The Story of LEON

It's time to dedecorate for Christmas. That means putting LEON away for another year. LEON came to us about 10 years ago from Dan's sister, Bernie. She sent it along with that years Christmas gifts in a box with a note on the outside. Bernie wrote "Dan, remember how you used to torture Mother with "LEON"?
When recounting stories from his childhood, Dan often says that he should have been taken out and shot. I think he was really just your average little boy growing up in rural Minnesota - part prankster - part cutiepie. Anyway, every Christmas his Mom would put out this adorable set of angel candle holders and little Danny would rearrange the letters from NOEL to LEON driving his Mother crazy! Such fun!
We just love LEON - so sad to put her away for another 11 months.

Happy 2011

It was a Nutcracker Weekend 12/4 & 5

Here are 2 slide shows of Amy's performances in The Nutcracker this past weekend. It was a busy fun time and Amy didn't want it to end. She is already looking forward to next year and wondering which roles she will have. Sorry if you're tired of slide shows - it seems to be the nicest way to get all the pictures to you. Hope you enjoy! Customize a slideshow design

Make a free picture slideshow

Game Day 11/6/10 Ducks v Huskies

Slideshow customized with Smilebox

Happy Halloween 2010

Amy is 14

We've been a bit busy but I didn't want too much time to pass without sharing some photos from Amy's birthday... She turned 14 on the 14th, which seems pretty special - but not quite as special as her Uncle Bob celebrating his 55th on 10/10/10! Happy Birthday, Bob!


Amy had a party with 8 of her friends at our neighborhood Clubhouse - we served them dinner - vegetarian lasagna - they decorated pumpkins - had feathers put into their hair (the latest fashion craze) - and had a fun game of outdoor hide & seek with glow sticks. She has a great group of friends - we're very thankful for that!



Halloween is coming and we are almost ready - bought our bags of candy for the trick or treaters today. Just have to finalize Amy's costume - Odile, the black swan ballerina from "Swan Lake". I'm sure we will have pictures to share!

Question:
What do the Bend Bulletin and the Albany Times Union have in common?

Answer:
They both featured articles on Dan Olson within the last 3 weeks!

It all started in mid-September when our local newspaper, The Bulletin, became aware of an announcement by InnoCentive of it's 2009 Top Solvers.

InnoCentive is where organizations—corporations, large and small, not-for-profits and governments—turn when they have important problems that need solving.

Dan was interviewed over the phone and also in person, then we had a staff photographer come to the house to take his picture. The article was in the next days paper and the reaction took us quite by surprise. He was recognized on the street, in downtown Bend, on our hikes, in church, just about wherever we would go. It was a bit overwhelming - mostly in a good way.
We did find that there is truth in the saying, "not everything you read is fact". In this case, the article leads you to believe that Dan holds the patent(s) for thin lenses in eyeglasses. It's a little more complicated than that...
Needless to say, it was a very nice article.

Last week, as Dan was reading the online version of our old paper in NY, the Times Union, he came across an article about NY's property tax nightmare - a subject near and dear to his heart! In this particular case, there was an opportunity to comment on the article and Dan did just that. His was comment #105, so it was clear that the article had touched a nerve. The next day, a reporter from the TU emailed Dan to ask if he could interview him for a story he was working on - following up on this previous article. They talked, by phone, for quite a while - the reporter asked for a picture of Dan & his family and a picture of our home here in Bend and told Dan that the article would be in the Sunday edition. We certainly did not expect to be on the front page!

What next??

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!