You know you're living in a New Age hippie town when...

1. Preschool students start the day with yoga class.

2. The aforementioned preschool students sing "Eentsy Weentsy Spider" with these lyrics: "The eentsy weentsy spider went up the water spout / to ask all the universe "What is life about?"/ The stars in the sky said life is great / so the eentsy weentsy spider went home to meditate."

3. The farmer's market is more crowded than the grocery store.

4. Once a month the local art galleries host public wine and cheese parties for everyone to view their art, gossip, and get toasted.

5. The graffiti on local buildings and fences depicts smiles, rainbows, diverse religious symbols, mountain bikers, and messages such as "Peace starts with a smile!"

As you can imagine, all of this keeps us pretty well entertained, and we could expand this list indefinitely. The Friday night wine and cheese gallery parties were an enjoyable distraction from the rain. (Yes! Our first rain in Oregon! Alas, there were no impressive mountain storms, just drizzle for three days straight.) We finally checked out the farmer's market, where we scored some fine locally-grown vegetables. On Sunday we hiked up to a boulder-strewn mountainside just south of town, providing picturesque views and rather treacherous boulder climbing.

It's been a second week of Nyquil-induced haze for Rachel, but a very busy one for our resident gentlemen. Thursday morning they both officially started their art training at the Ashland Academy (www.ashlandacademyofart.com), Jeff on a part-time schedule and Jacob attempting the full three days a week. Their first tasks were to draw--for three hours apiece--accurate sketches of geometric shapes, a charcoal still-life, and 2-minute sketches of human poses. Stimulating work, they tell me, though the head instructor Semyon does not tolerate or praise anything short of perfection. In addition to art school, Jeff toiled without respite at the climbing gym every day, while Jacob sacrificed each evening to an orchestra rehearsal. This weekend he played his first series of concerts with the Rogue Valley Symphony--they played Liszt's Les Preludes, Saint-Saen's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 8. All impressive and enjoyable pieces for Rachel, but perhaps not so for Jacob. Just a few new photos to view in the Misc. Ashland photo album below. Next weekend, if the weather holds, we hope to make the trip to the Oregon coast, so stay tuned for details.