We have have more rainy and bigger storms than I remember having seen for decades. And I would say also, early.

Climate is changing definately. We had to rush into our lingon-berry trip when we happened to have one (1) sunny day couple of weeks ago. Today there was sun behind thin layer of clouds, with darker whiffs of small clouds hanging on the top of trees and roofs.

So tomorrow the rains and heavy winds start again.

We haven't been here nearly long enough to know whether our weather is normal or not but at least we're having warm and sunny days again this weekend. I hope you're enjoying the brief retreat Thanksgiving allows.

The plants you've saved are very pretty.

Ripsa, I read that Finland had an exceptionally warm summer. I wonder what your winter will be like - Helsinki had record snowfall last winter I seem to recall.

Susan, today has been mostly sunny so it was a treat and soon we'll sit down for our feast. These are a selection of the cuttings I took yesterday, and I hope that I can do more tomorrow if the weather allows. Enjoy your long weekend!

Thank goodness for pumpkin ale!

Here I am for respite: your lovely photos of ordinary things. Like the twine one also.

Thanks for the comment on my blog with the link to Canadian voices. The Occupy Portland group has been given a chance to show how it's possible to speak across differences. They made room for the Marathon in downtown, have worked with police respectfully.

Rouchswalwe, pumpkin ale would have been good with our feast!

Naomi, I'm glad to hear that Occupy Portland was peaceful. Vancouver also has one coming up on the 15th.

while we had an early and glorious spring, a long, dry summer and then a surprise gift of an Indian summer when people flocked to the beaches and swam in the sea on October 1st

and now I am hoping for snow...

Mouse, I've heard with some envy about some of UK's lovely weather from our daughter who lives there. Snow.... not too soon, please, though I love it... like for Christmas, please.

I am perfectly happy to take all the snow if you guys prefer not to have it

Send it my way, please!

Mouse, heh, today you had me almost wishing for that snow in place of our dreary rain... almost... but I still have to get the garden ready for winter.

Why does Canada have a Thanksgiving? I can understand why bold, bad brother to the south does although it's all bundled up with kitsch, commercialism and the lurid thought of George Dubya sparing turkeys. Ah, I've got it. You're celebrating Getting-out-of-the-Empire day. Will you have another when you leave the Commonwealth? Or when Wayne Gretsky is knighted?

I like the look of those lovely young plants.
Barrett: We have managed to turn a potentially somewhat disagreeable fest into a true celebration of family and friendship in Hawaii. We then take a break on Buy Nothing Day (a Canadian invention, by the way) and only after that start to deal with the Christmas season frenzy.

BB, good question, even as you tease, but I'll answer seriously. The foundations for this feast time come from a mix of the traditions of the native people on this continent, the first whites that survived landing here, and the European tradition of thanking for the harvest. Eventually it became one of those official holidays giving us a day off work. Yet, as Hattie mentioned, many do still celebrate it as a time for family, and food always comes into that picture, does it not?

Hattie, I'm glad to hear of that! Because the Canadian Thanksgiving one is so much earlier because our harvests are earlier, I think we've sort of avoided associating this holiday with the next big one. (We have some American family and know that they put up their Christmas decorations at Thanksgiving like their neighbours.) And it's only a three-day weekend, so not quite such a huge travel time here, and the football is not quite such a big thing here. As you say, it really is up to the individuals how they celebrate, with thankfulness for family and friends, or going shopping (not a frenzy but enough of that here too, sigh).