Time just keeps on moving along. None of us will get out of this alive.

My brother Bill...William Milton Stewart Jr. passed away January 11, 2022. He was 79 years old, just shy of 80. He passed from complications related to his previous illnesses. I was able to be in the area when he passed and saw him before he did. He told me he loved me, and I told him the same. Little more was said, but it was enough. He knew I was nearby. He was in Hospice Care in the same retirement community that my brother Dick and his wife Kathy moved into several months before. He and his wife Dianne were planning to live there, too. His wife had already moved in with the belief that he would be joining her soon. It was not to be.

Dick and Kathy had been living in a large home with their daughter Tammy and her husband Bob Hondeville in the town of Atwater, California. After a lifetime in Ventura California, the move was challenging. Sadly, Bob passed away suddenly July 27, 2021. Tammy was unable to maintain the huge house, care for her parents and work full time, so Dick and Kathy moved to Hughson, California to the retirement community.  Tammy bought a smaller house nearby and sees them often.

My daughter Kerry and her husband Jordan Kerr, and son Kerrick Kerr lived with us at our home in Brush Prairie WA earlier this year. They had sold their house in Battleground at the height of the housing market and bought another in Providence, Utah. It happened quickly so they decided to rent the Utah house back to the current owners and move in with us while Kerrick finished the school year. They moved in June and we miss them terribly. The purpose of the move was so that Kerrick could get to know his Kerr cousins better and be around the Kerr side of the family for a time.

Bruce and I have been considering our options regarding where we will live. The truth is, we enjoy the house we are in for now. We looked at houses in Austin Texas near our son Kevin and his family, but couldn't fine what we were looking for. We've also considered Utah. California where our son Steve lives seems out of our reach, plus his kids are all grown and beginning to scatter. For now we will stay here. Our daughter Amy lives nearby, but works full time. We usually see her every week or so.

Its an interesting stage of life we find ourselves in. Minor illnesses are becoming more frequent. We've been able to avoid major illnesses so far, but time marches on. We both manage to keep pretty busy, but miss being around family. We'll see what next year brings...

A Single Twin...

On January 18, 2020 I lost my twin brother to lung cancer. at the age of 68. I can barely believe it, even as I write it. David Michael Stewart has been a constant in my life, literally my entire life. We were the youngest of 5. My mother used to say that when she became pregnant with us she would pray often for twins. Otherwise that one baby would be spoiled rotten. As it happens, her two babies were spoiled rotten. My brother Dick was almost 8 when we were born, brother Bill was  9. My brother Jim graduated from high school the day we came home from the hospital. He was nearly 18.

David and I were always together as children. We were known in our family as "the twins". Sometimes we would be referred to individually, but it always reverted back to the duo. I remember being confused that people could tell us apart...the twins on tv were identical. Obviously we were not. As we grew older, our lives diverged into two separate identities. In fact, not many people realized we were even related, much less twins. David was a drummer and very cool. I was...not. As I married and moved far away, we became even more distant, literally and figuratively. Neither of us was very good at writing letters or staying in touch. I think we both depended on family to keep us informed on what the other was up to. Life has a way of getting very busy when you have four children, who are all active in sports, school, etc. and David had two children of his own and later two step children.

He had several interest. He was a self-taught mechanical genius. He could take parts from several cars and put then together into one very cool hot rod. He also painted cars for a portion of his life. I suspect that's where the carcinogens entered his lungs, but I don't know for sure...it could have been the second hand smoke we were constantly around as kids.(and ultimately killed our parents).  He was a contractor for a large portion of his life and did incredible work. He was an artist with the eye of an artist. And of course, the drummer. He played with many bands over the years, from country to folk, to rock. I also remember an accordion band early in his career that he would probably just as soon I never mentioned.

He lived just a few miles from the house we grew up in. He never had any real interest in moving. Meanwhile, I lived in more states than I can remember. We were baptized Catholic as babies, but neither of us continued in the faith. David recently found peace in Buddhism  while I preferred the more structured life as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormons. I don't drink and he did. He enjoyed his drinking and for a portion of his life he drank too much, but later was able to find balance.

So we weren't much alike at all, it turns out. But did I love my brother? Absolutely  and without judgement. He was, and will always be my hero. He worked hard in his life, and provided for his family. He had many interest and followed them. He was a good man and loved his family.  To my way of thinking that is the definition of "hero."

I never thought for a moment he would be the first of the five of us kids to go. I hoped I would go first so I wouldn't have to go through the heartache of losing the brothers I love. Sadly, that wasn't the way this life turned out. Will I see him again? Yes. I have no doubt.

My twin brother has always been with me in my heart no matter how far away I was. As I slog through the days, months and years ahead, he will continue to be with me.

I love you, David. I'll see you later. Say "hi" to mom and dad.

Dang, I need to update more often

Wow, it's amazing to me, but I did it again! Another 2 years have gone by! I'm going to REALLY try harder to post here. I want to add things for my grandchildren.

It occurs to me that if I had the opportunity I would like to speak to some of my (deceased) Stewart ancestors to get some better information on who, what and where! I try doing genealogy but I keep getting dead ends! That's not a good way to put it when talking about deceased ancestors...but bear with me... my grandkids don't really care right now, but there will come a time when they want to know more about me, their parents, my memories, our ancestors, all of it. If I don't write it down now it will be lost forever.

I guess I need to review what Ive written so far so I know which direction to go.

OK. Onward and upward!

Time marches on!

I messed up again and ignored my blog for 2 years! How does that happen? Life happens I guess.

I can use Facebook to look back on the last 2 years. Its been fairly unremarkable in the 'big event' category for the most part. We have had a few Johnson Family reunions in that time. We spent a few days around the 4th of July at Steve's house in Scotts Valley, California with everyone. It was great fun having every one of my children and grandchildren around. The reality is...we are growing too large to do much of anything as a group. We aren't there yet...but it's close. We had a day at the beach and several nice dinners to remember the time with.

