The Tail of October

Last weekend was full of fall festivities.

First,



We got up reeeally early on Saturday so that I could run the Wolf Trap Howl-oween 5K with Kaylyn in the frigid cold (um, 38 degrees when we left the house) and Jason could hold everyone's camera and keys and take pictures. We missed Tilly, who inexplicably decided to decline this year. We also shaved seven minutes off of our time last year. I think it was the cold.

Second,


We bundled up again for the now-annual hayride and bonfire at Krops Crops with our Sunday school class. Jason made chili (I didn't marry him for his chili, but oh, I could have), and I made s'mores. Actually I made s'more, singular. I left everyone else to fend for themselves. I used to think paying for a hayride and bonfire was oh-so-east coast--Dad use to give a killer hayride and make a mean bonfire upon request--but, according to this and this, the trend has spread west.

Third,


We answered the door to a little lion and his safari parents (Steven made it very clear that they were dressed up as photographers, not hunters). Hudson was our first trick-or-treater of the night, and definitely the cutest.

Finally,


We dressed up (yes, Jason DRESSED UP for Halloween) and headed to the church's Trunk or Treat event. Jason went as a hockey player, and I went as a college student, complete with glasses, fake Uggs, and GMU sweatshirt. Okay, so we dressed up as ourselves for Halloween. But still.

One thing we did not do was homework. Or, at least, very much homework. I had a deliciously light week of homework, which came at just the right time, since I briefly hit the end of my rope. We had split pea soup for dinner and I watched You've Got Mail and all was right with the world.

The Tiger, the Race Car Driver, and a Couple of Pirates--Argh!

I'm hoping that by the end of November I will have finished blogging about October, but in the meantime, I just wanted to share my favorite (long-distance) trick-or-treaters with you. They are pretty awesome. Thanks for sending the pics, Mom!

Mini-Coop is looking grrrreat!

Speedy Troy

Argh, me matey Cole!

I think Mason is wondering why he's wearing this hat...

Fall Catch Up

Things are so delightfully fall-ish around here, in spite of our lack of anything to talk about on the blog. It's been a bit difficult to post here, what with all the homework (blah, blech), but tonight I'm cranking out the fourth of five 100+ citation bibliographies for my research class, and the only way I know how to get my citation program to work is to give ten minutes between each upload. So, wha-lah. Blog time.

Here's what we've been doing:
* Readers: The big news of the week is that my thesis is now in the hands of my readers--approved by my committee chairperson, who was very complementary (of the FOURTH draft, for the love), and one giant step further down the road to being finished. My gracious boss has let me take a day off each week while Congress is out of session to work on it and I have needed every minute. I don't have to think about it (much) for two weeks now while they read it, and that makes me v. happy.

* Nigella: I miss cooking, which I've given up for all but Friday as we push through to the finish. I think Jason misses me cooking, too, but he's such a good sport. He's more than a good sport--he is awesome. Anyway, I recently discovered the charms of Nigella Lawson, who now has a show on Food Network, and found one of her cookbooks used. I read it cover to cover, hearing her British accent on each page, last weekend. Glee got me through the spring, Nigella is getting me through the fall.

* Apples: Although cooking has generally been sacrificed to the homework dragon, I will make applesauce this year. I will. Which is why my friend Missy and I got up early Saturday morning for our now-annual apple picking trip to Maryland. Kevin, her husband, was craving the delicious Jonagolds from Rock Hill Orchards, so what can you do? And now, of course, the apples are rotting in a bag in my kitchen... Oh, another note--we did not go pear picking, but I grabbed some at the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago and made this. Unbelievable on toast with goat cheese...

* Nephews...s...s...s...s: That's five nephews, for those who find counting hard. We are getting all set to welcome Bucher Boy #3 into the family in February. Dresses are nice and everything, but we really like boys in our family! Shaanti and Adam are such awesome parents, and we can't wait to meet this new little guy! (And see how Mason likes being a big brother...we already know that Cole is ready to be, as he says, "another brother.)

* Graciousness: Another thing I've neglected to mention is how grateful we are that God took good care of Andrea and Baby Jane, who are finally, finally home in Olympia. This makes me so very happy.

* Coffee: It's official: I am a coffee drinker. For some reason this disappoints my mom, who thought that we were the lone holdouts on the no-coffee team (and yet Mom doesn't drink tea, so we're not really on the same team). I have been toying with the idea of learning to like coffee since college, but it wasn't until I started to have classes until 10 pm after a full day of work that I decided the caffeine outweighed the cost, calories, and addiction. And then. Oh, and then I discovered marshmallow mocha creamer. So amazing. Like my favorite hot chocolate from Moxie Java at home, but with a jittery kick. I honestly have to limit myself to mochas on the weekends or I would go through a container of creamer a week.

