Going Back East!! Post Views...31,173

Time to send Gram G "back east".  But first some lunch fun at Famous Dave's with granddaughter, Angie, AKA, My Sam.









lots of Georgia pork










Georgia mustard...

Rich & sassy...
don't believe the rich part...

 A high flowing Columbia River






Adios, at the airport....














Two rare Portland sightings....
The fluke of the great white whale....
The blue sky....




           High flying message at 35000 ft.....



Minneapolis lights....

















    
 Son, Burt, picked me up Thursday, 11pm, at an airport an hour's drive north from his home....forest and fields all the way.  Burt spotted a coyote while watching for deer not to hit. 
    The next morning I slept in a bit and later went walking in the Wisconsin blue sky. I haven't been back for almost 10 months.  This trip is a business/visit ailing folks/catch up with family/reconnect with friends/watch granddaughter program time.  So grateful I am able to do this.  Even if weather goes from 70 to 40 degrees in one day.

     Grandson, Logan is home schooling.  He had to write a limerick that day.  The family recently returned from a trip to D.C. and had toured George Washington's home and saw several sets of his false teeth.  That was the theme of Logan's limerick. Gram G thought she would try one. Corrected limerick...
    I went looking for Washington's teeth.
    I found them stuck in a chunk of beef.
    He loved his meat so sweet,
   Soaked in barley and wheat.
   He's now toothless and meatless beneath.

  Hey!  What you think??  A new career as a limerick writer??


    I was introduced to homemade kombucha.  Jen has been making it for a few months.  

Making kombucha.....To brew kombucha, brew sweet tea, and then add SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) to ferment the mixture. Fermentation takes 7 to 10 days

scoby motel.....

finished 2nd fermenting.  

tastes like a bubbly, mild vinegar....



That evening we had a movie marathon of Sing, Fantastic Beasts and Rouge One  (half through).  

 Heading out to Green Bay,WI





First intro to Crater Lake 



GramG/Tyler summer excursion coming up....



Saturday Al drove 100 miles south from Park Falls to take us east to Green Bay...a 2 hour drive through farm country

 and a patch of snow...








Going to granddaughter, Autumn's, 
show choir performance..

Autumn and friend, Bridgette....

letting Gram G be included.... 

swim pool fun
           
 11PM motel pizza








     Sunday drive through Title Town and glimpse of Lambeau Field

On to 35 miles south to Oshkosh





Oshkosh Red Robin lunch with Wauwatosa Schmidts.....

cousins....




Anna, Chuck, Mom, Al




(the last of the sunny 70 degree weather)













Heading "up north"....
open fields 
traffic the way I like it..I like it...

(another 4 hours north)









Wild turkeys as we get 60 miles from Park Falls



Loud bang on the windshield....
What is it??

HAIL!!!
Sudden loud hail...

 A  drive, dive under a tree....
save the windshield....

 Lots of fog....





And this?
an unfocused bear cub running in unfocused hail....or unfocused photographer with driver who wouldn't slow down on hail covered road...

a hail swarm...


blue sky again, just for a few moments...

By the time we arrived in PF about 8 pm several heavy thunder, lightning, wind storms had rolled through.  They continued all night.  

mixed weather for the week....
Oh, look!  Snow and rain.....
19 degrees Wednesday night....
And I forgot my swimsuit.

So Gram G is really roughing it this week. No TV 
No internet, except for this evening while connecting to a nephew's phone "hot spot". 

Think I will survive??? 

 Gram G's wheels for the week

a closer look....
can't knock a free drive




Good Morning, Tuesday!!  4/11/17








This has been a good 5 "going back east" days in the life of Grandma G.

"The Lord will keep you from all harm--He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and your going both now and forevermore."  (Psalm 121:7 & 8)

Bring On Springtime!!.....Post Views..31,105

 Springtime here in the PNW is a beautiful time.  Streets are lined with a glorious pink, pink, pink.
Here and there white blossoms punctuate the scene.  
Unfortunately the rain continues to fall.  But we are getting more "sunbreaks".
During some of those breaks I needed to get out in my little yard gardens to clean up what winter dumped.  The ground is still quite soggy, but now the green has a chance to recover.  The mild temps have allowed annoying weeds to thrive.  I will be gone for awhile so I am eager to pull them before I leave.  I need to do the south side of the house yet...a very long stretch but rain prevented that today.  

