Dinner on the Deck

                Dinner was very nice.  There was a lot of food.  Halibut steak cooked to perfection, clam chowder, shrimp, carrots, jumbo baked potato and roll provided by Midtown Grill.  I enjoyed the food but did feel like a fish out of water.  Some people have money and are willing to share.  I think others just want to make an appearance.  But that's all speculation on my part.  I had four of the five people at our dinner table - my "close-knit-pool-group" and Sue's husband.  I saw a couple from our ward and Susan who has come to our swim class this year and whom Jaime and I had assisted with the Riddle booth during SummerFest here.

 

                There were over a hundred people for the turn-out at the pool.  The deck had been set up for 18 tables with six chairs at each table.  Carolyn seemed to know a lot of people - mostly former students that she had taught - or their parents.  Dan made jokes about how prestige it was to be with a near-celebrity which Carolyn didn't agree with.  I think Dan probably knew the least amount of people from all of us.  

                Of course, we all know Josh and many of the lifeguards by name.  Sebastian, who had been Jaime's swim instructor the year we had moved in, had been assigned as our waiter.  I really enjoy how the community pulls together and create a positive environment.  The man at our table whom I had not met until last night had given a brief history of the project of building the pool back in 1963.  Evidently, there had been statics given for each year children had died playing in creeks and rivers.  One of the ideas behind building the pool was to teach the community's children how to swim.

photos by Joe Glaspie

                Sue's husband took several pictures.  I hope I will have an opportunity to see some of them.

                 I brought my cheesecake home mostly because I didn't have room for it, but also wanted to share with Roland and Jenna. 

Ham, Potato Salad and Other Memories

            When I was growing up, Ham and Potato Salad were on the menu during the Easter holiday.  I remember my mom saying she had made (or was making) a big batch shortly after Jenna was born (though she arrived eight days earlier than her due date - which was on Easter that year).  I was still in the hospital and mom had made arrangement for our oldest son (Ooki had lived with our family for his senior year but was living with another family when Jenna was born) to bring her the car seat and she fed him and everybody else in the family who had come for Jenna's birth.  What a rip-off!  I had to stay in the hospital with my newborn and would have rather had mom's potato salad than hospital food.

 

            Mom packed some potato salad in a container and brought it with her the next day. 

            This year Kayla made deviled egg sandwiches for lunch on Easter Sunday.

Ooki with his one day old American sister

1 day old Jenna with dad and brothers

Jenna's first birthday

 Jenna turned 14 yesterday.  Oh the memories!

Jenna's 14th

Domestic Attempts

            I had finished two of my assignments on Wednesday but had  not turned in as accounting consisted of a two part and I had only done one.  My financial assignment sounded as though I was stumbling over my words (which I was) and probably came across like I had no clue (I have some - but not 600 words worth) and so I wanted to re-read it, make certain it made sense before I turned it in - but would need a fresh start on Thursday.

            Somewhere along the line I had lost 200 words. I prayed, I cried, I stressed,  I did more research.  I think it sounded better than my first, but will never know for certain.  I was a wreck.  I had asked Roland to help me with the other part as he has been looking at charts and numbers and figures and can understand them better than I can.  I turned in both assignments, completed both assessments and had freed up my Friday! 

            I cleaned/straightened house, did laundry, dishes.  And after a while, I decided to take a break - after all I hadn't done my daily checkpoints or posted to my blog.  I had also decided that I would straighten out a project I've been working on for upcoming baptisms.

            I hadn't done much with my project when Roland suggested we make some apple juice.  Really?  Now?

            He'd purchased a juicer from a second hand store.  Until then, I didn't appreciate the high cost of juice.  Run four apples through a machine for possibly just one ounce.  ONE OUNCE?  Are you kidding me?  Does that mean I need 16 apples for a really small glass?  I personally didn't think it was worth all the stress (not to mention waste) but hey, we had possibly 30 apples left and so we worked on the juicing process together.

            I kept asking him if we needed to shut the juicer off to give it a breather as it sounded like the motor was having stress.  I recognize the stress motored sound.  I would often run a vacuum cleaner near Jenna's bed when she was little because the motor helped her go to sleep.  The motor also burned out.

            The juice tasted good, but the color reminded me of vomit - not appetizing to the eye at all.

            I did not realize that when I took a picture of this juicer, it would be in the garbage can just twenty minutes later.  On the plus side, I didn't have to clean it - though cleaning the parts was not that hard, nor was assembling the juicer.  But it is gone now.  What a shame.

