Oregon in August means BLACKBERRIES!

In case you haven't seen photos,

here is what people in Oregon have been dealing with

the past few weeks with all the forest fires.

Seems like the whole world is on fire!

And the smoke makes it impossible for me to be in Portland!

I've been camped at Joe's lot in Newport now for over a week, helping him. Joe asked me to go back to Portland and help him with an estate sale, but the smoke from all the fires is keeping us at the coast for a few more days. I was supposed to help at a music festival in Dundee, but unless the smoke clears out before tomorrow, I will not be able to attend. 

Anyway, it's August in Oregon and that means BLACKBERRIES!

Here are just a few of the berries I picked in a short time on Joe's lot.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to make them into syrup 

and pour them over a stack of nice, hot pancakes.  YUM!

When Joe first arrived, he tried cutting the salal down 

with a bushwhacker.

But this is as far as he got in 10 minutes.

The stuff is THICK and is over 6 feet tall!

It's been about 3 years since he cleared the lot

and the salad and blackberries have taken it over.

I suggested we go to a tool rental business

and rent a gasoline powered bushwhacker.

What a GREAT idea!

Getting it loaded in the car was interesting.

Good thing it wasn't raining!

I finally finished my updated luggable loo.

I used the instructions based on Crystal Vanner's

UPDATED bucket toilet video.

I had difficulty finding gear ties in Newport,

and in the end ordered them from Amazon.

I love my new toilet!!!

We found this very cool bird's nest 

while taking down one of the small trees.

The red-eyed viriol who built and occupied the nest

was long gone.

It is a very cool nest, 

woven with bark from birch and salal.

I'm very happy here,

living out of my van.

The weather has been perfect and a mixture

of cool, sea-misty days

and warm, sunny ones.

One thing I love about van dwelling

is the amount of time I get to spend out of doors.

Anyway, with the gas-powered bushwhacker,

Joe was able to cut two HUGE piles of salal

in less than 24 hours.

These are made into piles

and left to dry out until November,

when the fire-ban is lifted.

Then, we'll have one heck of a bonfire!

Stomping down the pile!

We took a walk on the beach today,

and it was beautiful.

Life is good here in Newport, Oregon.

One thing we're discussing is sharing the cost of building

a home base, either here on this lot,

or in the desert.

We haven't made up our minds yet,

but I will be spending a couple of months

at Joe's desert place before he gets there,

to try to get some Christmas stock finished 

and put into my Etsy shops.

I'll be doing needle felted nativities

and upcycled Bratz dolls.

Please keep me in mind if you're holiday shopping.

I have two Etsy shops that will be re-opening soon,

one is called FreckleFarm Dolls

and the other is simply 

Annie Carvalho.

More soon.

Love,

Annie