Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

Some days I look at all the wonder blogs

and ask myself...why do you even try 

to compare your work to theirs...

Really great friends are hard to come by...

My honey and I were busy shopping and doing odds and ends all days, so I thought I would share a portrait I made of some very lovely friends of ours.

Sorry it's not more exciting today...

(back row)Eilene and Connie

(front row) Savannah and Karen

The walsh and Abbot girls

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No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one autumnal face.

 A sweet young lady who grew up as a neighbor and her lovely daughter gave me inspiration for this portrait.

Thank you Sarah

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Eat, drink and be scary.

Halloween is one of the biggest times of the year in our neck of the woods. Everyone is involved.

neighbors come from far and wide to join in the fun.

We have pigs as big as bales of hay around here...

My Son showing is daughter 

the proper use of a giant

pumpkin sling shot

Wooo wooo !!!

Zach with sister in close pursuit...

Ahhh, a well deserved rest.

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Our road trip to Packwood, Wa.

We spent the day traveling to meet some dear friends we hadn't seen in years.

They live at a high elevation up the side of Mount Rainier.

Even though it was raining, it was a great trip.

stocked up firewood for the winter

Elk were everywhere...

in the field, the roads, the yards...

Most of the guys meet at the river each morning to cash in on the local limit of salmon and steelhead.

The changing of the season is just breath taking.

it's really hard to maintain a garden or a flower bed.

The deer and Elk  are not afraid to camp out in the front yard.

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Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night.

 A couple of our little ones enjoying

the wonders of the season.

our little pumpkin heads.

They're just a maze-ing kids

HAHAHA

There goes Mom's new sheets.

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Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

Some days are just too nasty to go out

so, I stayed in today to enjoy my

wife's company and share her 

lovely little house plants

I have no idea what they are...

The only ones I truly know are...

the ones that look like cactus.

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If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.

One of the many things I love about sports is the crowds that come to watch ...the lovely candids.

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Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggressions without going to jail for it.

One of my favorite seasons had begun...

FOOTBALL !!

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Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

I may be pushing it,

 but, 

I love this time of year

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Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night.

It's that time of the year again.

And my lovely Niece Joy is in full swing...

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Nature or Nurture...

Gotta love it...

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Flowers whisper "Beauty!" to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall.

Flowers for your enjoyment...

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Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

One thing I love to do when it rains

Bake

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Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.

I do so love this time of year. 

the air is so crisp and clean

with all the cool refreshing rain.

And that sharp little bit of frost in the air... 

Ahhhhh !!

What more can you ask for?

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Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.

Dinner with our Dear friends

and their two Grandsons...

my lovely little wife and Marilyn 

doing what they do best...

My wife and Jim as the evening progresses...

Ian and Ryan just chillin out before dinner

Boys just being boys...hahahaha

Oh, Ya....dinner.

and even better....

A pie to die for !!

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