Wasted Day....54º

Woke up yesterday feeling like I had been run over by a truck!...Got my coffee and went straight to a scrabble game...Scrabble games have been updated and now resemble glitzy, noisy, confusing games looking like a gambling casino...Not fun to play at all...Bobi and I are finishing our games but not restarting a new one...We've started playing Lexulous to see if that might be a good alternative...Time will tell.

Herb and Rusty were getting ready for an overnight trip to Jim Creek, when I remembered that I had purchased 5 whole chickens to cutup and put in the freezer...I enlisted their help and we quickly had them washed, cutup and packaged in family size packages...I finished cleaning up the mess and they were soon ready to be on their way....While doing the chickens (Draper farms, "Ranger Chickens")www.drapervalleyfarms.com They say no preservatives etc...Rusty said, "Mom, did you know that chickens are rinsed in a chlorine solution before being packaged?" and also he said that it is very likely that after Safeway, Costco, WalMart etc, get these whole chickens (in large quantities) they again do a chlorine rinse before repackaging them under their label...This extends their shelf life!...Now a step further...IF said chickens do not sell by the sale date these chickens are again rinsed in a chlorine solution and cooked on rotisseries and sold cooked and ready to eat....Bells started going off in my head!...About 2 years ago I stopped buying rotisserie chickens because the meat had an off taste and seem to be soft and mushy...Now if what Rusty says is a fact, it makes perfect sense...I should think that too much chlorine would make anything mushy...I plan to follow up on this and see if Draper Farms & FirCrest uses the chlorine rinse on their  NO Antibiotics • NO Added Hormones • NO Preservatives... EVER!  What do you want to bet that Chlorine isn't considered a preservative and is it okay for the supermarket to treat said chickens in any way they choose?

Didn't really intend for this to turn into a "Rant and Rave" but that's the way it is...I must get moving to make up for wasting most of yesterday, I did plant a few things and dig weeds, deadhead but kept finding a chair to sit in... I do feel better today...Hugs to All....OWAV:)

Rain Overnight...43º

Rain showers overnight and clouds covering the mountains, makes the morning look gloomy. But the temperature is still supposed to be close to 70º today.

The "Write People" are meeting out North today at Kathy's home in Flora, always an outing that we look forward to...She and husband Dan live in an older home surrounded by trees that they have planted over the past 20 years...Some 40 miles from the nearest town they enjoy the solitude this lovely spot holds for them.

For the last few days I've been alternately ignoring and at times giving into a "crampy" stomach...I spent most of Sunday reclining with a heat pack then yesterday I opted out of a BBQ at Becky's and John's because I still wasn't feeling up to par...Instead of sitting though, I spent the day "moving"...First a walk with Pat and then out in the flower gardens (my therapy) where I cut a huge bouquet of fresh flowers for our kitchen table...Then for several hours I deadheaded, dug weeds and, talked to myself...I took occasional breaks, sitting in my chair on the deck and surveying the beauty around me...I feel better this morning!

Now I must get moving, make a dish to take for our potluck lunch and maybe write more on my "Sunshine Anaphora" due to Katey in just a couple of days...Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

May Bouquet

Warmer....42º

Looks like the weather is warming a bit, yes we've had enough rain, please stop for awhile and give us some sunshine...There are many things I want to get done...Plant more seeds both flower and vegetable...Clean the deck so it can be refinished this year...Plant the barrels on the deck for summer blooms.

Rusty got home from his job in Georgia/Philadelphia, spent a few days in Bend and arrived yesterday in Joseph for a week...Most of which will be spent doing volunteer work for the Forest Service and "Honey Do's" for us...

Bobi and family are finishing the 8th grade for Ci in Portland, as she makes the big change next year and starts high school...They will make a visit to Joseph sometime in July this year...Always gives us something to look forward to....  Hugs to All.... OWAV:)

Memorial Day 2012, Barton Heights

Frustration...42º

Late Friday afternoon, Dusty the bathroom carpenter, that will be doing our bathroom remodel stopped by to check our choices of tile...He seemed to think that all are good but suggested we might want to look for a trim in porcelain or ceramic instead of the real stone we had chosen...Although he loves working with real stone, he explained that it requires a bit more upkeep...Not what I want...Seemed like a simple task as we could go 6 miles to the local store "Carpet 1", make a different choice, and as luck would have it, a new sale in Friday nights paper advertised my favorite brand of toilet paper on sale at the "Safeway" store also only 6 miles away...Voilà...I hate driving to Enterprise for only one thing so this made the trip worthwhile.

