APRIL - Birthdya buzz begins!

OK -- here it comes .......... I am 40 years old (as of the morning of April 26, 2010).

And -- I feel GREAT! So much goodness received from from friends and family far and near. Feeling gracious and happy to my core.

Started out the celebration with a work party over the weekend at The Hill with family and friends. We got together to get the homestead in "welcoming" condition for my folks who are coming home from their tropical winter away. And - we got together to have a good time, eat good food, play in the woods in the sunshine, sit around a big campfire, laugh and tell stories, and just be together. Today the Hill is shining from our attentions and the bright lushness of the season.


Taking a break on the deck



Let the Wild-Rumpus continue -----> celebrating 40 is going to last all year!

A trip northward

Spring break at the University of Oregon this past week. After fire dancing at my friend's b-day over the weekend I escaped my world here in Eugene. All I had to do was hop on the train headed north. I stepped off the train in Seattle and was quickly scooped away to my dear friend's beautiful home in west Seattle. The next day we headed to Stevens Pass, WA in the North Cascades for quiet time in her cabin and some snow boarding under bright spring time sunshine.



Minimal sleep, laughing, talking, eating great food, being in beautiful places, hot tubs, piano with my girlfriend and playing/dancing with 4 year old Bren all filled up my soul. Just returned home -- and I am holding on to the goodness.

Thanks BK! Your friendship and support is priceless and ever so appreciated.

SPRING 2010

Spring has officially arrived in all its glory to western Oregon. And I am SO GRATEFUL!

DARK WINTER

DECEMBER:
10 days in the Bay Area for the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA. It's an amazing conference filled with all sorts of other geo-geeks like me.

In addition to the conference, I was able to connected with a couple of very dear old friends. All in all -- a good trip!Greggor and me at Coit tower.

Visited John and Chris up in Occidental, CA at their home in the redwoods. FANTASTIC biz....

December holiday festivities in Oregon included copious amounts of food and several opportunities to gather with family.Steve and I hovering over the desert tables ................. yumm!!

Cousin Cinda's house

New Years Eve passed with a small group of fantastic people at the home of my precious friend Neil B.

JANUARY:
The first days of the year were spent in Troutlake, WA at the home of my sister Elissa P. and her beau Jon D. We cooked yummy food, walked in the snow, and explored lava tubes of Mnt Adams that contained massive stalagtites and stalagmites of ice.



Then -------- winter term at the University of Oregon began...........limiting my "getting" out activities.

It is an El Nino year. Here in the Pacific NW this gives us a strange mix of cold days and much less percipitation than normal. This means that my bike commute has been tolerable all winter long --- but our mountains are starving for snow pack. This will impact the rivers that these mountains feed this coming summer.

FEBRUARY:
Steve took a well deserved and greatly needed three week trip to Costa Rica.

I prep for and attended the week long Klamath Basin Science Conference in southern Oregon. I was quite impressed by the size and content of the conference. My thesis work on early Holocene floods and subsequent floodplain development in the upper-basin (Sycan and Sprague Rivers) was presented. Felt good to have the research be useful to folks doing fish habitat restoration. The conference brought 500 people together that work from the headwaters of the Klamath Basin in south-central Oregon to the mouth of the Klamath River in northern California.

My fab friend Chris M. came from Colorado for the conference. This made for all sorts of much-needed fun girl time.
Chris M -- atop Table Rock with Mnt McLoughlin in the background.

We all helped my brother Gabby and his family move into their new house in SE Eugene over Valentines weekend.

AND -- I began seeking!! CLARITY
My toes at the edge on Eagle Rest Mnt. -- Willamette National Forest.

The sunshine has started peeking out and spring has started to burst through the winter. Life, beginning!
Here is were I find my joy....................in the nature of it all.
Old growth -- Umpqua National Forest

Diamond Peaks -- Central Cascades

T-day and winter

Thanks giving Day ..... has come and gone. Family gathered and we ate abundantly. This remains one of my favorite holiday's of the year. 25 of us gathered at my brother's house for the seasonal celebration of thankfulness.




Winter is upon the northern hemisphere. In Oregon we are having strangely cold days where temps do not get above freezing. Finally we breached 30F today after 5 days of below freezing. Snow in the forecast for tonight.

The fall term of school has come to a close today. This past week I handed in my term papers, my thesis corrections, and made my poster for the AGU conference I am attending/participating in next week in San Fran. Time to take a breathe ....... finally.

Visiting Friends and GSA on the Columbia River

Attended the Geological Society of America's annual conference this year. It was my first time to present at and to attend the conference. Great fun. Especially interesting to be around thousands of geologists/geomorphologists from around the world.

Besides connecting with some good friends, the highlight of the conference was a GSA field trip I took along the Columbia River, OR -- about the Pliestocene floods of Lake Missoula. VERY COOL!


Columbia River, OR -- just upstream from the John Day River along the JD Ridge (looking upriver to the east).

In addition to seeing some good folks at the conference, I got a good boost of "soul food" from a few dear friends that came to visit (or I visited them) in October.

Larry Wyatt -- visiting us in Eugene and teaching/attending the annual Yuketober Fest.


Orla and her momma Tina -- I visited them in Pdx.


Max, the GREAT DANE, -- all the way from the Czech Republic. This was the surprise and treat of the year. AND Julia D ..... magic!

October -- bike ride home

I commute on my bike just about every day -- to and from home and the University of Oregon campus. As luck has it, I ride much of the approx. 4 miles along Eugene's river path (car free). It is always a pleasure -- even in the rain or snow. This time of year its all about red, gold, and orange autumn colors.

These are pics as I traverse from UO to home (sorry about photo blurriness. pics taken from the seat of my bike while riding). I only have a few blocks of "street" between the path and my home. I am lucky! -- yes....and I appreciate it.