Sour Cherry Tart

When Anna was here she brought her great camera with her. The neat thing about Anna's camera is that she actually knows how to use it - so she gets these amazing pictures. One of the settings on her camera allows her to isolate a single color and bring it out in the photograph - and that is how she captured these shots of the sour cherries in our tree on the front bank.

Kathryn & I picking cherries. We had just enough to make one tart -- the tree is just about one year old.

Kathryn & the tart - She did all the hard work baking!

While Anna was here we also went to a concert at the zoo -- here's a shot Anna's friend Connie took of Thor, Anna & I.

Summer Berry Picking

This past week Anna came to visit from Hawaii! (Which I think I mentioned in my earlier post). She & Kathryn drove down from Seattle on Monday night and Tuesday I took the day off so we could head out to Sauvie's Island to go berry picking. We headed out to the Pumpkin Patch late in the morning and in just about 2 hours had picked three flats of berries! Mostly strawberries, but we got some raspberries as well. We headed home and that afternoon we made 12 pints of jam. Delicioius!

Short Track 2009 - Race 1

Last week was the first race of the 2009 Short Track Mtn. bike race series. This year it will run for seven weeks up at PIR - each week will be a different course! This past week Anna & Kathryn drove down to come and cheer for Thor & I. That's right - Thor did a bike race!!!! This was his first competitive race since I signed him up for the Pacific Crest Triathlon two years ago - and he had a great time! Anna took some pictures of us racing - I'm posting one of me going through the finish area and the rest are of Thor in his first mtn. bike race!

Surveyor's Ridge Ride

Two weekends ago Thor and I rode Surveyor's Ridge (yes - this is a very belated post!) The trail was great - we had a blast - here are some pictures - I shouldn't be posting while at work - gotta go!

Four Little Munchkins

My cousin, Alana, sent this picture over. Her mom is busy scanning all their old family photos and Alana just couldn't resist passing this one on to Anna & I. I don't know for sure...but I'm going to guess this was in 1985!

From the left: Alana, Lara, Me & Anna

Mt.Tabor 2009 - Race 1

Last week was the first race in the annual Mt.Tabor Race Series. For the first time I was doing this series as a Cat 3 racer, and let me tell you, I was NOT looking forward to doing this race with all the faster women! (Very fast, explosive riding uphills. Not my forte.)
About 30 seconds before they started our race they made an announcement that because they were short on time they would be running ALL the women together. This was the best news ever because: a) it meant that my race would be 2 laps shorter than I had thought (6 instead of 8), and b) I would have some Cat 4 women to ride with instead of just doing the Cat 3 race by myself. I ended up getting dead last in my category - which is a first for me - but I'm not actually that upset about it. I rode as hard as I could and thought I was going to have a heart attack on a couple of the hills - so it's not like I was slacking!
Here are some pictures of myself and a couple of my teammates racing last week.

Picture from http://www.sosovelo.com/

Picture by Jenn Levo

Picture by Jenn Levo

Here's my teammate, Margi, racing in the Cat 4 division. Margi has our new kit on - they are pretty sharp, although the colors are not quite as intense as we thought they would be.

Picture from http://www.sosovelo.com/

And here is Abby racing with the 3's! (she's the furthest on the left in orange & blue).

Picture from http://www.sosovelo.com/

Madsen Cycle Contest

Help us win a Madsen Cycle!!! These bikes are amazing and so super functional! They're great for toting kids, dogs, large grocery loads, etc. around town and Thor & I have been lusting after one for ages (just can't quite justify actually purchasing one right now). To help us win the contest just click on the link below - the Madsen Cycle site will do the rest. Thanks!

Charles & Lisa's Wedding in Indiana!

This past weekend Thor & I traveled to West Lafayette, IN for my cousin, Charles', wedding. We flew first thing on Friday morning and managed to arrive just in time to make the 7:30 pm rehearsal dinner.

The next morning I caved and made a trip to the WalMart that was across the street from our hotel. Blargh. My feelings towards shopping at Walmart are summed up quite nicely in the first couple of sentences in this blog posting on one of my current favorite blogs: Pacing the Panic Room. (You need to click on his link at the top that says 'Maternity Series' and check out the photos he has taken of his wife throughout her pregnancy. Beautiful.)

