Fun Cascadia Party

We were invited to our neighbor's for a barbecue. These are not your normal neighbors. Part of this family has been a dear friend for nearly 35 years, when she was a teenager and she and her family went to the same church as we did. In fact it was her folks that introduced us to this piece of Oregon property for sale next to their summer farm twenty years ago. Since then Meg has grown up to be a beautiful woman (both inside and out) with a loving husband and two growing sons, and have their own summer place right next door to her folks. When we retired and started spending our summers here, their youngest was just a toddler! Time goes by too fast these days.

Todd grilled the burgers and hot dogs perfectly.

Besides the burgers there was pasta salads, jello salad, fruit salad, and all the fixings.

Seventeen happy diners sat around the table set out on the beautiful lawn.

After dinner the boys entertained us with some great Irish fiddle tunes, plus a couple of beautiful classical pieces.

They have become quite the musicians . . . Graeme plays for the Pasadena Junior Symphony Orchestra.

Dillon plays for the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra (I hope I got that right).

And here they are after all the guests left . . . still with great smiles. It was a perfect party where everyone enjoyed themselves and did not go home hungry! The only thing missing was their folks . . . we missed you Steve and Karen.

Life is good!

This will keep Ken busy!

There used to be a large Doug Fir in the middle of our lot. We never like taking trees out but this one was truly cutting our view from the deck in half. When we left last summer we asked our friend Dave, who has a portable mill, to cut it down for us. He did a great job and left this nice stack of lumber, which I'm sure will be put to good use.

We uncovered the pile today to let the air circulate so it won't get moldy.

The longer boards are 12' with the others 10' and 8' all being about 2" thick.

I love the smell of freshly cut lumber.

There will be a whole lot of 2 x 4s and more lumber for perhaps a wooden boat, a shed in back of the pole barn, and who knows what else it will come in handy for?

Life is good!

Oregon . . . the green green state!

We love coming here in the summer time. And this year is no different. It seems that our little piece of the world must have been drenched with lots of rain this year, for we have thousands of greenery (a.k.a. grass and weeds) growing quite tall due to our tardiness in getting here. But, oh well, we'll have this place in ship-shape in no time at all. Just wanted to let you know we've arrived safe and sound and anticipate a glorious summer here.

Lots of Doug Fir cones to be found . . .

A peek into our front yard . . .

If it's not grass or other weeds it's this stuff. My neighbor calls it "Snake Weed"

The large leafed Oregon Maple grows all over this neck of the woods.

Zillions of these guys have popped up all over.

And I've never seen such giant Dandelions. I guess since we normally get up in early June they have not gotten to this stage for us before.

The trailer is perfectly happy at home in Oregon.

And so is the herb garden.

Life is good!

Sweet Basil

Normally, by this time of the summer, we are enjoying the coolness of our Oregon home-base. And normally, we take a few basil plants with us, along with a few other herbs, and enjoy watching the basil spread it's stems reaching for the sun for a few months. And finally, by September, the plants are ready to harvest and turn the leaves into pesto. That's "normal."


This year, we picked up our little plants at Trader Joe's, in anticipation of leaving at the end of May. . . this didn't happen. So now in early July we're trying to keep the plants from flowering and going to seed. We plan to leave in a few days for Oregon where we'll be able to enjoy the head-start the basil plants have had in our California heat, and watch them grow even bigger!

This sage plant was in a 4" pot just a month ago, with six leaves on it. I bought the little organic plant in the produce section of Von's. It seems to love the summer's heat because it outgrew the 4" pot in no time!

Life is good!

Birthday Girl

Yesterday we celebrated Jen's birthday . . . first time we've not been in Oregon this time of year since our retirement eleven years ago. And a fun party it was!

The kids made her birthday cake . . .
using her favorite color for decoration.

We spent the afternoon playing cards.

Homemade ice-cream the easy-peazy way . . . using goat's milk, with no "goaty" taste at all . . . just creamy deliciousness.

After adding marshmallows and almonds, it became Rocky Road! Yummo!

The birthday girl's favorite . . . King Crab legs! plus rib eye steaks . . . and what's Fourth of July without hot dogs! It was Jen's intention to have hot dogs for dinner, however PD surprised her by picking up the crab legs and steaks without her knowledge! Needless to say, we were all delighted with his choice!

Beautiful birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Jen!

Life is good!

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

Life is good!