November Rain

Lindsay marries Greg
 

Let's see, the first weekend of the month--oh yes--Lindsay's wedding.  What a wonderful time we had--witnessing Lindsay's big day.  We also stopped in to see the kids.

I volunteered to host the Friday Walkers at Thornbush on the 9th.  It rained each and every day that week, and then on Friday, sky was blue, sun was out, and more than twice the usual number of walkers showed up (this is a club that's been walking for twenty years or more).  I made a little map of the place, had them walk the perimeter trails, down Christmas Tree Row, over the ridge by the Eagle's nest, down through the nut orchard and Alder Pond, past the garden, then over to Eric's, up Alaska Place to Barbara's border trail, ending at the pond.  Then I gave them a farm tour.  It was well received but I really think they should come back in the Spring when things really look nice.

The week after that--Roger and I drove to Boise!  For the National Grange Convention.  This involved crossing the Cascades and the Blue Mountains twice in the middle of November.  We had a friend Suzie-sit, and we stayed overnight at my brother and sister-in-law's place in Richland.  Which seems to be roughly half-way between Anacortes and Boise.  Add a stop in Ellensburg to have lunch with an old friend and a stop in Baker City at the Sumpter Valley Cafe, and you've got yourself a pretty decent road trip.


Jane, Anita, and Roger's shadow in Ellensburg--not raining
 

At the convention, Roger and I took the "7th degree" which is the highest level for Grange members.  Cannot tell you about it as we are pledged to secrecy.  We met up with people we met last June at the State Convention, and met some nice new people from California, and met up with our friends Shann and Steve who were on their way to the Southwest for an adventure through the Grand Staircase.

Snoqualmie Pass on the way home
 

Of course, the following week we celebrated Thanksgiving.  Because the Barrecas took care of that holiday back in October, we had a small Ellison gathering at the Village at the Harbour, with an added visit from Roger's brother Guy earlier in the week.  I didn't have to cook!  But then, I didn't have any lovely leftovers, either.  The whole day would have ended quietly, but we had a phone call in the evening letting us know that Al had fallen and hit his head on a table leg.  Roger met with the EMT's at Al's bedside.  The hospital wasn't due to open for four more days.  The staff, after consultation with the on-call doctor, decided to wake Al up every hour to make sure he wasn't suffering from a concusion.  Fortunately, everything seems to be okay at this date.

Ellison boys laughing it up at the Cask with Al

I started a basket--biggest I've ever attempted.  We'll see if I get through it or not.  I'm learning a lot.  I worked on the even bigger living basket-- that is the grandchildren's "eagle nest".  This was fun because I was inside of the basket to work on it.  Felt like a Lilliputian.

Inside a basket
 

Then came Roger's 57th birthday.  I'd already given him the 3 new c.d.'s for our trip to Boise (I know--old school)  So, just a cake to bake, a couple other little things to wrap, and a trip to his favorite Mexican place for dinner.  That should round out the month.

The Very Rich Hours in October 2012

Looking back now it is doesn’t look like much of a list, but as it was happening it felt like I couldn’t cram one more thing into this busy month.  Both Roger and I had a lot of projects coming to fruition this month--Things that we’d been working on all year.

 

It began gently enough, the weather unseasonably fine, no rain for many weeks, records being broken.  I joined the island’s walking group on a walk to Cattle Point Lighthouse.

 

 And of course, Roger was again involved in the second annual Farm Parade.  This year, I got to ride in the truck with him, pumpkin man riding with us in the back.

 

 

Midmonth, the weather turned to its normal, rainy conditions, and is still trying to make up for lost time.  But I managed to drive to Olympia and then Rockaway Beach, Oregon in beautiful weather, stopping to have lunch overlooking Canon Beach.

 The reason for this trip South by myself was my attendance at the Columbia Basin Basketry Guild’s Fall Retreat.  I’d been wanting to go for several years, conflicts had always arisen.  This year I was determined to go despite the fact that the Barreca’s were meeting the very weekend of the retreat in Olympia at my sister’s for our annual early Thanksgiving celebration (Thankstween)

 

So I decided to go for just two days and three nights and signed up for one giant two day basketry class—making my own cedar hat.  I would leave Saturday morning and be back in Olympia in time for the big dinner party with 28 other family members.  Unfortunately, the weather going back up to Washington was unruly, I passed through several squalls (or did they pass through me?)  The roads were dicey, but I made it to my sister’s and had a nice visit with the family.  My husband, however, had gotten sick in the meantime and was unable to join us. L

 

 

 As soon as I got back home, it was all about the all-Island Textile Guild Meeting, that I, as SJ Island rep, was in charge of hosting.  We had a new venue, and a great speaker from Whidbey Island.  Also, I had decided to run the first ever “bag raffle” which meant collecting articles to raffle from the members, sorting, and bringing in the infrastructure to show off the items.  Thanks to the hard work of a core group of guild members, the meeting worked out great.

 Having no time to rest, the very next day, Thornbush was spotlighted for a “Farm Tour” as part of the “Savor the San Juans” festival, the festival that had started so many weeks earlier with the Farm parade.  Roger had been working all month to get the place ready, but the big push to make everything beautiful came in this last week.  It rained and poured all week and we weren’t expecting much of a turnout, but on Sunday, it stopped raining and the sun even peaked out for a minute or two.  There wasn’t a big rush of people touring, but a steady little dribble all day long.

 

Of course, out in the real world, the Presidential debates are changing the course of history, the Giants sweep the Tigers in the World Series, and the biggest damn storm ever hits the east coast.  Meanwhile . . .

 Monday, good friends from Seattle visited and left yesterday and today I got into costume and was able to show off my newly-made cowboy hat.  And so October comes to a close.