We arrived at Carpet 1 to find a sign in their window, CLOSED, giving their employees a long holiday weekend...Okay, I understand long weekends and I could still go to Safeway...I pick up milk and cream along with the TP and go through the checkout, TP doesn't ring up with the extra discounted sale price...After much frustration on both my part and the checker we read the small print and figured out that the sale doesn't start until SUNDAY...By that time I was ready to SCREAM!..I leave the cart, exit the store muttering $%@# under my breath!

I arrived back home in time for a walk with Pat and she greeted me with, "You look really stressed." So we walk, I rant and rave until finally I've gotten it our of my system, calm down and we finish our walk, stop by the Farmers Market, visit with friends and climb the last hill on Barton Heights to my house...Now sweaty and tired but refreshed and laughing as usual at the end of a walk...I suppose I will make the trip today, buy the TP at its supper sale price and try not to think about the price of gasoline....Hugs to All....  OWAV:)

A bucket of flowers from my garden.

Corny...48º

While shopping for groceries on Thursday, I did the unthinkable...Ears of corn piled high caught my eye...I choose 3 ( 3 for $1.00 was the sale price) of them knowing they had been in transport coming from somewhere far away...I like eating with the seasons and right now we are eating asparagus at least every other day until we finally get our fill...But the corn was calling me.

I fixed each of us an ear of corn along with pork chops and as Herb says, "Almost anything tastes good with butter and salt on it." It tasted----okay...Now when we were first married 51 years ago in June, Herb talked about something called "corn cakes"...Actually they are pancakes with grated corn (right off the cob) added to the batter, topped with fresh applesauce, late in the fall...Everything in season...I grew to like them and so did our children...We branched out, eating them with other fresh fruit, peanut butter or just plain syrup...So on Friday morning with one ear of "corn" leftover, I grated it into the pancake batter for our breakfast, Herb ate his happily with syrup...I forgot to mention that I made another unthinkable purchase on Thursday..."Cardboard Strawberries"...So I diced two of the strawberries, added them to a small amount of homemade berry jam and topped my corn cakes with peanut butter and the strawberry jam mixture...They were very good!..Of course the corn and strawberries added only texture but since peanut butter and jam are a favorite of mine I was happy with my breakfast...Only thing lacking was a dollop of whipped cream...Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

Corn Cakes topped with Strawberries and Jam

Rainy Day....40º

Yesterday found me, swifter in hand, dusting the nook upstairs where my sewing machine and printer reside...Pat was coming to sew and I needed to change ink cartridges...So she sewed and we visited...Then took a walk before we met at "Carpet One" in Enterprise to look at tile samples for our ongoing project of a bathroom remodel...Pat has remodeled two bathrooms in the past year so I'm using her expertise...This kind of stuff leaves my mind in a boggle.

Fixed a quick dinner of pork chops and spent the rest of the afternoon preparing a treasurers report for sorority, doing scrabble, and last night attended the regular meeting with my sorority sisters.

Which brings me to this rainy morning...The kind of day when I'm again looking for jobs inside the house that include baking to warm the kitchen and recreate the fragrant smells of childhood...Since we have ground beef thawed in the refrigerator, hamburgers are on the menu...I've made HB buns before but never been truly satisfied with them...Soooo, in perusing a new cookbook (I haven't bought this book yet, but am reading recipes from her blog and website) by local author Lynn Curry, "Pure Beef" http://lynnecurry.com/ruraleating/ I'm going to try her recipe for HB buns...Depending on the outcome of the buns, I may buy the book...

Ahhhh, another cookbook to add to my collection....Most cookbooks I bring home, read them as if they were the latest novel on the best seller list, then they join the other cookbooks to gather dust and occasionally I pull one out and try a new recipe or reread the book or maybe just look at the pictures...Cookbooks are one of my joys!

Enough drivel for one day, I must get moving, the kitchen is calling me... Hugs to All.....  OWAV:)

Memorials...Cool/Showers.....37º

Another cold day, so comfort food is on the menu...A wonderful spaghetti sauce was made yesterday, using ground beef and deer and sausage...I added roasted tomatoes, onions, mushroom, peppers, basil and garlic to complete the sauce...Simmered it for several hours and we enjoyed spaghetti along with salad for our dinner....What to have today?.. Leftover spaghetti,  burgers or meatloaf?..Let me think.

