Happy Halloween.

Did you get "Boo'd" this year? Did you get out and Boo your friends and neighbors? I think it is the funnest idea yet. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then go to this website

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Start-the-Halloween-Boo-in-Your-Neighborhood

and check it out. Probably late for this year but tuck the information away and try it next year--if you can remember where you put the info.

"If you haven't been Boo'd, you're missing out on a fun Halloween tradition. This is such a fun way to start off the whole fall holiday season and strengthen ties with neighbors. There are some variations on how people do it, but the basics are the same. Put together a goodie-basket of Halloween treats for a neighbor and then they do the same for another neighbor. You need to get started by the middle of October so get going!"

Aravaipa Canyon

This post is a couple of weeks late but still wanted to show you the pictures from a hike that 4 of us gals from the pottery studio took to Aravaipa Canyon on October 21st. This is an 11 mile canyon of the Aravaipa River as it flows into the San Pedro over BLM land north and east of Tucson. It is one of the few perennial streams in Southeast Arizona and it is a jewel of a hike. Guaranteed to get your boots wet as the trail sometimes goes along the stream and at other times you have to slog your way through the water as canyon walls and terrain won't let you get there any other way. We did not do the entire 11 miles--that would be an overnight backpack trip but Nancy, Sheila, Kathy and I spent a great day hiking up and back.

back home again

The week went much too fast. Tried to do too much in such a short time so we missed seeing a few people and spending more time enjoying farm country. We had a good experience flying Allegiant Airlines--except--we discovered that Almond Paste is a potentially dangerous substance and could not bring it on the airplane. We made a special trip to Sioux Center to go to Casey's Bakery so I could bring back some good Dutch almond paste. I thought, since I'm here I will get a good supply so I bought three pounds at about $6 a pound. Never occurred to me that it would be a problem. Its a solid, its a food product--apparently not. (The lady behind me brought cheese through and without a hesitation by airline.) The kicker was that we planned to carry on luggage to avoid the $15 per bag fee. If I wanted to keep the almond paste we needed to check it through and NOW, since we did not pre-check any luggage, it is not $15 a bag but $25 a bag!! I should have left it behind, but I wanted my almond paste for all those goodies I am going to make for Christmas. They are going to be REALLY tasty now!! I probably could have found a place to buy it here in Tucson, I never tried. Anyway, I stewed about that all the way home.

Art Glass

We made a slight detour to go to Sutherland, Iowa to visit Bogenrief Studios. Mark and Jeanne Bogenrief have their shop set up in an old school and these friendly folks were so eager to show us all around. Will was drooling--me too, they do amazing stained glass. We got to see several large commission pieces in process and they were so willing to stop what they were doing and tell us all about each step of the artistic process. It is such

an eclectic place to visit, if you are anywhere near Iowa you gotta stop.

Fall in the midwest

It is a nostalgic, pleasant drive across Minnesota and Iowa to see Larry and Jean and Mom DeBoer. We did NOT like having to scrape ice off the windows in the early morning in Westside, or the snow flakes being driven in the fierce wind on Sunday but we will have a story to tell when we get back to Arizona! We thought we'd surely miss winter by making the trip this early in the fall but we got a little taste of winter anyway. We did, however, get to see some gorgeous fall colors and we were happy about that. They say we missed the peak but we saw plenty of shades of orange, red and yellow. Harvest is in full swing and lots of very large equipment on the country roads all across Iowa which is always interesting to us ol' farmers.

Niece Kellie and Treavor stopped in for a while at Larry and Jean's which was pretty fun. Lessons on how to keep up with an energetic second grader.

We decided we needed to take a trip back to the midwest to visit family and friends. Drove up to Mesa to take a small regional airline, Allegiant, that flys into Sioux Falls. Arrived late on Thursday night and spent the first night with Pete and Alice Haan in Brandon, South Dakota. Stayed up late gabbing and catching up on all the news. Got to see Amy and Chase also.















Next day we drove our rental car the 4 hours to the Twin Cities. Fun lunch with Lyle and Marlene Bleeker in Maplewood. Lyle and Will could "talk stained glass." Lyle has made some amazing glass pieces.

Took advantage of wonderful hospitality of Dewain and Linda Goff and stayed with them in Woodbury. Here is Dewain and Linda in front of the fort that Dewain made in his backyard for his grandkiddos. Now, he has to get the award for the greatest grandpa. Wouldn't you have just loved a fort like this when you were a kid!

The Huang family is growing. Little Angie is 8 months old. What a sweetie. Wei and Qing are pretty proud parents.

So here is some of my latest work. I especially am pleased with these simple little "folded" bowls because I am using paper clay which allows me to work with really, really thin slabs of clay--which results in some very lightweight, yet durable and delicate items. Kinda fun. The lidded pot is heavy iron clay but I just liked the way the glaze turned out in the firing.





















Some Arizona pictures. This is Seven Falls in Bear Canyon in the Catalina mountains outside of Tucson. Did the 8 mile hike on a gorgeous autumn desert morning. Not a lot of water this time of year but with creative counting we could come up with at least seven water falls.