Fall Is Here

As I look out of my window this morning I can barley see the front lawn as it is blanketed with leaves.  (Note to Helene: Rack lawn.)   I always love the fall.  The brisk air, the color changes, the need to make fires in the evening.   But perhaps my favorite part of the fall is the food.    Fall forces one to flee to the farms and pick things.   Last weekend Jaime and I went to Duyck’s Peachy Pig Farm to pick our annual pumpkin.   We spent the day there relaxing and enjoying the farm setting.  We gathered walnuts, hazelnuts, corn, squash, eggplant, gourds, apples and a few other fall crops.   It was a real treat.   I truly think being able to live in the city and get out to a place like the u-pick farms in 20 minutes is really special.  We have the best of both worlds here in Portland.

After the farm Jaime and I went to Oak Knoll for a wine tasting.   They don't grow their own grapes, but rather buy their grapes local from Willamette Valley growers and they blend and create all their own wines.   We tasted all 11 wines---2006 Oregon Gewurztraminer and 2006 Chardonnay Willamette Valley were our favorites.  The Chardonnay has apple tones and is just sweet and buttery with every sip.   The winery is a family run business and definitely worth a stop.

Back to the reason for the post- Last night while watching Obama's Network broadcast we carved our pumpkins.   It was very inspirational to watch Obama while trying to do this task.  I felt hope and courage that my pumpkin carving skills would somehow turn out better then last years!  Both Jaime and I feel excitement for the upcoming election and look forward to new direction for our country.  Anyways, back to the pumpkins.   This year we printed patterns, what a world of difference they make!  Our pumpkins rock!   Jaime carved the bunny from the Rabbit Advocates logo.  It is darling!  I carved a ghost---more in the spirit of Halloween I thought. Now all we need is Trick-or-treaters!