It's hard to remember to update this thing while I'm on vacation. When I'm home, I find myself with empty evenings when it makes sense to plunk down and type for a while. Here, though, I always seem to have something else to do. (Not complaining, just making excuses.)

A few things:

-Linda, of Solstice Farm B&B, gave me her dill pickle recipe. I'm pumped to try it.

-Ryan and I bought a whole bunch of apricots at the farmers' market and made some jam. It's tasty.

-Ryan and I headed down to the Bay area to attend the wedding of his close family friend. It was beautiful-- redwoods, candles, cowboy boots. On our way there, we hiked through some redwoods, saw a black bear, and sang silly songs. I got to meet his family. They're lovely. He has two parents and one sister, biologically, but he has super-duper close family friends that seem like family too.

-I went on a backpacking trip to the Wallowas in NE Oregon with Elizabeth, Tim, and friends. Monday-Friday. It was beautiful. I went the highest I've ever been (summit of Eagle Cap, 9572 ft according to Wikipedia) outside of an airplane. There was water everywhere. We found an abandoned old trapper's cabin. Other people took pictures, and hopefully I'll get to see them soon. I'll pass along the best ones to you, dear reader.

-Ryan and Mark convinced Ryan's 1979 VW bus to work! Mark and Deepti reupholstered it while Ryan and I were at the wedding. They then took it to a Phish show, which seems appropriate, but it overheated on the way back. That seems appropriate, too. It got towed back to Olympia last night, evidently, but I'm on the Olympic peninsula now. So I haven't seen the new upholstery yet, because I was gone for wedding and wilderness, and then the bus was gone for Phish and breakdown. I'm sure it's lovely.

-I have earned some epic tan lines from all this farming and backpacking. You can definitely tell that I like short shorts and that I wear a ring on my right middle finger all the time.

-I pushed back my return date. I'll be staying out here a couple extra days, because I feel like it. Instead of returning Thursday, I'll be flying in Sunday. And starting work Monday. It'll be great.