Three creeks Lake

Hi all!

Well, I finally made it up into the mountains again.  Kelly and I went on a drive up to Three Creeks Lake, which is a  mountain lake.  (Gorgeous, but freezing).  Hard to believe there is still snow on the ground up there, even in August.

Here are a few photos:

Then, I went off to a local fair with Mary and our next door neighbor Michelle and had some delicious BBQ'd ribs.

The fair was at a local church, which had the best views I've ever seen. I'm not sure how well it came out in the photo, but the church was built so that its windows faced the mountains.

 

(Mary, who is Catholic, said the Catholic church also has windows facing the mountains but instead of putting plain glass in the window they put in a stained glass window with a mountain scene and a serpent. Go figure.)

Mary is flogging off her gun collection on Ebay to get a bit of money.  I have offered to be her model in the photos, so  my next blog post will show me modelling an 1890 Smith and Wesson.   Stay tuned!

Oh, I forgot one photo.  I opened the front door a few days ago and saw these cute little deers standing right out the front.

I have booked my ticket to Mexico for the 19th September...only a month to go!

Quilt Show and River Trip

I haven't posted any photos for a while, so I've got a few different things to tell you all about.  

My friend Kel has been doing a weekly art and yoga class for local kids who are on a summer camp program.  A few weeks ago I went out with her to the Metolius River and she did her yoga class in the forest. It took the kids about 20 minutes to do one pose, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The river was gorgeous and I just sat by the bank while she did the class. 

 Last weekend was the Quilt show, which is the biggest quilt show in the WORLD.  Yeah!  Go Sisters!  Unfortunately I missed the big day, when 1200 quilts were hung outside all the shops, but I came into town the next day and got the smaller show. 

Some of the quilts were stunning - artworks more than quilts.  Here are a few of my faves...

The local coffee store had an exhibit of Kenyan quilts hanging amongst the antlers and stuffed animals...

...but still managed to serve up a healthy dose of guilt with each soy latte.

Kel and I went over to Bend, the next largest town, a few days ago.  It was an old mill town and the downtown area is now really cool, with all the old mill buildings converted into stores and residential areas.  We got our hair-cut, and then I went to try on some glasses because I stepped on my reddish ones a few weeks ago and broke them clean in two.  (Yes, they were on my bedroom floor and no, I don't know who put them there). 

Do you like either of these glasses?  Kel thought I should get something with a big more color although I like the first ones.

Rodeo!

We had the Sisters rodeo here on the weekend.  Unfortunately I didn't make it to the actual rodeo, but I did get to the parade.  Mary is a rodeo volunteer so she was dressed in Western style for the whole weekend. Those boots look nice but they are SO uncomfortable.

About 15 years ago Sisters introduced a building code which said that every downtown store had to have a Western front to it.  Sometimes it looks a bit tacky, but overall I think it looks good.

The parade was fun - lots of US flags and the soundtrack consisted of  terrible patriotic country songs about 'lovin' being' American.'  All the cowboys stood with their hats over their heart, and there were a few tears. 

There were lots of cowgirls - who are the 'Miss Rodeos' for all the rodeos in the area.  Their job seems to consist of going to rodeo parades and embarassing their horses by making them wear huge bunches of fake flowers and rubbing glitter into their hair. 

And of course, there were flags, flags...

...and more flags. 

And, one boy who obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed. 

Sisters Photos

We finally had a lovely spring day so I got to take some photos.  This is right down the end of my street and I cycle past this field as I go into town.

After I took these photos, Mary came back from town and wanted to take a drive up into the mountains to find a lake she could fish on.  I took this photo as we drove through town...

Imagine living in that house and having a view like that!

Then we drove up into the mountains.

I think that last photo is my favorite.

Going country

Well, finally I am connected to the internet again!  

Sisters is gorgeous.  There are mountains all around, and the town is right in the middle of the forest.  This is a photo of my house, in the far left of the photo. I am waiting until the weather clears a bit to get some good photos of the mountains - it's been overcast for a few days. 

 

I'm living with a woman named Mary, who has 2 daughters who have just finished college.  She's very artistic and the whole house is filled with original artworks.  Yesterday we went over to Bend, which is the nearest large town, about the size of Ballarat.  Mary's on the rodeo committee and wanted to get herself outfitted for the big occasion (the rodeo is in a few weeks).  So, she took me to a second-hand country clothing store and got herself some very cool boots. 

She tried to convince me to 'go country' but I'm not quite sure I pulled it off...

Then we went for a walk through downtown Bend, which has one of Oregons main rivers running through it.  The houses along the river-side were amazing (this photo doesn't do them justice - it was too overcast to get good photos).

A week in Hawaii

Aloha from Hawaii! I thought I'd hijack my old Indonesian travel blog to write some updates from this trip.

I am loving Hawaii, it's so beautiful. Terri, the woman I'm staying with, is really friendly and took me on a trip around the other side of this island a few days ago. She's starting a small business producing little velcro bags that surfers can wear on them, to carry their car keys etc, so I went to a few business meetings with her and on the way she stopped so I could take photos.

The island is basically these lush, craggy mountains that drop straight down into the ocean.

I didn't realise that Hawaii is the most isolated place in the world (not sure if that includes the Antarctic). It is a 5 hour flight to any other landmass. One of Terri's friends said that the environmental impact of tourists is enormous - Hawaii transports all their rubbish to the US mainland on boats! I can't imagine how much that would cost.

Terri is a hair-dresser and works on movie and TV show sets. She did the hair for 'Lost' and 'Tropic Thunder', which were filmed here. (This means she has run her fingers through Jack Black's hair! I'm not sure if that is cool or creepy.) She said doing hair for Lost was too easy because all she had to do was make the hair look like the person had been lost on a tropical island for a year. (I think even I could have done the hair for Lost).

Off to Oregon on Tuesday.