Holy crap, it’s beautiful outside.
Portland is so very beautiful right now. Friday I found myself wandering around our neighborhood, taking photos of trees. The neighbors probably thought I was nuts, but maybe they are getting used to it. I often walk outside our own house to marvel at the beauty of our dogwood tree and how it’s reacting to the current weather conditions. They probably think I’m talking to our tree, maybe sometimes I am.
As I walked the neighborhood, I plucked leaves, wandered up and down streets, took photos, then took more photos and plucked more leaves.
I’ve been making counterfeits from my plucked leaves. Leaves out of watercolor paper, dyed and glued to drawings. Our latest assignment in my painting class is to do some work that has something to do with place. That’s been an easy one for me. San Francisco doesn’t have much of a fall, in fact, it doesn’t really have seasons at all. I am absolutely loving it here. I love how quickly the temperature has changed. I love watching our garden wilt, and the excitement of wondering how many more tomatoes we’ll be able to get before the plants just give in to the cold. I heard some places in the Portland area got down to the mid 20s last night. The changing colors are so brilliant and the sky is so blue and crisp. The last couple of weeks have been visually stimulating to say the least, and very inspiring.
We are loving the electric blanket Tom got me for my birthday. I think it’s going to be the best purchase we have ever made. We’re considering putting on the giant storm windows to try and keep some of the cold out. Our bedroom is about the coldest room in the house and despite how much I loath the idea of dragging out that giant, spider web covered window, I think it’ll make a huge difference in comfort level. I’m so happy I need to worry about such things.
Sunday we walked around the sellwood neighborhood and we found a bunch of chestnuts laying all over the ground. We couldn’t figure out if they had spilled out of a bag or if they were coming from a tree. You couldn’t see them in the tree and I realized I have no idea what a chestnut tree looks like. Within a minute or two, we started hearing them drop, making loud cracking sounds on the sidewalk. I wanted my own chestnut tree. They seem almost a bit dangerous, with these large, hard as a rock nuts falling willy nilly on the ground. I picked a few up to take home. I wonder, if we did have a tree in our yard, if we’d be able to find ways of using all the nuts, or it we’d be so tired of chestnuts after the first year that we’d curse them for the rest of our lives for constantly falling on our heads when we’re just trying to enjoy a cup of coffee in the garden. I’d love to find out.
We’ve been in Portland 7 months now, and we are loving it.