The drive from Paradise to Greenville was pleasant.  I 70 follows the Feather River for much of the route, and the oaks and aspens were just beginning to turn.  It took us about 3 hours to make the drive, pulling the trailer along the winding 2 lane roads.

Hank Alrich and Lanis Le Baron live just outside Greenville, on 300 acres of beautiful woodlands.  Their home is situated on the edge of a meadow, overlooking several ponds and an old apple orchard.  Below is a shot of their house, taken from the horse pasture.

Rob Allison was up for the week to help re-roof part of the house, and he had brought his daughter Emma, who is Jordan's very dear friend.  Below is the roof work crew, from left to right: Kylan (Hank's son), myself, Rob and Hank.

The roof took 8 straight days of work.  Below I am taking part of the old roof off, in preparation for putting on tin roofing, which you can see in the background.

Lanis' sister Lauren and her mother Shirley, in the kitchen, where they could often be found making some of the marvelous meals we shared in the evenings.  Jody, Tessany, Lanis, Lauren and Shirley all did quite a bit of fine cooking during our stay there.

Kylan discovered the joys of hair gel while we were there.

One afternoon Jordan, Emma, Kylan and Tessany made ice cream.  The process involved kicking around a 5 gallon bucket, rather than the traditional hank-crank method.  The Alrich/Le Baron meadow and pond can be seen in the background.

At dinner one night.  Each night we ate extremely well.  This night's meal was prepared entirely by Tessany, and was Thai-themed: coconut ginger soup, spring rolls, sticky rice and "prick", a spicy hand made sauce.  Pictured left to right are Rob, Lauren, Bill (Lanis' dad), Hank, me, Mark (Lanis' brother), Lanis and Shirley.

The working conditions up on the roof could not have been better.  Mornings were cool, in the 30s or 40s, but by mid-day it was usually in the mid-70s and crystal clear.  Below is the view.

The kids found various ways to be helpful or entertain themselves.  In the latter category, they climbed up on top of one of the storage trailers on the property to survey their domain.

It was apple harvesting time.  Jordan and Kylan worked this tree and picked it pretty much clean.  Tessany, Emma and Jody also picked apples -- a total of 3 or so full carton boxes.  Later that day, the ladies made five (yes, 5!) apples pies.  They were exquisite.  Some of us (ahem...) ate pie for dessert, breakfast and lunch.

The roof project, about mid way through.

Here is Lanis, holding on to Jimmy, the favored horse.  Numbers, the back-up horse, needed (and got) a new shoe while we were there, so the girls got to see a ferrier in action.

This is one of my favorite shots.  That's Jordan, Emma, Tessany, and Lanis' dad, Bill, each engaged in apple slicing in preparation for pie.  Photo by Jody.

By Halloween, all of this stage of the roof project was complete.  The morning after we finished the 'crown' and the house re-assembly, it began raining, and continued for several days -- no leaks!.  Jordan had gone back to Santa Barbara a few days earlier, so Halloween was a small celebration -- Jody and I, Tessany and Kylan, Hank and Lanis, and Shirley and Lauren.  We bobbed for apples and told ghost stories in the dark, lit only by the bright full moon and firelight.  Really fun.

Below, Jody and Tessany work on the design for one of the pumpkins we all carved...

...and the results, when lit.

We had agreed to let Hank and Lanis borrow the airstream for use as a guest house for the winter.  And so on November 1st, after our productive and pleasant visit at the Alrich/Le Baron spread,  Jody and I left the trailer, with all of our stuff wedged tightly into the van, and continued South, en route to rejoining our children, and our lives, back 'home'.

November 1 - Paradise Revisited