When I was a child living in Utah, Memorial Day was called "Decoration Day" in our household...Since my parents lost a little boy, Joel, at 2 1/2 years of age and his grave was in a different city...Preparations were made in advance to "decorate" his grave and grandparents graves every year...I remember Mom and my sisters making flowers using crepe paper and paraffin wax...They shaped the paper into petals, added a stem, wired them together, dipped them in warm paraffin and assembled the gaily colored flowers into bouquets, placed them in canning jars for vases, no water needed...Along with freshly gathered lilacs and peonies, using old Folger's coffee cans for vases, add a picnic lunch and we were off on a long drive...I remember the drive because I always got carsick...Stops were made, soda crackers nibbled and finally we arrived at my uncle's service station in Woodruff, Utah, where I could choose the green 7up bottle from the pop cooler, put the nickel, sweaty from being clutched in my hand, in the coin slot and with the first sip, soothe my churning stomach with the bubbly liquid...This bottle of soda pop and maybe one at a 4th of July picnic was my quota for the year!

Now most years I rely on my flowerbeds (memorial gardens) as a remembrance for our loved ones...Memorial weekend quite often brings snow showers to Wallowa County...It is not a good time to plant bedding plants such as marigolds and petunias, so I will be waiting at least another week and see what the weather does...In the meantime we will enjoy the fragrance of the lilacs each time we drive into our driveway and also a small bouquet in the house, as we honor special people always present in our memory...  Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

Purple and White Lilacs in bloom

Marigolds and new planter box staying undercover.

Yesterday...37º

Way too busy...A day like yesterday wears me out...Pat and I started early, meeting the "Write People" for our weekly session...Followed by lunch and a video making lesson from Leita as Pat works at refining her movie making skills...Then a fast trip to Wallowa and "Flower Peddler Nursery" for Garden Club and a lesson on planting a container...As if that wasn't enough for one day, we returned to our respective homes and about 2 hours later we were at a "Mule Days" committee meeting...Home after 8pm, I sat down with the daily paper, relaxed with a glass of wine and crusty bread before collapsing in bed.

Plan to spend today at home...It is foggy, wet and cold outside so ideally I would put on a pot of soup, mix up something to go in the oven, find a good book to read or movie to watch and laze away the day...But in reality I must do mundane tasks of cleaning and sorting, clearing away the clutter that accumulates in my wake...  Hugs to All....  OWAV:)

last daffodil to bloom, "Pheasant Eye".

Busy Tuesday...45º

Forget-me-knots

Have spent time this morning writing on my "Sunshine Anaphora" so blogging will have to wait for another day.

It rained hard late evening so everything got a good soaking and now the sun is trying to break through...Don't think it will last as we have more storm with possible snow showers in the forecast...Typical spring in Wallowa County...But what a wonderful time of the year...Hugs to All....  OWAV:)

Thunder...53º

Trollius

Up early this morning, thunder rolling in and rain threatening...We got the potatoes planted yesterday and hope they get a good soaking today...If not, we now have water in our irrigation ditch and Herb will get the pump hooked up so we can water with that.

I have book group this morning and a full day tomorrow with write people and garden club...Looking forward to garden club with a trip to Wallowa and "Flower Peddler Nursery"...Pam Harshfield has a small nursery and will give a demo on container planting, plus we get to choose starts and fill a planter to bring home...No host treats will follow at the "little Bear" drive-in...Should be a fun day.

Last night I watched another segment of "Downton Abbey" from the library DVD and have more to look forward to tonight...  Hugs to All... OWAV:)

Imnaha Again...45º

A small part of our bountiful lunch

The "Write People" have been planning this trip for almost a year now...Janie kept saying, "We have to go to my new place near Imnaha, in the spring. We can sit by the river and write." We chose the date, May 18th and the weather cooperated..."You bring lots of food", she said...And we did...Along with assorted drinks.

We carpooled dropping over 2000 feet, followed the winding road into the canyon, arriving shortly before noon and of course took a brief tour...She forewarned us about rattlesnakes and sure enough we saw one slither across the lawn and toward the river...We inspected every nook and cranny of the cabin, from the pantry through the kitchen, living room and bedrooms...Janie has furnished the cabin with family and yard sale treasures...Then we peaked in the outbuildings, viewed the orchard and followed a path across the river to the community garden and looked over Janie's 14 acres of fertile river bottom, rising to craggy rimrocks above...The sky loomed overhead, sun shinning brightly with a few clouds thrown in.

View from the kitchen sink

We spent the afternoon doing what we usually do, eating, drinking, laughing, talking and yes writing and reading...Only today with the sound of "Big Sheep" roaring by, filled with spring runoff...A Chickadee entertained us with its coming and goings as it built it nest in our midst.

Chickadee

Late afternoon some of us packed up to return "up top" (Joseph) while the others stayed, making themselves at home, sleeping bags rolled out in the bedroom or maybe under the stars near the river...Someone else will have to tell that part of the story....Hugs..  OWAV:)

P.S.  I have to add bigger photo's of my writing friends, I hope they don't mind.

Imnaha...43º

Too many interruptions this morning so I'll do a photo blog and move on...It was a great day in Imnaha yesterday because of the people that I was keeping company with.

Imnaha Trip...34º

Imnaha according to Wikipedia...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imnaha,_Oregon 

Imnaha, about 30 miles east of Joseph has a much different climate than Joseph and locals love to visit there in the spring when it is green and lush...Summers it is hot and dry but the growing season is amazing and they produce fruit crops including cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, blackberries as well as melons...All kinds of vegetables are grown and they are famous for the most wonderful tomatoes.

I think heaven can be described as: "Salt shaker in one hand, a warm, just picked Imnaha tomato in the other, juice and seeds dripping off of ones chin." Get the picture.

Main drawback for me other than the stifling heat in summer is the resident "rattlesnake" that one must always be aware of...I along with the rest of our "Write People" will visit this place today, spending time at Janie's cabin...  Hugs to all...  OWAV:)

Janie's Cabin just a few miles from Imnaha

Full Schedule...50º

What fun to post a picture on Facebook and get answers and comments...Now I know that what I saw gathering nectar from the daffodils yesterday was a "Snowberry Clearwing Humming Bird Moth"...More info at the link below...My new little camera got the clear closeup posted in yesterdays blog.                                                                          http://www.birds-n-garden.com/snowberry_clearwing_hummingbird_moths.html .

Met with Pat and Amy at "Mutiny" cafe in Joseph...We had lots to catch up on and will talk about our essays and write more on Friday when we have a special "Write People" at Janie's retreat on "Little Sheep Crick"...We look forward to spending the day, writing, eating, laughing and sharing in the quiet solitude.

Herb and I are busy, he getting the ditch water started for the summer, making humming bird food, as I saw our first little bird in the garden yesterday...I have some digging and planting to do and...We are in the beginning stages of a bathroom remodel, so will be looking at tile- shapes, sizes and colors, also vanities, toilets, shower heads, and faucets... Our bathroom was redone 30 years ago and has served us well but as the years add up we are ready to make it more assessable.

Finally I have a photo of the orchid that i've babied forever...It has 7 buds with 4 open into flowers and the rest soon to come...Hugs to all...OWAV:)

Hooky...54º

Yesterday morning, with no rain fall for sometime, everything looked really dry and flowers were starting to droop...So Herb and I hauled out hoses and sprayers, hooked up to the city water as our ditch is still dry and started to give everything a good soaking...

I called Pat and said, "No write group for me this morning, just too much to do outside." So to the sound of water spraying I deadheaded, dug dandelions and thistles and puttered the morning away...It was peaceful and quiet and I lost myself in the beauty that surrounds us...A different insect caught my eye...Do any of you know what this critter is?..Herb said it looks like some kind of biting fly...He was missing one antenna but he was such a beautiful color and enjoying the nectar left in the daffodils...Hugs to all...OWAV:)

OWAV:) Returns...53º

Always wonder before we leave town, should I broadcast the fact that our house on Barton Heights will be empty for a few days?..So in last Thursday's blog I just casually mentioned that we would be spending the weekend with family and left it at that...I left my computer at home and relied on the iPad for my mail and took a vacation from blogging.

