Camping

These are two of my favorite Memorial Day camping photos. The first is the perfect kind of marshmallow, the huge ones, in a cuppa cocoa held by my new (12 year old) boyfriend and beer-fetcher.

This one is our campfire. We kept it burning the whole weekend, even when it was 80* out. I kind of think it was out of an unconscious love for our friends who couldn't go, due to a sick family member. They emailed us all previous to the trip to remind us to bring a lot of wood because they liked to have a campfire going all the time. I texted them that picture to let them know we were thinking of them.

It was a long week, I feel like I am still recuperating from my trip to Oregon and then camping for four days. But it was all good.

Very good, and I must say, for our first group camping experience, it was great. Even though none of us knew each other well, and the people I might have relied on to carry conversation weren't able to be there, we did fine. All the kids got along, all the adults found stuff to talk about, all the food was good and no one was injured. (Well, except for my skinned knee.) The boys all acquired or were allowed to use a pocket knife, the girls (who were lots older than Hannah) played with her patiently, and I learned a ton about lacrosse, mountain biking and fly fishing. We ventured up to Winthrop, a cute little cow-town up the way for ice cream and a little shopping, and stopped in Carlton at the Carlton General Store where Bubba hob-knobbed with the owner (who we met over the weekend) and got himself invited to go fly-fishing this summer when we are back up that way camping in August.

As for me, I sat around (literally), worked on my tan, played one game of horseshoes, a half a game of kick-the-can, one game of go-fish, and waited for my next bottle to appear. Fortunately, my phone broke (sad story, but its fixed now) so I was even unplugged, and I didn't DIE! The perfect weekend. It made me look forward to our August trip. Nothin but nothin for weeeeks!

Moving day

My sister and I spent 8 hours on the road yesterday hauling a truck and trailer of Mom's stuff to Oregon. Then we unloaded it, then we did a wee but of organizing it, then we ate at Nana's Irish Pub. Pretty darn good grub.

Later I headed north with my cousin to stay at her place. We stayed up entirely too late but it was a really nice, relaxing time.

Today I ventured out in the blustery, rainy, windy coastal weather. I found a coffee shop, a bakery, one antique-type store and a restaurant open. Everything else was closed.

The coffee shop was run by a very nice man who also had some handmade stuff for sale - who doesn't on the coast? I ended up buying a ring and then I went back for a couple goodies for the kids I just couldn't get off my mind.

I found a fabulous orange enamel bracelet at the antique place. And a new friend, Frank, at the restaurant.

Frank was in the area for a Native American Indian conference. He talked my ear off about the politics of being an Indian, how the youth are losing the language and as a result they are losing their voice too. He had an amazing story of how he and his wife survived a 60 pound piece of concrete being pushed off an overpass and landing in the middle of the windshield of his car. He talked about getting a Native American Day recognized nationwide and how he is working to get it put it on the calendar, how he's been married 60 years and about how he's tired. At 84 he's put a lot into life.

What an amazing morning.

Road Trip

Lovely

This is a lovely, well written, thoughtful book about grief. And life. And blogging. And so much more.

My two favorite quotes:

"I don't know why it's so hard to remember that our fears rarely materialize, and that in bracing ourselves for the impact, we create the impact."

"Relying on another to make us feel good only works as long as they are here; better to find it in yourself."

Get a copy. You won't regret it!

Early

I did another early morning hike today. 6am-early.

Here are a couple of my compadre's for today's hike.

Obviously a beautiful morning in the valley.
It's been high 80's the past few days. Yes, I have my tan started.

I am entering my "long work week" of which two days are 12-hour shifts, then a quickie trip down to Newport, Oregon, back to work for a few days and then off camping for Memorial Day. The last time I remember doing anything for Memorial Day was four years ago and we spent it at Guemes. I remember the weather being really nice, walking the shore to a really cool sand pile and just hanging. I'm looking forward to camping. We're going to be staying near some of my hockey-girls and just hanging out. But first, a really long haul.

Day Off

And then I did me a little shopping. New shoes! Yay!

And a new pineapple tool. Best investment ever!

Add it to vanilla yogurt, mango, a little OJ and ice, blend it all together.

MMMMMM, tastes like Orange Julius.

Monday Haiku:
Super great day off
Sunshine, sister, and shopping
Loved every minute

All in all a great day off. Both kids went to school, (first time in two weeks), My Honey went to work (not unusual,  but noteworthy), my sister came to visit for awhile, we sat and talked in the sun. And ... AAAAhhhhh. Nice day off.

More on the Haiku later, it has a really cute story!

Early

It's early. I'm sitting outside in my new purple chair that the fam bought me for Mothers Day. Drinking a Cuppa Listening to the birds. And the cat. And an occasional car.

