Fall Favorites

 First I have to introduce the newest member at whoville. Owning a car is a first for us, and we held off as long as we could, but ultimately it came down to wanting to have access to all those things we love to do that Beautiful British Columbia has to offer.
db no longer had the company car on the weekends since he changed jobs (oh, did I forget to mention that? -- Long story, but it's all good now). Anywho...we found a nice little used Matrix that will get us wherever we need to go.
I still transit to work, and db takes turns with a co-worker carpooling, so we're still trying to minimize our carbon footprint even though it may have gotten a whole lot bigger just by owning a vehicle. Anyway, I'm not going to beat myself up about it any longer.

Now onto fall.

 The leaves are starting to change colour, but I haven't really been focused so much on the changing colours. It's been all about enjoying fall treats such as db's Apple Pie and freshly baked bread.
When I came home from work after he'd made pie and bread, the whole place felt so inviting and warm.

My favorite fall flower: the toad lily. This is probably my favorite lily (but then again whatever lily happens to be in bloom at the moment is usually my favorite). Lilies in the fall! It doesn't get better. Just when I thought the garden was winding down and I would have to start thinking about bringing in pots and tidying up for winter, the toad lilies bloomed. I love their freckled petals and their tiny delicate presence.

And then there are the mushrooms, a definite fall favorite. The Matsutake or Pine Mushroom was our first wild mushroom of the season. Unfortunately it wasn't something we found in the forest, but rather at the farmer's market. The vendor told us that they're from the Bella Coola and Terrace areas. That's a long, long way from whoville so I'm not rushing out to search for these (even though I know they're out there!). They had two large crates of Pine Mushrooms. We picked two from the less expensive ones that needed more cleaning than the more expensive ones. They were still pricey, but we really wanted to try them.

 The next day we went to our favorite fall forested area. On route to our chanterelle spot, db found this Boletus Mirabilis. It was in good shape having been somewhat protected from the rain by the canopy. (I wish I had taken more pictures of it. db took this one. I think the fork is supposed to give you an idea of the size, but it also might be a reminder to make sure you eat your mushrooms).
db did some research to be certain that it was edible and then sliced it and panfried it. I was reluctant to try it and thought that one of us should be alert and healthy enough to drive to the hospital, but then I couldn't resist, and I really was confident that it was an edible. Very melt in your mouth tasty. It's a shame we only found one.

Finally, the bounty. There were a few chanterelles on our way to our favorite spot, but nothing to get too excited about. We hiked up to our little mossy area in the woods and started looking around, but weren't finding much -- at first. Then, once we spotted one we kept seeing more and more. We left the smaller ones. The ones we did collect were clean and dry and pretty perfect overall. Again, that nice canopy over the moss seems to keep them from getting too damp. We'd find these soft green depressions where the moss had grown over the old growth and inevitably we'd find chanterelles. It seems like they're just starting.  More fall to come.

I will get some photos loaded at some point. I've been doing nothing but text lately and not very exciting text either.

The garden is doing great. This weekend we transformed the unused space between our house and the neighbour's, turning the soil, weeding the entire area, creating a couple of levels instead of a weedy sloping mess, and installed two raised beds that follow the slope of the land. db and I completed the larger (4 x 6) raised bed yesterday using this kit. Today db finished the smaller bed (4 x 4) that is up a step from the larger one. Pictures will follow soon I hope! There is a gate to the backyard so we put in a couple of stone steps leading down toward the beds since the slope is quite steep there. I may add a third step as well. Then I started to lay a mulch path. I don't mind mulch as long as it's a pathway. There's lots of light near the front of the first bed so we'll put more tomatoes and some basil there. I suspect beans will follow along with zucchini, lettuces and who knows what else.

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Got my run in this morning. It was a tough one, but I ran for and hour and fifteen minutes. I'm working between two training programs that I pulled from the web to try and suit my needs. According to one plan I did the required distance, but according to another plan I fell short by about and hours worth of running. At this point it's not an issue because I've just started tailoring my training for a marathon distance.

Runner's World has a great "Smart Coach" training guide where you just enter your stats and how you want to train and it gives you a training schedule. It's pretty cool. The other training schedule I'm following is from the Victoria marathon website to prepare you for its marathon. Whatever one I use more I know I'll be ready.

Okay, I've got to get my rest now.