We were off to Portland early Friday morning, stopped in Boardman for breakfast/lunch, where we split a Bozo Burger and milkshake...Then made the trip through the Columbia River Gorge and on to Portland...I love spring time and Portland is at its loveliest then, flowers blooming at every turn...Arrived at Garden Home Road where Bobi was busy putting the finishing touches on the huge pan of lasagna that would be our dinner...We had a quick visit then left to check into our motel, while Bobi picked Cienna up from school...We were soon all eating dinner, then off to Cienna's school for the evenings entertainment..."Honk" a musical spoof of the "Ugly Duckling"...There we watched in awe as middle school students sang, danced and acted for the next 90 minutes...Cienna who is most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt sans makeup was on stage, dressed in a form fitting dress, tons of makeup, 4" heels, dancing, singing and acting like it was the natural thing to do...Check out http://bobbi-writingonthewall.blogspot.com/...The play was the highpoint of the weekend but a wonderful Mother's Day dinner, for Stan's mother and myself, prepared by Bobi, topped off the weekend.

Below are photo's of Cienna acting like herself...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Oma, not another photo

Bob and Ci

Oma and Ci

Friends...31º

Friends, what would we do without them?..Tuesday and Wednesday was spent with friends...Write People friends, Sorority friends and just plain friends...The executive meeting went well at Darlene's and after that meeting we browsed 60 year old sorority scrap books that she had "unearthed" from her storage...I immediately thought of friend Jane who was a Charter Member of this group and knew she would love to have these books.

So I start on a mission and take two of the books to Jane...Jane has been my neighbor and friend for 40 years and now lives at Alpine House, assisted living, just a few blocks from her old home on Barton Heights...As I entered her cosy apartment the smell of cabbage and onions greeted me...Jane will be 88 this year and still attends the organizations that have been a large part of her life along with the 6 children she and husband Bill (died 2007) raised...The salad she is making is for an Eastern Star potluck...In her mini kitchen, cabbage and onions are scattered, dishes and utinsils are in disarray..."Jane, can I help?" "Yes Della, you can, I've got to sit down and rest." She rests and I clear the counter and wash up the dishes. With that done, I show Jane the books, but first I have other plans for Jane and I, the sun is shining and we leave Alpine House for a short drive to my house where she can see the daffodils and other blooms that she use to enjoy from next door. I pick her a bouquet, then we make a quick stop for salad oil for her salad and back to A.H. where she invites me to stay for lunch. The two of us join 20 other A.H. residents and dine on pork chow mien or chicken scampi. Jane see's me to the door, then pushes her walker toward her apartment, where she will spend the afternoon lost in the memories of 60 years ago, remembering long lost friends and her life back then, as a young wife and mother, when she first joined Beta Sigma Phi.

I met Pat for our almost daily walk, returned home, fixed Herb some dinner and relaxed in the living room...Herb says, "Becky is coming for a visit this afternoon." Now I have another friend to share my day and I will save her story for another time as I must get ready for today as I volunteer at Fishtrap with "other friends".

This weekend will be spent with half of our Family in Portland...Family and Friends, makes my world go round... I should have a lot to write about next week.  Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

Slept in...44º

After a morning of entertaining (or them entertaining me) the "Write People", Pat left for her volunteer stint at the local Library and I helped Herb finish the clean up and collapsed to my deck chair, laptop in one hand, glass of wine in the other...Soon Pat was back and we both sat on the deck enjoying a glass of wine together and rehashed the morning and the luncheon and the crazy ladies we associate with...Oh MY!

This morning I have a sorority executive meeting, then tomorrow I stuff envelopes at Fishtrap and have a sorority meeting in the evening.

The sun is shining in Wallowa County... Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

Write Group...39º

Short and sweet today, the Write People are meeting here, sun is shining, gardens are blooming, alive with color...I have a rhubarb crisp to make, other food to prepare...Should be a fun filled day on Barton Heights...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Essay...33º

A few days ago I published an "anaphora" tracing Herbs life from birth to college.  Today I am publishing my life, birth to my senior year in high school. This has been easy, but now I have to figure out how to continue telling the story of how we met, married and the following 50 years....Still keeping the "anaphora" style as this is my writing assignment for May...Please remember that both stories are how I remember things....That these stories in places are really close to the facts and in other places are figments of my imagination! So keeping that in mind, read on...I welcome feed back, comments, emails...Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

The sun shines on a cold October day 1942, baby girl is born at the family home, the last of 6 children. The sun peeks from behind a cloud, mother needs bed rest, recovery is slow. Sun is obscured when surgery is scheduled. Two older sisters step in to care for the new baby and sun shines again as new little girl grows by leaps and bounds drinking jersey milk from a bottle and soon the mother can be found working in her garden. The sun shines as her days are spent playing cowboys and Indians with the neighborhood children or running through the sprinkler, clad only in underpants as the sun bakes her skin to a golden brown. Then a sun filled day she starts to school, has to wear dresses and tight shoes. The tooth fairy arrives; a gap-toothed smile shows in the 2^nd grade photo. 

