Cedar Creek Grist Mill....Post Views....14,296

     AKA....It's not ALL my fault this time.....delayed posts.....
My internet connection was disrupted from early Tuesday afternoon until noon on Thursday.   The Pacific Northwest experienced strong wind and gusts Tuesday and Wednesday.  I don't know if that was the cause of the internet going off line.  I fussed away a lot of time on Tuesday trying to reconnect on my own.  I had lost connection a few weeks back and Chuck told me what to unplug, wait awhile and plug in again.  Unfortunately, I couldn't remember which cords and in what order....though I tried several combinations.  Finally on Wed. afternoon I called the internet carrier and the lady informed me that there was an outage locally and they were waiting for parts. 
      Sunday afternoon I enjoyed time with my friend, Kahana.  After burgers at "Five Guys" we drove about 20 miles to experience an old time grist mill. The past several days had been quite rainy, even into that afternoon.  The misty air, clouds and wet gave the surroundings a....well.....a Pacific Northwest look.   
          


Driving through a wooden covered bridge.....

          Marvelous pictures of typical
"temperate rain forest" moss..... 













And a rain forest inhabitant?

CEDAR CREEK GRIST MILL

     

The grist mill was established in 1876 and is run by water-powered turbine.  Volunteers grind corn and wheat for 2 hours on Saturday and Sunday.  











Grandma G and Kahana.....
(my hair is NOT white, just how the picture came out)

Foggy air and mist made for a lovely drive home...

Brought home a 
bag of grist mill
ground corn mill...
Yum...










   ____________________________________________________________

       Sunday was a great "away from home" day.  I left for church at 9:30.  We do a music practice for 11 o'clock service.  It was close to 1PM when I was packed up and ready to leave so went directly to meet Kahana.  
     After our afternoon together I headed over to Deb's for dinner and a movie.....Maleficent.  It was an entertaining twist on an old time fairy tale or two.  
     So I arrived back home at 9:30 PM, content and ready for bed... 

     There have been other adventures between then and now, but I will save them for tomorrow. 

     This has been a good 5 "windy and no internet" days in the life of Grandma 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)     

Autumn Colors and All that Jazz....Post Views...14,224

     I might have that backwards.....

 A little jazz...
Pacific Northwest style....
My first Portland jazz concert Friday night...

Some friends invited me to go... Gave me a ride....
Very fun......lots of energy and concentration for the musicians....
Don't think I will ever qualify to play jazz.....








Then some autumn splendor on Saturday afternoon

We are inclined to rain out here during fall and winter.  When the sun shines it is time for walking and viewing the scenery.....


Mt. Hood.....

A fairy's spa with fresh rainwater......

A mushroom grove....

     We pretty much had rain the past week.  We will have a few "dry" days before the rain and the Polar Vortex hits mid-week.  
Yes, we are subject to the PV, also.  The arctic air will blow in on Tuesday, giving us "cold" temperatures in the 30's.  Snow in the mountains and the Columbia River Gorge.  
     We will NOT be participating in the Midwest winter snowstorm...

The red is Park Falls, WI area and is looking at 16 to 20 inches of snow on Monday and Tuesday....  OUCH....
Wausau.....mid Wisconsin is looking to 5 to 10 inches....


   

 I am happy to report that I have recovered somewhat from the Wednesday "slump".  I had a "stay in my jammies" day on Thursday until 5PM when I got dressed to go visit some friends.  Friday it took until 1PM to "get it all together", but then I was out and about until 9:30 that evening.....music practice with a friend, mall therapy time and Portland jazz concert.   Yeah!  Life is upbeat once again.   
     Today.....my house is a mess, but the laundry is at least washed, grocery shopping done, piano practice accomplished, water aerobics and 40 minute walk in, my empty tooth socket healing and Sunday plans all in place....Yah!   

       This has been a good 3 "all that jazz" days in the life of Grandma G.

      "The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.  He upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down."  (Psalm 145: 13 & 14)

Misfit Day....Post Views...14,160

     Have you ever had a misfit day when you didn't want to interact with others?  When you felt blah and really didn't want to do anything?  When the day just didn't seem to fit. When you have commitment with others, but begrudge it? 
     I had one today.  I don't think I was feeling quite well, but couldn't pinpoint any one thing.  Nothing was "connecting".  
     Today was our "tea on the porch" gathering at a friend's house.  She called 2 hours before to remind me.  I really didn't want to go, but didn't want to hurt her feelings.  So, go I did.  And you know?....it was a blast.  Five of us ladies were there, sitting on her porch....3 of us were involved in the woodsy escapade a few weeks back. 
    This morning we looked through the local senior Messenger to decide on outings we would like to do.  We had fun as we calculated when and how much various activities would cost and who wanted to and could go at certain times.  We made out list of adventures for the next several weeks.  We all agreed it was much more fun to venture out as a group.  
     I felt revived....until I got home.  Then the slump set in again and I begrudged having agreed to be part of an instrumental/sing along group another lady wanted to start. Our first gathering was this evening.
      In the meantime I tried a new soup recipe that I had a hunch wouldn't be good....but I made it anyway.  And guess what?   It wasn't good.  In fact it was very disagreeable to me.    
       After piddling away time working at my new website, I figured I better run through the music.  They were all "oldies"...some I knew, some I didn't.  Anyway, I found my way to the club house.  And......had a great time, enjoying playing music with a group of musicians.  We are going to meet every other Wed.   
      So the day proved that a fun time can be had in spite of a day not quite fitting right.
      



