HALLOWEEN !!!!!!

Well the big day has finally arrived. We really love Halloween around here. We did carve the pumpkin, toast the seeds, and even got carmel apples. In the past I always made the apples myself. But this year, with just the two of us, I cheated and bought our apples at The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. (see photos). Ron worked hard to create an Alien pumpkin.It was a great pumpkin in the seed count, so many. I may be burning the house down with all the candles I like to light. But what fun!!!

Now I am sitting here answering the door for all the cute little critters that come trick or treating. This truly is a wonderful holiday.

SAT/SUN

SATURDAY

Ok, so I let my batteries go dead yesterday and missed our lovely dinner out last night. Ronnie took us all to the Dragonfly. We had champagne, wine, wonderful appetizers, great food. But best of all was the company. From there we went to a Cigar Bar, at least that is what they called it. It is otherwise known as the Hong Kong Bar. A friend of Rick's owns it. Ronnie, Rick and Aaron smoked cigars while Ron, Amy and I watched.

P.S. Earlier in the day Amy and I went to the movies to see NORTH COUNTRY. It was a very moving movie. I bet Charlize Theron is nominated for this one this year. There may be other nominations also, great acting.

SUNDAY

The extra hour of sleep was appreciated by all. We had coffee/tea and visited this morning. Once football started Amy and I headed off to Lithia Park for a walk. It was even more beautiful than last Monday. We both had our cameras and photographed away. We arrived home to hear the "exciting news" that the Rams had won their game. We followed that with Sunday spaghetti dinner. The men then returned to more football watching. Amy is studying and I am doing this blog thing.

P.S. May had to fly to Thailand. Her step-dad died last week. He was only in his fifties, but had serious heart problems. May is doing OK. She finished her last radiation treatment Tuesday before she flew out. We do miss her very much. She will be home Tuesday, the 8th. Thank God.

KIDS ARRIVE

Friday night the kids arrived around 8:00pm. We enjoyed pizza, beer, and wine. How much fun is that? Our guests were Ron, Amy, Rick, and Amy's brother, Aaron. So too cool!

A WALK THROUGH THE PARK

This morning was Mary's day to fly back to Seattle. We decided to take a stroll through Lithia Park to check the colors again. This walk was important to take before we went to the airport. I warned you back awhile ago that I am a fall freak. Also soon we leave for the south where seasons are less colorful. So I am soaking it all in and sharing it with you all while I can. So enjoy.

GIRLS' WEEKEND DAY THREE

Today was our farewell day already. How fast it goes! Breakfast was spinach fritatta, fruit in yogurt, and banana bread. Best of all is spending two and a half hours chatting once more. We are a talkative group.

It is always difficult to say goodbye. And this beautiful spot was extra hard to leave. Mary and I left Roseann, Carol, and Mary and drove back to Ashland.

GIRLS' WEEKEND DAY TWO

On Saturday we were served an absoultely delicious breakfast of cinnamon french toast and fruit. We then drove into Mt. Shasta City to shop and have lunch. I love most all the fall colors, of course. We had "linner" (it was kind of late for lunch and early for dinner) at a new and very popular restaurant the name of which suddenly aludes me.

After a stop at a very old fashioned candy store we returned to the B & B and drank tea and ate candy and visited and visited and visited. It was 1:00 am before we finally turned in. We act a bit goofy on these trips.

GIRLS' WEEKEND DAY ONE

Friday afternoon, after picking my friend, Mary up at the airport we drove south to McCloud, California. It is a very small town sitting at the foot of Mt. Shasta. We rented the entire Hogin House Bed & Breakfast. When we do this the owners usually give us the kitchen for one evening to make our own meal.

So we settled into our rooms and then poured wine and shared yummy breads, spreads, and other treats. We also shared all our family stories and caught up on everyone's adventures since we met five months ago. It is so much fun! These are friends I met in first grade, so they are extra special.

BACK HOME

Well we all packed up and left beautiful Sunriver. Life goes on.

Once home again Ron and I are back to our usual neighborhood walk. What is unusual about it is the fall color. As I've said before I go absolutely nuts around here this time of year. Once again I am enclosing photos. All of these pictures were shot just on our little two mile walk around our house.

I also included a snapshot of the house around the corner that surpasses any other in our town for decorations. They are famous every holiday for their amazing decorations. The picture of the little kids is a friend of mine who does day care. She was walking her charges to see the special house. They were so cute, I couldn't resist capturing them for the memory.

