October 25-29, 2016 Eugene, Oregon

Still at Oregon Motor Coach, but we may be done any day. It is still raining . . .

We drove to Salem, Oregon today to go to Best Buy. We went through Linn County, the Grass Seed Capital of the World. We drove for an hour each way past unbeliveably green grass. Also saw the sign for the Enchanted Forest.  I always wanted to go to an enchanted forest.

More grass seed farms.  John finally decided which computer he wanted for his birthday/Christmas present. We had to drive to Salem to get it since the store in Eugene was out. He is now totally frustrated because  he can’t figure out how to work it! He got his last computer 7 years ago. But he is getting there.

Woo Hoo sunshine and blue skies today! Another small basket that I finished. It has a cute moose bead on top.

After collecting needles, then sorting, bundling, washing, boiling in glycerine, drying and bundling again I have to remove the caps from the needles. Then I can finally start making a basket.  The bottom part of the photo has the caps on and above caps off. I have to try to keep the three needles together-since they are easier to work with that way. Here is the bus getting water sprayed on the front window. There is a guy inside checking for leaks.  We may be done on Monday. We are camping in the parking lot again this weekend. Which is good, we are going to a Halloween costume party Sat Pm.

The next masterpiece in progress.  The center is a piece of glass I made. It was 4 pendants that didn’t sell made out of earrings that didn’t sell. Maybe it will sell in this form. It was so nice out today that I worked outside on the patio at Oregon Motor Coach.

We hiked up Mt Pisgah on Saturday. It was another sunny day. What a treat. John, Scott and Leslie hiking up with lichen and moss covered oak trees and fall leaves on the ground. Scott ,Leslie and Rhody in the grass enjoying the view.

The view was of Emeral Valley. Hiking back down the other side.

Looking into Emerald Valley. John and Scott under some oaks.

Moss and lichen draped over an oak with moss on it.  We went to a Halloween party that had a Beatles Tribute band and we were supposed to dress up as people from the Beatles songs. John is Polyethylene Pam, Leslie as Peace and me as Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lucy wore cellophane flowers of yellow and gold and had kaleidoscope eyes.

Scott as Rocky Racoon and Leslie as Peace. At the party we have little Red Ridinghood and another Lucy in the sky- the hair with the blue lights is supposed to be the sky with diamonds. Leslie as peace, Dave with a nehru jacket and bell bottom pants and Karen as Hello/Good bye.

Anne Marie as Julia. Here is the band. Larry on the left is Father McKenzie. Great band and a fun time.

Sue and John as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and John as Polyethylene Pam. Pam looked good in a bag, looked like a man.

October 19-24, 2016 Eugene, Oregon

They are still working on the coach so we have to vacate it at 730A every morning. Which is hard for me since I usually don’t even get up till 8A. It is still mostly raining.

Yard art at Leslie and Scott’s house. A cute hanging- but I like the moss growing on it, moss grows on everything after a while in this climate, and a couple art pieces made from recycled objects by Scott. Some of the trees are turning a beautiful fall red.

A couple of spiders, chantrelle mushrooms for sale and a tricolored tree. John, Scott and Leslie at dinner in a church converted into a couple resturants and a bar. The bar is called the Abby.

The sun came out long enough to have a lovely sunset. Leslie with Jon and Gabe.

We went to a great concert. Las Hermanos, a Cuban group that plays a combo of Cuban, African and jazz. They were great. Leslie and I, and part of the audiance ended up dancing on the stage and aisles with them. The sun came out Saturday. A nice surprise. Leslie and I took Rhody for a walk at Mt Pisgah park in Springfield on Saturday.

An old barn at Mt Pisgah and some lichen covered trees.

I am done boiling the needles now. They now need to dry, which is a challange when it is raining every day. Some of them spent some time with this years harvest at an undisclosed location. They will smell nice. The rest went to the coach and were laid out on all flat surfaces with the heat blowing on them. The couch, the bed, the dashboard, the couch pulled out into a bed, the kitchen counters and the chairs.

John took this photo when he got up on Saturday. Needles everywhere. They did dry. Here is a shot of the pondersoa needles before and after the glycerin treatment. Darker, flexible and preserved so I don’t have to shellac the baskets.

For Leslie’s birthday John took us for pedicures. Beautiful feet. The sun came out between rainstorms. We got this lovely rainbow. It turned into a double rainbow, but you couldn’t see the whole thing from here.

The sunset was pretty spectacular too.  Leslie and Scott came over for dinner, here they are with John admiring the sunset.

More cool sunset.

October 18, 2016 Leslie’s Birthday

Today is Leslie’s birthday, so we did what she wanted today.

Our coach is still at Oregon Motor coach getting some maintenance. We went out to breakfast then went for a hike on Spencer Butte.

Rhody and Buster stopped and posed. The rest of the hike they were running. The trail was very steep.  It was still raining so the trail is slick.

Lots of green vegetation and fog. Maple leaves and moss, a couple of moss on the side to tree, lichen, a mushroom on an oak leaf.

Our group at the top-no view because of the fog.  Scott, Larry, Leslie, John, and Ann Marie with Rhody and Buster. Through the fog on the way down.

Green, foggy tunnels. Wet moss on oak leaves, tree lettuce and long moss on the tree trunks.

Fall colors, ferns, moss and fog.

Mossy trees, small creek, wet seed heads, moss and plants growing on a rock, colored maples and moss on oaks.

A cool wood sculpture Scott carved, oak trees, shamrocks. A waterfall on the way to the hot springs , trees in the fog, the steps on the Spencer Butte trail-they flew those in with a helicopter.

John next to a huge trunk, John and I in our cagoules.  John and Scott walking in a moss tunnel hiking to Terwilliger Hot Springs.

The bathroom at the hot springs. John, Sue, Leslie and Scott at Terwilliger hot spring. It was a series of 5 hot pools  one after another down a very narrow canyon. It is a 1/4 mile hike in. Beautiful place.

John, Leslie and Scott in another pool.  We had dinner at the Finn Rock Grill on the way back to town.

Finn Rock Grill, Danger Men Cooking, and a northwestern jack a lope on the ceiling.