lyzadanger posted a photo: Om nom nom nom This is why I was quiet all weekend. Baked like a fiend because I was the host of Aileen's baby shower. Brett, Wes, Chris Higgins and Mr. Pencil also strongly involved. Go see the photo at Flickr to see what some of the treats were.

I found out today that a) someone I care about very much has cancer and b) the girlfriend of someone I care deeply for has cancer.

Seriously. WTF. That’s terrible.

Godspeed, everyone.

I kind of forgot to mention that right before my surgery we spent the weekend in Sunriver and Bend, Ore. I suppose I had other things on my mind. One of the memorable things was the gorgeous-day strenuous hike up Smith Rock (near Terrbonne, Ore.). Autumn was with us and did put up some photos on her blog.

It reminds me of other trips and other times. Like this one time with this sort of all-night Bacchanalia. I’ll attach a photo of THAT time (taken on film, probably Fuji 800, with mountain visible in background. Middle of night). Mr. Pencil is on the right.

Updated: Another photo of Smith Rock from the same (2000) trip, from my collection.

Guys!

Mr. Pencil and I are planning an epic feast on Thanksgiving, but we don’t have enough people to serve! Right now it’s just a family affair, but we’d like to extend an invite to friends of ours in the Portland area who are orphaned or otherwise free on Thanksgiving. Let us know if you’d like to come eat with us!

Kes and Aileen are in Europe for a few weeks and have just arrived in Toulouse, where they’ll be staying all week.

Unfortunately their room is a bit gross (Aileen says she wishes she had flip-flops for the bathroom), and the air intake is sucking in foul, smoky, stale air. So Kes has rigged up a shoe-and-paper solution to keep that ickiness at bay. Here it is. Very MacGyver.