Greetings from Petrolia, California!

Well, one of life's great treasurers is found when good friends become physcially closer to you. Blase, one of my bestest friends, and his wonderful wife, Jen, and their talented little girl, Ossian, all moved from Seattle to Petrolia, California (pop. somewhere around 350 or so). Blase took a job as CFO of the Mattole Restoration Council, and they're expecting their second child sometime early next year.

We were thrilled to drive the whole family up there to visit them. This was Violet P's longest car ride yet (5.5 hours each way) and she, surprisingly, was a champ. One can only fill a box with toys and pray; we were blessed this time around.

So, here are the pictures.

This first one is of mom and Violet P testing out the backpack that was loaned to us. We were walking along the beach, near the mouth of the Mattole River, which meets the Pacific just down the road from Petrolia.














Here's a close-up of Violet, with the mujahadeen loook going.




On the beach was a very cool willow forest. Here's Violet P and I walking through it.



And, of course, the obligatory bathtub shot with VPL and Ossian.