            Roland took out the Ninja - which is possibly what we should have used and had never purchased the juicer in the first place and I took the apple slop out to the compost before putting the parts in the garbage can.

            We filled up an apple juice bottle.  If I saw this on the shelf, I would not buy it

While I cleaned out the blender

  Roland took the goop that was left in the strainer and made some more applesauce.  But unlike our first, this one has a weird texture to it because of the peels.   

I couldn't find matching lids and rings and so

I put the very last bit in a pickle jar. 

 I baptismal project still remains to be worked on.

How Cool Is That?

          Jenna LOVES it when we sign up to feed the missionaries.  Just a few days after we fed the missionaries, Eva called to ask when we could sign up again.  If it were up to Jenna, we’d be feeding them on a daily basis, I think.  But I really wasn’t ready to make a commitment for the optional dates which Eva had given. 

          She had really been pushing for this past Friday, but Beth had already contacted me to see if Roland and I could meet her and Graham for lunch as they were passing through from Ashland on their way back to McMinnville.  At that time I didn’t really know how late we’d be eating and so said I would just talk to her on Sunday.  Only we didn’t have church on Sunday as it was General Conference.  I think she called five times in less than 24 hours.  One was to fill in for a cancellation the Elders had made for yesterday. 

         I told her that we would be at the Pizza Palace between two and four as we’d be having a birthday party for Jenna and had actually planned on mentioning it to the Elders anyway.  Jenna was ecstatic when I told her that the missionaries would be coming to her party.  I think she had invited over 20 peers – some friends, some just acquaintances.  We ended up with 14 people total - six were adults. 

          Annette had spent the night so that she would be sure she made it to the party.  I really don't enjoy when Jenna has sleepovers as she doesn’t sleep and therefore I don’t sleep either.  And then I am grouchy.  Jenna, on the other hand, is always happy.  She says that’s what she is known for by many people – and they admire it.

          Savannah's mom went wild with the birthday gift – or giftS rather.  In case Jenna didn’t already have a stuffed animal collection going, the gift bag came with a collection starter – five animals I think – not counting the other three or four that Savannah had won for her after they had finished eating.

          The first at the top of the bag was an angry faced emoji pillow with a note explaining that “The happiest girl needs to know what ‘mad’ looks like."

          Jenna enjoyed the company of her friends and shared her wealth.  When she presented the Elders with coins, they declined and said not only was it against the rules to play the electronic games, but  they couldn’t in good conscience accept the money either.  That went for the huge stack of coins that Savannah’s mom had placed in front of them – possibly passing out more coins for the entire teenage crew than Richard had.

          Roland played chauffer to several of Jenna’s friends.  Kylee spent a few hours with Jenna before we took her home.  She would like to do a sleepover.  I don’t want to deprive her.  Perhaps if I have enough notice, I can take a nap before she comes.

          Jenna did not get her rainbow on her birthday, but did get one on the day of her birthday party.  For after we returned from taking Kylee home, we found a rainbow at the end of our street.  Battery in my camera decided to quit at her party and Roland’s phone needed to be charged.  So Jenna took my cell phone to take pictures.  When we were viewing them on the monitor, I realized that it had been a double rainbow as there was a faint mirrored image in several of the pictures.

Labor Day Weekend is for Family

      Facebook has added a new feature.  If you would like, it will give you notifications of what you posted each date however many years ago.  Roland, Jenna and I had spent the day driving and spending time with friends in McMinnville. I happened to check facebook with only an hour left on September 5th - or else I would have missed reminiscing some great posts of years past.

      In 2010 I posted that I enjoyed spending the day playing games with the family.  At that point Bill and Kayla were not married.  Corey and Kayla were both at home and Roland and I decided to visit.  Patrick's family had also come.  They were about to leave to go home and make dinner, but I had actually made a huge chicken salad sandwich which I had put on a loaf of French bread and cut it into pieces, but there was still plenty left for Patrick's family.

      Ellen and Candy loved the chicken salad and ate it all up.  I was happy that I didn't have to take any leftovers home.  I was grateful too for the extra time it had given us to play games.  I have always enjoyed playing games with the family.