Tomorrow I head off for my girls' weekend. It is something my friends and I do twice a year. We began this after Angela died and in her honor. "Girl bonding" was so important to her that we decided to make an extra effort to do this. We always toast her memory and thank her in our hearts for the inspiration. This October we are going to McCloud, a very small town in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. We rent the whole Bed & Breakfast and just catch up on each other's lives. (Photos to follow, after the weekend.)

SUN RIVER DAY FIVE

This is our last full day in Sun River. Our friends, Francie and Gary, left around 10:30 this morning. Soon after Margaret and Arnold, Ron and I took a five mile hike along the Deshutes River. Magnificent views! (pictures)

We then came home and had lunch. Jan and I worked on a Jigsaw puzzle as we love to do when we are here.(picture)

Margaret and Arnold made linquine with clam sauce. Delicious! We also had crusty bread and Ceasar Salad with it. Yum, yum. All of this is served with great wines. (picture)

Margaret and I finished our Jigsaw puzzle (the second for this long weekend). (picture)

Now Ron is watching the Ram's game which I must say he has been gracious enough to miss for our dinner and socializing time. Let's hope they win. Difficult to do, seeing that Bulger has sprained a shoulder.

It will be sad to see this weekend end. It may be months before we get together with these precious friends again. I always miss them when we winter down south. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything all the time.

SUN RIVER DAY FOUR

We are having too much fun here. Today we all took a long walk in the morning, shopped in the afternoon, and went out to dinner tonight.

To make up for yesterday, today's entry will be mostly pictures.

SUN RIVER DAY THREE

When we awoke this morning it was raining. However, by mid-morning it had pretty much cleared up. So Ron and I decided to take a walk.

Our plan for afternoon was to enjoy the Sun River Village Octoberfest. We went with visions of Sausage and Sauerkraut. In reality the only remotely German offering was some "Costcoesque" sausage-like dog on a bun, not too enticing. So we picked up some yummy German sausage and sauerkraut at the local country store, came back to the house, cooked sausage in beer and celebrated with German beer. Not much of a beer drinker myself, but it was a wonderful cooking sauce.

After that we went to the movies to see PROOF. Very interesting. This is our original video group from 12 years ago. This led to much fun discussion on the film.

Sorry I only have one photo. Hope to do better tomorrow.

SUN RIVER DAY TWO

Another lovely day in paradise. We moved around rather slowly this morning. Coffee/tea, newspaper, crossword puzzle. The usual. This afternoon we had lunch on the deck. We then walked through Sun River Resort. It is kind of slow this time of year.

In the later afternoon Jim, Jan's husband, arrived followed by more friends, Francie and Gary. Ron and I made pizza, after all it was Friday night. Lots of good friends, wine, some drinks, and great conversation. What fun!

SUN RIVER VISIT

Today we headed northeast to Sun River, Oregon. It is a lovely resort about 10 miles south of Bend, Oregon. We have dear friends, Jan and Jim McChesney, who have invited us to stay with them for the next four or five days.

On our drive up here we stopped by the Rogue River Gorge (Picture). We also saw Mt Theilson (picture). Quite a magnificent mountain. We went into Bend for some groceries at Costco. We had lunch in a sweet little park called Larkspur (picture, Ron eating). Next we met Jan at her home in Sun River (picture, out front with Ron). This is probably our eighth or ninth time here. Yet, I will never get used to the amazing beauty of this place. Fall is such an incredibly colorful time in this central Oregon setting. We are so blessed to be here. More to follow.....

FALL FREAK, THAT'S ME

Well, here I am after nearly two weeks absence. Rick told me the other day that if I had nothing good enough to blog I should do something. He is so right! Ron and I get into such a routine around here, a wonderful one, but a routine nonetheless.

Anyway, anyone who knows me knows I am a "Fall Freak". Really, I go crazy in the Fall. Ever since we moved to Oregon the Fall blows my mind. The changing of the colors on the trees is so breathtaking. Many times each Fall I find myself just pulling the car over to look at the leaves. I also love the brisk mornings and evenings separated by warm sunny days. This is definitely my favorite season. So these probably won't be the last photos I will send of my favorite spots.

Another funny event happened one afternoon when Ron poured out his golf balls on our lawn in back. (That's where he practices his chipping.) You see, we have seven chickens living next door and sometimes they visit. Well, this one day they all appeared just as he was dumping his golf balls out. The chickens watched quite curiously. Then when Ron started hitting the balls they began making all kind of noise. The only thing I could figure was that they thought the balls were eggs. They really did raise quite a fuss. Once he had hit them all they ran over to them and kept pecking at the balls and checking them over. I felt very sorry for those chickens. I think Ron thought it was all pretty humorous.