Let the Party Begin!

AKA THE GEOGRAM WEEKLY....

February is our Birthday month for 6 members of our family.
These weeks are overly busy so we are having our combined celebration in March.

(3 generations of Feb B-day ladies....Gram G, Debbie, Micaela)






 I, however, started my party with a free B-day burger at Red Robin with our "ladies out to lunch" group early in the month.







And then started preparing for a surprise trip on the 20th....well, it wasn't a surprise for me.

Mt. Hood on the way to the airport....actually, I was on the way to the airport, not Mt. Hood

Where is Gram G?
.....in blue skies?


Ocean Beach, CA!!!

Friday, a day to sleep in, enjoy some sunshine and play 3 rounds of Jude's Journey, an original game created by his family with the help of nifty dates.....

What's this?  
Rain in southern Cali?
Granddaughter, Gemma, 
Happy, Happy, Happy to have 
"Weather"? 
(We have weather all the time in the PNW)



One of the reasons I am here at this time is to attend a  
DRUM LINE competition of grandson, Jude, before he graduates from high school this spring.  He plays the marimba....speedily, precise, emphatic and with passion! 

 

__________________________________________________

How does one spend her last day of being 73?

What about a trek across bike trails and walking the rails once again?  All alone?  Into the unknown?

And eating LOCO MOCO at the beach....

Hawaiian beef and gravy over rice, topped with fried egg and a hint of tang!  Yummy....Aloha!!

 Beautiful, mild day for a walk on the beach...
unless one is a sea gull, then its a fly over...

Finishing up the day with B-day Eve cake with Jude, Gemma and dad.   Let the party week continue!!

Would you believe that I had this blog post complete and then some wrong press of my finger wiped it all out???  Believe me...

second go around....

 Let the party week continue!! It is NOW officially my 74th B-day... 12:30AM 2/24/2020 WOOT! WOOT!

This has been a good 2 good GEOGRAM weeks in the life of Grandma G

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, know that full well".

(Psalm 139:13-14)

Sometimes You Just Gotta......

AKA THE GEOGRAM WEEKLY
                                               February in the  PNW

Some times you just gotta....



This has been a boring, but interesting week for Geo.

I'm still dealing with what seems to be an infected tooth.  The dentist prescribed one more      week of antibiotics.  Sometimes I feel neutral, sometimes a bit weird on them.  A few days from now should conclude something.  

In the meantime I find me bored with myself.  There are a lot of messy clean ups to do in the house, but there is also a general aura of lingering disinterest.  It actually is perfect timing to dig in and get stuff done, but....I did manage to load a large waste basket with paperwork going back 7 years.  It's a start.  There are still boxes of stuff stashed away since my move out here.    

Fortunately, the BBCAmerica is running the 
Star Trek Deep Space Nine series.  I didn't get to watch them 20 some years ago, so now,thanks to DVR, I can binge watch them.  And that I have done...72 episodes in the past couple weeks, according to the list.  
Monday and Tuesday I expect a

new set of stories will record.  They are quite intriging and clever though the conclusions are a bit simplistic and abrupt.  Fun to watch something new.  Sometime you just gotta....

("John, Dere, will you tract or follow that light?")



I do have a new toy; an electronic device to be precise.... one that I have needed for a long time.  A new computer! 
It's a "new generation" one, compact and light weight.  My dear, faithful 9 year old Toshiba has grown into a dinosaur which needs to kept plugged in.  
A friend helped me decide on which one to purchase.  I've done a little downloading on my own.  He generously came over today, Tuesday, to instruct me on some confusing programs.  I feel like I am a part of this electronic world!!  This new personal device is a lot of fun.  Hope it helps me organize my cyberworld! 

