Pre Christmas Snowshoeing.

William, Adele and I all had Friday off of work so we decided to head up to Mt. Hood to get in a day of snowshoeing before we headed our separate ways for Christmas: w&a to Maui, and myself to the Oregon coast. snowshoeing was great! tons of fresh, fluffy snow - and we were even able to wear Sookie out a bit.

It's the Holiday Season - Felted Santas!!!

In preparation for the holiday season our knitting group abandoned the needles for a bit and turned to felting to create some unique holiday decorations!   Making the felted santas was a total hit, and everyone left with a totally different looking little 'gnome' of a santa for their house. It was amazing to see how they came together from the raw materials.   Creating the actual shape of the santa out of natural roving took the longest (about 2.5 hours to felt the raw ball into a semi-firm conical shape) - then it was about another 1.5-2 hrs after that to cover the cone in red felt and add the face.  Good times! I expect the group will elect to do another felted project next year too.

Thanksgiving in Colorado: Sun, Family, Biking, and more Sun!

Thor and I went to Colorado for Thanksgiving to visit Sheri and Fred in Mancos, and then head north a bit to check out Ralph's new digs in Ridgeway.  I meant to get these pictures posted in November, but I caught a nasty, nasty headcold on the flight back to Portland and have been totally out of commission since last Tuesday.  Yuck. I hate being sick.  The only good thing about being sick now is that I hope it means that getting sick is out of my system, and I won't get sick again any time soon so I'll be in great shape in two-weeks when I head north to visit Kathryn and Brian and meet sweet, Stella May!!!!

Anyways. Back to the trip.  We had a fantastic time - the weather was beyond perfect (sun and 55-65 every day), we got to spend time hanging out with family, did a couple of hikes, and even snuck in two bike rides (an awesome, awesome treat - thank you for finding us bikes Fred!!!) Here are some of our pics from our 5-days in Colorado.

view from the plane flying into Durango

Self portrait - Phil's World trails on Thanksgiving day.

Thor - on a SS, as usual.  I don't know how he rides so fast on this thing!

Fred - another speedster!  This guy cranks!!!

Me.  

The Thanksgiving table - we had a great time cooking and hanging out with Sheri, Jack, Fred & Daphne before dinner.

Thor practicing Thanksgiving yoga post-dinner.

The view from Sheri's porch.  The work Sheri has done to her cabin and property is beautiful! It is such a lovely, relaxing place to come visit.

View into the Aspens on our post-Thanksgiving day ride down Chicken Creek.

We got to do our second ride with Steve - a fierce biker/boater who works for Sheri - in addition to being friends with a couple of people that we know in Portland. Small world!

This little guy flew into Sheri's window and was a bit stunned. Jack brought him out to sit on my hand until he felt well enough to fly off - probably about 15 minutes later.

On Saturday we went to Mesa Verde National Park to do some hiking. There was a fire there about 10-years ago, but the burnt trees were just beautiful!

Anasazi ruins.

View from sunset walk near Sheri's house.

Apparently I did not take many pictures in Ridgeway!  Ralph's new house is GREAT - perfect size, gets tons of sun, and is a quick walk from the sweet local brewery/pizza establishment - Colorado Boy.  Here are Thor, Daphne and I mid-way down the rim trail that overlooks Ouray.

Stella May's Celebratory Birthday Ride!

Stella May was born on Saturday! The text came through in the wee hours of the morning on the 17th, and Thor and I were so excited! What better way to celebrate our new cousin-niecelette than by going mountain biking!!! (ok, ok - we were planning on going anyways).

The weather was terrible, but we packed up anyways and headed to Hood River to do a shuttle run with our friends Becky & Josh at Post Canyon. It poured on us, and I don't think the temp got much above 33-degrees - so our plans to do multiple runs were crushed, but it was beautiful out there and we had a great time despite getting absolutely coated with mud.

We ended the day at Pfriem Family Brewing in Hood River. Excellent Belgian beers and delicious food. Definitely will be back there soon.

Happy Birthday Stella May!!! She is just the cutest ever - and we are so excited to meet her soon!!!

Stolen Sun Day on Syncline - Friday MTB

last Friday William and I went to syncline to ride and it was gorgeous!!! clear, crisp fall weather - such a treat. AND a blast to get to ride with William! we did loose lucy, to hidden valley, to little moab, to little maui. i rode all of hidden valley without stopping - which is a first! now i just need to figure out how to do it faster. W and I are already plotting our next trip out there - so I'm sure there will be plenty of time to practice.

Happy Halloween!

life continues busy, busy here in PDX! I carved a pumpkin on Sunday night (at 11pm. can you tell I wasn't feeling very inspired to be creative? very elementary triangle eyes).

I wore my nerd outfit to work. Thor rocked his witch get up at home to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. I bought twice as much candy as we actual needed. (oops)

hope everyone else had a good spooky Halloween!

MRT

last weekend Thor and I rolled down to the McKenzie River Trail for a great fall ride. it didn't quite snow on us, but it definitely tried once or twice! brrr!

Thor had a unfortunate run-in with a rock that shattered his rear derailleur, but he was able to Jerry-rig something together to finish the ride. I think we snuck in about 38 miles, and then we were able to sneak a visit in with some old friends from AK who moved down last year. it was a great Saturday

baby Wallace shower + Seattle

I just got back from a GREAT weekend in Seattle visiting Kathryn, Brian and Aunt Susanna. I travelled up on Friday and lucked out because Kathryn's sched gave her most of the day off as well. We went out to lunch at Salumi (worth the line), got pedicures, visited Brian at the fire station, and puttered around Ballard. lovely!

Saturday I got up early and met my friend Katie for a run, went back and hung out with B&K and drank coffee, made some potato leek soup for their freezer, and finally headed off to K's baby shower in the afternoon. it was a great day.

Sunday wrapped things up with breakfast at aunt Susanna's followed my a relaxing road-trip (+ ferry ride) home with mom.

Overall a great weekend!

Louise Sweater-Vest for Baby Wallace

Pattern: Louise
Source: Ravelry
Size: 0-3 months
Yarn: Malabrigo Finito, superfine merino wool
Color: Archangel (850)
Needle Size: US 1, 2.5mm

Thirsty Mushrooms

Mom, Thor and I tried to go mushroom hunting today - but it was soooo dry! we were only able to find about 20 chanterelles, and they were rubbery and small. We have enough for a pizza though, so that makes my tummy happy. Plus the weather is gorgeous here right now - perfect, perfect fall sun!

Tomato Time!

Look at this face! Thor has been nursing a yellow brandywine tomato plant along all summer and now with all this late season dry, hot weather he's finally harvesting some amazing tomatoes off of it - and they're delicious!