I am mildly concerned that most of these things revolve around food. And me. Clearly this list should have been entitled "What I'VE been doing." Whatev, he can write his own blog entry (when he gets home from Alabama, where he is doing some training for work). And now I have no excuse to not go back to the creative writing piece I'm doing for class tomorrow. It is awful and not getting better. Oh, what is that? There's an episode of Friends on TV? Just a few minutes is okay, right?

The Season for Hockey!

Irregardless of the fact that the temperature has stretched back into the 80s today, October signals the start of another exciting NHL season. Last weekend, a friend from my hockey team gave us his two tickets to one of the Washington Capitals pre-season games. Despite the disappointing loss, it was fun to go to Verizon center and watch the Caps in action!

My hockey season is also in full swing (since mid-September). We are on quite a run (we have a 3-1 record) -- having beat a formidable adversary last night 8-0!

Work Bench!

Having a designated corner of the house as a place for home repair and improvement projects is to be coveted. We had long envisioned this corner of our renovated utility room to serve just that purpose. After successive weekends of installing and painting pegboard, we finally finished the work nook. We might even find a bench stool at Ikea today to round out the work space! We have many to share the credit with, notably Dad Small for the utility room overhaul and Dad Johnson for his advice and assistance installing the pegboard. I suppose I now have no excuse for finishing those lingering home improvement projects!

A Celebration for Baby Gambill

My friend Tilly is about the most joyful pregnant woman I have ever met. Brent says that she's extra fun to be around because she laughs at everything, as if her joy is just bubbling over, even when the joke isn't that funny. I love that. Tilly is one of my favorite people, and swollen feet and all, it has been an outright delight to watch her get ready for the arrival of Baby Gambill.

Andrea, Megan, Tilly, and Layton

Maria and Destin made a beautiful fondant cake and cupcakes.

So when it was time to throw Tilly a baby shower, we felt like it needed to be a real celebration. Tilly's pregnancy, which came after a long, long wait and lots of prayer, was a reminder of how faithful God is, how perfect his timing is. We needed to celebrate this baby with fireworks and a big brass band!

Each guest wrote a blessing for Baby Gambill on a quilt square so that
we can stitch them together for Tilly.

Okay, so we didn't do fireworks or a band. But we did all get dressed up, pull out the twinkle lights, and put on a wonderful black-tie affair of a baby shower. Maria and Destin did an absolutely amazing job of decorating--the yard looked like a fairy land--and the food was delicious. And joyful Tilly, looking fabulous at eight months pregnant, had a wonderful time.

Tilly with all the shower hosts!

Amy and I, taking a picture time out!

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends here, friends who encourage and pray for and celebrate with each other as if it is a joy and a privilege, not a chore. There is a Sara Groves song that talks about how life is "Twice as Good" with the people in her life, and that is how I feel about these girls. There is a line in the song that says, "At my good news, you're dancing on the table--baby's born, a celebration." That is exactly what it was like last Saturday...although no one dared to get up on a table in their high heels, the sentiment was everywhere.

Along the Sahel

I just completed a visit to three countries in West Africa: Niger, Mali, and Mauritania. This was my first visit to these countries since taking up my responsibilities for U.S. policy in West Africa in January. The countries have many similarities, such as large swaths of the Sahara desert and high poverty (example: Niger rates dead last on the UN human development index). I spent much of my time learning the dimensions of the challenges the U.S. Embassies in those countries face in advancing U.S. policy in the region: goals as diverse as counter-terrorism, humanitarian disasters brought about by regular droughts and floods, and political instability. My ten-day trip (all in one carry-on suitcase) included flights on such well known airlines as Air Mali and Mauritanian Airways. My flights were virtually all on-time, a rare occurrence I am told. My biggest complaint was when they served fish curry on an Air France flight (who thought the smell of spicy fish was a good decision for a cramped coach cabin?).

I didn't have much chance to get out into the country-side as I had hoped, since I was detoured unexpectedly to Mauritania about half-way through my trip to assist our U.S. Embassy in Nouakchott. Nevertheless, I did take one afternoon to check out the pristine Mauritanian beach front. The water of the Atlantic was incredibly warm -- likely due to currents from the Gulf of Mexico. If only I had had room in my carry-on to pack my swimsuit!

I also ran in to some camels!