Anyhow - after I had satisfied my craving for cheap sunglasses and shoddily sewn sundresses my mom & I tromped back to the hotel and got ready for Charles & Lisa's wedding that afternoon on her grandparent's farm.

A shot of Charles and his best-man (twin brother David) watching Lisa come down the aisle.

Lisa & her Dad (P.S. she sewed her dress herself!!!)

My Mom, William, myself & Thor after the wedding. It was pretty warm & muggy, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. I was thankful for the cooler weather!

William & I at the reception.

Thor, William & I. (Maybe this is after eating delicious wedding cake? I have a pretty big smile on my face!)

One of the highlights of the afternoon was having Grandpa Bill teach us how to drive on one his antique tractors. It was a little tricky driving in my wedges, but I managed to get the clutch down far enough to get 'er moving!

Thor with Bill's large collection of beautiful, antique tractors.

On Saturday night after the wedding some of us went out to dinner at the XXX Family Restaurant. This is near the Purdue University campus where my grandmother got her B.S.. She used to eat at the XXX all the time so this was a real treat to go and sit at the very same bar where she used to hang out in her early twenties (she'll be 92 this fall!)

Front Bank Update

Thor & I have been spending A LOT of time working on our front bank lately. We're laying the rock in the bank ourselves and trying to put in some larger plants so that the bank will fill in over the next few years. I don't have all the exact names of the plants we put in, but here are some of the plants we've put in so far:

• Coral Bark Maple - This is the large tree on the left of the bank.
• Callistemon - We have a 'Woodlanders' variety planted on the lower edge of the bank. This is an evergreen plant from Australia that blossoms gorgeous red flowers once a year.
• Sedum 'Xenox' - We have three of these spaced out along the bank. They have lovely dark foliage that is green & mauve in the spring and darkens to a deep burgundy by the fall. I'm hopeful that they will survive any cold weather we have as they are supposedly hardy to -40 F!
• Ceanothus 'Tilden Park' - This is a great evergreen plant that has gorgeous blue flowers in the spring and summer. We have three of these spaced out around the bank as well. One of the reasons we selected this plant is because they are quite drought tolerant and are supposed to do well in poor soil (which is pretty much our entire front bank!)
• 'Regal Splendor' Lavandula stoechas - I bought two of this lavendar last year for a different part of the yard, but they weren't doing well in the partial shade so I transplanted them to the front bank in the hopes that they will like the full sun better.
• 'Munstead' Lavandula angustifolia - This was another lavendar that I bought last year that didn't work out well -- so it has been transplanted too. I think we have three of this variety on the front bank.
• 'Blue Cushion' Lavandula angustifolia - This is the third type of lavendar that we have in the front bank - we only have one though -- it's planted by itself over on the right side of the bank.
• Berberis thunbergii 'Rose Glow' - This is a variegated barberry -- we have 5 of these on the bank - they're drought tolerant and we selected them because of their year round burgundy color.
• Dicliptera suberecta - This is a little plant from Uruguay. I'll admit that I got this partially because it's supposed to be a hummingbird attractant, partially because it does well in poor soil, and partially because it reminds me of my sister, Anna, because she lived in Uruguay for a little while during high school!

Here is the bank as it looked about three days ago - we've been busy trying to mulch the open areas so that we don't get so many weeds!

And here is a before picture just in case you forgot what the bank looked with the hedge!

Mtn. Biking the McKenzie River Trail

This past Saturday we got up early & drove south to ride the McKenzie River Trail. We met our friends Megan, Sarah, Becky, Josh & Abby at 6:45 a.m. to begin the drive down to the trailhead. Here is Thor loading five mountain bikes into the back of our truck for the drive -- to do the shuttle we had seven bikes in the back and all seven of us in the cab of the truck - tight!


The only shot of Thor & I from the day -- you can just catch a glimpse of Sahalie Falls behind us.

Our good friends Abby & Becky. Both little speedsters!

Thor at the 'Blue Pool' (he is the very wee person at the bottom of the photograph) -- this is where the river comes up out of the ground. It's absolutely gorgeous and just shy of the half way point in the trail.