September 2009

Life keeps humming along through another transition. After going to the cabin every weekend of the summer, we have not gone since Labor Day so we are getting used to spending all of our time here in Ashland. Irie quickly adjusted to her schedule at her new school, Willow Wind which is an alternative school within the public system. She has restarted piano lessons and we are getting a new (used) piano tomorrow. She is also taking a hip-hop dance class, and Lisa is still searching for a french tutor for her.

While Lisa and I both danced hula together in the park every Weds., the separate official classes have begun so Lisa is dancing on Weds. nights, I am dancing with the kane (men) on Thurs., and Lisa is teaching a beginner's class on Fri., all through our friend Andrea's organization Integral Dance. Last night we were delighted to have the world's oldest touring musician here in Ashland. Bill Tapia is 101 years young and plays the ukulele. Lisa, Andrea and a few other dancers got the honor of performing with him during two songs
.
Here are the videos:
Puamana
I Want to Speak Hawaiian

The unusual excitement in Ashland this week was a large fire on the south end of town that destroyed one house and threatened a whole neighborhood.
It turned out to be about 190 acres (while another 4 times as large raged in Medford the same day), and there are other fires in closer to our cabin that have caused smoky hazy skies all week. Our friends, John and Taylor, were not home so I raced over and rescued their two dogs, one bird, and a frog before they evacuated the nieghborhood. Luckily, our brave firefighters were on it and kept it from causing a lot more damage. I filmed from John's garage roof and here's that video. Warning: some foul language from my excited mouth :)

I start University classes tomorrow (finally), but have been keeping busy with a paintbrush. Last week I painted our house, something that was long overdue, and we are loving the new look.
This week I painted for someone else so actually made some money...how novel.

France seems a long way away, though we still think of our french friends and way of life all the time!