Day 94: Thurs Nov 14th - Lasy days of Autumn

Day Ninety-four:   Last days of Autumn, Winter is on it's way!

This has been a beautiful and long-ish Autumn.  Snow storm on the horizon. They say it will be here Saturday through Sunday with possible lake effect snow. 
Gone will be the 60 degree days that I have enjoyed tremendously.

Busy weekend planned with family, Grandmothers funeral and hanging out with Dad.

Grandmothers beautiful smile.
We will miss you.

Day 72: Wed Oct 23rd - Yellow Everywhere

Day Seventy-two:
 Sun...Sunrise...Sunshine

Yellow everywhere! Bright, bold yellow.
Oh.. and a creature that bolted into the bushes too fast for me to identify it.  Jax saw it though and was anxious to sniff it out, but I'd rather not test fate and risk him getting sprayed with skunk spunk, scratched, bit or otherwise.  Haven't you seen Old Yeller?!?   Granted... Jax has had his rabies shot, but still.  <<shudder>>

My cold is a bit better today. Gotta love them zinc tabs from Wholefoods.  I need to remember to drink more water. I am terrible at drinking water, coffee on the other hand...yum.

~ Cheers

"What was that Jax?!"

Day 70: Mon Oct 21st - Seventy Sniffles

Day Seventy:  Seventy Sniffles

Yay 70!.. Boo sniffles :(  I hate to admit I am starting to fight some kind of evil nasty.  My nose and head are feeling blah. As for today's run, despite the sniffles, it was good, if a little chilly. I cannot get enough of the bold gift of colors given to us by nature. I'm at awe with each turn on the trail and find I could take photos all day.  Time to grab some zinc, make a super smoothie and then drink some hot tea. Girls are back in school after an active 4 day Autumn break. Our race is this Saturday, though we still haven't decided on what our costumes will be...?   Any ideas?

 

Day 67: Fri Oct 18th - Sunshine and Playmobil

Day Sixty-seven: Fall sunshine, afternoon runs and Playmobil

Another not so easy getting up kind of morning. lol   So an afternoon run was on the schedule. Well, at least something today. On my lunch hour, my daughter Iz and I went for a quick run, played at the park for a minute and ran back, just in time to shower and get back into work clothes! Whew!
Now I am at my desk eating a  yogurt and feel rejuvenated.  57 degrees and sunshine, it was lovely outside.  If I had my way it would be this temperature all year round... with occasional storms thrown in to mix things up. I'm definitely not a summer kind of girl.
Iz brought a Playmobil character on our run, she was not easy to keep up with, neither was Iz... she is so naturally fast!

 

Day 63: Mon Oct 14th - Is this Heaven? I think so.

Day Sixty-three: Leaves, leaves and more leaves

Need I say more?!  I'm surpised I managed to run as quickly as I did today as I wanted to stop and marvel at the bright and amazing colors surrounding the hillside. It was incredible. Some of the trails up here are really closed in and you become enveloped in leaves and the smells of fall.
I wanted to memorize the beauty, jump into the leaves and make a blanket out of them, basking in their fantastic ranges of deep red, orange, bright and almost fluorescent yellows in a background of deep green.

 My phone camera doesn't capture how beautiful it is in person.  Sadly, the photo below was a bright carpet of Autumn colors, but came out blurry and muted.
Have you been able to enjoy the Autumn season falling around you? If not, you must. It goes away too fast.  Soon the snows will arrive with it's own version of beautiful.

 

Day 51: Wed Oct 2nd - Top Ten Autumny Things

Day Fifty-one: Holy Moly October is here!  As I've mentioned too many times before, Autumn is my favorite time of year. So I was thinking, while out running, of my top ten favorite 'Autumny' things:

1) Homemade chocolate chip cookies with hot coffee in a nice mug.
2) Reading / watching potentially stormy weather reports with excitement.
3) Down Comforters and fleece blankets.
4) Fuzzy socks and my favorite sweatshirt.
5) Trail running or hiking while kicking leaves or collecting them.
6) A good novel.
7) Bubble baths after a cold day outside.
8) Cooking with fresh ingredients just purchased at our local farmers market.
9) Teaching my daughters how to cook and learn about food and what is in season.
10) Anticipating the holidays, crafts, decorating and glorious smells Autumn brings us.

Day 49: Mon Sept 30th - Favorite Kind of Day

Day Forty-nine: Spent another 'Mama and Me' day hanging out with my older daughter Siena (last week it was my youngest).  Today we went running together at the large dog park trail and then let Jax play in the river, swim and play fetch with a large old stick.  The fall leaves were gorgeous and we noticed an amazing amount of fallen acorns.  It was squirrel (and dog) paradise. 
Now time to make some chocolate banana pancakes and do some fun projects around the house.
My favorite kind of day.

Day 47: Sat Sept 28th - Running @ Work

Day Forty-seven:
  Quite a productive day. I slept in a bit as I was beyond tired early this morning. So I mixed my running in with work and delivered my entire complex newsletters within 27 minutes... which included going up and down multiple flights of stairs.  It was much harder than I expected it to be. I had to be careful descending since I have a tendency to trip up and down stairs and I didn't want to fall down the concrete steps. That would have hurt!   So an easy-hard-quick-fun-run kind of day!

my festive office flag.... :)

Day 46: Fri Sept 27th - Panorama Blue

Day Forty-six:  The view of the skyline at the top of the trail before I descend.  Cool and very crisp morning. Here you can see the battle between the stormy clouds vs. early sunshine competing for majority in the sky. You can also see ,somewhat is the distance, the snowy tippy tops of the Rockies. It was 41 degrees according to my outdoor temperature gage, which I think might be my favorite running temperature.  In-between 40-50 degrees is ideal for me to run in. Even though it is chilly to begin, it is neither too hot or too cold while running. It's perfect.  

(here are closeups from the panorama above)

Day 43: Tues Sept 24th - Colors of Autumn

Day Forty-three:
After a few lighter days of running it felt good to have a longer run this morning.  Over the weekend I felt that my body (and feet) was screaming at me to take it easy. So I listened. While still running, I ran a bit slower and shorter. I also gave Jax a few days off. 
Today we rocked it!  My feet felt light and my legs fast.  
The temperature was chilly at first (48 degrees) but perfect.  The colors of Autumn are popping up everywhere. The glorious yellows, deep reds in contrast with the remaining dark greens are beautiful. Today is supposed to be a hotter day, 87... but there is a storm-a-comin'!  :)  Yay! I love stormy weather.