Sunday, July 31, 2016

Celebrating With Kory

For those of you who read here regularly, you will know that Kory is one of our 7 favorite granddaughters. We attended a wedding shower for her about a week ago. 
 
 
It was held at their family property on the beautiful Lewis River, the weather cooperated and it made a beautiful setting.
 

 
Her Aunt JoAnn went with me, and here are a few of my favorite photos.
 

 
 




 
 
 
And we do....love her to the moon & back! Can't wait for this girl's wedding!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Perfect Celebration of 45 Years

To celebrate our 45th anniversary (could it possibly be so long ago?) we decided to try camping in the insurance man's stomping grounds, Harney County.
We traveled 22 miles or so south of Burns, to a campground at The Narrows. This was named for a small spit of land dividing Malheur and Harney Lakes. It no longer is the only division, as the Lakes have shrunk over the years, but is stilled called the Narrows. There is now a restaurant/gift shop, and campground there, where once was a small thriving town at the turn of the 20th century.
This is High Desert Country, with only scrub, sagebrush and field grass in sight. The owners of the campground have planted, watered and tended trees to suit the desert environment, making our campsite shaded and pretty. The above tree (unknown species to me) was so pretty with dusty sage green leaves and dark red berries. I loved sitting beneath it and watching the birds come and go with beaks full of berries.
 As you can see there were not a lot of people here, making it quiet and peaceful with only the coyotes calling at night. I loved seeing the blue skies from horizon to horizon full of bright sun in the daytime, as it traveled from sunrise to sunset.
 
 We had decided on two of our favorite pastimes, mine a bit of solitary reading and relaxing and his going out to hunt for arrowheads in the desert (on private land with permission.) He got up early on Saturday and Sunday to head out, while I slept in until I wanted to get up to read and write letters. He came in around lunch time each day to clean up. His parents, Larry and Bethel drove out to join us for lunch on Saturday at the restaurant and then a bit of chatting and dozing at our campsite before returning home.
A perfect anniversary breakfast for one!
 
 This is some beautiful country, for those who know how to appreciate it. After Mom and Dad left, we took a long drive. The above photo is green irrigated area with the Steens Mountains in the background. The 'notch' you see in the Steens is called Kiger Gorge and is famous for it's wild mustangs. The view from up there includes 3 states.
 
 Some famous Harney County sites, and yes the population of Diamond does say 9. That's because there's not much of a town, but most live on ranches in the beautiful Diamond Valley.

The insurance man came back on Sunday with a big smile on his face. These were his reward, and boy did it make him happy. He is really good at finding these and appreciating the Native American work. (If you click on the photo to enlarge it you can appreciate them too!)
 
A campfire at night, in the belly of an old re-used wash machine basket, was just right before bed. We started before sunset, then watched a desert sky as it finally darkened and the summer stars appeared.
We were blessed with perfect weather and no bugs to speak of. After returning to Burns on Sunday, and a Chinese dinner with Mom and Dad, we left for home satisfied and still in love after 45 wonderful years.

Friday, July 8, 2016

4th of the July the way it should be...fun and family!

 
We were blessed to have granddaughter Macy here the week before the 4th. We did lots of fun 4th of July things, and here is a fun red, white & blue breakfast of yogurt and fruit. Macy loves fruit!
And here Macy and the insurance man are frosting red, white and blue cupcakes for my piano recital. And eating a little bit too....
Finished product, and some of the refreshments for the recital. Moms brought red and blue cut up fruit to go along with the cupcakes.
 Emily is getting really good, and has been playing long enough to be relaxed at recital time.
And here are three cuties after the recital is over, so they have big smiles!
 
We took Macy home and stayed for the whole weekend. Saturday we all hung out at the Lewis River on family property. Kirk and the men took a 3 hour kayaking trip down the river to the property. The insurance man got a pretty bad sunburn on his legs, maybe the first ever, but enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Later, grandson Lane wanted a ride too. There was lots of time to spend with the babies and kids.
 
And lots of good time spent with daughter Joy.
 
On the 4th we all went to Ridgefield to watch the great parade they have there. 
 
Granddaughter Kory joined us for the parade as she had the day off from working.

 
Kirk drove his restored tractor in the parade along with Lane, and Kory brought her fiancé Sam as well. We are looking forward to their wedding in October, another fun family event.
And finally when we got home we took JoAnn and Neil to go watch the fireworks show at the home of more family here in Bend. JoAnn made a special scarf just for the event, and the weather cooperated as it was chilly and cool that night.
Great 4th of July 2016!