Holly's birthday party

We celebrated Holly's birthday with a wig and wine party.

Saving a tree, making a mess

We didn't feel like getting a real tree, especially because we knew that we would be gone for the Xmas holiday, so we decided to make one. It was awesome, kinda messy, but rad!

Brief: Gull/ Gone to Croatoan

Craig passed through town with some bands that he documented on their tour: Gull and Gone to Croatoan. They were great and it was fun to get out and see live music!
Here's Gull- an amazing one man show/machine!!!


Gone to Croatoan's raw power:


post show:


And then there was a pile!

Colorado family visit and Idaho Bird

Our Thanksgiving adventure began in Colorado. It was so great to visit with Dad and Patricia where we also caught up with Guido, the busy bee! We also met Waffle, Patricia's cute little Shiatsu! He does one trick and here it is:




Next we spent a few days with Connie, Clif and the kids. CD, Connie and I drove up to Greeley to visit with Grandma and got a nice surprise: we also got to visit with my aunts Jeannette and Mary Ann (along with Uncles Dave and Max). The rest of the time we spent playing with the kids, hanging out and being silly. Our time was short, but very enjoyable (as always!)



Next we headed to Driggs, Idaho for our annual Bird Get-together. Always fabulous to hang out with our friends from way back. Thanks to Eunice and Maz for hosting and to J for making the trip from Indiana. Love seeing him!!
Lots of shared meals, new friends, bonfire, dancing, foosball, getting dressed up and cooking for Thanksgiving dinner, hiking in the snow, petting Lefty (one of the cutest kitties, ever!), redheads unite!, turkey coma, chopping wood, sunshine, dropped yams and so much more!!

Pictures!!

All New! American roommate/Mexican Toilet!

We got a roommate: Holly! She's a fellow physicist that teaches in CD's department.
Here we are shooting the potato gun at the beach:



Blast off!!



We also finally replaced the leaky toilet in the bathroom downstairs. We'd been wasting water and feeling guilty about it, so we figured in the long run... better to spend a bit now on a new porcelain bowl than keep paying for one of our most precious resources: water.
CD using his level:




Check out our toilet spoof of Office Space on Youtube!

We've also begun playing the weekly trivia at Blondie's in Arcata. Last Monday, we became champs!! Here we are with The Belt!
Our team, the Sig Figs: Dave, Catherine, CD and Holly!!!

Dan and Rebecca visit!

The first weekend in November brought visitors to the house. Dear friend Dan volunteered to give a seminar at the university, so he and wife Rebecca came for a long weekend. We were very lucky with good weather for exploring the beach and the redwoods.

Saturday we visited the farmer's market (one of its lasts for the season) and then went to the jetty to check out some gigantic waves. The whole beach was flooded and everyone and their brother was hanging up on the dunes watching the nature show. It was amazing!
After lunch on the waterfront, CD gave them a ride up on the plane. It was fun and sunny! That evening we stayed in and had a lovely meal followed by a fierce game of Trivial Pursuit.
The next day, we drove to the Avenue of the Giants to see big trees, many varieties of mushrooms, ferns and lichens. It was a nice fall day: sunny and crisp! That evening, CD and Dan brewed some beer. From what I understand, Dan has been brewing prolifically lately, while CD and I don't drink much beer anymore. It was nice to get back into it! Thanks to Dan for the impetus!
All pictures here, in addition to a few from the beach hike I mentioned in my last post.

October recap

A third of the month I spent on the R/V Wecoma, helping with the buoys and playing lots of cribbage. Once I got home, it took a few days for things to get back to normal. It's always a bit overwhelming to get back to cooking and interacting with a bigger population sample. Walking on terra firma is strange and driving a car feels very foreign.






Highlights of the month included: an Ani DiFranco concert at the Arcata Community Center, dry weather for hiking, carving pumpkins, Halloween on the plaza, and a Mexican themed dinner party for Dia de los Muertos. More pics of some of the shenanigans here.

Blog Hiatus

As most of you know, I'm embarking on a 4 1/2 week work cruise to help with the TAO buoy moorings along the 110W and 95W parallels. If you want to see the location of the buoys, there's a map here. I will be sailing on the Wecoma based out of Newport, Oregon. It is associated with Oregon State University.



I have a few entries that are not done and I won't have time to upload them during the next 24 hours before I lose all connection to the internet (except for some email on the ship's server, I will be disconnected- somebody pulled my plug!!) I will still upload them when I return in October.

I had hoped to update this blog regularly with pictures and posts of these adventures, but I will try to keep a brief log to share upon my return. If you desperately need to reach me, contact CD, my official liaison on land. Even if I can't communicate, I will think of all my family and friends often. Be well everyone. Peace out!

Fig Salad

Lettuce, figs, blue cheese, walnuts, vinagrette. Need I say more?

Weekend of Sound

The redwood curtain keep us from the world at large, but every once in a while, we get some performers who cross it to bring their live shows here. The bands we love make their way to our little corner of the world to share their music. This weekend was spectacular: Built to Spill and the Del McCoury band. They were awesome!

Doug and the Bretts perform outside at the HSU campus:

We met Doug later at the Jambalaya where he was spinning records. I told him my new favorite joke and he seemed to like it (even if he's not smiling for the photo)

The day after the BTS show was the Organic Planet Festival where the legendary Del McCoury band performed. Oh, the hippies were getting down and dancing. It was great! They played lots of traditionals and took many requests.