Thanksgiving 2015 was spent all together at Kevin's house in Austin, Texas. He found a home that was in great need of some love and purchased it. After a ton of work, his family moved in. Turns out the house has a lot of room, so it worked out well for our gathering. It seems a little unfair in the great  scheme of things for any one family to host us all, so I'm not sure if we'll do it again anytime soon, but it was fun. We went on a nature hike as a group to a lovely little grotto in the hills of Texas and learned a lot about the area in the process. Plus Austin is famous as a foody heaven, so we ate a ton of  Tex-Mex, which is my favorite.

I spend my time between Vancouver Washington, where 3 of my grands live; Lincoln City Oregon where we have a little beach house; and Salem Oregon is home base. I read a lot and try my hand at art and crafts. I'm alone a lot of the time, but I manage to keep busy for the most part.

Well, that's enough for now.

Philippines: First days in Baghio!

Now on to Baghio!

We hired a driver to take us north into the high mountains of Luzon Island. It turned out to be a much longer trip than we expected. It took us nearly 8 hours to get there, but SO worth the trip. After the din of the city of Manila, Baghio was beautiful and relatively quiet!

We were exhausted by the time we got to Baghio so we went straight to our hotel. I need to note at this point that it was the last weekend of the Baghio Flower Festival, complete with parades and activities, so our hotel selection was limited. Very...very...very...limited.

We arrived after much difficulty in finding the address to a dodgy looking, grimy hotel. I have to say, in my brother Jim's defense (he made the arrangements) that he had very little to choose from and thought "how bad could it be for just a few nights?". We were to soon find out.

First of all, they gave us a suite instead of two rooms, as requested. In fact, they had 2 suites reserved for us. It remains unclear how they came to expect 20+ people instead of the 3 of us, but I digress...

All my inner flags were waving like crazy, so we asked if we could see the rooms. We chose the least offensive of the two.  (Keep in mind, we have no real choice because of the festival...everything is booked.) I'm telling myself over and over, that it's only for two nights, right? I like to think I'm a very pragmatic person. My niece Jessica is fuming and trying really hard not to blow up. The "He-should-have-let-me-help-and-get-reservations-months-ago" type of fury that is only of value in hind sight pulsing in her eyes. Brother Jim is mortified, but trying as hard as I am to see the silver-lining...using the "it's only for two nights...right? We were looking for an adventure....right?" line of reasoning. I knew his Pollyanna-ish stand was teetering when he just looked at me after a short amount of time in our suite and said simply "this is unacceptable'.  He got on the phone (no easy task) and called the hotel we had reservations at in a few days. After a little begging, they determined they could have two room for us the next night, but we were stuck for tonight. I think we might have been better able to struggle through with our little trauma if some of our Filipino friends we met with a little later that evening, when finding out where we were staying said "Oh, we wouldn't stay there because of the Rats?"

Oy vey.....!!!

I have no doubt that rats were a problem in this hotel, because there were open areas all over the place. They had a sort of internal chimney-like system (for lack of a better description) that was completely open with windows opening in what I believe was used as a primitive air circulation and cooling system. Plus there were fire-escapes that were open as well. There were bars on the windows, but no screening - easy access for any rodent worth their salt. Another issue with the internal 'chimneys' was that noise from all the other rooms was magnified and "shared".  I'm pretty sure I heard many things I had no business hearing. The was a table with several chairs in our common room, several of the chairs were broken. The toilet room at least had a toilet that flushed, but the washbasin was outside the room and didn't work anyway. There was a shower room next to that with a bucket and dipper in case your water stopped suddenly (I'm guessing). There was a kitchenette with rat droppings behind the hot plates. There was a small frig, but the black mold made me a little nervous about even trying to use that. The two bedrooms had several beds in each. We each laid claim and started our nightly ablutions. After checking out my bed, I had a flash-back to a tv program I saw once on bed bugs. There was no way in heck I was going to lay my head on that pillow and use those sheets and dodgy blanket. They were probably clean enough, but I wasn't taking any chances. I ending up using my travel pillow (you know, those u-shaped things) and laying out my airline blanket (they mean for you to take those...right?) to lay on. I covered myself with my sweater and jacket and made myself lay completely still. Did I mention Jessica and I were afraid to turn off the lights because of the rats? We were, so we slept all night with the lights on. (I used a sleep mask...light doesn't bother Jessica) We both refused to shower until we got to our new hotel.

When we left the next day, the owners were very concerned and asked what they could do to make our stay more comfortable. There really was nothing we could say! They were clearly doing the best they could with what they had, but to say the place wasn't up to our American standards sounds so hollow! We just hemmed and hawed around and left in a hurry.

Our next hotel was lovely in comparison. Nice plumbing, clean sheets and screened windows! What more could a girl want?

This area is very agricultural despite the rugged terrain. Terraces are used to farm on the steep hillsides, so big machinery that we would use here in the States are unusable due to the difficult accessibility. All work must be done by hand. Hard work is a way of life here. Small farms dot the hillsides and you rarely see a huge mega-farm like more industrialized areas might have.

We made a trip even further up the mountain to the family farm. It sits at nearly 7500 feet in elevation, so the potential for cold is very high. As we were sitting and visiting in the family home, I glanced outside and couldn't even see across the road! I was puzzled for a moment until someone told me it was just a passing cloud and to wait a moment. I did, and it passed. The sun was back in no time. The people we met were very charming! The children and some of the adults in the area came to see "the Americans"! Most of the adults understood at least some english, and many speak it very well, but the small children didn't and looked at us like we had two-heads. It was fun to make funny sounds and faces and to see the children react. One little girl even sang "Jingle Bells" for me!

Baghio is known are the "Summer Capitol" of the islands because the temperatures there are so much cooler than most of the area. Flowers are grown all over and the colors are amazing. At the family farm, flowers are grown in large green houses. I was allowed to choose my favorites and we left after a lovely meal with several huge bouquets! We kept those flowers in our rooms for the rest of the trip, even carrying them back to Manila. If we could have figured out a way to take them on the plane they would have come home with us.