The Library and Other Exciting Things

If you are actually expecting exciting things in this blog entry, I would suggest that you close your browser or move on to someone else's blog. But there is only one thing going on in our lives right now (well, Jason's been in Africa for ten days, so that's something), and we could go many moons without an entry if I wait until something exciting happens before I write.

And that one thing? School. I find it fitting that, ten years after I holed up for a semester in this intimidating library-version Wonder of the World, I am again drowning in books and library lingo. Last time I had Oxford's Bodleian Library at my disposal. This time, I am even more grateful than usual that the Library of Congress delivers practically to my desk.

In addition to wrapping up the thesis, this semester I am taking two classes:

1. The Last Generation: My Tuesday class is a lit class focusing on great writers of the WWII era...and for the past five weeks, that has meant reading war novels. And not just any war novels, but novels anywhere from 600-850 pages. A week. Please feel sorry for me. Actually, after weeks of literally sitting in the chair in our living room with cup after cup of tea, I am going to be able to come up for air this weekend--the next novel is only 153 pages. (Ha! It's like an article in the New Yorker!) And, anyway, the thing is that the books have been really good--especially the most recent, The Young Lions, by Irwin Shaw. It lacks the guts-spilling-on-the-battlefield of The Thin Red Line and The Naked and the Dead, sure, but it's got a good story to make up for that. And only 661 pages.

2. Literary Research: Originally this class was supposed to be "How to Write a Thesis," which you'll note would be a complete waste of time for me at this point. Instead it is really "How to Write a Literature Paper." Also a skill I will never use again (please tell me why NNU didn't offer this class in 1998), but, surprisingly, I don't hate this class. In fact, in some ways it allows me to indulge briefly in a decade-old fantasy of being a literary scholar, ala the characters in Possession. For example, I get to read Kipling's Kim for the class, and reading something by Kipling was on my to-do list. And I'm doing a comprehensive bibliography of Margaret Atwood, one of my favorite authors in college, which is surprisingly fun. Don't get me wrong, this project is going to be the death of me, but at least I get to go out in style.

Meanwhile, starting at 10 pm tonight, Week Five of the Sprint to the Finish will be over. I'm feeling pretty good about that. As of 1 o'clock this morning, Congress is adjourned until after the election, and I'm feeling pretty good about that, too. It's absolutely pouring outside my Thursday-morning work window, and I'm sitting here with a lovely cup of huckleberry tea, and, to top it all off, Jason is en route from Paris as we speak. Really, I couldn't be happier.

Middle Earth under the Stars

The reward for a day of studying on Saturday was a trip to Wolf Trap, the National Park for the Performing Arts, that evening with our friends Jeff and Deanna to watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. We sat on the lawn eating picnicky goodies while the movie played on the big screen and a live orchestra played the score from the stage.

Soooo good. The music was phenomenal, the weather was perfect (you could even see a few stars, something I don't remember ever seeing in DC), and the movie (of course!) was as wonderful as ever. I loved it when the crowd spontaneously burst into applause when Aragorn came onto the screen the first time. My only disappointment is that we waited until the third and final movie to go to this event!

Bronco Nation

Dad started planning a trip to DC over Labor Day 2010 over a year ago, about the time he heard that Boise State would be playing its season opener at the Redskins' stadium against Virginia Tech. So on Monday afternoon, Mom, Dad, Jason, and I all donned our blue and orange and headed to FedEx Field in Maryland for the big game.

Ready for action!

With my friend SolaraJason, me, Mom, and Dad at the game.

I tried to warn my parents that there would be a lot a lot a lot of Hokies at the game--considering Virginia Tech is about three hours away and lots of alum live in the DC area. And, seriously, the stadium was rocking with maroon and orange on Monday night. But Boise made a pretty good showing, considering how far the fans had to travel. Hopefully the last person out of Boise turned out the lights--there were probably 8,000 to 10,000 BSU fans there, which made it a blast.

Blue tail-gating madness

We still like Brian, even if he's a Hokie!

We started off the afternoon with a tailgating party, attended by both Mike and the Governor, my former boss, which was fun. Then we climbed to the top of the stadium for a bird's eye view of the game. Dawn and Brian, who sported blue and maroon, respectively, and decided to call it a truce for the night, hiked up to say hi (they had way better seats!).

Mom and Dad with questionable BSU spud hats

Old office pic with the boss (Nate, me, the Governor, Brandon, Solara)

The game was a blast. The stadium was roaring, and the Broncos pulled out a win with a minute and nine seconds to go--my throat is still feeling tender from screaming so loudly! Such a good time, and so fun to watch with my parents and all my Idaho friends out here. I foresee a lot more letters, resolutions, and bills on the BCS in my future here.

Kaylyn, Ryan, Jeni, and Nate

Lots of blue!

While the game was the highlight, the other five days we had with Mom and Dad were great, too. We basically took a trip down our to-do lists, which was probably only marginally fun for them but made my life 1000 times better. Mom got projects done here that I wouldn't have dreamed of touching until January, and Dad helped Jason prune our out-of-control rose bushes and fix the trellis that had completely fallen over in, oh, June (it made us look like the neighbors with the couch on the front porch). I am so grateful! What a fun weekend!

Sprint to the Finish.

Ten years ago today I started my last year of school...I thought. This time, I really mean it. Yesterday marked the first class of my last semester of grad school. Today I submitted my (hopefully) next-to-final draft of my thesis to my adviser. It turns out that there is a light at the end of this long tunnel, people.

My friend Missy made me this awesome paper chain so that I can actually see the semester getting shorter. So sweet of her. It has been wonderful to have supportive friends who encourage me, offer to read my novel-length thesis and provide constructive comments (thank you, Andrea!), and can't wait to celebrate with me when I'm done! And then there is Jason. Do. Not. Know. how I would do this without him. Taking two classes in one semester is ugly for both of us, but his encouragement and willingness to make dinner means we will be ALL DONE by Christmas. Woo-hoo!

The Last Gasp of Summer

This past weekend was our last free weekend before school starts and life as we know it ends. Recognizing this, we spent the weekend sleeping in, totally relaxing, and just doing what we wanted...not at all. Actually, we spent the weekend shuttling painting and cleaning supplies between our house and the condo, which is once more available for occupancy. We like the idea of small improvements each year (or, in some cases, big ones), so this year we painted over the 2004-era faux paint with something more contemporary and, well, neutral. It looks beautiful. And, oh, how I miss our condo kitchen, which I lovingly scrubbed while trying to figure out how to smuggle the beautiful stainless steel appliances into our house without Jason noticing. Sigh.

Between trips to the condo, I tackled painting our spare room, one of the few places we didn't paint when we moved in three years ago. This was the classic case of a simple project blowing out of control. As we pulled the bed out, Jason said, "This light fixture is horrendous, let's get a new one." Then, as we brushed down the walls, I said, "We have to paint the ceiling in here, it is the color of dingy underwear." Then, as we taped the trim, Jason said, "We might as well put in new door handles..."

Four trips to Home Depot later, however, it looks new and sparkly. We moved the bed to a different wall, and it makes all the difference. I stood in the doorway Sunday night, exhausted to the point of whimpering, and said, "You're so pretty, Room, and totally worth all the work...I think." At the very least, we're both happy to have this project done before things kick into gear again!

My Favorite Things, August Edition

Although I go to Idaho four or five times a year, I always have the biggest adjustment coming back from my August trip. I was there for 12 days this year, and, even though I've been back for over a week, I miss the clean air, the crisp evenings, the space between things and people, and going to two movies in one day with my mom and sisters.

Today, however, August in DC is a bit of a treat. It is currently 73 and overcast, and I got to go running at lunch. And it made me think of a few other things I like right now (besides, of course, my favorite thing, recess):

1. This picture of the Bucher family that Cole sent me. I think Shaanti's hair is quite lovely and the dogs (Sadie and Tonka) don't look at all like spiders. Seriously, though, he's three, and he's already an outstanding artist. I think he's quite brilliant, in addition to being very charming and funny.

2. Getting to spend the night with Andrea for her birthday last week. She's waiting patiently in an NYC hospital for Baby Jane to arrive, and it was so much fun to eat takeout, drink tea, and just talk for nearly 24 hours. I also got to have an impromptu dinner with an Oxford friend who lives in the area--yay!

3. Claiming my house again. While all the traveling has been great fun, it was oh-so-nice to put my bags away yesterday, knowing that they don't need to come out again until November. I told Jason that it felt absolutely empowering to cook dinner in my own kitchen last night (barefoot, even! how anti-feminist of me!). I think he was relieved, as he's been doing more than his share of cooking this summer.

4. Being oh-so-close to the end of my thesis. Seriously. I am THAT CLOSE. (Unfortunately, "that close" seems to grow infinitely farther from "actually finished.")

5. Molly Wizenberg, whose book I loved last year, whose articles in Bon Appetit I devour, and whose recipe for kale has made it my all-time favorite vegetable. I am planning to make her French Chocolate Granola this week--because it's recess and, for one more week, at least, I can waste my time making granola.