Afterwards, CD got to meet his hero, Del. He's amazing!!!

Buffalo wedding, Niagara Falls honeymoon?

Bridge and Christian tied the knot!!!! It was a lovely weekend where we met up with friends of old and made new ones as well.

The ceremony and reception were beautiful, just like the bride!

I have to admit though that my favorite part of the weekend was our excursion to Niagara falls. We did the Cave of the winds tour. It was a religious experience! The sheer power of the water cascading down on us, I believe in Mother Nature!

More pics are here.

Visit Home: Minnesota

Summer, as can be seen by previous posts, is a great time for our household because CD is off work and we can take a lot of trips: camping, seeing new sights and all our favorite people. We love vacationing with CD's parents, Paige and Dave; we always have tons of fun. So it was a no brainer to head to Minnesota and spend time together: swimming, playing cards, eating and relaxing.

Here Paige and CD enjoy some of Dave's great homebrew:

CD and Dave man the grill:

One of our first days there, we took the canoe to the St Croix and enjoyed some paddling around. We love canoeing and have considered getting a canoe to enjoy near home, although the temperatures in Humboldt are much lower and we might need wetsuits!

Also, on the agenda, was some home repair. Dave is changing out a few of the deck posts that have rotted with moisture. CD and Dave enjoyed a quick trip to the hardware store to get these gigantic drill bits. And so it begins...

Then, CD tried it too:

As an added bonus, a lot of flowers in Paige's garden were in full bloom providing some sweet nectar for the honey bees.

Finished garage!!!! ummmm, I mean.... Man Room!

CD's skills!!!!

Another action shot:

Finished!






...and getting organized

CD relaxing on the futon (Thanks to Pat for the dartboard and darts)

Point Reyes National Seashore

Weekend of camping with old and new friends.

Wendy and I had to actually pencil in this weekend months in advance to make it work. In the past, we've agreed to get together "sometime this summer" and the season just slips away and we've missed our chance. Not this time! The weekend was certain, but the location was still flexible. Some of her fellow friends were headed to Point Reyes to see a band they knew playing the local pub in town, so it was agreed that this was going to be a very fun weekend. Additionally we would hike, drive around to see the local sights and share some meals.

CD and I drove down Friday and met Wendy mid afternoon. It was great to spend a bit of time with her and catch up on family and work and all things in between. Wendy is one of my oldest friends, ever since we bonded in AP History in high school. Her boyfriend Stu and friends Meghan and Jordan arrived after dark. We had the radio going and the fire burning and apparently we got a bit too loud. To be expected with a group of six sharing stories and jokes! What a good group!

CD and Jordan enjoy some brews:

Wendy and Stu stay warm:

On Saturday, we did a half-day hike to the beach, but the fog was thick and visibility limited. The one good thing was that it keep us cool by shielding us from the sun!

Meghan, Wendy, Stu, Catherine and CD:

The afternoon was spent driving around when we stumbled upon a small town festival with oysters, beer and live music! There was also a massive library book sale where CD and I scored some great books, classics and bestsellers alike.

That evening, we dined out in Point Reyes Station and then headed to the local bar for some great blues music and heated pool games.

Stu carefully selects an oyster:

Sunday morning, we went to see the lighthouse. It was beautiful and although there was quite a bit of wind, the sun was shining brightly.

On our way home, CD and I met up with a former housemate from college, Barb. She lives in Berkeley now which means we're getting back in touch and I finally met her husband Justin. Lovely people!

We drove up highway 1 until Fort Bragg which was just about sunset time. A great summer weekend!

Ashland, Oregon (aka Ladies Mini Road trip)

Our friend Kim, who regularly resides in Denmark, visited Humboldt for most of the summer; she is dating CD's plane mate Dave.

We've enjoyed great dinner parties with them and at a recent one, we came up with the idea of going to Ashland, Oregon. I had heard very good things about this town: they have the Oregon Shakespeare festival and it is home to the University of Southern Oregon. It was a great small town!

CD and Dave wanted to fly there, but there was no way that all four of us could pile into 'Victor', as I call the plane. So they flew and Kim and I drove. During the progress of the planning, another friend joined in the fun; with the addition of Bella, it really became a Ladies mini road trip!

On our way there, we stopped in Crescent city and picked up the fixings for a picnic on the Smith river. Unfortunately, the drive was much longer than the fly-in, so we didn't have enough time to take a dip or dilly dally. Kim and Dave brought a bunch of food for dinner and then we caught "Much ado about nothing" at the Shakespeare festival.

Dave and Kim enjoy some ice cream after the show:

The drive back was even more fun. After dropping off the boys at the airport, we went to Dagoba Chocolate for lots of sampling. I also picked up a few xocolatl bars for my upcoming work trip.

Bella and Kim outside of Dagoba:

Quite nearby was Weisinger's of Ashland, a local winery where we absolutely "had to" try their delicious wines. I didn't imbibe too much since I was driving, but instead picked up a couple of bottles to share with CD later.

On our return, we stopped at the same spot on the Smith river to take that much anticipated dip. The weather wasn't ideal, but we dared each other to get in and once we did, our reward was sunshine. We had a great time!

Our last stop was introducing Kim to Paul Bunyan at the Trees of Mystery: