A Walk in The Woods

 I am ready for Thanksgiving.  It is one of my favorite holidays.  It will be very different this year though because I am cooking for the shelter. I am a bit nervous because they serve about 500 people on Thanksgiving.  They have been making turkey and freezing it for weeks now.  I offered to make the stuffing, rolls, gravy and cranberry sauce.  I figured that having these things homemade will elevate the meals to a better standard. So, I am about to enter a cooking frenzy.

 Teddy and I took a walk in our woods yesterday to see how everything is changing.

 The water is shut off now because it is too hard to keep up with the leaves. The system we have allows for the water to run year long and we did just that the first year the gardens were done. However, we quickly learned that huge piles of treacherous ice formed so now we turn it off for the season.

 Dead hostas.

 Teddy likes to check under the Weeping Beech for bad kitties.

 She even checks under the ferns which are still very green.

 The Bald Cypress are almost bald.

 The middle pond is filled with leaves.

 The Katsuras by the guest house are almost bare now.

 The fish are under those leaves somewhere.  We have to be careful to not throw the fish out with the bath water, so to speak.

 This is just one of the reasons I love Fall so much.  Not to mention how cool/cold it has been.  My favorite weather.

 The garden is almost packed up.

 And strangely the bougainvillea is still healthy and growing despite the freezing temps.

 Teddy on the way back from her grounds inspection.

 She likes walking through the leaves.

 It's a bit tricky to get a drink of pond water though.

 Yes, I am talking about you.

 I know that pond water tastes so good.

 The Cathedral Roses are putting out new growth.

 Teddy blends in so well with the colors.

 Paper Bark Maple.

 The remnants of the Bald Cypress are all over the ground.

 The gurgling millstone won't gurgle again until Spring.

 I was inspecting the fencing and as I came out from behind the gazebo, I spied my pup.

 It's a long climb back up the mountainside for a little tank.

 Slowly but surely she makes her way to the top.

Thank heavens for pool covers.