End of summer ramblings

The funny colored leaves on the trees around these parts is a sure sign that summer is almost over. It wasn't much of a summer. It started late and ended early.

I plum forgot to celebrate Diez y Seis this month, dang it. What a celebration it could have been, too. I remember when my mom and dad would take us to the celebration in Kyle, Texas, about six miles from our farm. What a fandango! We'd do the ring toss and try to win prizes, listen to the live Mexican Conjunto bands play and eat tacos and other things we either couldn't pronounce or distinguish.

I also skipped out on the Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel this year. I hear there were more people there this year than last - and last year there were too many. I could barely walk down the street without bumping into someone with a sausage on a stick or a greasy bag of onion rings and elephant ears.

I blame this all on the shortness of this summer in Oregon. It threw me off. Next year, I want at least three full months of it, or I'm asking the governor for my money back.

Good to be back in Oregon

Hello folks out there in blogland. I just got back from a vacation in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. Why go to Canada? My wife's family immigrated there from Ireland during the potato famine of the 1840's and she has a lot of cousins that we've been intending to meet for many years.

I must say. Canada made me homesick for Oregon, just as Oregon makes me homesick for Texas. Dorito Nachos with "fromage?" Wow.

Things were way more expensive there in Canada than they are here in Oregon, just like Oregon is way more expensive than Texas.

Kilometers thew me off to. It's good to be back.