Emily's Window

According to the note on the door, she is closed because she is still sick.  

I am recovering from a cold myself (I can't remember the last time I had one), 

but her window in the sunlight made me feel better.  

They are only paper flowers growing beside a paper dress, 

but as with the Paper Moon, you can believe that Spring is near.

Emily's Garden

Snow Drops

To mark the end of a beautiful holiday weekend,
the forecast for tomorrow says that these snowdrops
and their neighbors and the roads
will be covered with snow.

Vote for Quincy

Vote for Quincy, CA as America's coolest small town!
Vote once a day, every day, for the next dozen days.

Here are scenes from today's first annual Quincy Groundhog Fever Festival.

Everything is hi-tech.

The groundhog was carved to order - with a chainsaw.

  For a few dollars, everyone gets to be a judge
  of the chili cook-off (above).






  Captain Cupcake (left and below)
  didn't win the sweet eatin' contest.
  He only ate cupcakes, not the donuts.
  Maybe next year (or the next repeat of this day :-)

Notice the prone snow-monster.

REMEMBER to Vote for Quincy, CA as America's coolest small town!

Vote once a day, every day, for the next dozen days.

Sno-Cone

Or are these the eggs of a Snow-bird?  Maybe Joe will know.

Holiday Fun

Happy New Year!

Entangled

Clouds, mountains, trees.

Holiday light-strings.

Pineapple Rainbow

The rainbow left behind in the wake of the Pineapple Express.

From near the observatory on the FRC campus looking across the soccer field toward the Equine Center.

Quincy on Today

The Pineapple Express has come to town, and the TODAY show took note.

They never mention the 300 beautiful days we have every year.

Thanks

Jack-O-Post 2012

Here is this year's O'lamp-post - created as usual with no plan, electrical tape, scissors, and an orange light bulb CFL.

Links to previous years' posts:

• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008

Leaf It To Me

I didn't get these posted yesterday because, well, I was, um, exercising.  And if you ever need to know, yes, a ton of leaves is heavier than a ton of whatever, especially when damp.

Also, perhaps these Fall colors will tide you over while the BlackOakNaturalist finds a way around the no-such-thing-as-a-free-lunch-forever Google wall. 

Peak Peeping Season

If the past is any predictor of the future, this weekend may be the time to see the venerable "Judge Thieler sugar maple" near its peak. 
Even the BlackOakNaturalist is making time for the maple as evidenced by this shot on his blog today.

Below is this year's day-by-day leaf-by-leaf-turning slideshow.

After the sugar maples' peak relatively early in the season, there's still a month

of Awesome Autumn around Quincy and all of Plumas County.

Here are links to the photos from previous years for comparison.

• 2011
• 2010
• 2009

By the way, the Al spelled his name "Thieler", and you should too.