Finishing in Maine and Back to California

Us at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.
Boothbay, Maine
    
    On Wednesday, October 16, Scott, Kristy, Rob and I headed up to Boothbay, Maine and its beautiful botanical gardens. It was a beautiful day to stroll amongst the gardens enjoying the fall colors and the Trolls! Danish artist Thomas Dambo has created five giant trolls spread throughout the forested grounds of the gardens, so we went in search of them all.

The colors without us.
Beautifully reflected in the water.

A distant view of the bridge.

Rob and Lilja

Kristy and Scott and Gro.

This is supposed to be all four of us with Roskva.
Kristy was taking the selfie and she pretty much left herself out of it.

Scott and Rob with Birk.

Me and Scott with Soren.

Looking sown toward a waterfall.

The waterfall.

Standing under a Larch tree.
These unusual coniferous trees turn color and drop their needles in the fall.

View from the Landing (A dock on this tidal river).

A view from the Landing in the opposite direction.

Cross section of Indigenous Oyster Mounds, or Middens. 

Kristy in beautiful yellow fall foliage.

A small labyrinth near a lovely fountain area.

The fountain area - you can catch a glimpse of Rob and Scott to the right.

It seemed Kristy and I left Scott behind!
They eventually left their comfortable resting place and joined us for the drive back to Harpswell.

Pretty, colorful town on our drive back.

Looking into the living room from the loft.
Note no railing yet on the loft.
And note the lift to the right down stairs which would leave the house a few days after we left.

A view in the loft including the shuffle board.

Another view looking down - don't step off the edge!

Scott got the mudroom door up before we left.

Thursday, October 17.
On my early morning walk to the bay I was stopped short by this moon!

The moon and Soarin' Free.

Friday, October 18.
Not quite so dramatic as the day before!

"Concert at Dusk"
Found on one of my early morning walks.

The frog stone is there to the left under the bushes.

Large flock of turkeys.
    
    It looks like this house was feeding the wild turkeys. I saw this flock several times on my walks in different locations, but they were always too skittish to get a picture of them except when they were busy eating here. One morning as I approached they all flew high into the tops of trees. That's the first time I've seen wild turkeys fly that high!

More pretty colors on the road.

Close up of red and green.

Pretty orange tree.

We got to go sailing!

    The day before we left Maine, October 18, the weather conditions were right for a pleasurable sail on Casco Bay, so Scott, Kristy, Rob and I headed out to Soarin' Free for a two hour sail.

Scott raising the sail on Soarin' Free.

Fall colors on the banks of the bay.

The sails are up.

Rob looking happier than I think he was.
Water sports of any kind are not really Rob's thing!
But he was a good sport to brave the cold wind.

I'm at the helm.
I on the other hand love being under sail, or swimming, or kayaking!

Kristy taking the dingy back to the dock so she could assist in tying the boat.
It was much easier for Rob and I to disembark on the dock than via the dingy.

Rob, Hale, Kyle and Kristy.
We all played a game of Croquet.

    Hale returned from Turkey in time for us to share a game of Croquet, a board game, dinner and pecan pie to celebrate Kyle's 28th birthday before we had to leave for California. We wished we could have had more time to visit with Hale, but we look forward to future visits.

Colors on my last Maine morning walk, October 19.

The tide was way out on Saturday morning, October 19!

Goodbye for now to Soarin' Free.
We may join Scott and Kristy on her in the Bahamas this winter!

Leaving behind the fall colors of Maine as we flew from Portland.

A huge quarry as we approached Nashville where we boarded our plane to Sacramento.

Lake Tahoe as we approached Sacramento.

    Ruth and Jody picked us up at the airport on Saturday evening, October 19, and we opted to spend the night with them before heading to Colfax on Sunday. I of course took an early morning walk in their neighborhood. 

Yard sign in Jody and Ruth's front yard.

The western Roseville sky, Sunday, October 20.

And the sun rising in Roseville.

Ruth and Jody.
Had to get a game of Hearts in before heading to Colfax.

We were home in time for the Installation of Bishop Sandra Olewine.
Sunday afternoon, October 20, at Loomis United Methodist Church.

    Each morning in Colfax I took an early morning walk somewhere. On Monday, October 21, I went my favorite round trip to where the Weimar Water Company is on the top of the hill. Unfortunately our access to this lovely 4 1/2 mile round trip is coming to an end as the property we have crossed to get to the irrigation canal and beyond is being built on.

The house under construction that will end access to the Boardman Canal Trail and beyond.

Early morning sky from our front deck on Tuesday, October 22.

    On Tuesday I headed to West Sacramento for an overnight training event for the Retired Clergy Response Team, and I of course took an early morning walk there on Wednesday. I stayed in the same hotel that I stayed in last year for a similar event, but took a different route back to my hotel and was surprised to find a huge Sikh Temple just a couple of blocks away.

Sign for the temple.

The whole thing!
    
    There were some fall colors in our Colfax area world, and below are some of them captured in photos.

Poison oak - so pretty, but don't touch.

A neighbor's Acacia tree.

A row of Maples on another neighbor's property.

Our own little Acacia tree.

Rob cut up some oak that had been taken down by PG&E to clear near power lines.

Grandsons Kyle and Alex left their mark on the cement landing of our back steps.
September, 2005 - They are now 28 and almost 27!

Weird Barbie, aka Ruth.
Ready to go to work on Halloween.

    As I write this it is Halloween night, and we are preparing to leave our Colfax house to head to Marin County and Samuel P Taylor State Park tomorrow, November 1. We are looking forward to resuming our camp host duties there and living amongst the Redwoods of beautiful West Marin County for the next several months.
    

Critters in Roseville:
I took this picture of Elsie when I went to see Avi one day.

Jody sharing his phone with Ellie
Sadly, Jody's Husky Atlas left us all due to cancer.

Elsie in another pose.
Joy and Daphne aren't making an appearance this time.

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