It’s been a little while, eh? I’d like to first give a welcome to Chuck McHenry, a friend of mine living right here in Boise. Chuck asked me to send him the last posting, so I’m now including him on ALL postings. Poor bastard. I also figured out how to send the entire page as one file, attached to an email, to Jane and Al, far away in China, China, far away. So… it’s been about 6 weeks, and I think I’ve finally acquired enough life experiences to justify a small letter out. Let’s start with the big heading of the month –
Babies, Babies, Babies
The biggest news is that Alex and Kari are now parents. Anja Inez Mueller was born on September 20th. Amy and I wandered around the halls of St. Luke’s hospital until we stumbled on their room, and so saw Anja when she was less than a day old. Leslie came down that day and stayed on for a week or so.
The Boise Muellers
Leslie holding Anja Inez Mueller, born 9/20/07.
We continued our new family member meet and greet month with a visit to Portland to see Adelaide Leath (Addie), Brian and Rachel. We took two days off, missing only a two-day, state organized yawn banquet – state in-service teacher meetings. The Wednesday that we left, however, was a mad dash out of school to get to the airport in time to find our flight cancelled. I mention this only because the late arrival meant that we couldn’t go to the BodyWorks exhibition in Portland that evening. Which in turn meant that Brian and Rachel never saw it as it left town for good that weekend. But I was talking about Addie. The photos, as most of you know, do a poor job of showing Addie’s cheerful, smiley countenance, but I’ll add a couple anyway.
So here we have Adelaide Leath Larson, born 5/5/07 and the Portland Larsons (Jack is the black one)
Land’s End
After a day staring at the expired, plasticized, posed bodies in the museum (really quite a thing to see), Amy and I drove through some of the best farmland on the planet, west to the coast (via the generous loan of Rachel’s biodiesel jetta) stopping at Cannon Beach for the night. Sorry – no pics of the town, but I can’t bring the camera everywhere – just gotta be free from technology sometimes. We did have a hike the following day out to a point above the wide Pacific Ocean, under bright sun and cool breezes. It was very rejuvenating for both of us. We motored on south, stopping occasionally to search out chowder or Blue Heron Brie, landing finally in Rockaway Beach, where Addie, Brian and Rachel (plus Zoe, Zeb, and Jack) joined us. This was after we stuffed ourselves at the Pirate’s Cove seafood extravaganza. I had sturgeon.
Here are a couple of pics from the following days, on the beach in a howling windstorm that soaked us all on our way to replenish the wine we drank the night before (remember the brie?). We couldn’t get enough of it (the beach that is. We did have enough wine)
Another Marathoner
It’s true. There are 2 marathoners in my family now. Unlikely there will be another, but I can’t speak for Brian. Just a hunch. Upon arriving in Boise we met Mom, who had flown out to see LTBJ finish his first marathon. Sorry I missed it. The whole process, but especially the actual running, was inspiring. Not that I’ll take up running (too hard on the knees) but to do “something”. I’m thinking of the 24 hour hike they organize in the Sawtooths in July. We’ll see. By the way, you’ll love this: Amy, Mom and I went out to dinner Sunday, but couldn’t have Thai food (which we wanted) because, wait for it, Mom was going to Thailand the next week. Wouldn’t want to overdo it on the Pad Thai here just to face the same old, same old in Bangkok. For those of you who don’t know my mother, you may not understand, but if she continues to use future travel plans to hinder her eating, I’m afraid she may starve.
Here’s John after 4 hours, 11 minutes, and 40 seconds of running.
One last thing
The Rockies are going to the series! What fantastic news. This, combined with the Great American Beer Festival last weekend, makes me want to be in Denver again. It is shaping up to be a fantastic fall. I spent this weekend out in the hills, one day hunting for chuckar, the next fishing for big trout. The proverbial “cast and blast” weekend. The house progresses in what are the best phases of the project. Good weather, lots of visual progress, and the students enjoying it all– here are a couple of photos of the progress.
The South Fork of the Boise, looking upstream to Tom Hutchinson, who came down to see Anja. And fish.
Last time I left with the art of Empire, remember? Well, this time I’ll leave you with Chris Jordan, who is cataloging our Empire in his art. Check out his “By the Numbers” photos.
http://www.chrisjordan.com/
Caio
