curious questions

I'm laughing because I have just received a couple emails from people wondering if tracy and I are doing ok...as in "getting along". I'm assuming this is because tracy just took our youngest daughter, trista on a trip to hike the waterfalls of Ithaca. She is 20 and sometimes seems to just get too caught up in the problems of the world. So, since he has wanted to go back, off they went before school started back up again. This just happened to coincide with artfest registration. It won't next year...that's all I have to say about THAT! LOL. All I've done for a week straight is log in all 480 attendees and get their confirmation packets collated, filled out and packaged. All by myself. and yes, it was grueling, but it's all part of it and I'm cool with it. I was on a high for the first half of the week from maxing out my retreat within 2 days....it still blows my mind. I headed on down to the video store and rented 7 movies to watch while I was doing the boring stuff. MOst of them were OK...but the couple that really stood out were "Crash" & "Bee Season". I would highly recommend both of them. Which reminds me of another movie that I LOVED...see "lady in the water" by m. night shamalalaman..... or however you spell it. I want to see it again! really good...but then I love all of his movies. Anyhow...yes, tracy and I are doing ok...great in fact! Beyond super! I made the mistake of thinking we were celebrating our 25th anniversay last year but actually it's this year...I can't remember my age either...I think I'm 43. But anyway...thanks for your concern. oh...and sorry for no picture this time. I can't seem to upload anything today. it's weird.

summer, fall and artfest registration!

I'm so excited for fall to get here. I LOVE our seasons and it always seems as one is wrapping itself up, the eagerness for the next in line gets stronger. I love summer too but it is so fast paced as us seattleites feel as if we need to cram half a year into 3 little months of sun because if we don't, we won't get any more. Here is what I loved about summer and what I am anticipating for fall:

Summer: farmer's markets, growing cherry tomatoes & herbs, hiking, picking wild blackberries in my own yard, swimming, eating meals on the patio, smelling a bbq from next door, hearing kids playing outside my office window, laying in the hot sun, long summer nights, fairs & festivals (well sorta...too many people), having all the windows down in the car, the lush vegetation all around, campfires in the backyard (along with hobo dinners*), warm wind blowing through our house and making the curtains sway gently, picnics...

Fall: more farmer's markets (yay!), hiking in cooler weather (ah!), crunchy leaves, making soup, snuggling in, shorter days, kids back at college, full moons, the swath of warm colors (yellow to red) all over the hills around the valley we live in, candy corn at halloween, leaves whooshing up as you drive down the road, crisp air, more reading, slower pace, more art making...

Fall also means it is ARTFEST REGISTRATION TIME. Sept. 5th is the date to mail those puppies in. if you haven't seen it yet, look at the Artfest line-up on www.teeshamoore.com. It's amazing and the teachers are really jazzed.

*hobo dinners are made using heavy foil and forming packets. Simply add a chunk of ground beef (naturally raised, of course!), grated carrots, grated potatoes, onions, (all organic from the farmers market!!) salt and pepper, close the foil packet up and cook it in the fire. It's so good. But the fun part is letting everyone make their own the way they want to. Me- I mix it all together like a meatloaf then spread it into a patty (to cook faster) and add worcestershire sauce, garlic and other spices. Tracy adds beer to his to add flavor and steam. Trista (who is vegetarian) uses a boca burger. Tiffany adds ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, and a plethora of stuff. Much better than hot dogs and just as easy.