Playing catch up again…August had memorable events, but now it is October…We were supposed to spend the first week of August hiking near Mt Rainier, but the wildfire smoke rolled in and we decided to come home early. We spent most of the week avoiding being outdoors due to the air quality,

but I still celebrated my birthday in a quiet way:

Flowers, shadows, sidewalks of the neighborhood during the month…

Eugene Weekend:

Later in the month, we had visits from our two children who live across the country, and a family reunion event in Eugene.

Delicious food:

Time spent in my favorite garden:

Some interesting neighborhood sites:

And a stop at Mt Pisgah Orchards on the drive home:

Reading

I finished twelve books in August, two in my Jane Austen category. I really enjoyed Patchwork: A Graphic Biography of Jane Austen, by Kate Evans. She highlights all of the key events of Jane Austen’s life, and her novel plots, and she intersperses it with images of the quilt made by Jane Austen, her mother and her sister Cassandra. The Will Gompertz book about looking at Art was illuminating, and The Personal Librarian, by Benedict and Murray added another interesting layer to that topic.

Eclipse

On August 27th, we watched the partial lunar eclipse from our nearby schoolyard.

We hiked four days, later in the month – to be described in a later post.

Tributes to Dolly:

Toward the end of the month, we were all very sad when Dolly Parton died – she was a powerful person who used her fame and wealth for good, it can be done!