Garden of Thought

An update: Our Pi-Cat has thankfully continued to improve and is pretty much back to her former petite weight (she's only a 7 lb. kitty at her fattest), still no idea what caused her illness so I just hope whatever it was doesn't come back as she's now our Gold Plated Kitty from vet bills. We are grateful that she is with us even when she sits on the keyboard now.

Also, looks like my eldest is headed for the beach! She's been applying for work, etc. along the coast and is making plans to move over there. Ironically the rents around here have spiked so badly with all the out of state people moving here that the beach is no longer the expensive place, it's cheaper for her to live there than anywhere near Portland once you get out of the easy day-trip range of that city. Sounds good to me!

Finally had a chance to take a road trip with a friend this past week, we've been talking about it for a couple of years and voila! A spot in schedules opened up before the weather turned too cold so off we went.  Started off with some amazing lakes and mountains, the Wallowas, at the far eastern corner of Oregon that are generally too far away so I haven't seen them for twenty-odd years - (mountain-top tram was closed, though, drat!) then ambled down and onward into Idaho (obliterated a tumbleweed at high speed, saw some rocks), down into Utah (gosh, the Salt Lake has a terrible stench - no wonder there's no resorts anywhere around it), across Nevada (lots and lots and lots of nothing til the far border). 

Near Carson City the genuine Western ghost town thing was pretty cool when we went up into the steep hills - Virginia City has turned into a tourist trap due to it being easily reached from Reno but the other towns like Gold Hill were very atmospheric and old-timey in a 'real deal' way.  Spent a bit of time goggling at the dusty, abandoned buildings and mining whatnot and explored the still-functional creaky wood and brick hotel from the 1800 gold rush days.

After that it was into the Sierras and down into California (barely got through before they closed the highway due to a forest fire - yikes - flames leaping out of the trees as we whizzed by) and then the world of hot concrete and palm trees.  I used to live down there so that wasn't too interesting and we rather quickly worked our way into the mountains, lakes and wiggly roads that eventually brought us out at the coast.  Hwy. 1 is a thing of beauty and my companion humored my tendency to roll down the windows and breathe deeply every time we went through a Eucalyptus grove, the sweet scent is a favorite of mine. 

Up we went, following the coast (cows, lighthouses, wild pampas grass, little villages, trinkets, giant redwoods, coffee!) all the way into our own Oregon again (more lighthouses, fresh fish, myrtlewood, books, rocks, kites, coffee!) and then upward to the very tip where the mighty Columbia river pours out into the Pacific (amazing sunsets, fudge, foamy sea, coffee!) then home. 

Lots and lots of driving, I felt like I'd been driving forever, but what a great thing to get a ticky in our personal ticky-boxes.   Now I get to do laundry, etc. etc. and go soak a bajillion bug-bodies off the front of the car.  Hope your week was a good one too. 

Just an updatey post thing...

Back from a few days at the beach for our annual Girls Trip (me, my mom and my two daughters) - weather fabulous, if windy, quaint bookstore was quaint, artsy shoppppes were artsy.  Replaced my defunct rainbow wind-spinner thingy which I have missed having on my clothesline when hanging up laundry, so all is well.  Rotten to wake up today all bleaurrrgh, but at least it didn't happen while on vacation and I'm almost back to human now.  Germs are most annoying at times.

Teen son did a good job of keeping all the pets alive whilst we were gone, though I should have remembered to define tomato plants as 'pets' I guess... still, a few pitchers of water and they rallied.  He's getting his turn now, off camping with his grandpa.

Starting to regret offering to host a church baby shower a couple weeks from now, looking at the mess my house is in it seems rather discouraging to think I need to get it into "company" shape by then.  Pooh.  Very glad for the baby, however, a real answer to prayer for a couple expecting her!  I expect this little girl will be the church mascot for a while.

Picking blueberries time again - brought in another big bowl, pears are starting to swell nicely, Gravenstein apples are already getting their red and yellow streaks, greengage plums are fat and ripening... can't believe another harvest is already approaching!  I still have stuff in the freezer from last time, I've been so disorganized this year.  Ack.  Didn't expect the library to snarf most of my hours, though...

Has your summer vanished into the mist the way mine has? 

There are few things more soothing and therapeutic than just wandering a beach, picking up bits of rock and shell, examining giant mounds of kelp, looking for sand-dollars and chasing gulls. Even in the rain when you're freezing.

( Spent yesterday at the coast with a wagon-load of five teens in a non-stop drizzle )
Also got the cheerful approval from the pastor to do a humorous Sunday school class using The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 3/4- what a hoot, just need to formulate some discussion questions and hunt down copies off of Amazon. This'll be great for summer.