"France is a country where the money falls apart, but you can't tear the toilet paper." - Billy Wilders

How liberal is Oregon? No Republican has been elected to statewide office in over a decade.
That may change this year with the GOP candidate for Sect. of State well ahead in the polls and endorsed by even some Dem. party leaders.

How much has it rained this month? Not counting any rain we may get before midnight we've had 13" in October. The average for the month is 3.1". Just this month we've had almost 1/3 of the rain that falls in an entire year.

We agree that the opera was terrific, thoroughly enjoyable in every way, including great seats, and that our favorite singer was the young lady who played Ursule, the handmaid to Hero', the bride in the story. Laura Thorelson is 6' tall, slender, raven-haired, and strikingly beautiful.  She was on stage for several minutes before she sang a note, but when she did...oh my! A huge, rich, contralto voice that was, in our opinion, a show stopper. Because her role can be called supporting she didn't have any arias, but sang in duets and trios with the other two female principals. Yep, we both thought she was the star of the production.
We also both liked the guy who played Benedict. He was good at making us laugh.

Here are Steve and Michelle's two kids, Jason and Emily, in the costumes they wore to their preschool. I don't know if Megan and Caedon went to school in costumes, but I think these two pics prove that I have the cutest grandkids in.  the.  world.  (The other two are old enough that they probably wouldn't own the word cute, but they're pretty good lookin', too.)

I finished stacking the firewood!! OK, I still have a small pile of rounds to split by hand because I ran out of time with the rented splitter, but all four of the big piles of split wood are now stacked. With what was already stacked in the woodshed it adds up to 10 cords of firewood, enough for between 6 and 7 winters, depending on weather.

While stacking I listened to the audio of Robinson Crusoe. Beginning with the second half of chapter six he (Crusoe) talks about his spiritual awakening to God's work in his life, and it's as good a sermon as I could ever hope to preach. I read the Wiki article on Daniel DeFoe, the author, but didn't get any insight as to how he came to such a good understanding of the theology of God's sovereignty and providence. But Crusoe's words about coming to see God's hand in what he had previously viewed as miserable abandonment is the stuff of significant spiritual maturity.
Chapter 8 is just as good.

And to celebrate I'm going to have TWO pieces of mystery pudding tonight with my coffee.
Mystery pudding is a family recipe for a dessert that is so rich and yummy that it's illegal in 12 states.
If I have the story correct my maternal grandmother made it when my dad was at their house courting my mother. He thought it was so good that he ate enough to get sick shortly thereafter.

It became a huge favorite at our house when I was growing up, something mom made for special occasions. That became true when our boys were growing up, and it was typically their requested birthday dessert. That's why Pam made it Saturday; yesterday was my birthday.

In a square pyrex pan lay down and press in a bed of crushed graham crackers mixed with sugar. (I think some melted butter gets added to the crumbs to help it hold together, but I'm not sure. Maybe that's what makes it mystery pudding.)
On top of that "crust" goes a custard-like filling that's made with lots of butter, some eggs, and other good stuff. On top of that a meringue, and then more of that graham cracker and sugar mix is sprinkled.
The result is very, very rich, and equally as good.
MMMMMM.

Yep, two pieces.
Don't judge.