The Day

Just a day, that is it.  Cloudy, dark, dark, low clouds.  Some rain.  Took a run to Bend, went to Costco, Old Navy, copies made of some legal documents, Not much going on. Got home in time to feed dogs :)  I KNOW when 8am and 4pm happens that is for sure, keeps me on track.  The wrapping fell off my toe!! Supposed to keep it on until Tuesday, well don't know how a person is supposed to do that!!! I am not even an active person...
Take Care All...

Weight!

This morning i hit 90# lost, imagine 90# of potatoes!!  That is NINE 10# bags of potatoes.  I was going to put meat on here, but it looked too gross, potatoes are rather innocuous and get the point across i think...  Am still struggling with my relationship to food and have to force myself to eat at times, when i know i need to, like when i  have not eaten all day except for a protein drink..  :(   Which sometimes happens when i have a morning appointment of one type or another and lunch comes and goes un-noticed.  It is a different world for me.  But it gets better daily and weekly.
It has been fun getting different clothes and fixing myself up, which i have not felt like doing for an awfully long time.  Which i know weight does not influence, or should not, but it is just so much easier to do nothing.
Just feel like i want to step forward into a new light. Physically and spiritually.
Take Care & God Bless All

My Foot!!

 Had the surgery on my poor toe today.  Have to leave this be for a week now.  Geez!!  Do u think i can hang my right foot out of the shower? Not supposed to get it wet or dirty... That really curtails what i can and can't do.  No more swimming for a week. And no yard work... good thing i just mowed the back yard. I am sure i mentioned this before, about the toe.  That i fell down some stairs about 6 years ago and broke it.  It never healed properly and the last joint was pointed down instead of straight.  It has continued to bother me, won't fit in shoes without hurting. Has a callus on the top from hitting the floor.  Now it will be straight, i will be happy. This was just a minor thing. Certainly not on the same level as some of the medical issues other people have.

AND look at this dirty mug!!  You know Carl's FULL name is 'Dirty Carl Wallace'..  this may be ONE reason why,  (believe me there are many!!)  when u get to the end of the dog food, there are crumbs in the bottom of the bag that come out with the kernals, and this is what u get, dirty, dirty, dirty  :)

Take Care All & God Bless

Pool..

The last two days i went to the public swimming pool here in Redmond at 6:30p and took a water aerobics class!!  It was GREAT fun, i am sore...  Even had a swimsuit that i could wear, it is about 4 sizes too big and just billows about me in the water, hahahaha!!!! BUT it worked, did not fall off.

New Project

 These are what the squares will look like on the new afghan i am now working on.  Will post a completed picture. I truly do love working on these!!  Getting them altogether one step at a time.
Friend Nora will be happy i have started a project  :)

Also saw my niece and her new baby. She is almost two months old now... It was good seeing them
Other than that, nothing going on, just normal daily things that take up a person's time and life
Take Care All!!!!

So Delicate!!

Rain filled & still perky... each drop balanced on a gossamer thread of fragility.

Blooming Desert

 If conditions are 'just' right the desert does bloom.  You also have to hit it at just the right time.

 The flowers come in many colors and shapes.

 Some are even downright delicate!

It was raining when these were all taken, so there are some blurs on some of the pictures, could not keep the raindrops off the lens.
Take Care All....there is beauty all around us, just have to take the time to see it!!!!

Doing Something!

 If nothing else, blogging gets me out of the house, where there is nothing to write about!!  Today i drove to Madras, taking clothes to my SIL. AND on the way there, is this old, rusty truck. They do something with it every year, this year the petunia in the bed are slow, not enough heat.  The lady of the house came out to talk to me. Very nice, invited me back in a month to see the flowers in the back of the house. She said there were many more!!!

 He was not as friendly, rather stand offish :) But ate dead poppies she threw over the fence, Cute face!!

 Then i drove into the mountains between Madras and Redmond, I love going to this place, and felt i had missed it somehow, but ended up right at it!!  It should be a Heritage site for sure, it is n old pioneer orchard!! Just can imagine them trying to survive in such a place at the foot of Grey Butte, that now has towers on it and a trail up to the top of it. One day i am going up there!!!  for today we saw the apple and popular trees.  More in later blogs.  this was alot of pictures for me and just one blog!!
Take Care All & God bless!!

