Very Fall Like

A bit of drizzle, gray skies, cool temperatures with a high around 55F/12.7C today. I spent much of the day with my mom. Admittedly it makes me sad, especially going into the dark, rainy months full of holidays and birthdays (three of us in our core family of six have/had December birthdays, including my dad who died in May). I think mom is sad too although she doesn't want to talk about it. She had a long nap after her weekly visit by her doc...they did some blood work today which really hurt - so much so that I asked the nurse to stop...enough is enough. But she rallied after her nap and we had lunch together followed by a couple of games of Yahtzee - we haven't played in ages - and you'll be delighted to know that she beat me in both games ;-)

I couldn't decide which photo to use as a blip today. I went on a walk to shake off my blues when I got home and saw some spectacular color in the neighborhood, this Japanese Maple in the main blip notwithstanding! And the colors in my own front garden are really also spectacular this year, with the Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) just coming into full bloom right now! This is bigger than any I've grown before, with the flowers as tall as I am and the plant about 4' wide. It's spectacular! (In the extra.)