After several days of Pacific Northwest November weather last week—downpour, high wind, dramatic clouds—it was a relief to have a weekend of sun. As our Portland universe dried out the past two days, we were finally able to sweep up more of the bajillion fallen Douglas fir needles that had become a uniform carpet on the sidewalks, flagstones, patios, and driveway. This is addition to raking, raking, raking the maple leaves from the three giant trees in our backyard. We are very close to having all of the foliage shaken from every branch. The return of the rains on Monday may just do the trick…
