Let's Step Outside

Fall rains have made it extra nice to go outside lately.  This first photo demonstrates that mother nature has excellent decorating skills, placing these beautiful flowers on either side of our entry sidewalk without any help from us.   We tracked down the beauties in one of our flower books and found that it IS typical for them to bloom in October... but I guess recent Octobers have been so dry that they just never made it.



Even this man-made hardscape outside the garage looks better in 2012.  The rains have made the native ground cover fill in nicely, softening the river rock.   The plants also provide great shelter for rabbits and birds foraging for food.  The weather this Fall seems even more spectacular after suffering through the great drought of 2011 last year.  All the more reason to step outside as often as possible while it is so nice.