Beneath the Wraps

           Summer is coming to an end and Jenna will be returning to school on Wednesday.   Her job at the blueberry patch has ended for this season.   On Friday morning  Roland asked if I wanted to play a game.   It always surprises me when it is his idea.   He asked if Jenna had left the house and I said that she was still here and so he asked her to play also.           First, we played Sequence.   Baulderdash is Roland’s favorite, but I think Sequence may be a close second.   We played two games.   I won the first and Roland won the second – but Jenna had gotten in two wins earlier in the week.   We then played a game of Blokus and then a never-ending game of Monopoly.   Neither Jenna nor I were willing to sell or trade specific properties to Roland and he was never fair about the amount anyway.   We would make jokes as we moved our pieces around the ...

           Though Roland did want to take care of some projects around the house and yard, he didn’t wish to spend his entire vacation laboring.   He wanted to spend money going to shows, seeing sights, or something else that would qualify as a vacation. Last week on Monday evening he decided that we should go bowling for family home evening.   We decided to go to Nickle Bowl – but along with half to most of the businesses in Myrtle Creek, Nickle Bowl is closed on Mondays.   Thus we went up to Roseburg.           The last few times we’ve gone, I have always chosen a lighter ball.   My wrist doesn’t appreciate the extra weight of a bowling ball.   Also, the holes seem more spread out on the heavier balls and I have tiny hands. Whenever we bowl either Jenna and I will make the request to have bumpers as it will prevent us from getting from 10 – 20 gutter balls.   Bowling alwa...

                    Though it rained and the temperatures remained cooler during Roland’s staycation, it hasn’t been the same this week.   Tuesday got to 104 though yesterday was not as bad.   All day it appeared to be overcast with little promise of rain.   By 10:00 yesterday morning it was already too warm and the temperature rose up from there and didn’t start going down until after 8:00 – even though there was sign of actual raindrops that made a pathetic appearance and left again. There was a heaviness in the air that felt murky and seemed to distort my vision.           I’ve taken so many pictures of the sky – trying to capture its brilliance.   I have two or three point-and-shoots that I use and of course, there’s my cell phone which is a flip phone and does NOT capture anything brilliant.   As I said before, I thi...

The movie we had seen on Wednesday was The Art of Racing in the Rain .   Good movie.   Lot of symbolism and parallels – and I know I didn’t get it all.   Funny how it had rained that day. It was only drizzling when we had left the house.   But as we neared Roseburg, the rain fell more rapidly. I had left my phone for Jenna and wasn’t able to call my friend who teaches the water fitness class to tell her to come join us if nobody showed.   She said she had one student attend.           Wish we would have had the rain this week.   Yesterday was 104.   That is 34 degrees warmer than it should be.   I preferred last week’s weather to this week’s forecast.   Wicked weather.

           Every third Wednesday the Roseburg cinema reserves a theatre for the senior members of the community to see a recent feature.   The theatre doors open at noon during school but at 9:00 am during summer.   Roland decided we would head to the theatre, return to the house after the movie ended, collect Jenna and go and see Crater Lake.   Before the movie started there was the education and ticket drawing.   My ticket (or Roland’s ticket – I had them both) won a coupon for Lighthouse Bakery and Café which neither of us had been to or had even heard of for that matter.   Crater Lake got cancelled as it was pouring.   I was more excited about the rain than my disappointment in seeing the lake again (neither Jenna nor Roland have ever seen it in person).   Roland had heard that admission to the park would be free on Sunday.   By the time church had ended, Roland just didn’t feel like making the trip. ...

Roland had asked the missionaries if they could assist on Monday.   As they had other obligations that day, they came to help on Tuesday.   Unlike the missionaries who had assisted with Jenna’s fort twelve years ago, the elders who are currently serving this area wore their street clothes as they were bond to get dirty.         Jenna was so excited when we came home from church one day and discovered a waterfall in the backyard. Roland had diverted the water to run across the yard and toward the water drain.    After a year his diversion was wiped out somehow and the water would flood our driveway whenever it would rain hard. The reason Roland wanted assistance was to cut into the clay (that is what lies beneath the hill in our backyard.   It isn’t the kind of dirt designed for growing plants) and fill up the hole so that the water doesn’t come into the yard at all.   Thus he built a rough version of a beaver dam to pl...

