Cindy Hval

The first dusting of snow in the Spokane area had folks scrambling for missing mittens and digging winter coats from the back of the closet. In the quest to stay warm, electric baseboards are clicking, and gas furnaces blowing, but some residents are simply putting another log on the fire. For the past 31 years George Wickholm has used wood to heat his own home in Nine Mile, on the shores of Long Lake. He has one wood stove in his home and one in his shop.

Not everyone believes in love at first sight, but Betty Purkett does. While shopping with her daughter-in-law she fell in love with a Thimbleberries quilt she saw hanging in a quilt store in Longmont, Colo. Thimbleberries is a fabric and pattern line featuring classic country styles and warm, earth-toned colors.

Visitors opening the door to Harry and Sue Hart's South Hill home are in for a delightful surprise. Instead of a small, cramped entryway, common in homes like this one built in 1904, a spacious panorama of color delights the eyes. According to Harry, a retired airline pilot, when they first opened the front door three years ago, the couple came face to face with a large plywood closet.

Dave and Sandy Graf love the outdoors. So, when they built their home in Hauser, Idaho, three years ago, they decided to keep things as close to nature as possible. "We wanted our landscaping to transition into the natural beauty," Sandy Graf said.

In the children's book, "The Kissing Hand," Chester Raccoon is scared to leave his mom and go to school for the first time. His mother tells him the secret of the kissing hand. She kisses the palm of his left hand and tells him whenever he's scared or lonely, to press his hand to his cheek and think, "Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, and that very kiss will jump to your face and fill you with toasty warm thoughts."

One woman, crocheting blankets in her South Hill living room, has made a difference in the lives of hundreds of area children. In Spokane County, there currently are 924 children in foster care, according to Lisa Johnson, supervisor of placement coordination for the Division of Children and Family Services. Ninety children each month are placed in foster care for reasons ranging from physical abuse to neglect.

When Kristen Lobdell and her sister, Darci Hastings, purchased a 1903 bungalow five years ago, the lawn was dying and the landscaping nonexistent. Now, thanks to Lobdell's passion for gardening, visitors to the home on the lower South Hill are greeted by a dazzling display of color. Lobdell and her sister both married shortly after purchasing the home, so Hastings moved out and Lobdell's husband, Nick Lobdell, moved in.

After Margaret Bouland's two sons and their wives painted her home's interior walls for her, the North Side resident was ready for something different. Instead of hanging her decorations back up on the white walls, she asked her granddaughter, Jennifer Schofield, for help. Bouland had read about decorative painting. Schofield, a student of fashion design, loves art. Together they pored over magazines for inspiration, and then Bouland set her granddaughter free to create.

It's that time of the year where leaves turn golden and scarlet, covering lawns and gardens with a colorful carpet. But, don't be in such a hurry to rake, bag and discard those leaves says Ann Murphy, Education Coordinator for Spokane Regional Solid Waste System. She uses the leaves from her two maple trees to add to her compost bin.

Seven years ago, while skiing in Whitewater, B.C., local artist Renè Goebel suffered a heart attack. She was 46 years old. "When death comes knocking it teaches you to slow down and enjoy life," she said. Goebel incorporated that lesson in the home she designed, which was completed in 2003.

What do you do with surplus zucchini? Most folks bake bread, but a couple of Spokane Valley neighbors have found that their zucchini is the gift that keeps on giving. When Kevin and Linda Fairhurst received a super-size squash, Kevin offered it to his neighbors, Cathy and Henry Peden. "No thanks," Cathy Peden said.

When Roger Shawgo was a child he got a toy replica of a gas station. He enjoyed playing with it, and when he grew up, he and his brother bought a Texaco gas station of their own. They operated it in Newport, Wash., for a couple of years in conjunction with a tire shop. When they closed the station to focus on the tire store, Shawgo bought all the original signage from Texaco for $1. Thus began a collection that would one day need a home of its own.

In 1999, Darina Green was in a car accident and suffered a serious brain injury. "I couldn't think well. I had unusually bad headaches. Nothing helped the excruciating pain," the Spokane Valley woman said.

What do you get when you combine 7,300 wine corks, 15 tubs of silicone and 15,000 nails? If you're Del Mallery, you get a privacy wall that's a work of art. Mallery, who lives north of Spokane, has been collecting wine corks for 20 years. Friends who know of his collection have sent him corks from around the world. This summer he decided to build a privacy wall on his deck, and in the middle of the night it came to him – why not use his vast collection of wine corks?

Enjoying a cup of coffee while it's piping hot. Having an uninterrupted conversation with an adult.

Just off busy Dishman-Mica Road, Paul and Kathie Scott have created a lush oasis. The Scotts share a passion for landscape design and gardening. "We're seven years into our five-year landscape project," said Kathie Scott.

In 1977 Lory Miller, then single, drove by a turn-of-the-century home perched on top of the North Monroe Street hill and fell in love with it. She wrote the address down and tucked it away along with other "someday" dreams.

Sister Karen Conlin has taught cello at Holy Names Music Center for 27 years. But, on the afternoon of Sept. 18 she thought she'd walked into the wrong studio. "Am I in the right room?" she asked. Stunned, she gazed around the studio. "What is this?"