Last Thursday our Red Hat Mamas group went to lunch at tebo's

in Portland.  It is a cafeteria type hamburger restaurant. They are closing after over 60 years of business.  Strawberry shortcake is their signature dessert.  I am not a fan of shortcake, but a friend gave me a little of hers since the serving is quite generous.   












That evening we had a gathering at the Miller home to wish Micaela a safe, pleasant 3 week student exchange program in northern France.  

 Amanda, Debbie, Zach, baby Rosie, Jake, Angie, Keys, Micaela, nephew Zyan.

It is a rare occasion to get them all together for a photo. Unfortunately Gram G didn't do well on the lighting and they all look like they are staring into car headlights..... 

Saturday was a happy/sad day for me.  Friend, Kahana, was leaving to move to El Paso the next morning.  She marrying in June.  She gifted me with one last Vancouver outing.  

She obliged me to mix and fashion a "memory" stepping stone.   
When she engraved her name into the cement, the mixture kept filling in so we thought putting slips of paper in would keep the engraving open and we could pull out the paper in a few hours. (I won't tell her that the next day I read the instructions again and observed the directions said to wait 30 minutes before doing any printing.) 
 She drove us to Richfield to visit her friend's shop and eat at their little trendy restaurant, buckets.

 Kahana tried some kombachi while I stayed with the water.  We both agreed the kombachi tasted a bit like flat soda.  The store owner didn't like the vinegar smell.  

Ready to travel with all her worldly possessions!



Three hours later, digging out the stuck-in-cement paper.  We agreed that in time it will decompose.
 Thanks, again, Kahana, for your wonderful, kind, fun friendship! 
 I miss you already!

 Canyonlands NP in Utah


Kahana and friend made it safely to El Paso, Texas!!
(Kahana's photos)

Springtime brings out the boy in the man.....son, Gerry...Spartan Race

   Tuesday I became aware of a crop of weeds growing on the southside of my house.  By the time I was out and about for a few hours I was tired and it was chilly and rainy.  I decided I could do chilly, rainy, pully weedy better in the morning. 
Programmed into my head to have Wednesday morning tea outside while pulling weeds.  Yeah!  Morning was cloudy, but warmer and no rain!  8:45 outside....done by 9:50.  

     So I go around to the garage side of the house and.....freeze!   So do 2 intruders!  
Rabbits!  Chubby rabbits having breakfast of my newly growing plants and small scrubs trying to survive.  

No, I am not afraid of rabbits.  I didn't want to scare them off before I could get my camera.  One was rather petrified as it stuck like a statue for several minutes.  The other knew better and took off.  



Darn little darlings were back for a second helping 30 minutes later....they would look very tasty, dressed on my dinner table. 

   Anyway, I'm done with pulling weeds! And walk around the driveway to the house door.  
   Oh Look!!  More weeds!  More pulling!  Now, I'm done!  Maybe.

         This week at physical therapy they added another 2 exercises to my grueling daily routine.  The healthy young therapist tried to add one where I lay with my spine on a round foam shape and stretch out my arms.  After a bit of persuasion I convinced him that this Gram G is NOT ready to do that.  Now while I am away traveling the goal is to keep up this 60 minute plus routine everyday and be ready to get even more exercises when I return robust, muscular and standing straight with my shoulders flung back.  
      I found my way to a computer fix it shop, manned by tall, lanky, young smart techy fellows.   We discussed replacing my aging battery(the computer's not mine) and possibly a new updated hard drive.  We went on to talk about a package deal if I also purchase a refurbished newer smart phone.  After all that techy talk I really didn't feel very smart, but more so than when I first started conversing.  A return trip later this spring is in order.  First I need to talk to my own techy smart sons and get their input.  
     Still need to file taxes.  Pack.  Exercise.  Ready for spring break "back east".  

This has been a good 7 "bring on springtime" days in the life of Grandma G.


"See! The winter has past;the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance." 
 (Song of Solomon 2:11-13)