Blue orbs of extreme delciousness

The blueberry bush we planted in the fall has given enough berries for mid-garden snacking and one round of fresh berry pancakes, oh the joy, oh the glories of fresh picked fruit...

But we still went and picked two more gallons up at Green Hill for freezing--summer splendor year round...

It's a jungle in there:

no vacations in this town...only manual labor!

My Dad came into town for the first time since we've been here. He came to relax, see the sights, our new house and check out our respective places of work.

But I had other plans...mwhahahahahaha

Actually, we did spend some time hanging out - we saw some wineries, hung out at the brewery, waltzed around campus and saw the latest offering in the Potter films series. But it's a close tie between the brewery and the hardware store for where we spent the most time over the weekend.

When my Mom was in town (in June) we took down the kitchen light to replace it with another; but the ceiling needed a coat of paint-thank goodness for long lit summer days-I finally had the motivation to paint this week.

I keep a running list of things that we want to change around the house. I got to cross A LOT of things off that list this weekend:

Replace kitchen light.

Add screen door to front of house.

Special Delivery! --the perks of working for a small shop...

Replace sliding glass doors.

Remove rotting deck.

The remains:

Thinking...

the Beatles make me cry.

On removing blackberries

You may recall when I spent the better part of a day last summer turning this:Into this:The removal of blackberries in the backyard was not a complete success, however, the care (read:machete thrashing) that I gave them was really more of a pruning exercise. they have flourished on the other side of the fence, so much so that we turned them into this last night:A variation on dutch babies...erm...Dutch Mama. Yum.

On this day...

1810: Colombia declared independence from Spain

1881: Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops

1969: Humankind took a "giant leap." The celebration of the 40th anniversary is being used to bolster arguments for a mission to Mars.

1999: Grissom's Mercury 7 capsule (1961) was recovered from the Atlantic

2007: W signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment in the detention and interrogation of terrorist suspects

2009: I awoke on the occasion of the start of my 29th year and thought, surely, I live a charmed life.

We spent the weekend camping at Crater Lake, what better way to usher in a moment of aging?

Some highlights:

A self portrait, with my head blocking Wizard Island



I love typos in official print. These were in the menu for the super swank grand lodge dining room:

Appetizers will be "severed"
...and Lava Cake has "fresh fresh" whipped cream...use your own imagination









We opted to dine in the lounging area outside the dining room, kicking off our shoes and settling into a squishy leather couch:

Wizard Island through the tree stump:
Tent and trees:
Sun setting over Joe and Linds:

Taking photos of Phantom Ship at the top of our hike:

Grasshopper chillin':

Phantom Ship (to left) and debris flow (to right):

Some snow remains, I graffitied this pile with my hand prints (effing cold...and not refreshing on a 90 degree day cold...it was frostbite in July cold)

Coming down the mountain, hollowed tree and Wizard Island sneaking out:

Wildflowers were just beginning to peek out:

Thirsty, dusty, hot trail:
"Natural fire, do not report" - all weekend there was a blaze and some chopper activity:

At the top of the hike, sun-kissed and smiles, we shared some kettle chips and a bottle of Radiant (very refreshing).
Pano: