probably the last

warm - actually hot - day of 2012.... our horrible hot summer dove into a cool very cool September and now here we are at the end of October-

we had to turn on the heat in the buildings earlier this year than the last two years and now that we have been heating the buildings for almost three weeks we get a 75* day.  and it seems the forecast for tomorrow is hotter- so the AC is back on at OUR house....

but in the midst of all the fall travel we haven't missed the colors- which I snapped a few photos of along the short walk I took while picking up the yard- until yesterday the locust trees were a magnificent yellow but the rain took their leaves down in the last day....

a neighbor has three burning bushes that turn the most vivid red each fall:

our next door neighbor has a lovely tree that turns red and gold each year while our japanese plum stays its burgundy color until much later-

this photo does not do justice to the vines I see from the window at the kitchen sink- they are beautiful shades of yellow and yellow green this time of year-

the next shots of our yard with a bush out front then some of the plumbago from the back yard  along with osme of our last hydrangeas and pachysandra from the side yard - then final the ivy from the front porch which now covers quite a bit of the steps wall and the whole side wall to the west of the porch.

soon the signs of life will turn dormant and we will head into winter but right now - every living thing is going full speed  ahead while the sun is shining and it is warm!

OK so I went to the kitchen window and took a photo - that also doesn't do the view justice (due to the screen) but the colors show up better than the other photo so here it is-

now I think I have procrastinated long enough- time to get to the Nordic photos!

this and that

so I have had an assignment I needed to complete before we left town and spent the last two days glued to my desk and furiously creating two new endorsements for an insurer that consults me for my vast (LOL) expertise... so here is how I spent the last two days:

and when I finally resurfaced today mid day I found fall had fallen- all of the sudden we have trees dropping leaves of yellow/gold...  here is a view from the front door -

and then I noticed that the plumbago which flowers in the fall was also in autumn mode...

compare with a photo from June

so time marches forward or onward or just plain marches- but I was struck by the contrast of the outdoors and the indoor experience we had last Saturday night.

as you know from prior posts we were having a dinner party for friends... Laure and Arno were in from NYC and we had recently reconnected with an old friend Michael so we were celebrating good friends. 

Neil brought some magnificent wines and the clear wine of the evening to me was this Chambolle-Musigny from 1971--- speaking of time not passing - this bottle of wine was absolutely EXQUISITE!

and this also was an excellent bottle despite the passing of time--- an incredible old Chablis

 
and while it didn't show as well as the 1971 Chambolle, this wine had it's moment of glory as we inhaled the classic barnyard nose of Burgundy from this 1923 Pommard Les Rugiens. (several years back Neil had shared the '23 Pommard Epenots with us at a birthday celebration)

 

thanks Neil for sharing such amazing and instructive wines... put a new perspective on the passage of time!

and so on we go- time to pack and think about how to tell anyone who asks that my husband speaks Danish (and say it in Danish!) LOL - plans with friends on Friday and Saturday night and then our friend Aase arrives in Copenhagen on Sunday from Jutland to spend a couple of days together before we head on to Helsinki and Stockholm.... as always - more later - my camera is upstairs charging even as I type this...