Another beautiful (now fall) day and another day trip. This time to the top of Paulina Peak, to look down on the lakes Paulina and East, bisected by the Big Obsidian lava flow from the most recent eruption of the Newberry Caldera 1,300 years ago.

Time to preserve the bounty of the summer! The local ‘Veggie Man’ stand had beautiful huge local peaches so I decided to can some.

A flat of peaches yielded a dozen pints of sweet peaches preserved in apple juice. No added sugar!

On a gloriously sunny, clear skies day we took a trip to Oregon’s only National Park, Crater Lake! We drove the rim road and even hiked down the one and a half mile trail to the water. On our way down we caught sight of the elusive “Old Man of the Lake”, a giant Hemlock log that floats vertically around the lake. It has been sighted since 1896 in the lake! It is so massive that the exposed top of the over 34 foot log is 2 feet in diameter, enough for a person to stand atop!

The speck in the water on the right is the ‘Old Man’, with Wizard Island in the background.

The incredible blueness of the water is amazing considering how crystal clear the water is!

A fantastic panorama of Crater Lake!

Returning to Bend, we took advantage of the warm almost-fall weather to canoe on our favorite lake, Hosmer Lake, one of the high Cascades Lakes off of Century Drive. We have to get there very early in the morning now in order to get a parking space. It’s so popular it’s being ‘loved to death’ by the growing population in Bend (over 93,000 now, about 20,000 when we moved here in 1986!).

South Sister reflected in the early morning calm waters of Hosmer Lake.

Our lunch break stop on the very cold, crystal clear waters of Quinn creek that feeds Hosmer Lake.

After our half day on the lake we returned home and grilled a fantastic shrimp and veggie dinner.

Grilled shrimp and grits with roasted very fresh, home-garden grown (by neighbors) carrots, and peppers. Yummy!

Another beautiful day in Chicago! We walked around another park, a block from our Airbnb. I used to walk through this park on my way to Catholic school in grades 1-3. We came across this grand sculpture, it must have been a sapling back when I walked by as a kid!

The tree must have died and was transformed into a heron, complete with a fish in beak!

We checked out some old watering holes in the neighborhood, places I actually never went into but knew about, after all I was only 17 when I left Chicago!

Part of the mural at The Cove, longtime jazz lounge in Hyde Park! Highlighting iconic Chicago staples; Jazz, walkable neighborhoods, Barack Obama…

…The Point and The Cove. I couldn’t get the whole mural in one picture!