shorts.



Me and the boys enjoyed that warm sun beating down on us. Soon we'll be longing for it again...



But for now, we are enjoying this time magical time of year, this... transformation. One of many.

I'm in bed now and in very little pain, amazingly... except I can't stand up, but lying down I feel great. I was out for almost two hours! I swelled up like I'm ready to deliver a litter of Pugs, but my swelling is much better than before surgery, and like I said, my pain is totally manageable. I have a whole scarf to finish that I had planned to add to my gift pile, but I've fallen in love with it... so I'm going to work on that and when I finish it I'll decide if it goes in the gift pile or my personal collection.

Today was a magical day in more ways than one. And I'm grateful for every single of one of them.