North Dakota in a Blizzard?

Zeek's Rooster Ranch
Scranton, North Dakota

































Shooting clay pigeons.






































































Jay and Tom were crazy enough to go out in what was billed as North Dakota's worst storm in decades.



















In Zeek's bar/restaurant. Just about the only place to eat in town.

Glendive, Montana


These photos were taken in Montana on the Yellowstone River.

There were quite a few wild turkeys flying out of our way. They are massive. The thought did occur to me that they would make an interesting Thanksgiving Dinner, but the others, the actual hunters, were not interested.

Montana in Fall

Jay, Paulette, Tom and I headed to eastern Montana, then western North Dakota for upland bird hunting season. The 2,200-mile round trip was a bit daunting as we sped down the highway to get to our destination quickly. Our first stop to hunt was Glendive, MT on a very large farm on the Yellowstone River. Then we head to a farmhouse in Scranton, ND where we saw every kind of bird, antelope, rabbit and deer but not many people. During our stay a huge snow/wind storm came through and there was one day that only Tom and Jay ventured out. Seeing them pelted by driven, icey snow, Paulette and I opted to stay in and read/work.
This time of year, the colors all of the way were beautiful -- bright yellow, orange, deep red -- especially against the Yellowstone River and the stark landscape.







Jay and Tom on the Yellowstone River where we stopped to run the dogs -- AJ and Betsy (above photo).
Paulette and Denise on the Yellowstone River (middle photo).
The Yellowstone River is ever present from Butte to Glendive and then we turned south into North Dakota (bottom photo).

Tom's Canoe

As a prelude to the post below, here's Tom in his shop in 2005 building his canoe. Below is the completed boat ready to be launched for the first time and the finely crafted oars he made by hand.

Cama Beach and the Center for Wooden Boats

Beautiful fall weekend at Cama Beach Resort on Camano Island for the end of season Center for Wooden Boats event. Tom showed his lapstrake canoe. We rowed, sailed, fished, met with friends and attended wooden boat making/finishing workshops. Friends joined us which really completed the weekend.

Sylvia and Andy - Natch

Andy learns to swim.


































Sylvia begins swimming lessons too.

















Now who does that remind you of? A girl after my own heart.















The many faces of Sylvia.






























































Domo arigato Mr. Roboto -- Andy turns a carboard box into a robot costume while neighbor Danny delights.

Andy learns to read

Andy has been in kindergarten for a week and he already counts to a thousand, by 2s, by 3s, and now he's beginning to read. To be fair, he could count to 1000 before school started, but the rest is new progress. We're just proud grandparents.

Long awaited Lake Union Park opens.

A beautiful, warm Fall Saturday for the opening of the new Lake Union Park. Walked through Pike Place Market's festival then down Westlake where I stopped to grab a bite-size chocolate coconut coated ice cream at Claudio Corallo (claudiocorallochocolate.com). Yum.

Uber-reunion Weekend

Eight-five of our fellow school mates from Castlemont HS, Oakland, got together to celebrate our respective birthdays in a beautiful San Ramon home. Many of the faces in the room I saw for the first time when I entered Kindergarten at E. Morris Cox, including my best friend Patty. Amazingly, we all remembered each other, some, to be fair, I saw at our 40th school reunion and our Girl Scout Troop reunion in 1998 and 1997 respectively. I read portions from a diary I wrote in 1957 which included mentions of many of the people in the room. It was hilarious. Given my poor spelling skills it's amazing I graduated. Now we're working on our 50th.








Il Gruppo reunites in Santa Clara after 40+ years when 12 California college students pioneered the first California college system's year abroad in Florence, Italy. Our year included the flood of 1966 which bonded us forever.
















From left, Dennis, Joanne, Sherrie, Ed, me, Gloria, Janice, Bill, and Judy. Present from Italy by phone, Marghi. Present through her newspaper column recounting the year abroad, Dede.




















Cal Poly roomies reunite and find we have lots to talk about after 40+ years.