I love the Rogue Valley...

So, we've had the most incredibly beautiful weather here for the last several weeks. Entertainingly enough for me, however, we natives can predict with wicked accuracy when it will be changing. I direct your attention here. Makes me kinda happy that I don't have small children to make all cute and take from door to door. It also make me even happier that I'm not going to dressing up in revealing clothing and dancing around the plaza in Ashland!!

Moments

I love moments, the good ones at least.  But even the bad ones stand out so clearly, so starkly against the everyday.  I just had a good one, listening to the Cast On podcast, Episode 67.  The podcaster, Brenda Dayne, was doing some work for the Smithsonian (I believe) and had stopped in a Welsh pub, where she met a group of older-than-us-or-our-parents gentlemen who burst into song during the course of the recording.

The main singer had a beautiful baritone voice and the rest of the men joined in, harmonizing, and here I was listening half a world away, sitting in an office stuffing envelopes, but seeing these people in my head breaking into song, for crying out loud, which totally proves that I'm Welsh.

I plan on having several more good moments this weekend, since Elm and I are headed to Ashland so she can buy herself some yarn and we can walk through the park looking at all the lovely trees as they turn.

The incident reminded me of the song "Moments" from Into the Woods:

Oh, if life were made of moments,
Even now and then a bad one-!
But if life were only moments,
Then you'd never know you had one.

Yarn Harlot

I love this lady! 

So, you've possibly by now heard the phrase "to kinnear" someone, meaning to surreptitiously snap a photo of them, usually used in reference to celebrities.  Well, she's the one who coined the term by attempting a photo of Greg Kinnear (of course!) and getting.... I can't remember, I think she did get part of him other than his leg.  Anyway, she has announced a charity drive for Doctors Without Borders (Medisomethings Sans Frontieres, since she's in Toronto, I believe) inspired by the success of a fellow knitter in convincing Mr. Kinnear to let her take a picture of him holding anon-the-needles sock! 

She explains it much better here.  It's nice to remember that the world is not all darkness and despair, even though it IS an election year.

Continuing with the knitting theme, the weather is here!  It is beautiful!  And cooling off!  But still sunny after our beautiful burst of rain!  Tonight is my knitting group at our local Starbucks (because we couldn't find a locally-owned coffee shop that stays open late enough) and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what people are making.  I myself have started a new little scarf in a variegated autumn-y alpaca.  We'll have to see if it gets finished before winter is totally here!

Autumn is here!

Yay, w00t and amen!!  The last week or so it's been in the 90s around here, although the leaves were starting to fall in places.  But today the wind started blowing and when I came home there were drifts of  pine needles in the driveway.  The weather site says a series of fronts is moving (are moving?) into the area and the clouds are definitely here.  I was thinking how much more fun it was before I started paying attention to things like warm and cold fronts and the weather changes were just these strange, inexplicable events that no one could predict!  Not that they always can nowadays, but you know what I mean!

Sacramento Special Meetings were this weekend and I went down with eleven other people in the church van.  It was definitely interesting!  Fortunately the smoke wasn't too horrendous before we hit the valley, so the drive was actually quite lovely.  I need to go visit Lassen.  Maybe later this month....

I got roped into playing some "fiddle" (quotation marks are to indicate my relative skill at that particular style) and by the end of the day, I didn't think I would be able to lift my arm for the last number!  I had a great time, got to see my family and friends, which is always wonderful, and connected with people I haven't gotten to see or know so well in the past.  And of course there was food, good food, and plenty of it!  Although I had plenty of stress leading up to the trip (my manager and permission slips.  Between the two I nearly ground my teeth to powder!) I must say that I'm glad I went.  The services were excellent and I must extend a huge THANK YOU to the lovely people who made it all possible!