A special send-off

Last Monday when I left Oregon, some of the friends and workers gave me a very special send off. A farewell gathering at the cell phone waiting area on the way to the airport--what a great idea!

Dennis and Zoe got there just after we finished pictures, so I had to have a picture with them. Nice of them to come, even though we had said goodbye the night before at about 10:40, when I finished playing the piano at their place. : )
Then Jean and Virginia met us at the airport. It all meant so much to me.

So, where am I headed anyway? That's what some were wondering, and Craig J. asked me to mark it out on a map while we were together for the farewell. By that afternoon he had it all marked on the following Google map. Click here if you want to zoom in further.
I'll arrive in Guadalajara Tuesday the 6th of October, and will be there next weekend for convention.

A few special visits before leaving Oregon...

Time with Craig and Shereen was great...had to get a picture with Allen and Lisi so we'll be able to see how much they grow while I'm away.

This sweet family came for a meal at Mom's, Stevan and Julie and their two darling girls. At one point the oldest girl said, "Maybe you can meet my daddy's family in Mexico!!" He is from Guanajuato.

Dorene, Becky and I had a great afternoon in downtown Portland, and our last stop together was at Goodwill on 10th...a great place to visit, if you've never been there! The picture I have saved in my mind is of Dorene and Becky on the street corner where we parted ways. I crossed the street and walked half a block before looking back to see if they were still there...sure enough, there they were for one more heartfelt smile and wave. : )

It was great to be with these folks at the Eicher meeting for my last two Sundays in Oregon.

Glimpses of Spring and Summer

Here I will post a little of this and that, things I didn't take time to blog this spring and summer, but which I love to look back on....

Barb took me tidepooling on a low tide...watch your step! It was great!

Below, our favorite dog to take for walks on the beach this spring, Sanchezes' lab pup, Sandy.

Craig and Shereen came to visit and we stayed in a Yurt at Beverly Beach...what a treat. : )

We had some nice time on the beach, went up in the Yaquina Head lighthouse, and visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium at Newport...it was a great visit.

Then Michelle came to visit...yep it was great being on the coast where friends and family want to come visit! Michelle and I had a fabulous weekend together (yep, Michelle, it WAS blog-worthy, I'm just extremely slow!)

We went kayaking, and rock-hunting, and whale watching.

My spanish tutor, Mindi, was so thrilled we were going whale watching after my lesson that she came down to see us off. You might be able to tell that it was a bit stormy outside, we were wearing all of our layers.

Jari came to visit, and had some lovely days on Yaquina Bay. She took me crabbing--a first for me! We did get some, not quite as many as we would have liked...just as soon as we sat down for our crab louis dinner, Bernie came by to bring us more nice crab!

Bonners Ferry convention--had some nice time with good friends, including Marcy P.

Also I met some new friends, these folks with close connections to Mexico, so it was great to visit with them. Later they came to visit at Saginaw, it was very special. Paul, Anita, Philip and Amy Christian.

Parma! Jeanie and I had a great day together during the week before convention, met in Boise, and went to the Rose Garden for some time to visit.

It was so great to see Michelle for the weekend there. We had to get a picture together with these two special ladies, who have been dear to us since we were little girls, Angie and Cheryl.

family pictures! Fun to be with Scott and Fay's family during preps and convention.

It was great to be with Karinda and Kayla Pieren too. They were with Scott and Fay all during preps and convention, and I had a weekend with all of them during preps.

Welcome to our campsite at Fish Lake! See how close the deer came! Actually, they came closer than this, but I like this picture with our "clothesline" in view.

Views from my hike. Couldn't convince anyone else to go out and run from mosquitos with me, but I had a lovely time anyway. Check out my friends, yellow paintbrush and blue lupine.

I took this one for my friends who chose not to accompany me on the hike. Yep, I still love them. : )

We were at Craig and Shereen's for Michelle's birthday. The kids played happy birthday to her on their violins!

Lori and Greg were down from Seattle, it was so nice to be together.

Ohhhh, a special little time when I got to see Kari in at the airport. She was flying in for her grandpa's funeral. I couldn't stay for the funeral because I was off to preps.

This had to be one of the funniest moments during preps, when we were testing out the toilet paper holders for the new ladies bathroom...see how the testing "stall" was set up? Now, picture Jay sitting in the chair, pulling off some TP, with the "WOMEN" sign taped on the white board....we were all in stitches, Craig made the moment last long enough for me to run and get my camera. : )

Our Hawaiian evening at Sorensons at the start of preps! Welcome Jiheh! She was a special part of our crew this year.

One of my favorite shots of the summer. : )

And another one. Thanks for the great belt, Ellen! So, Ellen and I did plan our outfits that day, but Sally just happened to dress much the same! What fun! : )

Clamming

Yesterday Barb, Lyle and I went clamming with Bob and Jackie out on Netarts Bay. We got our limit of Geoneck clams (sounds like gooey neck)...some of them were very big! We brought a bucket of clams home with us, and last night I spent much of the evening cleaning them, with some much-appreciated help from Janice Schenk. We're staying with Keith and Kathleen Serven, and Kathleen blogged a couple of our pictures from the cleaning--mostly of the baby crabs we found inside the clams. This morning we took the baby crabs out and put them back to sea at Cape Kiwanda. It was a beautiful morning out, and maybe I'll post more pictures later, but for now if you want to see any, you can check out Keith and Kathleen's blog: http://www.kserven.blogspot.com/
You can see more pictures at Barb's Clamming album.
Also, here are some pictures Barb got last week when we had a hot dog and marshmallow roast on the beach with the Carlisle kids and their uncle Lyle. And also in that album are pictures from the dog agility trials in Newport where our friend Estee competed with her sweet cocker, Cheyenne. It was great!

Outings in May

I just signed in on my blog for the first time in a couple months and found that I had some blog postings that were nearly finished saved in drafts...yep, I'm still alive. Lots more to blog now. You can see pics from Bonners Ferry and Parma conventions in my picasa albums. The link is on this page somewhere to the upper left.

One of our friends, Kathleen, works as a teacher at Nestucca High School in Cloverdale, teaching band, choir and english, and she directed the musical, Sugar, this spring. Several of us went to see it together. You can see us above with some of the stage stuff in the background. It was really fun, the kids did a great job. Unfortunately, Kathleen couldn't be there that night. She was terribly sick, and this was in the height of the swine flu scare. Her superintendent asked her to stay home until she was tested for the flu...that was really the pits. She didn't have the flu.

We had a ladies outing to Shore Acres, near Charleston. It was a long drive, and a really wet, stormy day...but we had a GREAT time! Our planned picnic became an indoor picnic at the King's home in Florence, and then a few ladies joined us there to continue our trek south to Shore Acres.

Can you tell how windy it is as Warna holds the gate to keep it from slamming in our face! : )

Sisters Janice and Celia posed for me with great delight...I love how you can see that the stormy weather didn't dampen our spirits.

Peggy and I met Ken for coffee one day this spring. Right now we are having a few meetings at his Fallon Logging office, sent invites to all of his employees, and one family has come.

This cat has a thing for shoes. It just made my day to have this cat cuddle with my foot. : ) We see her when we visit Rollin Browning.