More on Baghio with my next post.

The Philippines: Part 1, Days 1-3

I've been home for a week or so from our trip to the Philippines. My brother Jim, niece Jessica and I traveled together.

Jim spent time in the Philippines as a young man in the Navy. He had actually wanted to go back there when he got out of the Navy, but it was impossible. He was a poor kid from rural California without a job, education or income. Back in 1957-58 long distance travel was mind-numblingly expensive so the travel had to be put off. Heck, I recall that long distance telephone calls were expensive even within the States and to be avoided at all costs. Back in those days they charged by the minute. Heck, it takes a minute or two to even say hello, and what if the person being called wasn't available...!

Anyway...I digress. Jim wanted to go back to this beautiful place, so I decided I wanted to go with him ('cuz I got that kind of time...) and Jessica also saw it as a possibly once-in-a-lifetime trip.

We arrived in Manila late in the evening after a grueling 20+ hour flight. (Actually longer for Jim and Jessica as they flew up to Portland to leave with me). Flying a long distance like that is like installing yourself into a small cardboard box complete with a few holes for breathing and only coming out 2-3 times to use a telephone booth size bathroom except it's less comfortable. We picked up our luggage and went through customs. Jessica's luggage was delayed in getting on the turn-table-thingie, so we had some anxiety filled time waiting for it. It finally arrived, much to everyone's relief. We were all blurry-eyed but managed to hail a cab to take us to our hotel. We stayed at the Armada Hotel in Manila near the waterfront. It was a lovely hotel inside, but the neighborhood outside was sketchy at best. The next day we took a bit of a walk along the waterfront and enjoyed it, but decided to take a cab most of the rest of the time we were there.

Its warm and humid in Manila, and not a big problem unless you want to expend some energy and get some exercise. Drinking water is a necessity, otherwise dehydration takes over quickly. Anyone who knows me knows I really enjoy my diet Coke. They only have Coke Light there, but I was able to adjust. Sometimes I just drank regular Coke. Crazy me.

I'm amazed at how little I really knew about the Philippines. Other than a few friends over the years and the great guys that owned the P.I. Market in Montalvo where we grew up, I had had limited interaction with Filipino people. What I discovered is this: they are kind, loving and helpful people. Generally speaking, they are a beautiful people. Almost everyone we came in contact with spoke some English. There is also Spanish and Tagalog (spelling?) spoken...oh and probably another hundred or more dialects! Most are Catholics or other Christian religions. Families are large and extended.

We spent the first few days adjusting to the time change and getting our bearings. We did a bit of site seeing and enjoyed that. We made a trek down to Lake Taal in the more south part of Luzon Island. In order to get the the point where I took the picture below, we had to take an outrigger boat across to the second Island/crater. It was about a half hour trip over VERY choppy water. We got soaked, but it was awesome. We arrived and then got onto horses to make the trek up the mountain. They were little horses, but seemed to be well suited to the terrain.  It was very dusty and windy and at one point I had to take my hat off and use it to breathe through. We made our way to the top of the mountain, taking about a half hour to get there. The view was magnificent. You could see the second crater, and that even has a small island in it! The trip down was bumpy (to say the least) because our horses wanted to get home for a snack! When we got back, we took the same boat back to the starting point. When I rinsed off my hands and face I was shocked to see mud come off! The combination of the wet trip over and the dusty wind made for some very dirty travelers. We were then served a great lunch and started back to Manila by hired car.

We enjoyed our time in Manila, but it was the means to an end. We wanted to see the 'real' Philippines, so Baguio was our next stop.

To be continued...

Jim...the Adventure Begins

(Guy in center of photo next to Jim photo-bombed)

Lake Taal - a crater lake within a crater lake with an island.

Has it been a year already???

Yikes, time flies! It's utterly amazing to me that so much happens in a year, yet when I go to write about it I'm at a loss for words.

Let's begin.

My newest grandson Kerrick was born this year. I was honored to be with Kerry and Jordan when the baby was born. It was an amazing experience I will remember always. I had never witnessed a birth besides my own children, and that was through a tiny mirror. This little guy is special (as are all my grandchildren…) and I love spending time with him and watching him grow and progress.

Kerry and Jordan sold their townhouse in August with the idea that they would buy another place quickly. Well, things happen and they ended up living with us in Salem for 4 months. They've since moved to a house in Battle Ground, Washington. I manage to get up there every week or so to visit and check in with the boss - Kerrick.

He is an adorable and sweet little boy. A big plus is that he seems to like me too! We have a lot of fun playing and every time I see him I'm stunned at what he's learned.

My daughter Amy had a scare this year. She found a suspicious mole that turned out to be Melanoma. So far so good. They believe that got it early and she goes in for regular checks. I'm thankful to the doctors that have treated her, and pray that they will continue to be diligent.

My son Steve was able to finally buy a house and moved in at Christmas time. I haven't seen the house yet, but hope to after I return from a trip to the Philippines I'm going on in a few weeks. I'll be traveling with my brother Jim and my grandniece Jessica. I think we will have a great time.

I think my spring will be busy. After the Philippines I want to go to California and see Steve's house and family, then to Austin Texas to see Kevin and his family. Kevin has been looking for a house, too and hopefully will get in one soon. He and Steve are both very handy so home improvements will be great fun for them. They both continue to work for Apple.

I get to visit with my friend Sandy often. It's still so cool to have found each other after all these years.

Time to get some sleep. Maybe I'll write again before next year!

Sandy, Patty, and My Golden Childhood

When I was a kid, I grew up in a small California town. It's now a HUGE California town. I feel bad for the kids growing up there now. It's nothing like it was when I was young, and they will never know the joys of leaving your house in the morning and not coming home until dark, being busy and having fun all day long with just your imagination and your friends. Getting dirty playing on 'The Hill", or in one of the many citrus orchards - that was a joy! I played with our neighbors, the Shisler's and later, the Snead's, but my best childhood friend was Sandy Noon.

