Mind.Of.Melanie: A Weekend of Fall Foliage

Fall Foliage: Part I
We are taking advantage of the sunny days we've had since we moved to Seattle (I am hoping that everyone made up the rainy stories about this city so they could keep it to themselves!... We will see if that's true or not). This weekend was absolutely gorgeous outside and has really offered some lovely fall colors. Saturday morning we took our coffee and went on a walk around Greenlake. While on our walk, we saw a regatta, lots of people out walking, lots of strollers and lots of dogs!

Not sure what kind of berries these
are but I thought they looked interesting.

Three sweet little ducks sleeping in the water.

The Regatta we watched.

One of the many dogs we saw -- such a cute Sheepdog!

Fall Foliage: Part II

Being the crafty person that I am, haha, and having been inspired by all the lovely leaves, I decided to make an arrangement out of leaves and such from our yard. Some of the bushes needed trimming anyways, so I took the liberty of doing so :)

To create a natural looking arrangement, you need to start by selecting a few varieties of branches, flowers, etc from your yard. You really can't go wrong, so just cut whatever looks best to you.

Step 1: Select the larger pieces for the back and work around them. Once you decide how tall they will be, you measure the rest of the pieces off of them, always making the other pieces a bit shorter.

I was able to find some Ivy, Magnolia and Holly-ish plants to use.

I started with the Holly-ish looking plant first;
making it the backdrop for the rest of my arrangement.

Step 2: Start placing the other major focal points in the front.

Step 3: Fill in the rest of the pieces as you wish, now that you have your backdrop and your main plants in place. I added pieces of shorter Magnolia and then taller pieces of Ivy to the back.

You are done! Lovely and free arrangement.

Fall Foliage: Part III
Today we went to Issaquah to hike to Poo Poo Point. No, I didn't make that up. And guess who chose the hike...yes, Will. Supposedly, it's called that because a train used to go by that point on the mountain and the whistle made the poo poo sound when it let out steam.

Well, we didn't hike to Poo Poo Point today (I'm sure we will soon). Fortunately, we met an experienced couple in the parking lot at the trail head who knew what they were doing, and where they were going, (unlike us) that invited us to tag along with them on their hike up West Tiger Mountain #3, Section Line Trail. We decided that was a lovely idea and we would have some company on our hike so we took off up the mountain with Amy and Kal. How do I put this delicately...we assumed we would have no problem keeping up with them since they are in their 60's. WRONG.

Amy hopped up the 2,522 foot high mountain (which is really steep for people coming from where a speed-bump is considered elevation) like it was nothing and had Kal, Will and me trailing up behind her the whole way. She kind of reminded me of mom, very spry and a very fast little walker! They were expert guides and told us lots of things about the outdoors, places to visit, equipment to buy, outdoor clubs to join and so on and so forth. Kal was extremely informative and taught us things during the whole hike, which I think we were both grateful for on many levels (firstly, the knowledge, and secondly, we didn't have the energy to talk!) while Amy was the fearless leader, guiding us up and down the mountain. We had a great time, got a great workout and feel fortunate to have met them as they were so interesting. I hope I am in at least half of the shape they are in when I am their age, it really is inspiring.