The sunshine dims as Father becomes disgruntled with endless day of work and mooching relatives. Clouds obliterate the sunshine as trucks are loaded with machinery and livestock. A touring car and a pickup complete the caravan and they travel 500 miles over treacherous roads arriving at “Jughandle Ranch” in the middle of a blizzard.

The sun shines on a frigid December day and Santa arrives that night to fill the stockings, one orange in the toe, mixed nuts and hard candy on top. Gaily wrapped packages under the tree adorned with icicles.

The little girl starts school in one room with a potbelly stove and children dressed from head to toe in wool, most of them fluent in a strange language as well as English. The sun shines high in the sky when spring arrives, slowly melting the snows of winter. The next 4 years fly by as she and a fellow classmate spend the summers riding bikes, mixing skunk cabbage and dandelions into mud pies they leave to dry in the scorching summer sun.  The sun shines as she learns to milk cows, play the saxaphone, drive a tractor and a team of horses named Bert and Dick. Sunshine dims when her sister clues her into the fact that Santa Claus and parents are one and the same.

Sunshine dims, puberty strikes but she remains her Daddy's girl, a “short curly do” replaces the braids. Sticking close to her father’s side, she is the hired man, always trying to lighten her father’s load. The sunshine hides behind a dark cloud as she enters high school, now it matters what you wear, jeans and t-shirts are exchanged for pleated skirts and sweaters with tags that say Jantzen, or White Stag, that is, if you belong to the “in group”. This girl watches from the sidelines or maybe settles in the middle group while the sun makes a come back. She enjoys making new friends and relates well to the teachers. Parties, dances, president of “Girls Club” gives her the social interaction she needs and she finds a niche in the music program, fills her spare time with bus trips as the band goes to festivals and the pep band follows the teams to ball games. The sun shining now moves into the autumn sky as parents silently watch their baby girl grow up. 

Sunny....30º

Checked my blog for May of last year, temperatures seem about the same, only I swear we have had more sunshine this year...It was frosty last night and today promises to be warmer...I have outside work, a walk planned, dinner to fix.

Yesterday I did some kitchen cleaning, balanced the check book, walked and we enjoyed leftovers for dinner...Late afternoon I sprayed liquid deer fence as the deer have been surveying the gardens for tasty morsels...I wouldn't mind sharing with them but they are very greedy and take every last bud just as they open...I have trollius and deronicum ready to bloom and the deer love both of these...Keeping my fingers crossed that the "stinky" deer fence continues to work.

Mona and Jerry sent photo's of their yard, in the Salt lake City area, taken in late April...Their aspens, newly planted two years ago are growing like crazy and other fruit trees are finished blooming and totally leafed out....  Hugs to All....  OWAV:)...

Mona in the shade of the aspens

Fruit trees

Sunshine....27º

It was a frosty one last night but the sun is out this morning with more on the way...We got the rainstorm we needed although at times it was mixed with snow...Started sourdough bread in the morning and "must go" soup around noon...Bread was done and soup well simmered by 2pm for our dinner, great meal on a cold rainy day.

Pat stopped by to download a program for her computer, then we had intended to walk which didn't happen because of the cold rain and breeze...Of course we caught up on each others news while she was downloading...  Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

Daffodils with a backdrop of Grape Hyacinths 

Essay...37º

Last month Katey threw a couple of writing prompts at "We Three" and I latched on to one of them...I think she realized that we were struggling with our memoir writing and wanted to challenge us and keep us interested...This new form is called an "anaphora"...You choose a phrase that will continue throughout the essay, usually at the beginning of most sentences...It has a rhythm to it, tells a complete story in a short time and is fun to play with...Mine is very rough but will share it with you anyway...  Hugs to all...  OWAV:)

                                                              Sunshine

    Sun shines now as it did 75 years ago in upstate New York, June 1937. A baby boy sleeps as his father walks into the bedroom to join his wife. She covers their son with a scratchy wool blanket, brushes his soft cheek with her moist lips, as sunshine fills the room. Pleased looks and a lingering embrace are exchanged as the new mother and father look in awe at their long awaited little boy. The sunshine warms the child growing up on a small farm, his constant companion a dog name Amos. Sun shines as boy starts school, loses front teeth, tooth fairy arrives. Sun shines when the jolly fat man brings oranges and nuts for stockings hanging by the chimney and gaily wrapped packages under a tinsel laden tree. Sun doesn’t shines when boy finds out that Santa and parents are one and the same. 

