When you live in the forest there aren't many naturally occurring Fall colors. Mr. C and I planted these Crimson King Maple trees sixteen years ago. They are a riot of colors and today Mr. C captured them in full splendor. We had a little rain overnight so everything is fresh and happy.
I took time off my house chores on Saturday and drove "down the hill" to visit with my sister Marie and her daughter Meg. My niece lives in Michigan so we don't get to see her very often. We three ladies enjoyed a good visit while having lunch. Marie is vegetarian and Meg is vegan. I am happy with eating just as they do so we all ordered butternut squash Panini and white chocolate chai to drink. I did add avocado to my Panini and it was quite yummy.
It was such a nice day for a family visit. Meg is on the train back to Michigan now.
Upon leaving the ladies I did a little shopping. It is always wise to make the trip down the hill account for more than just one reason. All the stores are fully into Christmas with displays and merchandise. It is almost Halloween so I suppose Christmas is right around the corner. Yikes!
Still preparing the homestead for listing...or not. It seems our rural community has not recovered from the Real Estate Bubble Burst and being rural has not allowed progress. Our beautiful home and property are in the exact price level that is dead. We are down at least $300,000 and that was not our plan. In our Sunset years we want to enjoy our lives and not have to stress over money. All of this just makes Mr. C want out of California even more. I am merely trying to remain calm.
Autumn is turning chilly and leaves are falling fast.
I am happy to take time each week and visit each of you. I am enjoying seeing your lovely decorating and your wonderful creative projects. Autumn Bliss to all...
What a gorgeous tree!! Maples are the best for color!! I love the bridge, too!! The pictures of you and your niece and your sister are so beautiful!! I'm glad you had a wonderful visit with your family!! Gosh, down $300K on real estate is incredible. Wow. I hope the market picks up if you do decide to sell. Have a great day!! Big hugs :)
ReplyDeleteLisa
A Mermaid's Crafts
so nice to visit with family, especially far away family, the photo your husband took is beautiful, such a lovely color.The housing market seems to be not good any where right now.I hope your beautiful home sells for a price that you're happy with,
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to visit family! Sorry about your real estate woes. It seems like a lot of the country is hit or miss with the real estate market these days.
ReplyDeleteYes, a lovely tree. During our house hunting we were down in Jack Pine country with lots of tamarac. The real estate guy called them golden Christmas trees. ??? If that is where we go I shall definitely have to change my landscape design. And the deer! oye!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a nice time with your family. I will be visiting mine in a few weeks too. We were down in the village shopping last week in time to see the lorry going along the main through road and stopping at each street light and putting up christmas decorations. Not had those in previous years.There have been a few fireworks going off at night time as well. Hugs Mrs A.
ReplyDeleteThe fall colors are just stunning! It looks like the journey downhill was fun. Family time is always good.
ReplyDeleteThe real estate market can be so discouraging. It is really taking a long time for it to recover in CA.
The Maple is gorgeous. The color is more exaggerated in that environment. I obviously am behind in blog reading. I did not know you were selling. I must get caught up here. LoL
ReplyDeletehow nice to meet up with your sister and niece. House prices here too are down on when they peeked in 2007 of course the year I bought mine so still in negative equity, it is a worry and yours has dropped more than mine is worth!
ReplyDeleteTree looks spectacular, need some maple trees around here to brighten up the autumn, very few of our trees give good colour
Your tree is lovely. We planted a Sugar Maple in the front yard right in front of the house. As long as it gets plenty of water in the summer, it gives us the most beautiful red in the fall.
ReplyDelete$300,000 bowled me over. In my area $300,00 could just about buy you a mansion on coveted river property. They say our area is one of the lowest cost of living in the country and I believe it. Our economy is booming...unemployment 4.5%. Houses don't stay on the market very long...blink and there is a sold sign. Of course, our hot summer which still has Lake Michigan at record high temps will grace us with an over abundance of Lake Effect snow this winter. But heck. Being retired we'll just watch it from the patio windows in our living room and pay a guy $25 to plow our driveway.
You had a great day down hill. Yes Christmas decorations are up here too. I'll be putting my outdoor lights up soon, though we won't turn them on. You have to do that before it gets too cold.
xx, Carol
Such a stunning maple, dear Sherry, must be so joyful to every day see this !!
ReplyDeleteYou was lucky to go see your sister and her daughter, when she is not often there, and so good you had such a wonderful time together ,with good food, too. Yes, I know about the bubble, and because of that, low prices in real estate market. The same happened to our house, and we also had to go down ,about the same as your home, if we wanted to sell, and as no one can promise it to be better, we dessided to just go !! I hope you find out, what to do, dear.
Hugs from here, to you, with a little sun shining !! Dorthe
Lovely fall colours and extra lovely when they are in your own yard. Most of our leaves are long gone but thankfully the snow we had has now melted. Sounds like you had very enjoyable family visiting time. Have a most delightful rest of your day and week.
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry, Oh my the trees in fall color are amazing. Just beautiful. How special to spend time with your family for lunch!! I hope your home sells soon. Come to Texas, your money goes along way here.
ReplyDeleteWishing you many autumn blessings!! xo
The fall colours are amazing this year although the leaves are falling now. There's supposed to be frost tonight (and even some of that dreaded 4-letter stuff later in the week). So sorry the market is slow in your area. That's a huge amount to be down in value.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice visit!!! Family is everything isn't it. Where in Michigan does your niece live? Good luck on decision for the house...we're staying here because we would also be at a loss and to be truthful, I don't want to live anywhere else. I love my house..hubby wants to move to Florida! Of all places! HA
ReplyDeleteglad you are getting to celebrate fall. our colors are mostly gone and getting colder, high tomorrow of 45 degrees. thanks as always for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to visit with family, with shopping as a bonus!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lovely autumn here, too! The reds were vibrant, the oranges neon! How nice to spend family time. Glad you had that opportunity. Hope you are able to come up with a solution in the housing arena. So many difficult decisions to make in life. We just do the best we can! XO
ReplyDeleteit sounds like a fun visit! Goodness living in California is sooooo expensive! Living anywhere else will be so much easier on your pocket book!
ReplyDeleteCarol
Good for you- having a nice family day break while working on the house. When you aim to sell, you seem to find a million little jobs that need fixing!! It will be worth it though as people don't want to do those things when buying a home.
ReplyDeleteOur next job is repainting inside of our house.Then we'll have a break!
Have a good weekend!
Judy x
Your tree is gorgeous! Sounds like you had a wonderful visit and a yummy lunch. I hope you get to move where you want to.
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