6 Weeks Catch Up!!

 

WHERE has the summer gone?  

And Gram G in the past 6 weeks?

Well, Gram G hasn't gone anywhere but the time sure has! 

Actually, she has gone to Multnomah Falls 

With her 2 sisters and a niece!!
Stephanie, Betsy and Kate arrived from Indianapolis, close to

midnight Sept.11 for Big Fun in the Pacific Northwest

(And to visit me) 

During this time...

We ate homemade beef, vegetable, barley soup!

Made dumplings for 13 guests!

Enjoyed High Tea with Debbie and Carole!

While Angie served!

Adventured 3 days at Rock Away Beach!

Hot dogs and s'mores on the beach!

Campfire and full moon (before the clouds set in)

Foggy Tuesday...

With homemade chili and Labyrinth!!

They let me win.

A "THEN" (August 2012) and "NOW" photo!!

You can't come back if you don't go home!!

Big Fun was had been all!!

Ya all come back, ya hear!!

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But what about the other 5 weeks????

Late August our garden club visited 2 monasteries

an hour's south of here.  

One had a service going and we wondered why one brother didn't participate with the others...

He was as stiff as a statue!

Both monasteries were much smaller than I anticipated.  One made fruit cakes, the other yummy chocolates!! 

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Jake came over a few times to help with some heavy work.  I pay him by feeding him dumplings!!

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My 92 year of age friend, Nancy, and I finally got together for lunch!

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And then there were rugs!!  OH, the rugs!!

That is for another post!

Ya all come back to find out what!

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REFLECTIONS 

This has been a busy past 6 weeks!  I enjoyed planning, shopping and cooking for my family guests.  And especially enjoyed their pitching in to wash dishes!  I get lonely for my Indianapolis siblings and their families.  It was refreshing to hang out with them for the week.  Now is the fun of sorting through pictures and living the adventures all over again!  Thanks for coming, family!!

This has been a good 6 GeoGram weeks in the life of Gramma G.  

"Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."  1John 4:7

Kissed By An Alpaca....almost

Mid July our garden club made a trip to an alpaca farm and gardens in Hillsboro south of Portland

Crossing the double level Fremont Bridge

Honk your horn and don't breathe!!

The gardens didn't exist, but the alpaca did!!

The owner of the herd said that alpacas are pack animals and are stressed unless they are in a group of three or more.

My pack!

PNW Alpaca guy...

"You all come back now...ya hear!!

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Time for the homemade weed killer once again!!

I've heard the name of this weed but I don't remember it and can't find it online. It is the scourge of our neighborhood.   

The temperature had been too hot to get out and do them in...

I've found several bird feathers around my yard.  Some bird had an encounter which probably did not end well for it...

I have an admission to make about this particular weed.  At this point I am ready to confess...The first spring I experienced out here...12 years ago...I was pleased to see that a colorful ground cover was already growing in the small rocks along side my house. About the same time I left for a 2 week trip.  When I returned the ground cover was in full bloom all over the side of my house.  There was also an article...along with a picture... in our monthly news letter encouraging residents to spray or dig up the obnoxious weed growing all over the park.  It was my "ground cover".  In those days I didn't know of DYI weed killer and I didn't want to use commercial spray, so I spent a long time digging up the sticky, milky stuff.  Today as I yearly get out the DYI weed killer I wonder if the growth wouldn't be so wide spread if I hadn't encouraged it many years ago!  THE END   

It is all over the park, but it was here before I was...

A random yard in the park...

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 Very busy, interesting cloud formations!!

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What to do on a hot, home alone somewhat boring day??  Homemade chicken noodle soup...always cures what ails me.  Something about immersing in miscellaneous ingredients to create a pot of soup is healing and cooling to soul, mind, spirit and body.  Even on a very hot day...as long there is air conditioning!!

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ATTENTION!  Your wait is over!  Read chapter 15, One Year Married...Gram G's story.  Check out the tab at the top of the post.  Sorry, more pictures are still packed away somewhere.

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My brother-in-law, Frank, passed on five days ago.  He was 92.  

His wife, my sister, Rosie, died 3 years ago.  They had no children.  Since her passing he has been lost without her.  They are together again...having a wonderful reunion!!

Frank and I two years ago.  He was taller than me in yesteryears...

REFLECTIONS

I am astounded how quickly this summer is passing!  My mind is already jumping to autumn.  There is that feeling in the air.  Yesterday I saw a tree with its leaves starting to turn color. Most grass areas are tan with fall wild flowers.  There is a certain quietness in the atmosphere.

I've had several "home alone" days this summer.  It is difficult for me to focus and accomplish much.  I am revved up right now because I have two sets of Indianapolis company coming in September and October!  I like to mentally prepare an itinerary of fun places to go and favorite food to cook...and to clean up my house a bit.  Yay!!  

This has been a good 3 GeoGram weeks in the life of Gram G.

  

"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."  (Genesis 8:22)

Mid Summer Days!

HAPPY MIDSUMMER!!

I started this post on July 2.  This year of 2024 is officially waning!  

What does one, me precisely, do when there is now time to do those things that one didn't have time to do up till now?  But actually doing them is rather boring and annoying?  

I have before me 8-10 weeks to dig in my heels and get some things accomplished, yet by evening the day seems too long and my brain wants to happily go blank.

Oh, to be out adventuring on an airplane or having my kids and grandkids entertain me!

  I went for a 2 mile walk this morning, July 2, before the sun and heat set in.  (We are looking at several days with temperature near 100.)

I am still thrilled to view the many lovely plants here in the park.  

Let me share a sensory experience of a walk through our neighborhood.  As one ventures out onto the front porch she is greeted with a cool breeze that beckons her on.  Overhead  blue sky intertwined with light gray clouds covers the earth like a gentle dome.  On ground level the eye is stunned by endless pastels of varied forms and shades of green.  White leafed trees stand as sentinels.  The ears are delighted with the songs of chick-a-dees, bluejays, mourning doves and finches interrupted by the occasional caw of a crow or two.  The nose is treated to tantalizing wafts of roses, carnations, lilies, and tulip tree blossoms.  And then!.. And then!..  And then...the invigorating aroma of, of, of...cannabis... floating freely through the air from a nearby small processing plant... to stimulate whatever pot stimulates!  Ahhhh...the great Pacific Northwest in all its wonder!!

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Kahana invited me to their home for a 4th of July cookout. The temperature rose into the 90's but their backyard has large shady trees.

3 year old Nainoah working diligently to string veggies onto skewers. 

Saul, grill master!!

Pomai makes me happy...she always is excited to see Grama G!  She wanted to sit by me for our meal.

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Meanwhile on the East coast Burt and Jen's family welcomed 

Al, Autumn and Eddy for a few days. 

They all attended fireworks on the National Mall!!

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Back on the West coast...

We mothers-in-law enjoyed a peanut sauce Thai lunch, and then checked out a thrift shop or two!

The Buck moon over Vancouver

The moon itself is orange in the sky!

REFLECTONS  

It's been two weeks since July 4th.  I've been moving along at a turtle trot!  Been trying to fit in much needed doctor appointments (which I love to cancel), catching up on a little socializing, mentally organizing cleanout jobs, walking, researching a dream trip to New Zealand to celebrate a significant Birthday, and working on music projects that I hope materialize.  Having time to do elective activities is difficult for me because they are easy to postpone while allowing the day to leisurely slip away.

This has been a good 4 GeoGram weeks in the life of Gram G.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him in joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his."  (Psalm 100:1-3)