Also this past week our community held the second disaster preparedness meeting.  Such a program is just in the planning stage. Several of us want to be organized, trained and equipped in case a wide scale emergency occurs.  There will be more meetings as we work to get prepared.  There was a display of basic supplies to have in our home to get us through a couple weeks.  The idea is to get these into our houses; buy them as money allows.  There is more conversation in the Pacific Northwest for when the "big one" hits.  I do agree with being prepared and will work on that as money, time and memory allow. Main thing for me is an adequite supply of bottled water.  Need to work on that.

To me the challenge of boredom is to find ways to be content hanging out with oneself; to find that one main goal that propels one to look to the result while working through the mundane. I find I am an adrenaline junkie (senior citizen mode).  I am energized when "out and about" with others, planning and taking trips, visiting family, hosting dinners.  When conditions "confine" me to my home I lose excitement and motivation.  But that is where true character develops.  SO....here's to home bound boredom.  Discover the real YOU!

This has been a good GeoGram week in the life of Grandma G.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." (Romans 12:12)

02.02 2020

AKA  THE GEOGRAM WEEKLY


                         HOW COOL IS THIS???
Not often one can post such a date!!!!!  

What does this mean? Today is February 2, 2020, or 02/02/2020, which means the date as digits reads the same both front and backwards, regardless of what format your country writes the date in.

Both the MM/DD/YYYY format and the DD/MM/YYYY format read 02/02/2020 on this day, or simply 02022020.

According to CNN, the last time a palindrome date in all formats occurred was 909 years ago on 11/11/1111. Most of us won't be around the next time it happens again in 101 years on 12/12/2121.

Fun fact: Early this morning it was 02:02:20 on 02/02/2020.

What are you doing to celebrate the global palindrome date?

INTERNATIONAL PALINDROME DAY......

Why I like January in the PNW.

Just when you think your house  will float away down the Columbia River and out into the Pacific Ocean or your ground will suck you in or you feel you have been experiencing a 5 day continuous hard shower, the gray sky parts and one sees blue and a vaguely familiar round light in the sky.  
SUN BREAK!! That is what it is called.  That phenomenon is happening TODAY, Saturday, January 25!

I went out for a photo walk, after 5 days of rain and staying inside because of an achy tooth.

Even with living here for over 7 years I am still thrilled with the outdoor scene in January.  So much Wisconsin April/May weather right here and now!

My first repsonse to landing in Portland many years ago, even with gray sky was, "Green grass in January! White is NOT the color of the entire world.  Nor is zero degrees the average temperature.  

Later in the day, Kahana picked me up to attend an Indian vegetarian cooking class.  

 

Garbanzo bean soup

I am wearing a large red scarf a lady friend brought home from India.....

Saul helping to make patura...deep fried flat bread with seasonings 

 garbanzo bean soup with rice and patura

drink of mango pulp and home made yogurt

Harpel demonstrated to me how to make home made yogurt.  I watched as she showed me and then tried it a couple days later at home.  
Bring a small amount of milk to scalding, let it cool to  medium hot, 
stir in "starter", a spoon of already made yogurt

wrap it up overnight....don't move it for at least 6 hours

Checked it out the next morning....
it was thin, a little lumpy, sour tasting.

I'm a bit unsure of what I made but I have eaten a little mixed in with boughten yogurt the past 2 nights. 

Might be my new health craze or habit. 

That, Folks, wraps up my GeoGram week....along with a Red Hat Mamas'  pot luck brunch to plan activities for this year, still doctoring with an infected tooth...
 
AND....mailing out several 
2020
GeoLou Schmidts calendars....featuring a picture of the  45 year reign of the  Schmidthouse that has slid into history... complete with the sheetmetal shop, the basketball hoop and Big Lou's red truck...So Long trusty house, you served us well.....it was built about 1895.  

Gram G has some busy weeks coming up....check back to find out what!

This has been a good late January GeoGram week in the life of Grandma G.

"O Lord, you preserve both man and beast.  How priceless is your unfailing love!  Both high and low among men find refuge is the shadow of your wings."  (Psalm 36:6-7)