#27 AUTUMN

A good friend of ours commented on my last post and mentioned Autumn as a favorite time of year for her. She loves to take in the magic of fall and the varying hues of colors in the trees.

As the season changes from Summer to Fall, the air begins to cool, dew on the grass starts to be a regular occurance, the mornings start to be chilly to where you can see your breath. When you leave your house you can feel the freshness in the air. The yard gets the last hurrah of deep green before it fades to a brown and goes dormant for the winter.

Finally it gets cold enough that the trees begin to feel the very early stages of the winter. The leaves begin to change color through multiple stages, from a lush green to a pale and then darker yellow, or to a vibrant orange and finally as they die and fall from the tree they turn to a rusty brown as they dry up and blow around the yard.

There are such a variety of colors as we drive down the residential streets of our town. It is so picturesque to see the large tree branches from both sides of the road reaching across and almost embracing in the center. The slivers of sunlight sneaking through the openings and glittering on the wonderful hues of the leaves as the wind rustles through them. Leaves that have past there time fall from the tree and flutter to the ground creating a multicolored blanket.

My grandkids even like Autumn. When we rake up the leaves in the yard they help me push them into the bags. Of course this only happens after playing in the piles of leaves multiple times and throwing them at each other or being buried and hiding in the pile. They also enjoy helping load the bags of leaves into the truck and then going for a drive with PaHa to the yard waste dump station, especially because there is usually a side trip to the corner store for a treat.

Autumn is definitely a special time of year, sometimes it goes by quickly and sometimes it takes multiple weeks to complete the cycle.


And as our good friend stated, "All that takes place during this wonderful season, lets us know that CHANGE CAN BE BEAUTIFUL".

Autumn makes me happy.

#26 THE SILVERDALE WATERFRONT

 My wife and I recently had the opportunity to spend 10 awesome days visiting a couple of my kids and their families in Bremerton, Washington where we used to live. We got to see our newest grandchild as well.

We had a lot of fun times playing with the boys and picking them up from school, going to watch their hockey games and picking up my son, who is hockey director at the Bremerton Ice Center, where he is growing the hockey program. What better place to have your dad work than the ice rink where you play hockey.

One of our favorite places to go while we are in the city is the Silverdale Waterfront park. When we lived here, we would often go to the waterfront and just sit and hang out, sometimes for hours.

This area is so serene and calming. There is something about the water and the waves that relaxes you as you take in the beautiful blue of the ocean. Even the smell of the saltwater air has a calming effect on my body and mind as I sit and ponder.

I love to see the boats out on the water. Always dreaming of what it would be like to own a small yacht or cabin cruiser that you could use to spend multiple days at a time out on the water with your family, enjoying the sun and the water. The constant rocking of the boat and the slapping of the waves against the hull have always given me a rush.

Seeing other people enjoying the water in their kayaks is cool also. This is something that my wife and I would like to try as well. We have done some investigation into pricing of solo and tandem kayaks, and lots of talking to people to figure out what might be the best option for us as beginners in the sport. We also figure it would be a great way to get the much needed exercise that is required that many of us fail to do.

The other cool thing to see is how many people come to the waterfront just to walk on the beach. We used to take the kids on Sunday afternoon and walk the beach collecting Sand Dollars and shells that my wife would use to create some fabulous shadow boxes (she is very creative that way). She has made several for her friends that they are very fond of.

My other favorite part of the waterfront is to see the difference in the dock height by the pier between low and high tide. It amazes me that the gravitational force of the moon has such an effect on the ocean waters. I hope everyone gets an opportunity to enjoy the water.

The Silverdale Waterfront makes me happy.

#25 ENJOYING THE HOLIDAY SEASON WITH FAMILY

It has been a while since I posted. I have been slacking in that area.

 I was thinking of the Christmas season. I was away for Christmas and New Years. It is a tough time to be away from the family. I had at many different times through my time at work that I spent thinking of my family. I cherish the moments with my wife, children and grandchildren. The day I came home from work, my son also showed up with his family to spend a week with us. It is always a fun time when my kids come home and the grandchildren get together and have fun. One morning we got up and had a huge breakfast, usually a Christmas tradition, even though it was almost 2 weeks past. We had our present exchange part way through the week, it was fun seeing the excitement in the eyes of the young ones. We played some family games and watched the kids as they played and imagined together. We had a couple days of cold and heavy snow followed by a few warmer days. Calorado, Suzie, and their kids had gone out to make smowmen since the wet snow made for great snowman making weather. When they were finished, I had paths all around my front yard and a snowman for every person in the house (9). It was wonderful to have family together for a while. There are many precious moments when the kids and grandchildren are near. these are the times that make life enjoyable.

Enjoying the holiday season with family makes me happy.