Dear Liza,
It is winter in Portland. It doesn’t officially start until December 21, but it’s winter. We have rain which may turn to snow flurries, bridges that are getting icy, and dark, dark afternoons.
But then you look up and the clouds are gone for a while, and the sun comes out! And you don’t care that it is 40 degrees F. You put on two scarves and a wooly hat, and out you go.
We are blessed to live in our Laurelhurst/ Sunnyside neighborhood, with its gardens and hundred-year-old stone walls.
Moss and evergreens glow nicely in the low angled light of a Portland afternoon.
Succulents in a wall resemble magic gardens.
Azaleas and rhododendrons put out buds, defying the seasonal cold. And even though we know that tomorrow will be rainy and grey again, our mammal brains are happy for the light.
Love,
Grandma Judy.
Dear Liza 
How is Ken doing? Is the weather keeping him happy and healthy?
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He is of a variety of oak tree that keeps its dead leaves attached all winter, and loses them only in the spring when the new ones come in. So he looks really straggly, but he’s fine. He seems to like the rain and cold.
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