Hello, Fall

Tomorrow is the 1st day of Fall - or, more poetically named Autumn.

When living in NY, our home was a mere mile or so from Indian Ladder Farms. Indian Ladder holds many dear memories for our family. Baby Animal Week every April, Amy's 5th Birthday Party, Summer Rabbit Camp, the petting zoo, apple picking, blueberry picking, strawberry picking - you get the picture...

One of my favorite walking routes in spring and autumn was past Indian Ladder Farms. Spring brought apple blossoms and the promise of good things to come - autumn, apples and the colors of the Helderberg Escarpment were very inspiring. Fall was definitely my favorite season in NY.

It's a little different here in the high desert of Central Oregon. Last week when the tug of fresh apples, applesauce and apple crisp came on, Dan & I hopped in the car and drove north. Our destination was the Hood River Valley just east of Mt. Hood and south of the Columbia River Gorge. Instead of walking or biking a mile to get our apple fix we drove almost 3 hours. It was worth it! We ended up at the Draper Girls Country Farm which is one stop on the Hood River Fruit Loop. We picked Akane apples - a new and unknown apple to us - while taking in the spectacular views of Mt. Hood.

The best part of the trip was the cider. Until now, I thought no one could rival Indian Ladder's cider but I was happily wrong. We brought home a quart of the most delicious cider - alas, no cider donuts. :(

The Akane apples make superb applesauce, apple butter (YUM!), apple crisp and I was able to eek out a Jewish Apple Cake to take to our church home group Sunday night.

Rave reviews!

a new school year begins...

Yesterday was the 1st day of school and that always gets me thinking about the summer that was...

The 2010 summer highlights that weren't the subject of a prior post include:

* A less than stellar garden - mainly because of our 2 week absence in June - although a miraculous cherry crop from our tiny tree makes up somewhat. One pie created & consumed - enough for 3 more in the freezer - mmmmm!
* We joined some friends for an all day rafting trip down the Deschutes River in late July. A few of our group brought along water canons - needless to say we got wet from more than just the waves breaking over the sides of the raft... COLD mountain water!


* A great weekend in July with our niece, Nancy, visiting from Portland. Nancy & Amy had a fabulous photo shoot - see previous post. Nan & I floated the river while Dan climbed South Sister. Then Amy performed in the ballet 'Coppelia'. We fit a lot into that day!


(make sure you click on this picture to see all the mountains in the distance)



* We celebrated our 21st Anniversary (actually June 24th) on 8/13 with a chair lift ride up to Scapolo's Restaurant on Mt. Bachelor for their Sunset Dinner. This is kind of a touristy thing to do but the food was excellent and the scenery couldn't be beat. We live in a spectacularly beautiful area and we don't want to miss out on experiencing all that we can.



* Dan was finally able to take me hiking along the Broken Top Trail. He had done this hike with friends our 1st summer here and had raved about the beautiful wildflowers and the views - but as we didn't own a vehicle that could handle the road to the trail head till this summer - my chance was finally here. It was worth the wait! 'Spring' flowers, crossing snow fields, cascading streams, No Name Lake that had floating icebergs, and views up into WA State. Really beautiful!





* Amy got a new bike - Craigslist came thru with a hot pink cruiser - nice!


* Last week - the final week of summer break - Amy spent 3 long days at school for WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) training. Last spring she had been selected to be a WEB leader - a program where 8th graders come along side the new 6th graders and are trained to be a source of information & guidance during the school year. She has a group of about 8 kids who can call on her for help. Her 1st day of school dilemma of WHAT TO WEAR!!! was.... the orange WEB Leader T-shirt. Problem solved!
Alanna, Gina, Amy & Miriam



Now we just need to get Amy's new dance class schedule down....10 classes in 3 different schools - should be a breeze!