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.