      One year later I had posted how much I enjoyed the Walden Family reunion. I was introduced to the Walden family after Jenna had turned one.  They are related to the boys by their mother.  Very hospitable people (mentioned in this post) 

      Jenna, Biff and I had planned on going to the reunion in 2013 but for whatever reason did not go.  Labor Day was on September 2nd.  Mom had gone into the hospital on the 1st.   I was scheduled to teach a class to the youth.  I heard my phone go off during my lesson.  I knew it was about mom. 

      On September 5, 2013 I posted the following: "This post is for those interested in the welfare of [June Cannon] - who was doing so spectacular before Sunday morning, and a freak fall sent her to the hospital. . She is now in hospice at St. Marks room 3W21. They are making her as comfortable as possible. Those who would like the details can message me and I will let you know. Or if you are friends with [Peggy] or [Corey] you can learn more details on their fb pages."  Still with family - but not a fun way. My mom passed away five days later.

      This year Roland will work on Labor day this year. He will take off Wednesday - which is our anniversary. Celebrations this year won't include the same group of people. Two of my sibs remain in Utah, one in Las Vegas. 

      On Saturday we went to McMinnville to spend some time with Beth and Graham - who loaded our trunk with food.  Graham also parted with the clarinet he had played which had remained in the closet since their arrival in McMinnville.  So Roland and Jenna are able to practice together - even if Jenna leaves her instrument at school. Here are a few of the pictures that we took.

I Spilled the Beans Literally – and They Were Hot!

            We got up early yesterday morning to drive out to Riddle and assist our ward members in clearing weeds and cleaning head stones.  It was a really good turn out – I thought, but didn’t seem well organized as there were several of us kind of doing our own thing without specific direction.  It’s a huge job.  Two hours was not enough.

            The young women and achievement day girls will be returning on Wednesday with cameras and writing pads to record information to put on grave websites and hopefully make somebody’s family history a little more exhilarating as he or she discovers relatives who may be buried in Riddle, Oregon.

            We returned home for a while.  Roland frosted and decorated the cake that he had made on Friday night.  I made two scrapbook pages on the computer and had become quite frustrated with the slowness of the computer.  It makes AOL dial-up seem speedy.

            I put some ingredients together and put my beans in the oven to bake them.  I took them out just before we left the house to get in the car.  The beans were quite hot, and I actually burned myself when I went to set them aside while trying to get my seat belt on.  Yowsa!  I can still feel the heat.  I am certain to have a scar.

            We joined our ward family members at the pool – where first there was a barbeque dinner.  As usual, there were more desserts than anything.  I think everybody who attended may have brought more than one dish. I know we did. We enjoyed the company of a few of the adult members as the children started filing into the pool.  

            My leg ached where the beans had burned.  The heat from the sun was not helping.  After a while I went into the pool just to cool off my leg.  

            So a service project, a barbeque and pool party – first ward activity that we attended since living in Oregon.

Fresh Blueberries: One Dollar per Pound

          Blueberries are one of Jenna’s absolute favorite things to eat.  There was a time when Biff had purchased twelve cartons of blueberries.  She ate eleven of them.  She would have eaten all twelve, but as Biff had made the purchase, I thought it was only fair that he get at least one carton.

This morning we had the experience of picking blueberries from the DelEv blueberry patch at the end of Myrtle Creek – or so we believe.  The area didn’t seem to have service for cell phones or other such electronics.

Evelyn introduced herself to us and showed us where to pick the blueberries.  It took only 20 minutes to pick 5 pounds.  I think she was disappointed that we had not picked more – but we are not canners or freezers.  Perhaps in time – but we still haven’t unpacked everything for Heaven’s sake!  

Roland mentioned my blog to her and said I would help advertise her product – though I don’t know how many followers I have in Myrtle Creek.  I would guess zero.  I don’t know that I have followers in the entire state of Oregon.  But here is my plug.  And here is her flyer:

They are also looking for pickers (or a picker) to work for 75 cents a pound.  Roland and I tried to talk Jenna into doing it for the summer. Pocket change, we figured.  I could drive her there each morning.  She didn’t appear to be too interested.  I called our employment specialist after we returned home.

It was a fun experience.  Both Roland and I enjoyed getting to know Evelyn.  Maybe I’ll facebook the flyer I scanned.  I am fb friends with at least two friends who live in Oregon – only three to four hours from Myrtle Creek.  At least one of those two enjoys canning and preserving food.  I will post it to her wall.

It was a positive experience.  We’ll be back.