This is the Crooked River just before it turns into a Gorge.
Let me just say took my life in my hands to get this picture, in pouring rain, with loaded gravel trucks whizzing by and no place to walk :)  Just sayin'  I have found i will do most anything for what i think will be a good picture.
The road to the Orchard is a dirt/gravel road, mostly dirt, one lane, very windy, thru canyons and some mud,  tried to keep the truck clean tho, why do i decide to do these things right after i have the truck washed? And why does it rain right after you wash a vehicle, just wonderin'.  There are many roads and crossroads and it is a trick to remember which way is which, no signs!!!

More Beach Pictures

 Saw this rhodie every day on the way to BarView and finally stopped to take a picture. It was a  HUGE bush/tree. Liked the dark inside the white/white.

This is the old Coast Guard boat house in Tillamook Bay in Garibaldi. You can rent crab pots and go crabbing there. I liked the different layers of colors in the picture.
Today i finished my sewing projects with two covers for foam pillows, cutting some selvage off of a pretty piece of fleece.
Today at 4:58p my baby boy turns 42!!  where oh where does the time go?  All our plans and good intentions. Life/time just slowly (or more recently, rapidly) goes forward, seconds  make minutes, make hours, days,  weeks, months, and finally years.  Love remains thru it all....as inexorably as day turns to night.
Take Care and God Bless All................

Getting Ready

Look what i made for a memory mattress pad, given to be by a friend!!  A cover. Made it like a big envelope pillow case. Honestly, i don't know why it fits and was relatively easy to get the pad into the cover, as i had a devil of a time making it!!  My math skills are next to nill i soon discovered, measured wrong. Then i was using the camo material, which is heavy, but not as heavy as jean material, using heavy duty thread, as recommended by sewing personnel at JoAnn's. AND heavy duty jean needles, all combined to make the tension on the bobbin wonky as all get out, my back started having fits, probably being hunched over the sewing machine or the cursing, whatever.... It was a sad testament to my stick-to-it-ness.... BUT IT FITS and the pad will not get all icky as they are wont to do, with dog and sleep sweatiness, and humidity of the mid-west.  The mattress was cut down (to fit in the back of the Element) to 59x33 using an electric kitchen knife, which worked wonderfully!! So have a part from the bottom, which we cut in half and am going to make some covers and have two pillows

This was yesterday, he was over my histrionics and just wanted some peace and quiet!!!  Has taken to napping in his little bed which he barely fits into, but it is really cute, don't u think?
Hope u all have an easy time with any projects you have on your list to do!!
Take Care & God Bless

Sorting

Going thru my closet and dressers, have so far, and i am not done, 4 huge boxes of clothes that no longer fit!!  It is sad.  I get attached to my clothes, but they should not be so important to me. :) They served me well, some are more loved that others, some i wore only once!! Or maybe not at all. Have a whole bunch of knit tops that someone told me i did not look good in, so that was the death knell for them. Have a bunch of flannel nighties that Mom made for me, and think i am going to cut them up and use in some sort of a quilt. Can't bear to get rid of anything she made me.
So, it has been a day of nostalgia and letting go, just let it go.... AND i have LOTS of room in the closet and the dressers!!!
Oh, the face is calming down and healing, it DOES look different, amazing..
Take Care & God Bless

Last Day

 This was the last day at the beach and we went to Cape Meares.  Always have to go there to see if the agates are coming in, found quite a few of them, but not like on some trips!!!  This is a place u really have to plan for as there are NO bathrooms and it is WAY at the end of the road!!!

 To use a potty u have to go UP to the lighthouse area on a terribly winding, rough road.
But once there you have the Octopus Tree and viewing platforms to see the nesting birds, if you have big enough scope. Sometimes there are sea lions down there too, but not this time.

 This is a short lighthouse, BUT it sits on a huge cliff!!! Can be seen many, many miles out to sea.

There were lots of wild flowers.
At Cape Meares there used to be a little village, Bay Ocean, but the sea was starting to reclaim it, so it was evacuated and closed down, buildings removed in the 60' s i believe.  I remember Dad taking us out there to see some of the big houses, tennis courts, there was a sleepy little town, with a store and Tavern. On the West side of the Tillamook Bay.
Now u can go and walk forever on the beach as long as the kidneys hold out :) Lots of uninterrupted shelling and wave watching.  You can see we had a GREAT day, weatherwise. Could not have been better.

Wanna Be!!

 Georgia O'Keefe......

Take Care & God Bless

Photo facial

Yesterday i had a photo facial treatment (laser) today i am bruised and really swollen. Supposed to take away the rosecea, fine lines and brown spots that some of us tend to get with aging and sun damage.  Don't know yet if it was the smartest thing to do.  But my friend Janmarie has had 'some' work done and it always looks much worse before it looks better.... hmmmm 
So this first really nice week end we have had, i get to spend inside or in deep shade.. :)

Be a great opportunity to clean house, yet again, why is that never done, finished? Always seems dirty?
Maybe it is because of BOTH of these!!!