My sweet friend met me this morning and we went for a four mile walkie-hikey thing. We started before the sun came up and ours (plus the dog) were the only sounds on the hillside. I rarely walk without being plugged into music so it was nice in these last two walks to listen to the sounds around me. Saturday's sounds included bees and birds plus footsteps. Today's were much the same and a whole lotta chatter, mine and hers.

Now I have the rest of the day to do nothing! A wee bit of shopping, and some sunning. It's supposed to be ninety degrees today!

Ten Miles

Facing south-ish, on top of town.

I had a goal in mind to do a ten mile hike by the first of June. Well, I did it yesterday. Goal accomplished. Early.

We set out at 7:30 (yes, in the morning, on my day off,) and finished around 11:30. Our group had a couple stragglers, but that's alright. I decided I wouldn't be held back by them and kept up with the 8th grader in the front of the pack. Yeah, I kept up with the 8th grader! It reminded me of keeping up with the high school girls out on the ice when we play hockey. Well, trying to anyway. They always kick my butt! It was a beautiful view, and a nice hike. Evidently, we gained 2300 feet in elevation and it was a little over ten miles round trip.

Facing west-ish, on top of town

The dizzying flowered mountainside.

The hillside was full of daisies (?) and lupin (?) and lots of little pink and white flowers, the other side was a drop-off. I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as she walks through the poppy field. Thankfully I didn't fall asleep.

Looking east on the way up the mountain.

All in all a nice hike. The dog had a great time, hopefully she didn't get into any ticks (ewwicky).

Glad we started early!

Here comes May

Technically May has already started, hasn't it? I wish I was posting pictures of Nacho Libre Mexican Wrestling and a demolition derby, unfortunately I had to stay home and work this weekend. I hope my sisters had a great time!!

Work was "eh". Once upon a time Apple Blossom used to be a big deal, now its just "eh". The festival stuff was nice; music in the park, all the fun arts and craft and crap-food vendors, the carnival (which we skipped) and parades all used to lead up to a couple crazy nights of boozing it up and cruising. Not anymore. And I'm alright with that.

While I was away, the mouse didn't play. He worked. My Honey finished this partial retaining wall.

Hopefully where the cage-looking thing is will be our patio in a few weeks.

Where the dirt is will be the pool by the end of the month.

Thankfully this morning I was able to get out for a walk. 6 miles. Hannah is home from school sick, but grandpa was willing to sit with her for an hour and a half so I could take the dog and myself out. It was a really nice, short sleeved shirt and shorts morning. I sure like Spring.

Take That!

I did that six mile hike I have been jones'n to do. It was good. Took about, well I can tell you exactly; it took one hour thirty-eight minutes and it was actually 6.12 miles. I was pretty focused, I thought I had a coffee date around noon, so I wanted to get up there and back and possibly shower, so I didn't stop for photos at all. Next time.

Lately the things on my mind are money (yeah, I know, me? money?), ego, marriage (twenty years in July, folks!), family, priorities, journeys, destinations. Some heavy stuff. I'm working some of it out on my walks so this space is kind of quiet regarding all of it. My pictures don't really reflect what is going on in my mind, just what I see when I am out and about, sometimes trying to escape from it, sometimes trying to work it out.

For the most part life is pretty simple right now. Even with adding swim twice a week for the kids, I don't feel really busy-overwhelmed like I have in the past. I think it helps that the lessons aren't until 5. We aren't rushing around right after school. I can actually get the kids home, work on dinner, get them to lessons, do a kid exchange, give finish-dinner directions, swim for myself and then go home to a pretty relaxed time. Dinner is nearly ready, the kids get fed and either watch some TV or go to their church activity. My Honey and I have been making a new habit of going grocery shopping while the kids are at church on Wednesday nights. Its working out really well. It helps him to know what there is around the house to eat, and it actually relieves my "I do everything" stress. Even though I am still doing it. Weird.

Back to my walks, I've been thinking about the type of music I am listening to. Its funny how life dictates what I am listening to. I have a band I LOVED a couple years ago, so I put them on last week and I found myself really annoyed at the whiny, depressing sound of them. I guess because that's just not where I am at right now. But it sure was then. So I've been searching for some new music. Any suggestions?

And so, that's the short story. Life is good, pretty complication-free. Sometimes I try to throw a monkey-wrench in it, but even those are working themselves out pretty well.

What we've been working on

This is going to be the pool area. I used to have garden boxes here, but they have gone largely unused for the past few years, except for mud-pie-making and hole-digging. I'm pretty sure the kids will find another dirt pile they can play in. My Honey worked really hard leveling each one of those blocks and it looks great. Unfortunately he's only about 1/3 of the way done.

The top photo was taken from under the deck in the bottom photo. The original plan was to move the dog kennel over to this space. My hope is that it still gets moved there. My Honey is thinking it might be nice to have our outdoor patio-area in this space. ... I'm going to have to see how it all comes together after the pavers are down. Either way, we will finally have an outdoor patio space in the back yard and I got to get some fun chairs for it.

Lets have a party!!