      Lou had a good day.  He got his teeth.....
And he is living at Burt's house for the next month.




This has been a good "misfit" day in the life of Grandma G.

   "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap."  (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

 

YIKES! It's Been A WEEK!!.....Post Views....14,147

         I haven't been lazy....just lazy at blogging.  I'm not even going to try to review the past week.  I consider myself still in recovery mode from the tooth extraction.  Today is 2 weeks post op, so I'll have to drop that excuse pretty soon.  BUT, there is still a large gap in the back of my mouth and a few pains now and then. 

          I think the time change and the season change and "life situation" change have lulled me into a semi-hibernating mindset. The life situation change is simply that I am mostly settled in and now need to find a productive, daily routine in which I find myself useful, capable and financially stable. 

       I consider this present "season" a time of planting seeds of various kinds and waiting to see what takes root and returns a harvest (money).  

       I've been trying to set up a couple of web sites, one for my teaching studio and one to sell my music.  The programming part of

  this has been going slow, painful, frustrating and challenging.  Stuff that takes a lot of time, but doesn't lend itself to entertaining blogging, unless you include the temptation to bad words or heaving the laptop off the desk.  

      So, basically, I am trying to form a home business....kind like a stew....of various components.  Yah,  that's it.  Lots of hours and no pay.  BUT..someday those hours will pay big returns.  Yah, that's it. 

       There was a "sun break" in the weather sometime this past week.  A great time for a walk and a few autumn photos.  The fall has been wet..lots of rain..but still good color.

   

      It has been a busy week involving a few walks, 40 minute water aerobics workouts,  an evening at Deb's,  piano practice for church service and personal music, adding 3 piano students, recognizing 2 family B-days, a perm and nails done, discussing a new sing-along group here in the park, and enduring a computer/phone outage.  (Thanks, Chuck, for coaching me how to remedy that.) 

     Slow cooked Jamaican jerk pork....Yummy!!

     Louie has a big day coming up on Wednesday, Nov, 5.  He is being released from the rehab center, going to pick up his full set of dentures and moving to Burt's for the next few weeks.  (I also hear rumors of stopping at Pizza Hut for a taste of pizza.)  His short term goals?  He is going to work really hard to build up his walking strength to walk through an airport so he can fly out here to Vancouver, WA. (to escape the annoying therapists) and to get back to eating so he can enjoy a meal of dumplings.  Good goals....

    This has been a good 7 "it's been a week" days in the life of Grandma G.

    "Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening do not let your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well."  (Ecclesiastes 11: 6) 

Small Happy Surprises...Post Views....14,028

     Monday was a day of small almost unrecognized happy surprises.  After a weekend of steady rain, the sun was out most of the day and the air was warm.  I had a post extraction check up and found out the white hunk protruding in my gum was a slice of tooth fragment, which the dentist easily pull out.  I finished with the antibiotics.  When I stopped at the bank which I hadn't been to for over 3 months one of the tellers called me by my first name. (Someone remembered me!). Shortly after, I recognized 2 ladies from the park at the store I went to.  I received 2 phone calls confirming to new piano students.  Later in the afternoon I went for a walk, the first since the dental ordeal.  Ah.....life was sweet and good that day.    
      It's been a week since the molar extraction.  I didn't expect it to have such an impact on me.  A week of recovery.  Feels like a huge crater in my gum. Hopefully, though, I will generally feel better now that it is out.  
      Saturday I was still enduring the effects. A few weeks earlier I had committed to playing keyboard for Sunday services of the new small church I've started attending.  I didn't think I would that particular morning.  But the pastor had sent a song list to me and I thought I should at least try. ( I was eager to go someplace after being home for 5 days.)  And try I did, though feeling rather weak. As the morning went on I regained some strength.  I was glad to have gotten back into life.....even more glad to be privileged to  play for the services.
      For the afternoon?  Well, a 2 hour nap, of course.  And then TV.
      Tuesday the rain returned in full force for all of the day.  A great day to stay snuggled inside and fire up the artificial fire in the fireplace. Time to sort through tons of  church music sheets I brought along from Wisconsin and to organize the ones I like with the new ones that I learned out here. Now there is an orderly folder of available music I can play.....Yeah!....

         Life here has turned a corner for me.  Most of the basic transitions have been accomplished.  Now I need to look for meaningful involvement which includes an income.  Guess some people would call that a job.  Oh Ya....   My main focus is to advertise to build up piano student clients.  I'm not fond of the idea of actually getting a job at a store.  There are a few other options, but time, circumstance and energy levels will dictate what will work out.  This is a rather strange awareness.  I need to identify who I am for the next 10-15 years.  Some folks refer to this as an identity crisis.  That is exactly correct. 

     This has been a good 3 "small happy surprises" days in the life of Grandma G.

     "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."  (Proverbs 15:13)