Taking Oregon Home

In addition to the marvelous food that they fed us, Beth had packed a care package for us to take home.  Black corn on the cob for making popcorn, two jars of tuna that she had canned herself, and a jar of dried apples that we could munch while on the plane.

I packed the corn and tuna in the large check–in suitcase.  I carried the apples and ate some while at the airport.

After we got home, Jenna insisted we make the popcorn.  We have never had popcorn on the cob before.  Interesting.  

I made tuna fish sandwiches and they were delicious.  I have been fussy about tuna brands.  Thanks to Beth, I will probably never eat canned tuna again.  Her tuna was marvelous!

Oregon – last day

After we left Newport, Roland had asked if I would like to get some shoes.  So as we were heading back toward McMinnville, we stopped off at a Fred Meyer’s – I don’t even know which town.  Jenna and I both ended up with rubber rain boots – which turned out weren’t necessary, as we didn’t need them for the car nor for the following morning.

On our last day we looked at housing in Beaverton, Milwauke, Happy Valley and Gresham – all suburbs of Portland.  We found a Kmart in either Beaverton or Gresham and exchanged Jenna's cheetah print footies for the only other pair of footies that was available: a meduim hot pink with rubber ducks.  Fit better and she says she likes the duckys and would have chosen the pink pair over the cheetah pair - so it actually worked out great.

 Nothing we looked at seemed promising as far as housing that we could afford.  Seems like the market has drawn potential buyers to the area – and they obviously have more money than we do.

Our house in West Valley will sale for $130,000 at BEST.  Same house in Oregon would go for $380,000 – 420,000 – that blows my mind!

We were told that housing in Vancouver did not run as high.  As we were close enough, we took Portland’s Intrastate across the Columbia River and went to Vancouver, Washington.  We ended up at a mall.  I don’t think we even looked at housing.

If you have been following my blog, you know that I am NOT a shopper.  There worst part about being at the Vancouver Mall (for me personally) was the rubber boots I was wearing. My feet were not happy with my choice of footwear.  I can tell you that.

Jenna and I had chosen to wear them as I thought they would take up too much room in the suitcase.  My feet were complaining by the hour.  We had already checked out of our room.  It’s not as though I could return and soak the aches away.  I just had to deal with it.

 

We left Vancouver Mall and crossed the Columbia River again – this time on Interstate 5.  Our destination was to check out Voodoo doughnuts – which several people had told us about.  There is absolutely not enough parking for that location.  The time I spent in line was not that long – not compared to how it’s advertised.

we would not have waited in this line 

- even if we didn't have a plane to catch

Roland said he was surprised that I had purchased only three doughnuts.  He said he thought I’d get a dozen.  Our next stop was the airport.  Why would I want to take 9-12 donuts to the airport?  Especially if we were going to have to carry on each piece of luggage before we checked them in (as we had done in Salt Lake)

The doughnut itself had an okay flavor.  It’s the way they are topped that qualifies them as gourmet.  I ordered two chocolate based doughnuts for Jenna and had forgotten to order the buttermilk for myself.  Jenna didn’t even want her doughnut and so I ended up eating the two I had gotten for her.  

Our flight was at 6:00.  We arrived at the airport between 3:00 and 3:30 and said good-bye to our rental (that was tough, actually, as I had gained an emotional attachment) and went to the baggage area and checked in our one, walked through security (this time it was Jenna and I that got to move ahead while Roland stood in line)

Jenna and I walked through security with six pieces of luggage, her stuffed frog, and a bag of bananas, cereal bars and one of the doughnuts.  They questioned the amount of luggage, but I assured them that we were with one more person and that I wasn’t even planning on taking the food on the plane.

The airport seemed dead.  At least the gates in the D section.  Only two flights going out – both at gate D7.  Both to Salt Lake City.  If there had been room, we would have been put on the earlier flight.  But both flights were booked actually.

Jenna rode the walkway back and forth until she became bored with riding it.  I read. Roland and I tried working puzzles together.  We ate.  It was a long wait.  We were given the option to check our luggage.  We checked in three pieces.  Jenna carried her stuffed frog.  We put our bags in front of us. We didn’t put anything in the overhead.

We were scheduled to arrive at 8:44 but were a few minutes late.  Tony couldn’t pick us up.  I had offered to meet Randy at a TRAX station, but he and Carrie had come to collect us from the airport and were driving around in circles until we came out.

We are definitely going back!