So Good!

 We had a lot of fun during Julie's visit, beginning with fun times at home.

Singing on the back patio....

 Cooking good meals....

 Hanging out and visiting with Mr. Neal....

and just generally smelling the flowers. So good to have them here.

3 Members of the Jones Family Come to Visit

In September, we had a wonderful visit from Julie, William and Bronwyn. William came to stay for two weeks, and Julie and Bronwyn thought they would accompany him on his way to Papa's house. We all had such a good week together.

One morning miss Bronwyn had on my apron, and had her sippy cup. But she found Grammie's big one in the cupboard.

She is queen of "I can do it myself, please". So she tried to use the water in the door of the refrigerator to get a drink. Then with the top on, she was all set to go.

Success, and a happy girl!

Can you tell Grammie was delighted to have her visit?

I was 22 that autumn....

 

 I was 22, newly released from Fall college classes due to morning sickness earlier that spring. We were expecting our first baby, I was in my 3rd trimester, and feeling great. I had a lot of free time on my hands, with my husband working night shift, and finishing his undergrad classes to graduate in December. The weather was warm and sunny, with beautiful blue-sky days. I often spent my mornings doing chores, then sorting and re-organizing my stash of baby clothes and things, smelling each precious sweet item before folding it and laying it away.

After lunch, I went walking along the sidewalks in LaGrande, under big leafy trees bright with their autumn colors against the vivid blue sky. John would sleep in the afternoons, and being a light sleeper, I left the apartment so he could get his rest.

 

I ate a fresh crisp apple every day as I walked, and I was amazed how healthy and good I was feeling. I had been told how miserable pregnancy was, and how swollen and awful I would feel, yet none of that happened. I canned jars of golden peaches in our small apartment, and John helped me make applesauce from Rome Beauty apples on the weekend. We even made bright red apple jelly from the apple peelings. We had so little, and we had so much. Each day seemed golden and blessed as they blended one into the other that autumn.

 

 Then came the early morning on November 4th, that John got home after getting off work at the hospital. I was sitting up in a chair as he came in and found out that we were going to have our baby two weeks early. Later that day, our lives changed and so did the weather, as our beautiful daughter Joy Emily was born in the middle of a huge snowstorm. I remember holding my new daughter tight, all bundled snugly in a new blanket, and watching the snowflakes whirl and swirl past the hospital window. Autumn gave way to winter and the two of us gave way to life's new season.

 

 

Yellow Pine, Idaho

 While we were visiting the Cascade/McCall area of Idaho, my brother-in-law wanted to show us a remote area close by where he lands his small plane and camps with others of like mind. It's only open a few months during the summer, and was closing up Labor Day week-end after we visited. The closest 'town' to the airstrip is this, Yellow Pine. We drove around and checked everything out, and saw the few hardy souls who call this place home. Again, most of the people and business's were packing things up and leaving for the winter. We did find one café open, so were able to have lunch there.

 

 

Honestly, it was the worst burger I've ever had! Burnt, dry and tough, but enough to get us by and quiet the stomach rumbles. I don't think they get many customers. Nice enough place however. It was a fun day's trip driving up through the mountains and seeing some beautiful county.

 

Back in Cascade, we stopped by some friends who own a Dodge dealership and enjoyed their Dodge Ram made out of barbed wire. You know you are in the backwoods when their sculptures are barbed wire....

 

and that night we enjoyed a movie at their old theatre. It was all fixed up so cute, and the doors and handles are made to look like old-time movie reels. Inside it's decorated all red and black, with tile floors and cute bathrooms. Who cares about the movie??