Sandy and I both had somewhat unique situations in our families. She was the youngest child in a single-parent family, and while I had a more traditional two parent family, my mom worked outside the home which at the time was not traditional. What that meant to us both was that we had very little parental supervision during the day. We were basically good kids, though, and rarely got into significant trouble.

We had other friends who came and went to our little group, but I think the most constant person would have been Patty Kindred. Patty lived catty-corner from Sandy's house and had a younger sister named Margaret. She had an at-home mom and a working dad. Patty's dad was significantly older than her mom - 24 years older as I recall. I remember him as being a grandfather type and jolly. I remember her mom often sitting on the lawn in the front yard pulling weeds. The lawn was a dichondra lawn which is  rather like a clover lawn, so it didn't need mowing, but weeding was a must and Dora (Patty's mom) did so - often. Patty also had a cool playhouse in her back yard. I loved that playhouse and wanted one of my own.

Sandy had an older sister Pamela, and a brother Jimmy. Jimmy was exactly one year older than Sandy and they shared a birthday, which I always thought was cool since I shared a birthday with my twin brother David.  I remember that Jimmy had some anger issues and often beat the garbage out of Sandy. She took it fairly well, but I found that I tried to avoid him whenever possible. Pamela was enough older that I really had little interaction with her.

Another thing about Sandy's home that was different from mine was that it was ALWAYS clean. Sandy and her siblings had chores that they had to do every day like dusting and vacuuming while her mom was at work so when her mom came home the house was clean and tidy. Our house in comparison was not clean and rarely tidy. When Sandy's chores were done we could play, so sometimes I helped her. It was a foreign concept to me, since I had no assigned responsiblities in my own home.

Sandy's house had a large den or rumpus room at the rear. We spent many hours playing that it was our 'apartment' and we were young professional secretaries. That was the ultimate job in our eyes back in those days. There was also a phone (not installed, so it didn't actually work) that we played with often. I'm sure it helped hone my improvisation skills later because we would carry on long conversations with the 'person' on the other end of the line. As we grew older some of our first boy-girl parties took place in that room.

Sandy's mom remarried and the family moved away when we were young teens. I was devastated. We kept in contact for a few years and Sandy was one of my bridesmaids when I got married, but time and family got in the way and we lost contact. The last time I saw Sandy she had stopped by our apartment in San Luis Obispo (Bruce was a student at Cal Poly) with her young son, Nathan. She had recently been divorced and was heading north in a station wagon with a trailer. At that time I had two small children and was busy raising them.

I had tried to find her over the years with no luck. I tried computer searches, plus I didn't know what her last name was anymore. Long story short...we reconnected a few month's ago via Facebook. It turned out that she lived about 30 miles away from me in Oregon and had been there for many years! It was so amazing meeting again after all these years! We've kept in contact and try to get together every week or so. It was like finding my long-lost sister! I love her and cherish our time together.

Oh yeah...I'm supposed to title these things...

I've been spending a few days with my son Steve's kids while he and Beth are visiting my younger son Kevin and his family in Texas. It's been fun. The kids pretty much take care of themselves, so my main use here is to sign for an emergency room visit, should that occur. It has not.

I went to granddaughter Pierre's music program at school the other day. I was surprised to find that she is among the minority. Most of the kids in her class are of Indian or Asian descent. I guess that the main reason for that is that this is the Silicon Valley and since computers and tech are a world-wide business it would make sense. It's much different from the California I grew up in. Different isn't bad, it's just...different. (I'm so deep sometimes...)

Last night Maddie, Pierre, Ceddy and I went to the local college planetarium. It was a program aimed at  kids, but I still enjoyed it. When we came outside after the program was over we were able to identify Orion's belt, Jupiter and of course the full moon. It was a good program and I'm glad we went. Wills opted out, choosing instead to spend the afternoon with a friend at a horror movie. Yuck.

I'll be heading back to the great northwest on Tuesday morning, then off to the coast to take care of my library duties. I've got my library work down to a science. It takes me about an hour and a half to find 13 pages of books, movies, recorded books, cd's, etc. When the list is larger it takes more time, but since this is the 'off' season, 13 pages is about the norm.

A big deal in my life is my new hearing aids. I've known for several years that I needed them, but since I don't have much control of the finances in the family, it was put on a back burner. It finally got so bad that I would explain to anyone new that I came in contact with "I'm deaf, so if I respond inappropriately to something you've said, assume I didn't hear it correctly." I found that I was avoiding people a great deal and trying not to make eye contact with anyone, lest they make a comment that I wouldn't hear. In the rare cases that that happened I would just smile and nod. One really annoying thing for my husband was when I would startle when he would suddenly be in front of me. What he didn't realize was, I didn't hear any of the 'hints' that a hearing person hears, like the rustle of air, or footsteps approaching. All of a sudden he would just be there in front of me and I would startle. He got angry and said "I live here, too!" Well then make a little more noise so I can hear you, buster!

I think I'm coming out of my shell a little since I'm now among the hearing again. I don't avoid things nearly as much as I did. The HA's are still being fine tuned, but I'm getting used to them. Now when I take them off it seems like someone has put both hands over my ears to muffle the sound. I'm amazed at how loud I used to have the tv volume! They aren't perfect - there are still things I miss, but it's SO much better than it was. I'm amazed that people don't mumble nearly as much as I thought they did!

OK...that's enough for now. Later, skaters...

Yikes! It's been over a year since I posted on my blog. My brother Jim points that out to me from time to time, but I just didn't seem to be able to get my act together. I read my last post and it looks like I owe some wedding pictures, but since it's been so long I think I'll just write a little and try to get back in the groove...

