Snow!

Tahoe in mid-October

We spent a magical weekend with friends, Adam, Yve, Tula, & Jude

Tula's first snowman

Imagining ice cream

Chris, Avery, Jude, Adam

Jude

Avery's first sled ride

Detroit Tiger....Oakland Tiger!

Hoes Down Festival and Oktoberfest!

We harvested these from our garden this weekend! They are all edible and will last many months in the cool, dark pantry. 

Poultry News: One of our chickens has been tormented by her chicken family, so she has been living with the ducks for the past week to recover. She does stand out, but she seems to like this exchange-student gig. 

Avery celebrated his 2nd Hoes Down Festival at Full Belly Farm. He came here in utero and then as an 8-month-old. Now he can really experience the wonders Hoes Down has to offer. 

Such as sack racing;

Being called up on stage to dance (see friend Sabine striking her prairie girl pose);

Staring into Sabine's blue eyes;

Bobbing for apples;

Climbing the straw pyramid;

Watching big kids (....maybe next year);

Trying out some moves of Auntie Elvie's (weaver extraordinaire);

Painting a prayer flag;

Making bubble magic;

And teenage bubble magic;

And mostly just running barefoot;

And running half-naked with a ladybug.

We spent the night and awoke to this guy's musky smell in the morning.

Car camping is the way to go with a toddler.

And then we decided to go for the 2nd festival of the weekend: Oktoberfest with Lauren and Tommy ("Lala and Mommy")

Celebrating Christine's German roots, right here in Oakland.

Just say this a few times: Naturfreunde. Naturfreunde.

And can you believe this authentic dancing?!

And then it got even more authentic...

End of Summer/Harvest Time

Photo shoot with Ilyse 

Venn Diagram

Chris makes a pretty penny

Home beautification project #47: 

Flower Patch on Southern Wall

To minimize exposing kids to old lead-flaked soil, we covered it all with cloth and planted non-edibles:

salvia, yarrow, abutilon, daisy...  

Bean Harvest

These purple runner beans and our over-grown green beans were dried on the deck and shelled for winter soup.

Emi (with parents Claudia and Gonzalo) visited us for brunch and play

She pretended Avery was her little brother

Shirene came over for dinner and showed us how to eat chicken.

Avery soon followed suit