Rainy season has come to the valley.  I do love the rain.  Living in Walla Walla we never saw a great deal of rain and I have always enjoyed a raining day.  It was one of the reasons I had looked forward to living in the Willamette Valley again.  I love rainy, misty, drippy days!  I love the way the mist hangs over the valley, weaving and dancing up and down and in and out of the trees.  I love the sound of rain beating a pattern on the roof and windows, making me feel all safe and cozy tucked in my warm dry home.  And it makes me want to accomplish things and tackle projects.  Indoor projects of course.  But I don’t mind walking in the rain, bundled up tight, its quite invigorating.  Our latest adventure was in the rain as we headed to check out Pacific City.

It was cold, windy, and raining but so beautiful.  Had the best ever cup of Peppermint tea there and hubby had a Chai which was the best I had ever tasted!!

Wet but happy!!

We took a new route home which followed this beautiful creek.

And crossed numerous one lane bridges.  This was my favorite.  Check out the pumpkins on the end posts!

Back at work I was surprised and delighted to walk into my office and find this gorgeous bouquet!

 Happy Bosses Week!!  What loving and thoughtful staff!!  They are a blessing to me!  And also a fruit tray.  Don’t mind my messy office the past month has been a bit hectic at work!

Speaking of work, test results back and no H. Pylori.  My MD referred me out for a endoscopy, but in the interim I started reading everything I could and discovered the benefits of grapefruit juice for ulcers.  It is amazing, seriously!  I dropped all process foods and started drinking copious amounts of grapefruit juice and over night the pain nearly disappeared. Speaking with the gastrointestinal MD he stated that grapefruit juice will neutralize acid.  So for now I am doing that I will try dropping the omeprozole to one a day.  But not brave enough to do that yet.  Feels good to feel good again!!  We never really appreciate our health until we face health issues.  This was a nice wake up call to get my diet back on track with healthy foods and to work on stress reduction!  I will be experimenting with some of my favorite recipes and substituting whole wheat flour and alternative sweetners such as maple syrup.  Nothing artificial however. 

And now back to this:

What better to do on a rainy, drippy, cold afternoon!

Happy Fall,

Patricia