Autumn in the Countryside

We are just starting to see some Fall color here in Western Washington State. On the way to my eldest daughter 'H' and her Hubby, 'E's house for dinner Saturday, I took these photos of the countryside. This little field is where we used to take our two little ponies to graze. The elderly woman who owned the field welcomed the ponies to keep the grass mowed. She never charged us a cent. There is a little apple tree alongside the gate that grew from the apples we would feed the ponies. The ponies are long gone now, passed away from old age, as is the kind elderly lady. But the little apple tree remains. It is full of apples this year. The circle of life goes on.

This is the view from our little post office. There is a long park that runs the length of the town, built along old railroad land that is now owned by the 'city'. There are beautiful trees and plantings along the paved walking trail that runs the whole length of the park and for miles the other way. There is a volunteer committee that has been raising funds for years to create the 'Mountain to Sound - Rails to Trails' walking trail system. They convert the old rail lines into walking trails. It is not yet complete, but the idea is to have a trail system linking Puget Sound to Mt. Rainier. This is part of that trail.

We take the back roads to visit my daughter. It is so much more enjoyable to drive along and see the fields and farms, rather than traffic and highways. It takes just as much time either way, so why not enjoy the view? This little tree was so bright against the blue barn. I love old trucks, they have so much character.

When my children were teenagers, one by one they all learned to drive in our old truck, and used it as their first vehicle. It was a 1984 Ford Ranger, painted a bright blue-green color. The kids all nicknamed it 'The Greenie'. Everyone in town knew my kids drove 'The Greenie'. So whenever Hubby or I took it to run errands occasionally, we were always being waved at or flagged down by some teenager thinking we were one of the kids.  

It became a little legend among the kids in town and to this day they all talk about 'The Greenie'. I can imagine what tales that little truck could tell. What I don't know won't hurt me, as I always say! Anyway, that little truck seemed to know it had to keep going until the last one left home. It even had enough life left to trade it in for my youngest son's first car.

We spotted it not long after, riding down the road with an elderly gentleman inside. Hopefully 'The Greenie' found a nice home and is being taken care of kindly.

Or maybe it has been put out to pasture like these old beauties. Don't you wish that they could talk and tell you the places they have been?

Don't you just love the yellow one?

Speaking of yellow..... Isn't this the most amazing barn? The owners just put the new green metal roof on her. This old farm used to have cows, but the elderly farmer is gone now. I think his grandson bought the farm though, and has worked very hard fixing the old place up. I love to see that happen.

I love this old barn. She still houses cows and this is the farm that keeps the old trucks in the field.

These girls look so happy. This once was an area full of dairy farms. But during the 80's, the government bought out all the cows and the dairies shut down. There are still a few left, but very few. I can't remember why the government did that, I will have to look into that further. It is like all the mom and pop grocery stores and gas stations. The big corporations buy out all the competition and then control the pricing. I think that is what happened with the dairy farms. It makes you understand why the protests are going on right now over corporate greed.

But I am getting off track now. Back to the beautiful fall color!

We had a lovely dinner at my daughter's home. She and her Hubby are both excellent cooks and they served us a pork loin, slow cooked in apple cider with sweet potatoes, cranberries, and sour kraut. It was so tender and delicious. I made an apple crisp for dessert and her Hubby's cousin and family joined us and brought along homemade chocolate truffles and 'bark'. Oh my, we surely did enjoy ourselves. That is the one nice thing about having an empty nest. You get to go to their home and get treated to a nice meal once in a while.

A beautiful ride in the countryside and good food enjoyed with family. Those are the best things in life. It's the simple things that mean the most. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too, with family and friends.