The Ohio Forty-Eight

We had a short but really good trip to Ohio this weekend, squeezing as much as we could out of the 48 hours we were there. We flew in on Saturday morning, and Jason's family picked us up and took us to North Market in downtown Columbus. We perused the indoor market there (and tasted this wonderful blackberry salsa so good we had to buy some) and then walked around the farmer's market outside before finding a good Greek restaurant for lunch. Justin entertained us the whole time with the story of his very ill-fated camping trip the previous month, complete with a 1970's era motorhome that required him to slide under it to manually put it into park or drive and a long night on Lake Erie with a broken-down boat.

We went to Grandmom's for pizza on Saturday night, and then on Sunday after church we had a fun celebration for all the August events--Justin's new job (yay!), Jason's birthday, our anniversary, and Lynda's birthday. Lynda made a delicious dinner and got three miniature cakes to celebrate each occasion, including a delicious red velvet one in honor of our wedding cake five years ago! Such a cute idea!


We ended the evening with a gospel hoedown and ice cream social at Grammy's assisted living area--three bluegrass bands, three kinds of ice cream. Jason and Justin went to see their grandpa, who suffers from Alzheimers, and it was fun to spend time with both of his grandmas. Lynda starts school this week and Justin starts his new job next week, so we're glad we were able to slip in for the weekend before the busy season gets underway!

A Big Ol' Birthday

Of the many momentous occasions that happened during our float trip, one of the biggest was my dad hitting the halfway point to (gulp!) 120. On the one hand, if my parents are in their 60s, it really must be the new 45. On the other hand, my mom seems to have no qualms about taking advantage of the senior discounts at the movies. Yikes!



We had a peach cobbler celebration for Dad's birthday, complete with Cole's moving rendition of "Happy Birthday," when we were up at the cabin. My dad is awesome. He taught me to "take it to the hoop" and to (try, at least) to laugh at myself. He is my Louis L'Amour buddy, my long-distance car mechanic/garden expert/"how to do anything" guide, and the source of my love for country music. It is easy for me to understand what God's Fatherly love is like because I have a dad who loves me so much. Happy six-oh, Dad!

Lickety-Split, at the Cabin

At first I wanted to call this post "At the cabin, lickety-split," but that would be totally inaccurate. Wilderness is pretty and everything (and around Team Simpson, we are big fans), but it is really bothersome when you are trying to get from one place in Idaho to another and it turns out there are NO ROADS.

The whole gang at the cabin

The chaos that is "doing door prizes." I came away with a new cookbook and an iPod shuffle (yay!).

Basically, it took us a lot of driving to get from the float trip take-out point to the cabin. Challis, where we left our rental car during our trek down the river, is at about the same latitude as McCall, where the family was gathered for the annual family company meeting/get-together/door prize extravaganza, so we had hoped for a short drive straight west. But nooooo, we had to go south...and then north...and then south again...until we landed on Highway 55 just as the road gets windy and sea-sicky along the Payette River to head north for another hour. Good times.

Aunt Mel, Kim, Mom, and me

The girls with the bracelets Mom and Auntie Fay brought from Kenya.

All in all, though, we made it to McCall earlier than expected, in time to scrub the week off of us in hot, soapy showers and throw our damp, sandy clothes in the wash before dinner, in fact, and it ended up being a really lovely weekend. The weather was perfect (no rain!), we told stories about our trip while soaking in the hot tub under the stars, and we got to catch up with everyone in the Bunn family. Jason even did some more fly fishing--I realized after he left the house with Casey that I forgot to warn him that, if he was fishing with my brother, he was not coming back until the wee hours of the morning. Casey is my Gramps, and they are men for whom love of fishing has no end. Luckily for Jason, Kim was with them and brought him home not long after dark.

The cuteness that is Nephew Number Four.

Seriously, if there is one thing I'm good at, it is racking up cute nephews. Hi, cutie Coop!

My goal during my time in Idaho was to get Mason and Troy to recognize me as someone they might someday like. (Cole and I are good friends, and Cooper, well, he loves everyone, so I'm batting .500 right now.) I managed to win Mason over about halfway through the weekend, but, unless you were his now-beloved Uncle Jason, Troy was playing pretty hard to get...until Sunday morning, when we were about to leave. I came downstairs and he was playing with his dad. He looked up and said, "Aunt...Missy?" We have a win, boys! It was a long drive for a short weekend, but oh so fun.