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.

More of fall

It's been fairly rainy this last week. Today the sun is out, but yesterday when i walked to my doctor's office, it was overcast and just lightly raining. I actually prefer the colours when it's overcast because they seem much richer than on a sunny bright day like today.
We've had a generous fall that has felt like a full season. When I lived in Ontario and Quebec fall seemed so brief and it seemed to shift from extremes (hot to cold) very quickly. I think I prefer this longer season.

Sunday

The leaves are really covering the ground everywhere now. The other day I noticed snow on the mountains for the first time. And the time change also signals fall to me. I know it's November, but this is the first time I've felt fall is in full swing.







Even though there isn't a whole lot of excitement waiting at the bus stop, there was an incredible sky.



Nothing too exciting going on in whoville on Sunday. We just ran our errands with a stop at one of the creeks to see if the salmon were starting their journey upstream and indeed they are.
I took some video images of the salmon on their journey that I'll post shortly.





By the way I just found out that I won the postcard challenge over at mister anchovy's! Woohoo!

and then it rained

By the time I'd run 2k the rain had started again. I headed to the track to see if it was not being used by anyone else. It was nice to be on the track for a change. With only one lap to go to complete my 5k on the track, a dark cloud moved over whoville and it started to really rain again. I grabbed my jacket and started to jog home. Just before I left the park, it started to pour as in torrential downpour. The trees are almost devoid of leaves now so there wasn't much shelter. I scooted over to a bus shelter and waited a couple of minutes for it to lighten up. I didn't want to cool down too much so I kept running through the rain and it was fun.

Through the rain I thought about how this is my Fall Running Challenge. There are new hazards in the midst of fall such as, wet leaves on the sidewalks, falling leaves in blustery wind, muddy trails, puddles on uneven sidewalks and pathways, and clusters of school children unaware of anyone else in the world. Hazards aside, I'm now working on improving my running ability. The track certainly helped, but I was pleased to complete 5k in 25 minutes! That's a great time for me.