Keep the Old....

.....one is silver and the other is gold.

I have been serving as the secretary in the stake RS presidency.  It has been delightful, but my three delightful friends have been released and I have three new delightful people to work with.  The old vowed that we were going to get together as friends when the release came.  We didn't want to loose that precious aspect of our service.  It is harder than we thought it would be as everyone accepts new callings with new schedules.  Yesterday afternoon we had our first get together.  We just visited and caught up on the things that matter the most to each of us and the challenges and blessings of change.   This pesto cheesecake to spread on french bread was my contribution to the goodies.  It isn't sweet but is yummy.

All is Safely Gathered In

... and the winter storms begin.

The apple sauce is a beautiful color this year.   The extra warmth of summer this year did good things to those red beauties.

Autumnal Color.

This is the autumn color on the maple tree we have grown from seed.  It's parent is a Japanese Maple  named "Bloodgood".  Bloodgood has grown in our front yard for about 25 years.  It's abundance of seeds have sprouted more than a few times.  This one we have kept.  It is not true to it's parent.  The parent has burgundy red leaves through the year.  This one has green leaves tinged with red in the summer and this is the fall coloration.   In the fall the parent's leaves are a less dark red color, but don't have the variation in color of the seedling.  This tree after 5 years is about 5 feet tall. 

These are the leaves of the Solomon's Seal.  They change color suddenly and drop quickly leaving the stems bereft.                                                                             

The cyclamen are not exactly fall color, but they signal fall.  During summer you would never know that they were there.  The corms swell beneath the ground, sending flowers in mid to late August.  The inverted flowers appear before their leaves are out.  The leaves are coming now.  The ants love the seeds of these plants and we find small flowers growing from the concrete joint between the driveway and the garage.  The way they form their seeds is an added bonus.  The flower stems curl up like a spring with a round developing seed pod growing where the flower once was.  This plant had a mass of little springs that the emerging leaves have now hidden.

There is still plenty of green in the woods behind us.  The Cottonwood and Aspen are still green, the big leaf maple is just starting to turn in wonderful yellow.  There is more beauty to come.

North Cascades National Park

We took a 300 mile drive on Thursday.  DER took the day off and we did something we have wanted to do for years.  We didn't do everything we've wanted to do - so we have an excuse to go again.  We going to shoot for another trip in late July next year when the mountain flowers are blooming at Hart's Pass.

Yesterday we took the scenic drive through North Cascades National Park and beyond.  Our hopes were to see Larches in their fall glory.  We may have been a little early, but they were gold near the tree line.  Larches are conifers that drop their needles.   We see them as the occasional landscape plant, but wanted to see them in more natural settings.   We stopped at lots of little overlooks - the reason we didn't make it to Hart's Pass.
This first photo was taken in deep shade by a shaky hand (mine) but I love it anyway.  The rocks on this part of the overlook trail were drenched in moss.  I think DER found the only non-mossy spot.

This is Rainy Lake - the destination of a short paved, handicapped accessible trail.  At the top rim of the cirque you can see some larches.  Along this trail we met two schnauzers named Max and Rainy.  Rainy is 17 years old and got piggy backed to the trail for the first time in her annual trip to Rainy Lake.  On the trail back down from Rainy Lake some gray jays flew right over our heads so close we could feel the air move from the beat of their wings. 

This is the view from Washington Pass.  Well it is really only part of the view.  You walk out on to this promontory of rock and find yourself almost completely surrounded by mountains.  It is stunning.

More views of this area to follow.

At higher elevations the huckleberry had turned it's glorious red.  The granite outcrop was easy to walk on - a very grippy surface.

 

More Washington Pass views with larches.  We were a little late in the day to get the best light for this spot, but it was spectacular - even as the mountains cast their shadows over the valley floor.  DER did some homework on larches.  They are deciduous conifers that don't like competition - hence their propensity for the tree line locations.  Losing their needles helps them survive the cold during the winter.

One of the features of this area are a series of lakes formed by damming the Skagit River.  Diablo Lake is one of these lakes.  Diablo Lake is below Ross Lake which stretches up over the Canadian border.  The tourquoise blue color is typical of glacier fed lakes.

Yes, the  vine maple was changing color, but the sunlight on the maple was hard to comeby and there were not good picture opportunities.  You'll just have to imagine the color licking up the ravines and water ways as if they were aflame. 

I find my pictures a rather sorry representation of the beauty of the day.  I'm kind of glad to know my eye and my heart can still see more than a camera.