Greetings and love to all,

In keeping with Greg's suggestion, here is my modest supplement for the weekly!

We did indeed have a MARVELOUS time with Nick and Lucy. They came for a short three day/two night stay here at Paradise Lost after the wedding and festivities. They are the BEST guests to have. They are quiet, well-behaved and good sports (hee! hee!). We spent a glorious day at Shelter Cove which was blessedly sunny and warm (not the USUAL conditions) and the waves were simply PERFECT! Nick got into one of Randy's wet suits and, bless his sweet little heart, gave it a great try. It's really not as easy as it looks.....you're sitting on a 10 foot piece of floating material that you are supposed to be able to maneavour around at the wink of a wave and paddle it sufficiently to catch up with and ride that wave. He gave a good show and was a great sport about the whole COLD water thing!

And if that weren't enough, they even accompanied us to our Aikido class and participated in the stretches and warm ups that we put ourselves through! Everyone loved meeting them and we were thrilled that they wanted to come see our humble abode!

Other than that....not much to share! We've finally gotten our first bit of rain! Lovely for everything to get the dust knocked off. We have had about 4 inches here on the ridge, only about 2 inches in town. But, it's a start!

Working and playing and carrying on! That's about it!.................loving you all and hoping this finds you all happy,healthy and well.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>sarah

What was hoping to be the early morning edition of the family newsletter turns out to be the late evening paper in the East Coast. For some, it will be the Monday morning edition of the weekend edition because I'm hoping someone will forward this on to those regular subscribers who's addresses I don't have - not that anyone will be missing much if it doesn't get passed on.

Here goes: It's a wet and windy day here in Portland Oregon. It's been raining for days and shows no sign of letting up. The gutters are flowing over because that's what they do this time of year. Most of the leaves are still on the trees and who wants to climb up and clean the gutters more than once in the fall? It's bad enough that we still have to mow the lawn once a week. Actually I love this time of year (despite having to mow and clean the gutters). Perhaps Greg would be happy with the beautiful colors we have in the great Pacific Northwest this year.all shades of red, orange, burgundy, and yellow. I don't know why the East Coast gets all the press regarding the beautiful colors - our colors are fantastic. You should all visit, enjoy the colors and then help me with the massive amount of raking that is yet to come.

New and noteworthy events: with the passing of my job as mother of children at the local private school I thought it fitting that I should donate the car that got the countless numbers of children in the various carpools to school safely over the past 14 years. Catlin Gabel has a massive rummage sale the first week in November every year and the white Volvo station wagon is the big item for sale this year. The money earned each year goes toward scholarship money for students who otherwise would not be able to afford the tuition at Catlin. I feel lucky and privileged that Emily and David were able to go there and extremely grateful for the amazing education they received. Giving the Volvo has helped with the transition to life without children in the nest. My friends noticed that I was more emotional about giving the car away than I was about David going off - I know David will be back to visit, the passing of the Volvo is the marking of the end of an era that won't be coming back to visit.

To help me with this transition was the timely 24 hour trip to Southern California for Karin and Zach's wedding. I could leave Tabby to fend for herself not worrying that she would have a wild party while I was gone. Nick and Lucy picked me up at the airport in a fancy red convertible! They looked so Southern California that I didn't realize they would be coming for me! And I was hoping everyone at the airport noticed as I hopped in the front seat and rode off looking totally cool and so Southern California as well. I went for a run on the beach, we had a wonderful brunch at a place we could walk to from Ben and Donna's and then we all got ready for the wedding! It was very exciting as different parts of the dressy dress appeared in various stages. Donna managed to get us to the church on time and then we waited for the shuttle to get us up to the top of this amazing canyon. I'm sure my nephews will come through with pictures for all of you to see so you don't have to muddle through my inept attempt at trying to convey how truly beautiful and wonderful the place was and to try to give you some sense of the ceremony (it was very touching, short, had humor and a wonderful male-female equality and respect that we should all strive for). Rod gave a very dear speech from the heart and Lisa did as well.
She made the point that husbands often don't live as long as wives and that she looks forward to living with Karin again in the future - a tribute to what a wonderful friend and sister she has been thus far in life. I told Sallie I wouldn't mind her bringing Rod along so we could live together again as well; based on the Rinderknecht longevity I don't want to have to wait as long as it might take otherwise. Anyway, it really was a wonderful gathering and celebration of two wonderful individuals, two families and lots of love - and that's why it helped so much with the transition to the empty nest. How could I feel sad and lonely when I felt so loved?

For anyone who hasn't heard - it's actually been very nice not having children at home because I've been so busy with work. The teaching is going well but is still a great deal of work and stress. The students have been varied and for the most part my work with them has been very rewarding. Tabby gives me the business for getting dinner served so late but she forgives me and can't wait to cuddle when I sit on the couch to read or grade papers. I'm busy with my knitting group, my weekly Wednesday morning group and occasional evenings with the various wonderful friends I have.

I do hear from Emily and David occasionally - both doing well and happy at school. Emily is hopefully going to visit her relatives on the East Coast for Thanksgiving while David actually gets to come home for a week. Kerry tried to get Emily interested in Stanford and she would have nothing to do with it. Maybe we won't' tell her that David gets to come home for Thanksgiving.

That's really about it and since the only jokes I ever tell are the ones that Greg sends, I don't have anything to add at the end here. Lots and lots of love to everyone from soggy Portland Oregon where all the women like the idea of living with their sisters again, all the men are - well - not around unless we can get Rod to move up and all the children are off at college but they're definitely above average.

Hugs and love all around, Susie

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