The "Bear" tree before all the decorations
50 handmade bears sit waiting for placement.
What's a picnic without a little fishing? (STUPID BEAR CAUGHT ONE!!)
Tasty ceramic berry pie.
The Final picnic.
Whew. Glad that's all over. Now time for the auction!! 
Everyone is all smiles. We have not eaten yet.
Mariana's stomach grew 3 sizes this day.
Gathered around the table. Let the feasting begin!!
Thanksgiving isn't just for turkey anymore.
The Mutt.
This pic is of me and Linnie. Linnie is a local artist I share my space with. We have great chemistry together and have already become friends. She has inspired me to explore art again. I have so many ideas and blank canvas's to fill. Maybe the blizzard in our living room will become a real piece of art!
I did make plans prior to Lauren visiting. She joined me early Saturday morning to helping my mom and her girl scout troop. We helped the community by assisting a local farmer load and deliver 19000 lbs. of pumpkins the the food bank. The pumpkins will be turned into food to feed local families. We were so silly and wore garbage bags around our feet so our pants and shoes stayed clean! We were definitely not photo shoot ready, but a took a few for the blog anyways!
Of course we walked down to the fabulous Paddington station. They are in the process of bringing out all of their Christmas items. It was so overwhelming and wonderful. Everyone female I bring to that place loves it!
We had a great time and the weather was perfect all weekend!
This year Matt and I had to dress up. We found a geisha costume and Matt an Army outfit that were perfect! We spent the afternoon watching the town parade, which seemed to consist of everyone in the Rogue Valley willing to get dressed up on a Saturday afternoon to parade around in the streets of Ashland! By all means, it was entertaining!
Our favorite costume was the mobile ZOLTAR which dispensed candy to all that wanted a wish granted. We figured it was probably a guy that had a Segway and box. Very creative.
This week Anna was visiting us in Ashland and we decided to walk into town and spend the afternoon cruising the strip. On our way back to my place we stumbled upon this same art gallery that was having a grand opening this weekend with an Origami theme. To my surprise the gallery is actually different then the others. They teach classes and they rent out lots of spaces to local artisit as studios to work in and to display and sell art. There is probably 25 different artisit and kinds of art!
Anyways, Anna and I walk in and they had classes all weekend. They were anywhere from $10-$30. We were talking to the lady at the front desk and she explained that someone donated money to pay for all of the classes that weekend, so they were free to anyone. EXCELLENT! I signed up for a box class for Saturday morning, and then I signed Matt and I up for a wet folding class Saturday afternoon.
Here are a few pics of our work! I think the box class was a better class for beginners and lots of fun. The teacher was a true art teacher , eccentric, which in my art experiences meant the class would be good and I met a few really neat people. The wet folding was for more advanced origamists, (not sure if that's a word), and there were a few of us not up to par. Matt and I did learn that the beauty of wet folding is that you can shape the paper to have more character and personal style. The same folded piece of origami becomes unique for each person depending on how you form it. Even though Matt was sick the whole time we had a great time!
Turkey on the hill with this feathers puffed up.
We spent on afternoon exploring Crater Lake and enjoying the majestic views of the lake from every angle you look at it! I haven't been since I was about ten and barely remember the trip, so it was really great to visit.
Of course we took a walk around our cute little town and stopped for the biggest one scoop ice cream cones ever at Zoey's!
It was so neat to have Mari bring her mom here. Since she couldn't speak English Mar translated between all of us, and we learned a bit of Portuguese. It was great to see them interact together and see just how much Mari is like her mom.
Go Olympics 2016 RIO~ It unfortunate other places didn't get this, but after chatting with Mari's mom, Rio needs it. She explained that it's a beautiful town of dance, culture, and history that is falling apart. The crime and bad reputation is causing the business and tourism to struggle. Understandably. The people are hoping that the event in their town will not only show the world what a great place it is to experience, help the city rebuild some of the economy, and push the government to enforce laws and safety to make Rio a better place. Will see.
