Some October, September flashback

No doubt some have wondered about the traditional "Pete's birthday with his daughters on his lap" photo; I had forgotten all about it, but hadn't downloaded the actual camera photos for a month and a half. Voila:

Clearly, that 65th year was a doozy. I look a little beat-up around the eyes, I think. I also look like my Mom, which is mostly a good thing.  Have I mentioned the ninja situation, lately?

Also, I've been on the road.  Montana, LA, you name it.  Just peddling my sorry self.  This is how that looked:

Oh yeah, Lucy!  This is what this blog is now about!  More of this action, all the time:

The other day, this past weekend we went out to "Thousand Acres," which is a kind of okay Jane Smiley novel and then also a big dogs-run-free area out on the Sandy River delta.  Lucy had an excellent time consorting with many big dogs, running wild.  I should have documented that; instead, I documented this:

Sometimes people are like, "Where are all the photos of YOU?"  So I'm trying to make up for that today.

Here's a still from that earlier movie situation.  The girls got these things out of the Christmas door, prematurely; while we were out at thousand acres, this big labrador kept leaping up on Ida, trying to bite these Santas as they bounced on their springs...also didn't capture that on film.

Don't worry, Lucy's alive!  But man she really, really loves this patch of sun.  And it's been very sunny lately.  And right now when I'm typing this it's quite sunny and she's out there next to the fern, basking.

Later on that same day, we drove out to Sauvie Island to snag some more pumpkins with the cousins and the Tumbleweeds gang.

You might think it would be really, really fun to rub these two together,

....but actually you'll get Burned by Firey sparks!

Ida and Miki helped out their friend Lucia, who was wearing a diaper.

Maggie and Theo totally lost track of where Elsie was.  Arthur would have helped out with this situation

except he was in Los Angeles seeking drama.

A glimpse

Fall Break at last; catching up, I hope, in every direction.  More images and reflections to come.  Meanwhile:

Haps and Goings On

So yes, it got right chilly upon our arrival in October!

It's been a little sad for me, Pete, to not spend as much time with Elsie and Theo since I no longer pick them up in the morning (not sad at all to not have to deal with Arthur's late-sleeping, etc), but we still get over there to hang out and eat za and drink cold ones upon a Friday.  Here the girls are playing a complicated make-believe game wherein Lucy plays the part of "The Old Bear."

Famous author Susan Choi came to visit us, and demanded we give her a "lounge chair like a throne" in our driveway.  The sun came out for her.

And the girls disgorged every art project from the last four years to show Susan, who felt or feigned great interest at every one.

Today was our annual junket out past Hood River with the Armstrong Paulsens to get pumpkins and pick huge amounts of apples.

Outside the corn maze!

Later, we had a delicious picnic at "Panorama Park," with its wonderful view of Mount Hood.

Lucy, doing her part to turn this from a baby blog into a dog blog, was quite into it.  There were also squirrels in the bushes.