What's outside of your picture window today?

Today it's dry here!
I may be able to walk to the other side of the terrace, oh go on then, you scaredy creature, I will walk to the other side of the terrace and pick a catnip leaf for My Precious 😻

I’m in southern Arizona and we were expecting our first frost last night. I covered my tomato plants. Fortunately, it only dipped to 40 degrees.

Wow...I always think of AZ as being incredibly hot. In fact, I often think of it as "Aridzona." FROST??? We seldom see any here on the Oregon coast. Our lows here are now in the mid 40s. Although inches of rain were predicted for last Friday/Saturday, we only got some rain, not even much hard rain, and Sunday was just that: Sun. Yes, that's one reason I love living here: the weather is pretty much the same year 'round, just generally cooler during Oct-Feb. However, we've had times when you can be out on the beach in December wearing just a light sweater...and times when we're wearing jackets in July. The grass just slows down during winters; I generally don't mow often until about March. During the last 60 years, we've had enough snow to sorta hide the grass three times: due to the extreme cold of 30 degrees or so, pipes burst all over town! Like most older beach houses, ours has little insulation. We don't use our wonderful Earth Stove as much during summers, but now it's comforting to have a fire, at least in the morning.

The other reasons we love living here are all the animals (deer, elk, coyotes, sometimes bears and cougars, birds from our resident great blue heron down to hummers) and that people are genuinely friendly. Everyone smiles and waves. You can meet and get to know someone while standing in the eternally long lines at Safeway (downside of tourism is 50,000 additional people most weekends in this town of 9,000). When there's trouble, like the forest fire just north of town two years ago, everyone pitches in to help.

I know! It’s hard to believe, but night time temperatures in the desert can drop to below freezing this time of the year. Then they rise during the day to 70’s and very sunny skies. I like the Arizona sunshine the most.

I have been to Oregon once. It’s such a beautiful state! My brother now lives in Portland, so I am hoping to visit him there next year.

The quilt trail sounds fascinating! I read your post while eating a grilled cheese sandwich, made with Tillamook cheese, coincidentally enough, in FL where I'm visiting.

I have a cat which (whom?), I rescued from here last Thanksgiving but now lives with me in Asheville, NC.

She is fascinated to be, once again, seeing her former 'backyard playground.' So I tossed out almonds and oatmeal cookies to attract some of the other local species she's used to seeing on Florida mornings.

Within a half hour, young squirrels, several ibis, doves, a miscellany of sparrows, two cardinals, a woodpecker and a bright green iguana were outside and in full view from the terrace. And a Cuban brown anole on the inside of the terrace screen but unnoticed by Mocha so safe.

I was half-hoping for a 'murder of crows" just so I could actually use the phrase but am glad they found other feeding grounds as they seemed to drive away the sparrows and a few of the sparrows appear to some of the newly-released yellow-breasted birds that were becoming rare and are the result of a breeding-and-release program in a nearby county. [Note to breeders. They seem to like Publix oatmeal cookies. ]

I'll drive along the ocean later today to check on the Gulf Stream, without which the U.K. and parts of Europe would face an ice age, due in part to the Labrador Current, according to meteorologists. I find 'rivers' in the ocean fascinating...

Reply to @alive:
At one time, I thought that Portland was a pretty place, but it has become ugly, as far as I'm concerned: too many people (many of them homeless), too much traffic, too much hustle and bustle. Here, we live on "coast time," where there's always time to say "hi" or to wave, even to total strangers. When we're out walking, we not only make eye contact, but often stop and chat. In this little town, we're a community rather than a bunch of people jammed into too little space. When I drive to the Portland area every two weeks to load bread donated by Dave's to our Backpacks for Kids program, I usually have a long list of things I need to do...but, I often just ignore the list and head toward home.

Of course, since Lincoln City (what a stupid name for a tiny town that Lincoln was never within thousands of miles of), being a tourist town, expands by 50,000 people on a nice weekend. Then, it's best to stay off the highway and out of the stores 'cause the thing about just too many people is in your face. Still, there are moments you wouldn't be likely to experience in the big city. One Saturday, I hadn't bought enough milk for the weekend, so found myself in Safeway, in a line that took at least a half hour. During the wait, the people behind me struck up a conversation, and she was from SE Alaska, a halibut and salmon fishing guide, so we had lots in common since I've been in the sport fishing business most of my life. Believe it or not, when we went to what is the best restaurant within 25 or 30 miles Monday night, they were sitting at a table near us! Yesterday, the town's tourism director did a program for our lecture series for older folks...he's also the secretary of Backpacks. I know dozens of people who simply walk the one-lane gravel road in front of our property, although, when I lived in Portland, I barely knew my next door neighbors.
I really, really believe that what's wrong with this country is that far too many people have little or no connection with the Earth.

I keep seeing Forest Baths listed as an event type to help get more people back to connecting with nature and its energy fields. I never seen that phrase, Forest Bath or Forest Bathing, before so thought it might be a post-lockdown phenomenon. And lockdown itself triggered a renewed appreciation of the natural world for a lot of people who had time to review life priorities. I hope the trend continues to grow.

I hadn't heard of Forest Baths, but it sounds like moving in the right direction. The Willamette Valley of Oregon has a few places where there are hot springs and someone has built bathhouses where people can relax, enjoy the warmth.

I was shocked years ago to learn that some of the little kids who came out to "help" us collect data had never before walked on earth/dirt/soil! Until the watershed where I volunteer was devastated in 2007 by a huge flood, part of what we did was take families and teenagers out to "help" us collect data. We taught them lots of basics about rivers, fish, forests, birds, etc. After the flood, it was simply too dangerous to allow little kids and families to come into the river canyon, so I really miss that! I remember a 12-year-old who came out toward the end of the season one year, when there just weren't any fish spawning in the three miles we surveyed. Then, I helped him don waders for the trip across the main stem for the final mile walk uphill and back to our vehicles. While I was helping his mother get into waders, he stepped into the river...and flushed out a hen steelhead of about 12 pounds starting to work on building a redd, not 10' from where he stepped into the water. I'll never forget his eyes! Talk about "big as saucers!"

Have no picture window, but the 3 in my kitchen allow a broad view of my spacious back deck and shaded back yard. While enjoying coffee, (with ZELDA the cat sharing the window view), we watched a sleek black momma cat and her black kitten, leap onto the wide wood railing, just above the 18” plant saucer I’ve adapted for bird water ( and baths) sitting on the wood bench. Birds are wise…..they delayed bathing to visit the feeders hanging close to the windows, 3 cat tail twiches!

I did the forest bathing twice now. Each time I got something special out of it. For me it was all about being mindful with the program, while connecting with nature. Needless to say I felt energized and relaxed the whole day. It has beneficial effects for all kinds of things, from being addicted to electronics, to anxiety, to many others.