Twenty twelve!

 

Me and a lion's mane mushroom found in the Mt. Hood national forest.

Welcome to the new year! This time of year is interesting, there is such hype about the new year and making resolutions and all that. There is something special about it. I see the new year as a time to start new. Another chapter in the book of life. It could be exciting, boring, challenging, for that matter it is what ever you make it. We have the ability to form our lives one day at a time. We have the power to decide how we are going to act and how we are going to treat other people, ourselves and the world in which we live. We are attempting to figure our a way to live outside of the industrial economy in which we exist within. This is quite challenging but we find much more satisfaction when our lives are carried out in a more sustainable way. Sustainable is quite a word. For now I am going to say we are seeking to live our lives with the natural world being the model.

Off the soap box.

We are alive and quite happy here in White Salmon. We haven't written here in quite a while but there are exciting things happening! I (Colin) am enjoying a slow quite morning before work.

 I am baking bread. Right now and in this photo.

 Kristin doing yoga in the living room right next to the woodstove.

 Thanksgiving with good friends in Portland.

 Three buds. Man I love these guys.

 The scene of our living room. It is now painted and looks much more better than in this photo.

 Color!

 Kristin and Linz during Christmas time.

 Brent and I measuring a tree in the Olympic National park. I think it was something like 24' around. We spent New Year's with Brent and Cassie in the Park and had an awesome weekend of sun, rain, snow. We went to the Hoh rainforest and saw spawning Coho salmon. I could have sat there all day watching them.

 Kristin and Cassie. in the rainforest.

I love big trees.

More exciting news coming soon. Think tiny house on wheels. ..

 Buzzed it off!

Colin caught this 25 lb. salmon in the Columbia...we still have it in our freezer!

Me, Mom, Bro, Rebecca, and Grandma all come to visit

Mike and I

 A magical place we found

  My engagement ring! Yes, made out of beach grass

  Cider pressing party! We now have 5 gallons fermenting and much more in the freezer..

Cooper!

Colin found crazy amounts of chantrelles this fall

Us in the gardens at Edgefield before John Prine

Summer goodness!

Cherries! 

Brent and Cassie got sticky with us...

Little Mila! Our dear friends the Kielichs came all the way from French Gulch to see us for a few days.. a long awaited visit!

Michael and Coops.

Lisa and her princess.

Colin and Forest... who's almost 5!

My Dad came to visit and we hiked up near Mt. Adams. First time he's seen snow in years!

We brought Colin's Dad's boat down to the White Salmon, and rowed around looking for fish and blackberries... we found the berries!

.Love.

YUM! Our beautiful harvest! Pablano peppers, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and delicata! 

Colin's parents generously gave us their old woodstove. Colin has been working hard to fix it up..

Lili! My good friend came to visit for a night! And what a lovely visit.

Peaches peaches peaches. So many peaches! This evening was consumed with the canning/freezing/eating of peaches.... and drinking of good summer beer!

His name is Cooper!

The latest addition to our lives. Cooper! His is just over seven weeks old and cuter than ever!

Long overdue

What an amazingly hardworking partner I have. I came home from work and half our yard was tilled. Magic.

Our little baby hops just learning to grow up the twine on our front porch.

Me at our beer tent at the WA Brewers Fest. Yes, this is my job.

My Mom came. I dragged her to Seattle with me to the beer fest, and put her to work (just for a minute).

Mom and I in Seattle enjoying an amazing Thai dinner. It was so so good to see her; a long awaited visit.

New Life.

After being in one place for almost 6 months i suppose it is time for a post to the ol' blog. Nothing too exciting around here (NOT!). Lots of mushrooms, fish, family, a baby, gardens, friends visiting, ect. We have already moved twice since being here in Hood River and we are packing to move again.

Home!

As pretty much everybody already knows we are back home! We are enjoying making ourselves at home here in Hood River. We have a small apartment near downtown. Kristin is working counter help at an amazing artisan bakery in town and I am in the process of getting myself a baking job at the same bakery. We have a rockin garden going, but it is getting slowly getting eaten by little pawed maggots (squirrels).

We are excited to be here for a bit and start to pay off our school loans and save for the next trip. If all goes as planned we will be here for the winter. But you never know.

Love.