Can She........? Post Views 11,134

        Can she unplug and plug in the right cords into the right portals?  Maybe......with speaker phone technician prompting.
       About 6 weeks ago one of my sons signed me up for a different internet carrier.  They sent me a
"do it yourself" connection kit.  Great.....if you are a techy......I am NOT.   SO....it sat around all this time, while I am sent bills from 2 different carriers.  I figured it was time to plunge into the deep.  There was the option of "voice help".  So I called him and after several minutes of discussion and changing around wires with one hand and hanging onto the phone with the other, I got smart......Yep, smart.

I pressed the speaker phone button.  And laid down my burden....one of them anyway.

    It actually didn't take as long as I thought, nor was it as complicated as I thought.  BUT...I still don't know if all is hooked up as it should be since I still have a few wires plugged into the "other" modem.  And now after a few days, my laptop is smelling a bit "hot".   
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     Ah....that was Monday and now it is already Wednesday night.  Where DO the days speed off to?   What is there to blog about?  Somehow, writing about disconnecting internet wires or calling to   discontinue movie channels or returning a call to a disgruntled doctor's office because one insurance company won't pay because they think I have a different one or FINALLY sorting stacks of outdated printed material or enduring a bad headache all day Monday doesn't sound like fun stuff to blog about.  But, hey, this blog IS about a day in the life of Grandma G and some days just go that way.  Hey.   
      Tuesday I Skyped with a young lady friend who is attending school in the Midwest.  We chatted face to face for almost an hour. It was great fun to catch up on the latest with her.  
       After a 40 minute walk in our 70 degree sunny weather I quick cleaned up for my 5 PM piano student.  While waiting for  him I passed the time playing piano.  At 4:50 the door opened and in walked his grandma with an apology that he would not be here today because of a school program.  They lost my phone number so couldn't call earlier.  Well, that's show business....or piano lesson business... or whatever.  Time to graciously smile and say thank you for letting me know.  
  Time to end the day watching Deadliest Catch and The Little Couple.  Oh, yah...

                              "Can my Grandma G do it?"

      This has been a good 4 "can she?" days in the life of Grandma G.

      "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  (Proverbs 16:9)
       
       

Get Thee to A Nunnery....Post Views....11,108

"Get thee to a nunnery."   A quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
  It applied to me today.....
  I accompanied some of our ladies from the neighborhood to a fund raiser lunch for a convent

housing Franciscan nuns.  It is located in the "gorge" of the Columbia River.  
    The fund raiser is customarily held on Valentine's weekend, but this year winter was really winter with cold, snow and ice. 
It was rescheduled for this Saturday.  (The fundraiser, not winter.)
    Since my "mission statement" for moving out here is "explore, explore, explore", especially if someone else is driving....I went along.   

 The photo phantom manifests again.....

The building was constructed in the early 1900's

 Salads, Salads, Salads.......

        Sisters singing the blessing
 of St. Francis.    
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The highlight of the day......an 

"Octopus" tree.....covered in moss.....

 

This tree is in front yard of the convent property.  I don't know what kind of tree it is or how old.  I hope to visit there again someday and find out.  

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Views on the drive there and back........Columbia River.....
The ladies who have lived here all their life say they forget what a privilege it is and how beautiful the surroundings are....

 

   This has been a good "get thee to a nunnery" day in the life of Grandma G.

   "I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land.  Its height was enormous.  The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth."
(Daniel 4:10 & 11)

Red Hats High Tea.....Post Views...11,092

       Once a year our Red Hat ladies go to high tea.  Today was that occasion. We don our finest Red Hat attire.  We had to dodge a rain forest downpour while gathering in the cars for a scenic 30 minute drive to Myrtle's Tea House.   Once there we were treated to a selection of teas, followed by apricot sorbet to clear our palate. Then we enjoyed an array of finger sandwiches, potato cream soup and fresh fruit.  Lastly came a small assortment of sweets including a warm fruit scone.  YUM!   

 Five of a group of 18 ladies from our neighborhood.

      I went to high tea last year.  This year was much nicer since I now know these ladies as my friends.  
    I had another fun surprise while there.  I saw a lady from my

little church.  She was there with an exercise club.  This is exciting for me since I know very few people here in Vancouver and she lives probably an hour's drive from the Tea House. That was almost like one minnow meeting up with her "minnow friend" while swimming in the ocean.  Well, maybe in Lake Superior.   
       On the way home we four ladies were chatting about families and where they live.  One lady said her daughter lives in Indianapolis.  Wow!  I asked where and she said in Brownsburg.  I told her my home is Indianapolis and I lived on a farm outside of Brownsburg for about 3 years in my early childhood and that I have a brother who lives there with his family.  Maybe her daughter and grandchildren know my brother.   If this isn't a small world it is one that is surprisingly connected. 
      Weather-wise, the day continued in cycles of heavy rain and "sun breaks".   I took a 40 minute walk during one of those breaks.

 These are flowers on a dogwood tree.   

Flocks of geese frequently, 
NOISILY, fly over. 
When not in flight, they are a 
gaggle of geese.    

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     I spent Easter Sunday with my daughter Debbie and her family.  We celebrated HER daughter, Angie's, 20 B-day. 
 




Happy 20th B-day, Angie!! 
My oldest granddaughter...
(with doggy friend, Bentley)

                     Zach, Jake, Micaela, Debbie, Keys, Angie

       This has been a good "high tea" day in the life of Grandma G.
     
    "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."  (Isaiah 61:10)

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival....Post Views 11,004

Rain, rain won't go away....
                 SO.....
We'll just go on with our day....

Even if that means power-washing ones sidewalk in the rain......


     My friend, Kahana, invited me to go to the tulip festival with her.  So....in PNW style....we went even in the rain.....
     It is in a rural area about 50 miles from here.  
 On the way we stopped to view the Willamette River power station
       
 



East side....(on the way "down" south)

West side....(on the way "up" north)

 The sun peeked out a bit when we arrived around noon. The wind was strong and cold....(for the PNW).  Throughout the afternoon we were having so much fun I didn't even notice the occasional raindrops.... 

   

Very large shoes to fill.....

A very bumpy, 
moooooov.....ing ride....
Kahana and Grandma G.....

 I'm the very tall plum colored tulip in the lower right......

 That's a lot of bucking bull....








hazelnut (filbert) crushed shells pathway......





Oh, yah!......

    Park Falls, WI is right here.....
(the left of the 3 city triangle in the upper middle of WI)

I put a pin in it.......

All About Wooden Shoe Making.... 

They are made out of popple or cottonwood.....

Selfie of two blooming flowers.....

    This has been a good tulip festival day in the life of Grandma G

     "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."  (Isaiah 40:8)