L'aventure américaine

That's a bit deceptive right now, but I think that the sun is on the way back.  While we had some snow this week and pretty chilly temperatures, spring is busting out all over here.  Lilacs, fruit trees, daffodils, tulips...  It's beautiful.  And Randal and I are growing our happy little seedlings in the Solarium. (Formerly Randal's office and future home of our master bathroom...  I hope.)  Our yard was nice enough last weekend for us to host an Easter party chez Popes! Of course, you can't start an Easter party without having some tremendously beautiful eggs to hunt.  So, my friend Berta, appeased my whim to spend an evening at her house dying eggs.  Despite some grumbling, most people got into it and we created some real beauties this year.  And of course, had an excellent time.   The next morning, the Easter Bunny came to the Popes house, dropping off an Easter basket with some solid ...

You wouldn't know it on top of Mt. Bachelor in Bend, OR though, which is where I went two weekends ago.  After a serendipitous purchase of some used skis (Don't you just love small towns?  When you can run into a friend at the post office, tell him that you are looking for skis, he happens to have some old skis and knows how to fit them for you and does so in the next half-hour?  Isn't that great?), I was ready to go.  So, my K Falls friend, Berta, and I hopped in the car and headed north. Andrea and other friends from Klamath met us in Bend and we spent a snowy day playing on the mountain.  It was quite a powder day and I'm not an expert skier, so Andrea and I stuck to the semi-groomed slopes.  (Because it was snowing so hard, there was powder on nearly every hill.)  I remembered being a little better skier, but that didn't stop me from having an excellent time all the way until last chair!   Berta and Andrea celebrate sno...