Kerry and Jordan's wedding was over a year ago so as is often the case...a new baby is on the way! Kerrick James Kerr (as of this writing anyway) is due on or about April 1, 2013. We are all very excited since we haven't had a new baby in the family for 7 years. I can't wait to get my hands on the little bugger.

The kids grow up way too fast! Ben is 13 years old today, and stands about 5'10" and still growing. Fast.

Bruce works more hours than ever and travels nearly as much now as he did 20 years ago. As for me, I spend most of my time working on crafts or the computer. I volunteer at the Lincoln City Library once a week, and also at the Willamette Heritage Center as a docent. I've been doing both those things for several years now. I'm alone much of the time, but my kids try to keep me busy with projects for them. This year I recovered a chair for Kerry which was fun. Strangely enough it ended up back at my house because of lack of room at their house. It's o.k. because it looks lovely in my living room in Salem. I now have its companion chair that I need to recover, so that is an upcoming project.

I'm using a MacBookPro that my son has loaned me so I'm having a bit of a challenge learning to do things the Mac way. It'll be fine I think.

Aha! I figured out how to add pictures. This is the chair I re-did. Since I can add pictures with the Mac I'll add some wedding pics to the next post. I need to download them from my iPad.

Until next time...

The Times They Are A Changing...

Since I last posted we've had an addition to the family. Kerry met, dated (briefly) and married Jordan Kerr! Kerry and Jordan both said "when you know, you know!" Kerry also points out that she isn't a kid (31) so she's had a lot of time to decide what she wanted in a mate, and Jordan fits the bill plus a whole lot of neat qualities she didn't even know she wanted, but she's delighted with them.

I suppose I need to backtrack a little here and discuss my roll in all this. I was the wedding planner...sort of.

At first Kerry said that the reception wasn't really important to her and she didn't have any ideas, so I could just 'make it so'. Almost immediately she changed that to a whole lot of (often conflicting) ideas. It made planning a challenge to say the least, but it was her party so I became flexible. In fact, I think I only 'lost it' one time and that was on a relatively minor issue. The final plan was a Winter Wonderland/Scottish Festival.

The first issue was a place to have it. We looked at several venues. Oh, did I mention the wedding/reception was the weekend before Christmas? Oh, and did I mention that I had less than six weeks to plan? Minor issues of course to a mom committed to making the wedding for my last child to be something to remember. Remember the keyword there: committed. It will take on several meanings as I go on here.

I'm losing my place - back to finding a venue. We looked at some lovely places, my favorite being one of the historic officer's homes at Fort Vancouver. It was a little expensive, but would have been a little too small for some of the activities we had planned. Since we had no idea how many people would attend (remember, this is the weekend before Christmas) and the couple have many friends in Vancouver, we decided to use the Cultural Hall (read: gym) of one of the local church buildings. Jordan took me to visit the room so we could check out details. I now know that its' important to actually take measurements, because a large room looks even larger when it's empty. I made some assumptions about what would fit easily and we left. Hindsight is 20/20.

I will take this opportunity to mention that during the six week period, I had previously planned a trip to Austin to visit my son Kevin and his family. I decided to go ahead with the trip because I figured I would need a little time-out. Ten days of time-out. It actually turned out to be fruitful, because I was able to discuss a lot of the wedding issues with my daughter-in-law Stephanie and organize my thoughts. Also during this 6 week period, my granddaughter Ryann had an emergency appendectomy! Of course seeing to her needs took precedence over everything for a week or so. All these things turned out fine, but by their very nature took up a significant chunk of my planning/executing time.

Kerry and Jordan both work full-time jobs during the week (Kerry often works Saturdays, as well) so their help time was limited, and to be fair, they were still getting to know each other. They did all they could fit in. I discovered that Jordan is our local go-to guy. He's the kind of fellow who 'has a guy' to do all sorts of things. He was able to guide me to several helpful people, or he would contact  his guy for information. I hope that makes sense...I know what I'm trying to say here. He's a very good addition to our family.

I need to finish this post for now, but I will add part 2 (and photos) as soon as possible. Stay tuned....

Catching up...

Summer is over and it looks like Winter is creeping in a little bit at a time. It's well past time for me to catch up my blog.

I haven't written much lately, and I suppose that's pretty evident by the dates of previous posts. It's not so much that there hasn't been a lot to write about - I think it's more that I have no idea how to approach it all.

All of my kids and grandkids had opportunities this summer to visit at the beach. Ben and Ryann were with me the most since they needed a little supervision while mom and dad were at work, and frankly...I had that kind of time. We went through several sessions of swimming lessons and they have turned into strong swimmers. I'm really excited about that since they were both non-swimmers when we started our swim project last summer with one round of swim lessons. In fact ALL my grandkids had the opportunity to take swim lessons in Lincoln City and are all certified swimmers with the exception of Ceddy - but he'll certify next year I'm sure. We had one little...huh...incident at the pool during a free swim. All of the kids were there with me in the pool. Juliet is the youngest and very confident in the water (her other grandparents have a pool at home, so the girls have learned really well.) Ceddy saw Juliet and all the other kids jumping off the dive board and decided if they could do it (I mean, after all, Juliet is younger than he is!) then he certainly could do it.

Well. He couldn't do it. He jumped off the dive board with confidence and then just waited for the swimming to kick in. It did not. I was too far away to reach him quickly so I got the lifeguards attention and let him know that Ceddy was NOT a swimmer. He tried to get Ceddy to reach for the floatie which I guess is the first thing you do. He didn't get it, so the lifeguard had to jump in and save him.

I had a very detailed heart-to-heart with Ceddy after this all happened and we decided that he would never...ever...try that again...not until he has a swim teacher sign him off for it. He agreed that he almost died (he was very pragmatic about all this...) and vowed not to attempt it again. I should mention that Ceddy is seven years old, and very much lives in Ceddy-world most of the time. Ceddy-world is a place filled with super heroes and bad guys who can be dispatched with light sabers and sound effects. Ceddy rules Ceddy-world with an iron fist and a heart of gold.

