.  .  .  to make me happy.  These beautiful creepy crawlers in Halloween colors were all over the grass at The Minto today.

Roxie and I like to make friends there with all creatures great and small.

And then!!  I got $1 a gallon discount on a full tank of gas. Is this a great place or what!

Went paddling yesterday afternoon along the Santiam to the confluence with the Willamette and down to BV, mostly to look for fall color. 

We found plenty, but first we found over a dozen of these styrofoam parcels at various locations along the north bank of the Santiam.

We felt that if they had a legitimate scientific purpose, they should be labeled.  They were not.  When the river rises with the coming rains, they will be washed downstream and into the Willamette.  Styrofoam is a major problem in waterways, so, Jim, my faithful paddling buddy, sent this shot off to the Willamette Riverkeeper with questions.  I usually collect any litter I come upon while kayaking.  There is amazing little.  Oregonians are just not litterbugs. Having seen an explosive episode of Doc Martin the night before, I left these where they were.

Came back to find that my cherished gingko had changed into her fall attire in my absence.

Indian Summer seems to be holding on for another week or so, so I am heading back on the river this afternoon. Who knows what else I may find.  I think we will be paddling dangerously close to a Burgerville.

The answer to how many words there are in the English lexicon is usually thought to be just over a million.  Most well-read Americans commonly use around 200,000 on a regular basis and understand roughly 700,000.

I love learning new words. Two words that I heard used a lot this week were not actually new to me.  I knew what they meant when I read them. I hardly ever use them and really hope I don’t have the occasion to use them in my daily life ever again.

Concupiscence just means lust.

I spend a lot of time at the dog park

Brinksmanship is the practice of pushing dangerous events to the verge of—or to the brink of—disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome.

I spend a lot of time in The United States of America.

I love my country.  I will have a heart full of gratitude every day of my life that it is mine.  It’s a lot like having relatives who sometimes make choices that disappoint or embarrass us.  I will love them forever and be so glad they are mine in spite of everything.

I often joke when I am traveling in a foreign country that it is just safer upon meeting people to say one is from Saskatoon.  I can pull that off.  I have been to a Timbers game and can sing “O, Canada” with gusto.  No one much chews out a Canadian.

You really have to be there to understand this particular rite.

Switzerland is another country I often admire.  Here we have strong lobbies on both sides of a universal military draft and weaponry.  This week Switzerland voted overwhelmingly to continue compulsory military service.  Every male citizen  — I know this is sexist.  Switzerland did not enfranchise women until 1971, for heaven’s sake!  So things are not perfect in Heidi-land either.  But I digress. — Every man  between eighteen and thirty-four goes through basic training and then keeps a uniform and a weapon, but no ammo, at home in a closet, ready for action.  Last time they saw any was in 1798 when Napoleon invaded.  I wonder whether they look like the guards at the Vatican.

I could never fake being Swiss.  Like most Americans, I am mono-lingual for the most part. The patriarch of the family next door is Swiss and I sometimes get to speak my school-girl French with him.  Of course, he is also fluent in English, German, and Italian.  I am jealous.  I am also jealous of their three-generation family all together in one house.  They are the most cheerful family I know.  Sometimes, I fantasize about daughters who live in Portland or Bend or about Joannie and Terri and Mother all moving into 1880 with me.  I have even thought that we would rent one of those storage units for the jet skis over there by the river.  But I digress.

If anyone wonders why I don’t rake my leaves up as soon as they fall, well, they’re just too beautiful and we haven’t finished playing in them yet.