Thursday, February 14
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| Strawberry Mountain |
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| South Sister |
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| Middle and North Sister |
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| Three Fingered Jack |
And GREEN!!! Once past summit, the road is so green. After two months of white on the ground and
bare trees, it is a welcome sight! (I
even saw some daffodils ready to bloom on my mom’s front porch!) Deep greens and the bright spring green of new
growth grass. Trees wearing a coat of
thick fuzzy moss green. Light colored
lichens hanging from the alders.
We arrived in
Newport circa 4pm, checked into our City Center Motel (nothing fancy, but
basically clean. We had a prime ‘corner’
unit with a private balcony and an ocean view – barely! Bare essentials breakfast in morning, but
total bill was $45, so who can complain!)
Rick showered and we were at Luke’s shortly after 5. Kady not feeling well. Run down and possible relapse of her flu.
We visited for
awhile, then Rick and Luke ran out to get Kady a milk shake and bowl of Safeway
soup. The three of us then left Kady
watching Planet Earth and we went down to the Chowder Bowl for dinner. Fish tacos and chowder for me! Great and plenty of it! Just a good conversation time with Luke. Back to house and Kady had gone to bed, so
Luke went to motel with us and we got Turbo Tax set up on his computer and his files
transferred. Hopefully now he can
complete his own taxes.
Into bed by 11,
after checking again online for the status of Lindsey Bingham and her heart
transplant. What a story there. Keep the prayers going. George Neason has his cancer surgery
tomorrow. More prayers. Read Jerry Rodger’s blog with Luke. More prayers.
Busy night. G’night.
FRIDAY, February 15
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| Heceta Head Lighthouse |
Rick drives the
whole way down, with stops in Coos Bay at the Walmart and Triple A and again in
Bandon to pick up the ground beef for the spaghetti. We arrive in Bandon shortly before 1pm, ready to grab some
lunch!!!
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| Johnson Creek in front of Mom's is a real "river"!! |
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| My beach art during a late afternoon walk on Friday. |
Visit with next
door neighbor Sabra before dinner and then we whip up a shrimp stir fry. Good.
Mom and I play Quiddler and Spite and Malice and early to bed!
SATURDAY, February 16
Big day today for
Baker City as Presbytery is meeting at the church and Jim Kauth is to be
commissioned as a lay pastor! Hope all
goes well!
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| Mom and Rick leaving the house in Bandon. |
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| Burned area near Santiam Pass |
Liz wasn’t yet at
Eagle Crest, so we killed some time in the quilt shop on Sisters’ Main
Street! Fun!
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| 'Penthouse' tub and shower! |
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| 'Princess' Kaila with magic wand! |
Kirsty, Erik,
Kaila, and Erik’s mom, Lora, arrive around 5:45 with our PIZZA!!! Kaila is a character and in good humor! And very vocal. She talks well for just 2 months past her
second birthday.
Evening of
visiting, entertaining Kaila, and a round of Quiddler (Kirsty won!) Tomorrow a huge crowd is expected….and Rick
and I are ‘on’ for dinner!
SUNDAY, February 17
Good morning. As I noted, I am in the closet! Ready to come out shortly and head downstairs
for some coffee! A relatively lazy morning....we opt not to go to the service at the Redmond Church - none of us were thrilled with their 'contemporary' service the past two years! Instead, I get the soup made for lunch, catch up on drawing my scribble, and then walk down to the park where Kaila, Kirsten, Erik, are playing with Liz and Dave. Rick takes off on an extended HIKE while we are gone.
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| Quality family picture of Kirsten, Kaila, and Erik - at the park! |
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| Down by the Deschutes on a walk |
A BEAUTIFUL afternoon. Cool temps but clear skies and sunshine!
I am in charge of dinner tonight, so I start the prep work after engaging in a few games with Mom Mac and Kate and Rinehart. Salad made with Erik's assistance, sauce heating up, and Rick helps me think through how much spaghetti to cook for 14 people and how many pans as we much also keep Gretchen's separated, and Dave has an individual spaghetti sauce.
Carolyn and Kacie, the wife and daughter of Erik's brother Christian (who is home sick) join us for dinner. Gretchen, Shawn, and Tucker arrive around 5:15, fairly exhausted from a day of play with friends in Prineville. We have PLENTY TO EAT!!!! Less than half the salad is consumed, only 1 1/2 of the 3 loaves of bread, and a ton of leftover spaghetti and sauce - leftovers for lunch on Monday!!
A dominoe game finally gets started around 9, after a few games of Qwerkle with Carolyn and Kacie. Carolyn wantys me to send her the recipe for the sourdough tomato bread. Lora, Erik's mom, wants some of my scribbles sent to her. I gather email addresses!
Back to the Lodge condos to meet up with Gretchen and Shawn again around 10. They had left with Tucker circa 8:30 to head to bed! Rick and I are on the couch bed in the living room.