Our beach summer was filled with sand, hikes, rock hunts, shopping, swimming, climbing wall challenges and Dairy Queen Blizzards.  Someday soon I'll transcribe the notes my grands have left in my guest book. The guest book has turned into a diary of sorts, and the kids notes are priceless.

We also took family pictures this summer, which I'll post below.

William showing Ryann how to scale a wall...

Juliet uses her cuteness to scam a ride across the pool from her teacher

 Wills and Ryann climbing...must note that Wills, Ben, Ryann and Ceddy reached the top that day.

Ceddy and Ryann

Ben reaching the 'summit'

I add this photo of Maddie that her mom took, just because she's so darn gorgeous!

My children: Amy, Kerry, Kevin and Steve.

From the top row: Sophia (6), Maddie(15)

Middle row: Ben (11), Wills(13), Ryann(9) and Pierre (9) (making a face...yeah, I noticed)

Front: Juliet(5) and Cedric(7)

FYI: Maddie, Wills, Pierre and Ceddy are Steve and Beth's kids

Ben and Ryann are Amy and Shane's kids

Sophia and Juliet are Kevin and Stephanie's kids.

Maddie and Ben setting out on their river adventure. Ceddy is providing moral support.

All my little darlin's on the run

Steve's Family



Amy's Family

Kevin's Family

Auntie Kizzy and her baby dolls.

Senior WHAT???

I suppose it had to happen someday. Somehow I thought it would be years from now. Perhaps that was wishful thinking. It had a devastating effect on me - so devastating I can barely talk about it without ranting. I'm holding in my feelings.

What happened you ask? I'll tell you...

Some young woman in a clothing store asked me if I wanted the senior discount. Can you believe it????

In the not-so-distant past if a clerk asked me such a question it was always with a 'I-know-you-can't-POSSIBLY-be-old-enough-but-my-boss-says-I-have-to-ask' attitude. I much prefer that attitude. This clerk's demeanor of there being no question about my being old enough ticked me off. The young whipper snapper! Someday she'll fade and I only HOPE I can be around to ask her the evil question.

The little twerp!

Overreacting you say? Perhaps, but that is my prerogative. I much prefer my niece's comment to me on my birthday about 60 being the new 40. I'll take that instead.

Warning: switching gears now to another subject...

I suppose there are some small perks to growing older, one of them being the time to sit and smell the roses. I've started to notice nature and the natural world around me more than I ever have before. In fact, I've become a little obsessed with eagles. I had never seen an eagle in Oregon. I'd seen one in Puget Sound and tons of them in Alaska, but never one here. I happened across a photo on a local web page of a beautiful eagle perched on a post. It was glorious, so majestic and proud. The caption below the picture noted that it had been taken just a few miles south of me. My obsession began. I began watching the area as I would drive past, even taking little side trips to look in more remote areas, but no luck. I even made my brother Jim ride along on a site-seeing trip south with the idea that we were looking at all the lovely views of the Oregon coast. I can now admit that I was on eagle patrol. As we sat at one particular roadside looking at the churning sea I casually mentioned to my bro that eagles had been sighted in the area but that I'd never seen one. As we drove away in the wind and rain I saw something just overhead. It looked to be a large dark bird with a white head. Could it be???? But even as I yelped and pulled the car over again it was gone. I'm pretty sure Jim thought I didn't know the difference between an eagle and a seagull. I wasn't sure either.

Months passed and I found myself pulling into the wayside anytime I drove south to Newport. I'd spend a little while watching the trees, then looking out to sea for whales. Finally...the day arrived. As I scanned the trees (by now I had heard that the eagle pair was nesting in a snag in this particular neck of the woods) I saw it. On the highest tree there it sat. Too far away to get a photo with my camera, but not so far that I couldn't see it clearly with my binoculars. I watched it preen and watch for about a half hour. Then it just flew away. I was in heaven.

The next time I went to watch for it I was completely prepared. I had a camera with a better telephoto lens and a spotting scope. I scanned the trees for probably an hour with no luck. Darn.

Then last week I stopped on my way home for my usual watch. I sat for probably 10 minutes and was just starting the car to drive away when it flew over my car! I screamed (in a closed car its not as embarrassing to do) and pulled back to the curb. As I scrambled to get my phone camera ready, the bird flew quickly out to sea. It wasn't long before it was out of sight. As is often the case, I had taken my good camera out of the car, so all I had was my phone. Figures, right? I got a lovely photo of...nothing but sea. . I waited for 10-15 minutes hoping the eagle would return to no avail. With a heavy heart I started the car again and began to drive away when - THERE IT WAS!!!! Flying right over my car as if to toy with me! I quickly turned the car around (it wasn't safe to stop where I was) and got settled again. I scanned the skies and the trees, but it was gone. Drat! I sat for another few minutes, but nothing.

I gave up and started the car to back out of the parking spot. As I reversed, I glanced up to the trees again, out of habit by now, and there it was! Perched on a tree just a few hundred yards away from me! I pulled back into the parking space (briefly wondering what people were thinking if they noticed this crazy woman...) and pulled out my iphone and my binoculars. Through the binoculars the bird was magnificent. Just as regal as I always imagined them to be. I got a few photos with the iphone, but the distance was too great to be clear. After several minutes the eagle took off and sort of circled my car. I was enchanted. It was almost as if it was giving me a gift for my persistence. It circled my location twice and then headed out to sea.

I headed home feeling as if I'd been given a great prize.

I've tried to interest my grandkids in my eagle hunts and I usually get an "uhhhhhh...maybe tomorrow." I guess I'm the only one who finds it exciting. Maybe this is the type of excitement you get when you become a senior-discount kinda gal.

First of June

It's been a good while since I posted here. I suppose the main reason is that its been pretty quiet in my life, so there isn't much to talk about. I've started volunteering at the Lincoln City Library. Mostly what I do is re-shelve books that have been checked in. I'm pretty much the star non-fiction shelver...a dubious honor at that. I also get to process books and audio/visual items as needed.

