fort, townsend, washington

Before all the madness of filming, being shuttled around to different places, and doing my best to be a video director, cameralady, editor, and everything else - I had a birthday.  I reserved one special day before my first job to spend time with my deer friend, tucked up in a little cottage on the olympic peninsula.

My only request for my birthday was to take a walk in the mossy woods.  After being so long on the east coast, any time I saw a photo of the mossy, misty northwest my heart would hurt just a bit.  So, Melissa heard me.  We walked through the cedar and pine to an abandoned fort on the hill.  A magical overgrown place, sometimes painted the most beautiful, muted colors.

And, I hate to say, but while the rest of the continent was enduring snow and mostly below freezing temperatures, my birthday was graced with sunshine.  I even got to take my coat off for a bit.

peaks.

Things are happening over here, I'm busy, but things are finally coming together.

There is good news on the way.  I know where I'm going in the New Year and there are exciting projects coming up.  I'll share all soon, I swear. 

winter.

Last night we got at least a foot of snow.  

I'm in a funny place, where I can't say where I'll be in a month.  Classes will be ending in one week and I only have two more weeks in my apartment.  These deadlines are holding me and before I know it everything will be different.

hubbard park

Little Montpelier has its very own town forest. 

s n o w

Went to bed with barren trees and grey land to see, and the next morning looked out my window to see a world quite different. 

the first frost.

still loving these November colors.

red rocks.

Post  cabin -in - the -woods Sunday morning.  Journeying to the south end of Burlington with this pretty lady.  Picking up rocks and shells by the shoreline of fallen leaves.  And then, most memorably, my favorite dark chocolate hot cocoa.

{loving} november

It's always been a known fact that spring is my favorite season.  I've always thought that nothing could be better than excitement of the fresh flower bloom and the re-emerging sun.  The enlivening feeling of the shedding of the winter hibernation and waking up to new life.

However, this November I am beginning to doubt myself.  I have been bundling up and taking grey walks through the Vermont woods and found a whole new attachment with this time of year.  There is something incredibly beautiful about the blending between autumn and winter - the last remaining leaves on the trees, the drying up of the flowers, the slow creeping in of the winter decay.

It is a mysterious time, one that makes me want to wear dark colors and take in the subtle transition happening around me - to break out my candles, warm up some tea, and stay inside reading alchemical texts and fantasy novels.  

And tonight, I will probably go and do just that.

autumn picnic

...on a knit blanket covered with toast and jam, and surrounded by oranges and reds and yellows.

This ol' wooden house, with the characteristic Vermont red siding, and the hillside view from the window really get me.

and then the leaves turned

Back from the western coast and I was greeted with painted mountainsides.

Tourists are swarming in from all the big cities to see all the colorful foliage, but I get to see this beauty firsthand everyday.