OCTOBER: SO FAR A WHIRLWIND OF ACTIVITY

Josiah took this shot looking west toward the end of Clay St.
You guessed it! Cantina is at it again! And this time I just did cut her back and divide her in August! For more bewildering Cantina behavior go to the archives for August, October, and November 2006. Yes, I said November!
You can see the bloom stalk zooming up out of the cut off fronds. I didn't think it would rebloom this fall because of having to cut it back and move it. But...Amazing is all I can say!
My favorite fall combo: Autumn Joy Sedum and Fall crocus. The delphiniums reblooming were a bonus.

Now be sure to check out the previous 6 posts for a whirlwind of activity.

YARD PROJECT FINALLY FINISHED!

After completing the raised beds, the next step was to lay out the pavers and fill in the spaces with good garden soil.
After much debating about what trees to plant in the middle of the raised beds, we decided on Crape Mrytles. We fell in love with them when we were at the Capital Building in Washington D.C. They are also drought tolerant once established, and best of all, they bloom at the end of the summer when everything else is done!
Finally the day came to plant all 325 creeping thyme plants. Daryl had located them for me and then graciously kept them in his propagation house until the end of September. Josiah actually potted them up. Daryl even chose pots the depth of the pavers, so that when I planted them I didn't have to dig down into that hard sod underneath. Since the rains came early this year, I only had to hand water them twice! Creeping thyme is very drought tolerant and so should not need any watering by next summer!
The last "step"! It took 5 Saturday's to finish just that part of it.
We are very happy with the end results.Josiah and I made another dry creek bed as a detour. While the steps were being built we had no way to get building materials and the lawnmower to the lower part of the yard.

TREE TAGGING TIME AGAIN!

That's Gatorade tongue, in case you were wondering!
The elusive Jeremiah! You have to be quick to get a picture of him!Now I've seen everything! It brings a whole new meaning to the word "sharing"! You should have seen them trekking around over uneven ground looking for the tree joined like that!
After an hour and a half we finally settled on one! Sure hope it fits! Sure hope my furniture still fits in!

JONATHAN AND STACY'S WEDDING CAKE

From start...
...to finish.
What a relief to have it finally down off our hill and in it's final resting place at the Dallas Event Center in one piece! That was the most agonizing 2 mile trip we've ever taken!
The rewards of all the hard work are so worth it!
That's us. So proud to be with our two beautiful girls! (Even if we didn't get to see much of Jessi until after the wedding!)

Then Jessi's off to fulfill more of her bridesmaid duties. That's her in the middle enjoying some dancing with some of the D.C. contingency.

We sat at a table with some of that D.C. contingency. Most of them go to the same church as Jon and Stacy in D.C. What a kick they were. We especially fell in love with Joyanna. That's her on the right with her room mate. She's also in the picture above dancing to the right of Jessi. So glad we met you Joyanna!

SCENIC COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY

The day after the wedding we had Jessi all to ourselves, so we headed up to Portland and took the scenic route to Multnomah Falls. Crown Point was finally open after several years of renovation. However we couldn't go up to the observation deck due to high winds.
Are we there yet? No, there are many little falls right along the road on the way to "the big one"! If you have the time, it makes a great day of hiking to go in and see all of them.
Awe! Now we're there!
Couldn't resist the shot through the stone railing.
It was just Josiah and Jessi along on this trip, as Rissa and Jeremiah were both working. Not everyone gets to celebrate Columbus Day! Just federal workers or if you happen to work for Daryl's Nursery and Monday is your day off!

PORTLAND ROSE TEST GARDENS

We ended our wonderful day in Portland with a stop at the Rose Test Gardens. One of my favorite places!



I think you have to agree that Portland is a beautiful city, especially when framed by roses!

LUNCHEON CRUISE ON THE PORTLAND SPIRIT

I had the privalege of going with my mom and being my dad for a day. As he wasn't feeling up to the trip to Portland with the seniors from The Courthouse Athletic Club, I got to go in his place! Any guilt I felt at first, was totally overriden by the fun my mom and I had together.Here are a few of the pictures I took of Portland from the river. It was a relaxing trip with great food by the way. The Snickers Pie was to die for!