Take Care & God Bless

Another Chloe

Had to use another picture..  she was wondering but not really upset yet that there was no water coming out!!!
There was a little cool wind and Mommy did not want her getting wet...
Am told she loves water!!
God Bless All

Rainy Day

 Day 4 at the beach was cold and rainy, SO we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. No trip to this area is complete without the requisite trip to the Cheese Factory and some ICE CREAM!!! So after sitting and watching the wave action and RAIN we went there.

 This has been here as long as i remember and when we lived here i remember field trips to the Factory where we got to go right out onto the floor and see the milk in vats and everything, it was quite the fun time!!!

This time i had ONLY one scoop of marionberry pie on a waffle cone, could only eat HALF of that and had to throw the rest away, sacrilege!!!  but i did feel ok about it  :)
They also now have a quilt trail starting from  Latimer Textile with quilt blocks on the barns and businesses around the area, but we did not follow it and Judy at 'Travels With Emma' did such a good job on that  topic yesterday in Tennesse that mine would not even compare!!!
Take care all

Day 3

 Above  the ubiquitous picture of Cannon Bch.
We had to drive to Astoria looking for a Wal-Mart as neither one of us remembered to bring our paper cutter!!  It is rather hard to do stamping if you can't cut paper in a clean line!! :( And guess what?  There is NO Wal-Mart!!  Only in Longview, Wa which was one and a half hours away! From Astoria!!

 So we decided to try Fred Meyer in Astoria AND ran across  JoAnn's that had a sale!!!  Half OFF their cutters, we EACH got one!  But this gave us the opportunity to go to many beaches between Garabaldi & Astoria.  Just stopped here and there and went for little walks.  It was fun. Been to most all of them b4, BUT they are always different in their own way.

Do NOT eat at Dooger's in Astoria. I always forget that and ALWAYS come away thinking i have to remember to NOT go there!!  Not very satisfying at all. Nice place, nice people, even tho the waitress left us sitting there and never did give us a bill!
It rained off and on all day, so some beaches were wet, some were sunny.  It is certainly NOT the beach "Sherry" is sitting by on the gulf of Florida :)
Take Care All & God Bless one and ALL.....

Chloe!!

Had to add one more picture as i got to have a "baby"  fix this afternoon, my grand-niece from Southern Calif came to see me (well, ok, with her mom ,Sacia, too) We had a really good visit, she is busy, busy, busy.  Showed me all the animal sounds she knows, the fish was especially cute!! And we did bubbles outside..
Special bounty from God, surely it is!!

Day One

 So, this is the first day on the beach,  a little windy. AND i ave plastic baggies is my pocket for poop, hence the big bulge in stomach area!!!  My Disneyland sweatshirt fits!!
Twin Rocks in the 1st picture and in my background.  On Barview...

 Good friend Carol.  It is always a chore to do these 'picture yourself' pictures, and they look like what they are, you holding your arm out as far as you can!

The Rhodies were in full bloom, some a bit rain battered. But still got LOTS of pictures of them. Trying for the perfect one, right?
Take Care all...
These were all taken 6-6

The Beach

 I have been gone to the BEACH since 6-5 and for the life of me could not figure out how to find any WiFi.  And did not much have the inclination either, no tv either.  It has been a lovely week!!
We had a great drive over the Santiam, again.  I do dearly LOVE that drive, much greener than the Hood drive.

 AND yes!!!  It was snowing on top again..  lots.. Stopped at Lost Lake for a potty break and these geese were swimming in single file across a portion, it was a lovely sight! As was the snow, really..

This is friend (my Mom's good friend, and mine too) Nora and Ben.  It is their house that i go to stay at in Garabaldi.  The beach house.
We walked on the beach and sat on the jetty and watched waves and boats. Got salt water taffy & smoked salmon for friends. Took naps, watched a couple movies and read alot.  It was very relaxing.
I am now thrown back into the fray, trying to get mail and bills taken care of...  :(
Take Care All

Cows!!

This picture is for my friend Carol in Iowa, an inside joke!!
Wonder what kind of cow this is??

 This Iris was in McMinnville, Such varied colors.

AND this was when i went to Madras last Friday!!  Mt Jefferson hiding in the clouds.  Thought the juxtaposition of light and dark was striking!!
Take Care All!!