Do you want some ketchup or mustard with that?

We had some interesting visitors tonight. One was a 2 and a half foot tall monkey holding a pumpkin. We had an few angels, a butterfly, pirates, some nondescript gargoyle-ish creatures, and a member of the star wars groupies with a really cool light saber that made crashing noises when it hit things. About 9pm, way too late for little kids to be out, we got a knock at our door. Opening it up we found ketchup, mustard, and a pregnant nun (escorted by two others...apparently not well enough, considering the nun). Puma wasn't too sure what to think of them either!
Don't you all have a calculus test tomorrow????

New Arbor

It's difficult to find time to finish projects when the list is really long of items demanding attention but we finally finished putting in an arbor in our front yard. It's holding a Jasmine plant. Originally the plant was under the window but I had misread the growth rate (20 feet not 20 inches...oops!) so we needed to move it. People who know things about plants roll their eyes and smile when they here I thought the Jasmine was going to be small but the picture did make it look that way and I don't know much about plants. Learning by trial and error I guess. Anyway, now it's found a new home and can grow as big as it wants.

Toketee Falls

Weekend Adventure

Saturday a good friend from grad school drove ALL THE WAY DOWN to visit and go to Crater Lake. I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. We were going to hike down to the water but it decided to snow the day before and we weren't prepared for to hike in it. We still enjoyed the view. It was rather weird going from the Burg in the valley where summer is just ending, to the surrounding mountains in full autumn color, to winter white, and back again all in one day. I live in an amazing place! Here are a few pictures of our trip, including a waterfall we stopped at along the way. Apparently there is also a hot spring near this waterfall but we couldn't find it.

By the way: Crater Lake is one of the clearest and deepest lakes in the world. On clear summer days when the sun is directly overhead the blueness of the water takes my breath away. There's no way to describe how incredible it is.