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It's cloudy here this morning, and the temps are a little less chilly. The other day when I woke up in was in the mid 30, and today it is in the mid 40s. Those lower temperatures were kind of bad news for Malida's lettuce crop, out on our front patio. We aren't the best gardeners, but we give it a shot.

It's supposed to rain later this week. We always welcome the rain, and wish it would rain sooner in the year--like mid July, during fire season.

We took a drive up to Calaveras Big Trees the other day. We had thought about the coast, but it was too windy, and the high Sierra passes were closed, so we opted to see the giant sequoias. The park is relatively close to where we live (80 miles), and it's an easy drive.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful fall landscape. There was plenty of fall color, and the remains of the first snow of the season. When we were up here last summer, one of the rangers had told us we should visit after a new snow, and he was right. I took a lot of pics, but they don't really capture how lovely it was.

big trees2

We walked around for a couple of hours and enjoyed the cool weather. There were very few people in the park, so we mostly felt like we had it to ourselves.

photographer and wife

I've been wearing that same winter hat for more than 20 years now. I have others, but this one just seems to fit. Malida tells me the hat she is wearing was a gift from me. I gave it to her when we visited Vietnam the first time. One doesn't usually think of Vietnam as being cold, but up north in the mountains, it can be pretty chilly, especially in the winter when we were there.

fall color snow

Monday was technically a work day, but the one meeting I had got cancelled, so it seemed like a good day to skip out. It was.

I find myself slowly disengaging from work life, and looking forward to being done with it for good next May. I've poured my heart and soul into my work, and I am ready to not do that anymore.