I also volunteer at the Salem Mission Mill Museum. I lead tours of several of the areas of the museum, mostly for school children. I enjoy the interaction with them.

I got a new kayak for my upcoming birthday. I really enjoy it, but I had a tiny little accident with it and broke the windshield of my car. One of those days where stuff just happened....you know? This birthday coming up is a big one, and I'm not excited about it at all. It's weird to think I'm about to be the age my mom was when she passed away. Very strange.

I've got a busy summer coming up with grandkids and I'm looking forward to that. I'm trying to get them set up for swimming lessons right now. Ben and Ryann took lessons last year here in Lincoln City. They were both non-swimmers when they began, but were confident enough to jump off the high dive at the end of the 2 week class.

I'm still painting and having some success with that. I have a really nice set-up at both houses, so I just carry my paints back and forth with me. I have wayyyyy too many paintings around the house now, it's beginning to look very cluttered. I guess I'll have to start giving more of them away.

That's all I've got for now.

A few pics...

 The beach house all lit up....I did it ALL BY MYSELF...even the upper story. Cool, huh?

 Amy receiving a soccer-playing nut cracker from Ben and Ryann Christmas morning.

 Kizzy being....well...Kizzy.

 Kizzy is known as "that aunt"...you know, the one who always gives you jammies for Christmas? Kevin and Steph got her the hat proclaiming "that Aunt" a few years ago. She reads the "Auntie Claus' story to as many of the nieces and nephews as she can gather, then presents them with their jammies. Notice 2 of the nieces are watching by computer (Sophie and Jubie). Christmas Eve 2010.

 Amy and Bruce helping with dinner on Christmas Eve...

Uncle Jim in front of a real 2-person submarine in Newport OR, January 2011.

Has She Written Anything Lately?

I think when you look in at your OWN Blog to see if you've written anything lately, it's time to act.

Christmas came and went. I was happy with the way things turned out. We spent Christmas day at the beach house. There was Kerry, Amy and her family and Bruce and I. Only half the family. The rest were missed, but we were able to Skype so it wasn't as bad as I expected.

Bruce, Ben, Ryann and I left the next day for San Jose to see Steve and his family. We had a nice visit. The cousins are always happy to be together.

This week, I leave for Austin to see Kevin, Steph and the girls. I've had my ticket for a good while so the fact that they are coming to Oregon the week after I return is coincidental. But I will enjoy my time with them and I'm already planning my next trip to Austin.

My niece Judy and her friends John and his sister Paula were visitors at the beach house a few weeks ago. Uncle Jim was already with me there. It was so nice having them visit, but sadly the weather did not cooperate and we had heavy rain the entire time. Judy and company only stayed one night because they had to return to California, but I'm hoping word-of-mouth will help get some of my other relatives to visit. I'm still rather stunned my brother Dick hasn't been here, since I only live a mile from the local casino and that is one of his and Kathy's favorite things to do...make "donations" to the local Indian tribe education fund.

Jim came down with a cold while he was visiting so some of our possible activities were curtailed, but we did manage to visit the Ocean Science Center in Newport and the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville where the famous "Spruce Goose" now lives.

It was sad to see Jim go, but I'm excited at the prospect of my upcoming trip to Austin. I can't wait to see all my babies!

I'll post some pictures of all the aforementioned activities soon.

Happy Birthday Brother Jim

Today is my brother Jim's birthday. I've been doing the math, and its taken me a while. I had to subtract and carry and check because I couldn't believe the outcome. It appears my brother is 77 years old. How can that be?? He just got home from the navy a few years ago and went off to college. I'm absolutely sure of his birth year because it was just 10 years after my mom's birth year and mom's birth year was immortalized in the house address my folks lived in for many years...1923. Ergo, Jimmy's birth year is 1933.

Wasn't it just a few years ago that he brought home Miss Murphey? And then the kids coming along...surely that couldn't have been too long ago. So what if they all have kids of their own by now, that just happened recently...right???

O.K., o.k.....so maybe my sense of time is a little skewed. After all, I'm just a kid myself...right? RIGHT????? Well...the only thing I know for sure is that my idea of 'old' changes a little more each year.

Anyway, Happy Birthday big brother, and many more to come. Your family, including your 'baby' sister, love you very much.

Thanksgiving Day 2010

It's just after 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. I'm a little put off that I'm awake so early, but I guess its true that you need less sleep as you age. I'm sitting here in Amy's house waiting for the family to wake up. The girls and I did a little (read: 'lot of') shopping yesterday so I came up early. Bruce will be here a little later this morning. It's cold an icy outside.

Steve and his family will celebrate at home in San Jose and Kevin and his family will celebrate in Austen. Stephanie's parents and some of her siblings are visiting with them in Texas. I'm sorry we won't all be together today, but I'm thankful they have jobs in our current tough economy.

Our plans today are a little different for us. Instead of cooking ourselves into a frenzy all day, we are going out to dinner. There won't be the leftovers we usually have, but that's better in the long run for us...at least this year. Besides, it's not about the meals...its all about the plan for Black Friday...(sort of kidding here, but not really...)

Later in the afternoon: O.K....erase what I said earlier about no leftovers. We ate at Claim Jumpers and had a ton of leftovers. We brought home those plus our dessert because we were too full to eat them there. Shane made a couple of pies here at the house and Bruce brought a cobbler and a pie from home to share. Amy put together a lovely appetizer tray earlier today and we snacked on that. In other words, I may never eat again.

I've been on a diet the last few months. I put on a lot of weight this year. It seems my thyroid was out of whack, plus it was just a bad year overall. But that is back on track. I've lost nearly all the extra weight and I feel a lot better.

