We're Home!

Saturday was our first family dinner.  We all said from the get-go that we wanted to make sure that at least once a month we picked a date for dinner together and with Thanksgiving looming, we just did it.  I cooked the spaghetti sauce I've made since the kids were little, Josh and Missy brought salad and Matt and Julia brought the bread and desert.  After an easy and informal dinner we played 1,000, our favorite dice game, followed by the hot tub.  That is followed by the hot tub for Josh and the boys - they loved it.  Ian and I still haven't gotten in it and we need to.  

This will be our third week in our house and we're already feeling at home.  I picked up the newsletter for the Deschutes Public Library when I went to book club last month and saw the terrific line-up of author visits for this year - yet to come, Elisabeth Gilbert, Lisa See and Alice Hoffman.

I bought tickets for James McBride, author of The Color of Water which I've read twice.  The information said he was coming, along with his band - the Good Lord Bird Band.  I soon learned that he named the band for his Nataional Book Award winning book and I knew that to have the best experience from the program I needed to read the book which I put on hold at the library.  I got it several days ago and read like mad, finishing it at lunch yesterday - the program was at 4:00.  What a wonderful experience and hands down the best author visit I've ever experienced, including those from The New Yorker Festival.  And since it was dinnertime, we ate out yet again.  I've gained six pounds since we got here which is a pound a week!

Meanwhile, I've picked some cones of yarn and am starting another set of towels which I call "Dusk."  I'm out of the several of the colors I like for my bright towels.  Since my studio is a loft and we heat with wood, I really need to do my work in the morning before it gets roasty toasty.

The weather is chilly with snow in the forecast but since it's not here yet, I took the time to clear out some of the undergrowth in our back yard.  The aspen tree was hidden in a jungle of aspen volunteers and tall grass.  I ripped and cut until at least I have it clear enough to enjoy.  It needs some additonal pruning; maybe a limb or two need to come off but for now it's really pretty.

This is the kitchen window and I was really frustrated that they had let this vine maple grow up so tall that I couldn't see the yard.  I took care of that today.

This is the dining area window - same thing.  The view was completely occluded and I was worried that I was over-cutting but now I think it needs a second visit with the clippers.

I piked my heap of trimmings from my assault against the fence, some bagged, most not.  We're supposed to get our truck back tomorrow from the mechanic.  We can take yard trimmings to the dump for half price until the 14th so I might need to add a few more clippings before the weather turns.

It's colder here and the higher humidity makes it feel colder.  It rained last night so when I took the dogs for our walk this morning, as soon as I left our driveway and stepped into the street I was on ice, something I never had to deal with on our dirt roads.  We're still in the Great Basin and it's almost the same here, only different.