             I would rather spend time with family than on the computer.   Some weekends I rely on whatever posts may be in my draft folder and figured it would be the same during Roland’s stay-cation and so I decided I would write things down and hope that I would remember what it is I thought of to post.             I misplaced the little spiraled notebook that I thought was in the car but cannot find it.   I ended up writing down thoughts in three notebooks and back of envelopes (whatever happened to be handy at the time).   Roland’s vacation started last Monday.   He had gone out to clean up the yard.   The skies were overcast and the temperature was inviting.   I went out to assist while it was still nice – surprised that he was out there in the coolness as he tends to wait for the absolute hottest part of the day.       ...

A mat is a tangle or snarl in one’s hair.   But a mat is also a small rug.           I saw Matt’s matted hair when he stood on the mat. Mum is a type of flower.   Mum is a name I might call my mother.   When you are saying, “mum’s the word” to someone, you are asking to keep a secret.           My mum is allergic to mums.   But mum’s the word. A pool is a place to swim.   A pool table is a game table with cue sticks and balls.   A pool of money is generally a collection of money for a charity or a bet.           Let’s pool our money together to purchase a pool table to use for the lifeguards to use when they are taking a break from the public pool. To pry something means to use a crowbar or other device to assist in lifting something.   Pry can also mean eavesdropping or sn...

I see a bat fly overhead.   I can’t seem to swat it with my baseball bat.            A bat is a mamel but also an instrument used to hit a ball. I saw the baseball batter lick the batter from the bowl.           A batter is a person who hits the ball while batter is a raw mixture of ingredients that may be turned into cookies or cake. A box is a kind of container but to box is to punch someone. I’ll need that box for boxing these boxing gloves. I need a dab of paint in order to finish my picture of you dabbing.           A dab is a tiny bit but a dab is a movement sometimes associated with hiphop (see here )           A gag is a short joke.   To gag gives the appearance of   one starting to vomit.            Foil is ...

I remember when we decided to take down the paneling to bring more light into the Kearns house. Beneath the dark paneling was a mural of a corn field.   What had possessed somebody to put that there in the first place? When Richard and took the boys to work on a house he had purchased to flip, our youngest found some savings bonds hidden beneath the floor. We can hide beneath the covers or find other treasures beneath the bedding (remote controls for instance).   Treasures can be found beneath so many surfaces. I have discovered treasures beneath my seat or beneath that pile of rubble in my closet. I have discovered autumn leaves trapped beneath soggy snow.   Can you find what’s beneath the ocean’s surface?   Do you associate with all kinds of people or do you feel there are some that are beneath your level? We have had people crawl beneath our house before to install cable, check for leaks, and fix the flooring from beneath. There are pi...

What States Have You Visited? Of the fifty states it looks like I’ve been to (or through) almost half.    Some I have already posted about.    Most haven’t been mentioned.    So here are the last four: Utah     is where I lived when I started my blog.   Aside from Salt Lake and surrounding area, I have visited Moab, Bryce and Zion Canyons, St. George, Cedar City, Kanab   . . .   and other famous cities you may never have heard of.   Beaver, Utah (a recognizable chair at  Chevorn Station) Bingham Copper Mine Zion's Canyon (yes the same trip as North Ridge Grand Canyon) Virginia        is where I went on my mission.   I have created four posts starting here   West Virgina         my first area was on the West Virginia border.   Though my companion and I lived in Riddlemead, Virginia and attended...

What States Have You Visited? Of the fifty states it looks like I’ve been to (or through) almost half.    Some I have already posted about.    Most haven’t been mentioned.    So here are more  Hawaii        I have been only once.   My paternal grandmother had signed us up through a tour guided group after I had graduated high school.   We flew and traveled by bus to the different islands.   Idaho          We would   stop at Lava Hot Springs whenever we would go to Pocatello.   We usually stayed in Pocatello or Idaho Falls on our way to Yellowstone National Park.   When I was six or seven, my paternal grandfather took all three of his children and then four grandchildren to Sun Valley resort in Idaho.   I don’t have many memories except for what mom told me.    I have also been through Twin Falls and Boise.   I ...