   Sunshine grows dim and the farm is unable to sustain their life, as the father’s health becomes an issue. Sun is hidden as a move takes them to a larger city, less strenuous work is found, they remain a small unit, 3 of them, content, sun shines, again. A few relatives live near, new friendships are formed. Boy is growing up, zits erupt on that same smooth cheek and whiskers soon follow. Sun shines as school keeps him busy, soon a part time job bagging groceries, supplies school clothes, gasoline, the first package of cigarettes, he briefly plays the trumpet and as coxswain keeps his team on cadence. He graduates from high school and Ranger School, as the sun shines higher in the sky. 

Sunshine hides behind a cloud as mother coughs, gasping for breath when her childhood asthma rears its ugly head and angrily demands that they move to a less humid climate. Sunshine hides behind a black cloud as their possessions are sold or given away and a small cedar chest is packed with the mementoes of the past 20 years. They load only the necessities that will fit in a pickup bed, covered with a homemade camper as the sunshine peeks out from behind the dark cloud. The sun shines on the cross country trip, three of them share in the driving of a 57 ford pickup. Five days and 3500 miles register on the odometer, the sun shines in a welcoming way as they reach McCall, Idaho. The mother no longer struggling to breath. 

Sun shines high in the sky as son starts a summer job awaiting him with the Forest Service and enrolls at the University of Idaho the coming fall. The sun shines as his paychecks afford new wheels in the form of a 2 door, 1953 mercury, shiny and black, polished to a high gloss. The sun shines as parents stand waving, tears streaming down his mother face as their only child climbs in the shiny car, revs the motor, smiles at the rumble it makes and leaves the family nest for college.

What to do?...35º

Yesterday I was up at 4am, internet would not connect...No email, No scrabble, No surfing...OMG...How would I manage, what would I do, it felt like my umbilical cord had been cut and I was floating in cyberspace with no place to land...I picked up one of the books, chair side, "Running With Scissors" (made into a movie)...Awful, AWful, AWFUL!..Enough said...I tried playing solitaire, boring...Kept checking the internet-nothing...Herb got up and I repeated my tale of woe..."What about the cookies, he asked?" Hmmmm, oh yes the cookies...When I arrived home late afternoon, on Tuesday from "Write People" he kindly ask if it would be possible since I now had my essay written and sent to Katey, might I have time to make molasses cookies or for that matter "any kind of cookies"...He was obviously having a cookie attack and I said, "Of course Dear, first thing in the morning." "Not now?" He said, with raised eyebrows, "I really want molasses cookies with my canned pears for supper." He ate sourdough bread toast with his pears but made sure I knew he was making a sacrifice...So now, early Wednesday morning, I got dressed and started creaming butter and sugar...A few hours later we had 6 dozen each of molasses crinkles (his mothers recipe) and oatmeal, raisin/cranberry/with orange zest, cookies ready for the freezer...Herb is happy now, after sampling the dough and warm cookies.

In the meantime, a technician arrived, put up a new dish for the internet and all is well...I'm connected again...Rusty chatted in on FaceTime and after I listened to his usual tale of woe as to how he dropped everything, rushed back to Georgia and is now waiting in a motel room for a container to arrive from Austria so he can go to work, I related my morning...No sympathy from him, as he said, "Mom how did you survive as a child, remember when you had no electricity, no telephone, no indoor plumbing and had to walk 3 miles to school, uphill both ways?"....  Hugs to All...  OWAV:)

Essay sent...33º

Frosty morning, sunshine with possible showers in the forecast...Yesterday Pat and I walked in a rainstorm and may again today.

My essay is winging its way to Katey via email...Breath a big sigh of relief...Always think I will be more prepared for the next time but I'm usually down to the wire.

Yesterday I planted lettuce mix, swiss chard and peas...Dug a few weeds from the flower beds and looked in awe at the daffodils all in bloom...Tried to get good photos this morning but I can't do justice to the daffodils so you will just have to imagine hundreds of blooms or stop by for a visit!  Hugs to All....  OWAV:)

Just one little bunch

Primroses