Back to Thanksgiving. I think one of my best ever memories of Thanksgiving was back around 1966. Mom and my sister-in-law Gloria were cooking the meal. It was a pretty big production back then because there were so many people to feed, so many children running about and so much confusion. Everyone was starved and waiting (im)patiently for the meal. Mom and Gloria consulted each other and declared the huge turkey was cooked to perfection. With the precision only time and experience can give, they each took a side of the bird and began to lift it out of the pan onto the platter to rest. The memory gets a tad hazy at this point as to who or what failed. Suffice it to say they both had a look of total horror as the lovely brown and juicy bird fell and slid across the kitchen floor. I observed this activity and can still recall the look they gave each other. The look said more than a thousand words could have. Without missing a beat, they swooped up the turkey, dusted it off, and placed it on the platter. There was an unspoken agreement between all of us that no more was to be said about the matter. The meal went on without another hitch and was declared the best turkey EVER by the family.

I'm thankful for memories like those. I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to be close to my dear sister-in-law Gloria. She passed away a few years ago, and this year would have been her and my brother Jim's 50th wedding anniversary.  He had a party with family to recognize the date, but it was nothing like they would have had if Gloria was still here to enjoy it with him. The whole town would have been invited and the party would probably go on for days. She was one in a million and I was blessed to have had her in my life for most of it.

I think the tryptophan is kicking in from my turkey dinner and I'm getting sleepy. It may be nap time, so I will close this for now. I can't do so without saying how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family and extended family. I love them all.

Amy Catherine

One of Amy's Senior pictures. She wanted to inclue her little brother and sister.

Amy and Shane just before they got married.

Amy and her little cousin Ian, just after returning from Thailand.

Amy and Shane on their wedding day

Would you look at that red hair and those adorable freckles!

Top left: Deb and baby Amy; Amy being pulled by Steve in his wagon; Amy on vacation.

Amy and Steve in their Sunday-best.

About this time of night 37 years ago I began noticing the unmistakable signs that I would soon be giving birth. I was excited and more than a little nervous. I remembered the feeling I'd had just before Steve was born...that I had changed my mind and didn't want to have a baby after all that day. A slight panic was all it was. We were living in San Luis Obispo, California at the time and Bruce was in school (carrying a 4.0 gpa, I might add.) We called my parents to come and take care of Steve while we did what we needed to do. We didn't take into consideration the fact that I would need to go to the hospital in the middle of the night (its always in the middle of the night, isn't it?) and my parents lived about 2-1/2 hours drive away. Add in time to dress and get ready for the trip and we had a problem. I wasn't going to be able to last that long. We ended up calling Bruce's buddy Henry to watch Steve until my parents arrived. Henry was not a 'kid person' but Steve didn't seem to notice.

Things progressed as they should and soon I was in the delivery room pushing like crazy. I remember someone saying "it's a girl!" and my response was 'oh! That's JUST what I wanted!" We were delighted to have a daughter. When she was brought to me a short time later, she was wrapped tightly in a pink blanket and she looked like a tiny pink peanut. We felt like the tiny little girl needed a tiny little name so we named her Amy. Her middle name is Catherine after her Aunt Katherine. She didn't have much hair, but what we could see seemed to be red. My dad was SO excited to have a little red-headed granddaughter. He called her 'red-in-the-head'. Steve seemed to accept this new addition to our family without a lot of problem, so that was good. We settled into our life as a family of four. We installed seat belts in the tiny back seat of my 1956 Nash Metropolitan so the kids would be safe. It wasn't a law back then, but I was always diligent when it came to my children's safety. We would pile the two kids in the back of the Metro and head south to Ventura on most weekends.

Amy was a good baby, and very mild mannered (especially in comparison to Steve). When Bruce graduated from college and went to work for the Federal Highway Administration we began a 2 year training program, moving our family 4 times to 4 different states in those first 2 years. By necessity, long car trips were a big part of her early years and Amy took it all in stride. She was a trouper from the get-go.

We didn't have much money in those early years so I made a lot of the kids clothes. T-shirts and shorts were my specialty. For recreation we would go to parks and for special occasions we would go to McDonald's. Amy's hair was a little slow in coming in so I made her a shirt that said "NO! I'm a girl!". I thought it was hilarious.

Amy is more like her dad than she is like me. She is sensitive and smart and a true athlete. Sometimes we've clashed a little over the years but I think that's normal for mom's and daughters. She does have some of my traits like my 'just do it' nature. If she needs to make something or do something she never has before, she just thinks it through and then goes for it. I got that from my mom and I believe Amy got it from me.

One of the big joys of her life has been sports. She plays tennis, soccer, swims and can exercise in the gym for long stretches without getting tired. Even when her weight was up she was still in better shape than most people. She has had to curtail her sports somewhat since having knee surgery last year, but I don't count her out. She'll figure out a way to keep active.

She has a gift for languages and speaks Thai very well. She also speaks a good amount of Spanish.

She's a great mom to Ben and Ryann. They are both exceptional kids and Amy and her husband Shane are the reason why. She goes to nearly every game the kids have (they are both in soccer and basketball) and supports them in every way. She has taught her children well and I'm proud of her for that.

My daughter Amy has grown into a beautiful, strong and thoughtful woman. I'm very proud of the person she is. Happy Birthday, my sweet little peanut.

Nelscott Reef Classic

So I was wrong about where the event I referred to earlier was to take place. I thought the reef was just north of town, but its just about dead center. (only about 20 blocks from my house.) There were tons of people there (and little parking) so by doing a little snooping, I found a place high on a hill that only a few people had found. I set up my spotting scope and my folding chair. I had my cooler with water and a diet shake, and my handy little camera. The activity took place too far out in the ocean for my camera to capture any of it, but my spotting scope was perfect. It was awesome to see the big waves and people actually out on them! That doesn't happen often here in Oregon.
I didn't have the means to take any long range photos or video, but this was on utube from someone else that was there. It was an amazing day.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGMoFSO-cIw

Aparently the Brazilians were the best surfers of the day. Who knew?!