Fall into Winter

I'm told that the winter weather has arrived early in the Treasure Valley.  It has been cold...mighty cold...so cold that though the house is heated, Sierra has decided her dog bed is just not warm or comfortable enough on the floor has has made a habit the last few nights of jumping up on the couch and sleeping there.  Don't be confused, though...I am not complaining.  I rather like taking long walks, bundled up, along the sunny sidewalks of my subdivision where the air temperature is a see-your-breath-make-your-nose-run-like-a-faucet 24 degrees Fahrenheit.  I do...I really, really do.

But as much as I am enjoying the dip in temps, I am disappointed that the hues and shades of fall are fading so quickly...giving way to the austerity of winter.  Here are a few pictures from around the neighborhood of the last vestiges of autumn:

Fall leaves on the left, winter's frost on the right.

Just last week this tree was full of leaves.

This tree thought it was winter already...
guess it didn't get the memo that winter doesn't begin until the third week in December.  

Still beautiful though losing its leaves.

Fall colors still abound on the main drive through Bridgetower Subdivision.

This picture kinda says it all...fall leaves making way for icy winter in a puddle near a patch of grass in the park.

Instead of gracefully blending into gray, I think autumn really is going to "fall" into winter!

Five Mile Cemetery

At the risk of being accused of having a peculiar penchant for the macabre, I have to share that one of the  coolest things about living on former farmland in a community that has the utmost respect for the dead is that we have, in our subdivision, our own piece of history...a cemetery housing the bodies of seven former souls from the 1800's.  Rather than desecrate the graves of these farmers, wives and children, by moving their final resting places to another burial ground, the builders decided to dedicate a plot of park land to memorialize these people who lived here way before we did and leave the graves as is.

I love this little cemetery and though I do not know the people who lie here or their full history, I have the privilege of visiting their graves and saying a prayer for their souls.  It reminds me that our journey here on earth is short and time, fleeting.  We must make the most of what we've got while we're here.

The grave sites of Ezekiel Lamb and his wife, Priscilla...originally of Vermont.
I wonder how and why they came to Idaho?

This is the tombstone for Nina McGinnis.  She was only 13 years old when she passed away.    A daughter just a bit younger than my oldest son, Nate...I can't imagine the pain of a young child passing.  

This site is the final resting place for George T. Nisbet and his brother Samuel.
 They share a tombstone (but I'm assuming not a tomb).  
This obelisk is interesting in that it is leaning quite a bit, as if a good stiff wind could knock it over. 

This is the last of the large tombstones with legible names on it and it belongs to Fred Heslop.  There are two other headstones next to Fred's which are really not much larger than stones and there is no carving on them.  I wonder if their families could't afford bigger pieces of marble and the hand chiseling of the names.  I am not really sure who the smaller "rocks" (not pictured) belong to.  

For more information on this tiny cemetery and the bodies that have taken their eternal rest on this patch of God's green earth, see:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2262697  and
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2262697

Real, honest to goodness, SNOW!!!!

First there was rain.  There was a dip in the temperatures.  Now there is snow...real snow.  Our first ever after moving to Idaho.  I'm doing my best not to be overly exuberant...well, maybe not so much. The locals think I'm barking mad, a downright lunatic for exhibiting such happiness that I'm moved to gleeful excitement over the white stuff gracefully gliding through the air.  The flakes, on their best behavior, are trying hard to stick but alas, the ground is still just a bit too warm.  But never mind the fact that everything else still has color...there is flakey bits of colorless frozen joy falling from the sky!  I am filled with bliss.

Sierra seems nonplussed by the snow, maybe even a little annoyed that it is resting on her back and whiskers.

Hip, hip, hooray!

Congratulations, SPOT SPUD winners!

Roseanne, Julie, Ginny and Cheryl,

Thanks for playing SPOT SPUD!

Your fabulous "Made in Idaho" prize package is on its way by priority mail!

Pumpkin heads

What's a family to do on a Saturday in late October?  Well, if it's the Sarrazollas and they live in Smurfville, naturally they go to the Fall Festival at the Farmstead and get lost in the corn maze.  And get grouchy.  And hungry.  And sick.  Fun times.

I did get a few shots of the happier moments after we first arrived, before we walked around in circles in the corn...

See, they're still smiling...that's right we haven't gone into the corn yet.

Pumpkin head.

Damien thought it was hilarious that Nate was the girl in the picture.

Farmer D

Pumpkin head #2

Pumpkin head #3.

My corniest son.

Yep, forced smiles.  The fun is starting to wear off.  I especially like the fact that
Nate chose this t-shirt to wear out in public.  

Corn around every corn-er.

Stamp #2 down, only 10 more to go...too bad we lost the game card after we made it out of the corn.  :-(

What was left of the pumpkin patch (it was two days before Halloween after all).

Ok, this was fun...a pumpkin-chunkin' cannon. 

And, the little sister to the pumpkin cannon...the corn cob gun.  It was a blast.

The house and colors of fall

Pardon my exuberence, but though we do not have much in the way of showy trees in our yard, the smattering of fall color we do get in our little patch of Idaho makes me giddy.  Quite giddy.  The rest of the neighborhood does make up for the evident lack.  Lucky for me, I get to enjoy all that flame-like hue without having to rake the mounds of dead leaves left behind when the wind whips through the valley.  Actually, strike that.  My boys are lucky...they do not have much to rake.  

I just LOVE how the trees, red-hot and deep burgundy, play off the muted pine green house.

Our little backyard corner of fall paradise.

Our First Smurfville Halloween

Last night was the first of what we hope to be many Halloween nights in Meridian, Idaho.  Here are a few pictures of the festivities...

Everything looks better with glow-in-the-dark paint and a few black lights.

Sierra wanted to go with us so we decided to make a quick ladybug costume with some black tape, a few pipe cleaners, ribbon and her red winter jacket (I know, I said winter jacket, but this is a dog used to SoCal winters...we thought a jacket would be appreciated by her).

Ready to go trick-or-treating!

Added spooky "follow you" eyes to the car...kinda looks like something out of a Pixar film.

The next photos don't do the atmosphere justice...as usual, we had music going on in the background (such Halloween party classics like "Monster Mash" and "Thriller" for example).  Luckily, unlike the nasty-grams we received over the barking dog, we did not get any complaints about the decibels from our PA system last night.

Slightly overexposed, the colorful dancing lights in the upstairs bedrooms are completely washed out in this pic.

Pumpkins and scarecrows greet the neighborhood ghouls and goblins.

Happy Halloween!

For the record, we had 89 kids come to the door (a far cry from the 402 that came to our house in Carlsbad).  Most of the mini-monsters, and elephants, and princesses were under the age of eight which has me anticipating many more glee-filled Halloween nights in the cul-du-sac.  Hooray for children!