There's a dusting of snow on the foothills, but warm rains this week should melt it away.
The trees have shed their needles and they're everywhere.
Moss can be found growing on rocks and curbs and every other solid, cold, damp surface.
Even though small piles of snow still remain, the search for signs of spring will continue.
After days of being confined to the house and then when you could finally go out, four-wheel drive was necessary, the east winds are gone and it's warming up again.
There was sixteen inches of snow on this table Christmas Day and it was snowing again. It seemed as though it would never end. It was like Groundhog Day--the same thing over and over everyday. Each storm was supposed to bring south winds and warmer temperatures, but instead it just brought more snow. I've never been so glad to see rain in my life.
It was 50 degrees at 10:00 tonight when we were coming home from the basketball game. Outside of the piles of snow in store parking lots and the side streets that don't get plowed, like ours, most of the snow is gone. Our problem now is that our house faces north and our driveway is getting icy, but a few more days like this and we should be back to normal--45 degrees and rain everyday.
Last Tuesday was the last day we saw the sun. We went to the Blazer game Tuesday night and by the time we got home it was starting to snow lightly. It snowed off and on Wednesday, but only accumulated enough to be annoying on the side streets. The freeways and main roads were clear, but the threat of freezing rain caused school closures Thursday and Friday. The freezing rain never came, but it started to snow Friday evening and didn't stop until about 8:00 Saturday night. The freezing rain finally came in the night and left a crispy coating of ice over our six to eight inches of snow.This morning we woke up to this.
Everything is cancelled all around the metropolitan area. Roads are closed to the coast and blizzard warnings in the gorge have closed I-84 east and westbound. Our elevation is less than 100 feet at our house, so you can only imagine what it looks like in the hills around town. We took a little drive around the neighborhood before lunch.
Not much happening at the park--
or on the baseball field.
Freezing rain started to fall before we got home to add to the thin sheet of ice from last night.
And low and behold, in the midst of all of this--covered with ice--we found the last of the fall leaves.
Mt. Adams peaking over the foothills to the east,
and Mt. Hood to the south. 
is the best picture
to proud grandparents.
Lindsay brought her Bosch mixer and so we had homemade rolls.
Rylie helped with the relish tray
and was in charge of sprinkling powdered sugar for the pumpkin rolls.
Saturday, we took Rylie and Tyson to Jantzen Beach to ride the carousel. It goes really fast, so we weren’t sure if they would like it or not. Tyson wasn’t too sure about it,
but Rylie could have stayed on it all day.
We went to Washington Park to what Rylie calls “the castle playground.”
She was so excited that she just ran from one thing to the next.
The rocking seahorse seemed to be a favorite. 
As always, Tyson loved the swings.
There were still tons of leaves on the ground at Washington Park. We found a beautiful pile that seemed to go on forever and made a great background for pictures of Rylie and Tyson. 
The only thing that could have made this Thanksgiving any better would have been if Brad and Mel could have come.
When you drive in, you drop down a hill to the river,
and drive over a railroad bridge.
Not long after I started my drive, a blue heron flew almost over the hood of the car. Since I wasn’t expecting such a shot, I wasn’t prepared to get it. After I went about halfway around the loop, there he was, sitting in the marsh. You may have to double click on the picture to see him.
Canadian geese are every where up here in the spring and in the fall. This was just a small flock I came across.
My favorite picture from my drive was of clouds and especially this one with the reflection in the water.
It's taken years for me to be able to appreciate the different shades of blue and gray in the sky and the reflections of light in this area, but I've learned that there's beauty everywhere--even on a gray day--if you just look for it.
With dark, rainy weather settling in for the winter, you just have to take the attitude that if you can't beat ‘em, join ‘em. I guess we'll be trying our hands at a lot of low light pictures.
We got down there and found there were a lot more things in the area to take pictures of than just the crystal towers.
The MAX lines run past the Convention Center and down to the Rose Garden. It was kind of fun to try taking pictures of moving trains in the dark.
We went downtown to take some pictures of signs, but the place was hoppin’ and there was NO PLACE to park, so we drove over to the east bank of the Willamette River to take pictures of the Portland skyline instead.
We finished just in time, because as we were leaving, it started to rain—imagine that.
The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the youngest teams in the NBA, full of energy, and fun to watch.
The whole town is just abuzz with this young team and their potential.
We’re up in the cheap seats, of course, but every game is like a party, so it really doesn’t matter.
ESPN covered the home opener on Halloween Night, which only added to the party atmosphere.
It’s just a short walk from Dave’s office, so his parking pass comes in handy.
If it’s too cold or rainy, we can just hop on the max with hundreds of our closest friends and ride back up to the Lloyd Center stop.
Check ESPN on Friday to see the heart-stopping buzzer beater we saw tonight. The place was rockin'. What a way to spend rainy winter nights!!!