MONDAY, February 18:
Up around 6:30 to make coffee. Shawn is up shortly afterward, and soon all. We spend a fairly lazy morning watching Winnie the Pooh with Tucker, grabbing a little breakfast and drawing, showers, etc. Around 9:30 I leave to walk down to the other condo. Rick plans to read and relax in the quiet of the morning! Gretch and company drive down.
Time spent at the park playing today, playing with our make shift 'fort', castle, etc. in the condo (air mattress roof, blankets, tables, chair pads, etc.!) naps, games with Mom and others. A fairly lazy day!
The weather was better than expected - blue skies after some early clouds. I even saw the Sisters and Mt. Jefferson again.
Around 3 naps were over and Gretchen's friends A and Miles came with their little boy Jackson. We babysat while the four of them went out for some adult time. More fort construction! Jackson is only 18 months, so a little more reserved than headstrong Kaila!
Also for dinner we were joined by Matt and Kim, the son and wife of Gearhart, Erik's oldest brother. Really nice young couple. They stayed to play Qwerkle after dinner, and Kim won with 7 Qwerkles out of 10 turns. Amazing! Not a good game day for me personally. :(
Stars bright and clear as Rick and I drive back up to condo around 9:30. I run to the lobby and here I am using a little free internet to post my devotions and order our Bountiful Basket for Saturday. Will wrap up all Redmond blog and post when we get back to Baker City tomorrow.
TUESDAY, February 19:
It is now Thursday morning as I finish this from the comfort of my living room couch! I realized I had neglected wrapping things up here and getting this post on it's way.
We drove back down to Liz's condo on Tuesday morning to say our goodbyes around 8:15. Left at 9 heading east. It is cold, yet seems to be clearing again from the early clouds. In checking the roads, some EO communities got snow last night. We should find some on the passes.
Rick drove the entire way, but I put together all five Needlepoint Kings and we finished listening to our Clive Clusser book, LOST CITY. Stopped in John Day at the Subway for lunch and home by 2pm, with stops to check the windshield at Ragsdales while I picked up the mail. (We had one chip and received a couple more small ones as we passed a truck). It was a beautiful drive. Most peaks wrapped in clouds at the summits and icy spots and limited snow on the passes.
A quick trip, but quality time with Luke and Mom and Liz and family!! Now to get the trailer into the driveway and prepare for a major departure next Tuesday!!!
Note: Not sure what blogger is doing with the weird spacing with the pictures, but....oh well!
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| Kaila in new tie dye, fairy wings, and ba! |
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| Tucker in his Mountain Man garb |
Carolyn and Kacie, the wife and daughter of Erik's brother Christian (who is home sick) join us for dinner. Gretchen, Shawn, and Tucker arrive around 5:15, fairly exhausted from a day of play with friends in Prineville. We have PLENTY TO EAT!!!! Less than half the salad is consumed, only 1 1/2 of the 3 loaves of bread, and a ton of leftover spaghetti and sauce - leftovers for lunch on Monday!!
A dominoe game finally gets started around 9, after a few games of Qwerkle with Carolyn and Kacie. Carolyn wantys me to send her the recipe for the sourdough tomato bread. Lora, Erik's mom, wants some of my scribbles sent to her. I gather email addresses!
Back to the Lodge condos to meet up with Gretchen and Shawn again around 10. They had left with Tucker circa 8:30 to head to bed! Rick and I are on the couch bed in the living room.
MONDAY, February 18:
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| Kaila and her Grandma Kate |
Time spent at the park playing today, playing with our make shift 'fort', castle, etc. in the condo (air mattress roof, blankets, tables, chair pads, etc.!) naps, games with Mom and others. A fairly lazy day!
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| Gretchen Tucker and Kaila playing TAG. |
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| Impromptu sledding hill! |
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| Our incredible 'castle, fort, house' made of tables, cushions, and blankets! Oh...plus an air mattress! |
Stars bright and clear as Rick and I drive back up to condo around 9:30. I run to the lobby and here I am using a little free internet to post my devotions and order our Bountiful Basket for Saturday. Will wrap up all Redmond blog and post when we get back to Baker City tomorrow.
TUESDAY, February 19:
It is now Thursday morning as I finish this from the comfort of my living room couch! I realized I had neglected wrapping things up here and getting this post on it's way.
We drove back down to Liz's condo on Tuesday morning to say our goodbyes around 8:15. Left at 9 heading east. It is cold, yet seems to be clearing again from the early clouds. In checking the roads, some EO communities got snow last night. We should find some on the passes.
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| Awesome clouds as we prepare to head over Dixie Summit |
A quick trip, but quality time with Luke and Mom and Liz and family!! Now to get the trailer into the driveway and prepare for a major departure next Tuesday!!!
Note: Not sure what blogger is doing with the weird spacing with the pictures, but....oh well!
