The autumn equinox 2024 is September 22, when the sun is directly above the Equator, dividing night and day into equal portions. It is the official first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. From now until the winter solstice, December 21, days will shorten, and nights will lengthen.
My husband and I are pleased with the house projects we accomplished in the summer. He feels relaxed and is ready for the rainy days in the winter. The summer recap is in the second half of this post. Other than the house projects, we watched the grandkids most of the weeks in the summer. The schools started about a month ago and the girls settled into their new routine. We now have a lighter schedule and are happy to chauffer the girls to their after-school activities on some days of the week.
We haven’t traveled too far in the last two years since moving and making the new house the home we enjoy. We went to Multnomah Falls and Cannon Beach when my sister-in-law visited us. We also went with my daughter’s family to beaches and gardens in the Portland area. There are some places in Oregon we want to see on day trips.
We went to Mt. Hood a couple of days ago. It has been 40+ years since my last visit as a student in Portland. Mount Hood is 11,245 feet high, is the fourth highest peak in the Cascades, and the highest in Oregon. It is only about an hour and a half drive to Mount Hood from downtown Portland. The last eruption of Mount Hood was in 1782 and although it has been quiet for about 250 years now, Mount Hood is still an active volcano.
We wanted to do a short hike and drive to the base of Mt. Hood. One research offers the trail to Mirror Lake with an image of a perfect reflection of Mount Hood. Once we got there, I realized perhaps the photo was taken on a bright summer day at the lake. Mirror Lake is 7.1 miles southwest of Mount Hood. The trail to Mirror Lake Mount Hood is a four-mile round trip into the forest, mostly over rocky paths. There are 0.4 miles around the lake. The gaining of 450-foot elevation hike is not difficult but climbs steadily. The increase of elevation is gradual without being too steep. The hard part for me is the balls of my feet hurt because of the lymphedema from chemo. I had to rest often. We turned around after reaching the lake without looping around. I took a few cloudy photos of the lake without the reflection of Mt. Hood.
After the hike, we drove up to Timberline Lodge, a historic lodge of Mount Hood. It was built in 1932 and is located at an altitude of 6,000 feet, just below the glaciers. The gift shop and the restaurants were closed when we arrived in the afternoon. I wondered why there were so many cars in the parking lot. Then I saw one family getting the backpacks out from the trunk. It explained most of the cars there must be from hikers.
I want to see a few more places before the rainy season begins in mid-October that lasts until mid-May.
Here is our summer recap.
The garden
When we remodeled the front yard of our home in Southern California, I planted 10 color rose bushes on one side and 10 white Roseberg rose bushes on the other. Once the color roses bloomed, I realized they were in different shades of pink. As a result, I tried to plant different colors of flowers.
As for my new garden, it shows the effort was made to include different colors of flowers.
Impatiens
The House Projects
Before renovating the backyard, it was basically a steep slope with a patio. The water saturated at the bottom during the six months of rain in the winter. The steep slope made it impossible to walk up to the top. I wanted to create a garden and my husband wanted good draining pipes. A functional drainage system was installed behind the retaining walls and the turf area during the renovation. My husband noticed the water gathered at one corner but was not running down the street fast enough. He designed and installed an automatic pumping system to monitor the water flow.
Our roof is less than five years old. With rain six months a year, the moisture encourages the moss to grow on the trees, stones, and rooftops. Our neighbors hired professionals to power wash their rooftops. My husband wanted to do it by himself. I climbed on the roof of our house in Southern California, but our new home’s roof is higher and steeper. With all the climbing gear, he cleaned the roof inch by inch. The gear cost more than hiring professionals, but he was satisfied doing it.
The Grandkids
The trees in my neighborhood changed color already.
Happy Autumn!
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