Readings, Thai Food, Concert...55º

A lovely Wednesday afternoon on Pat's deck, while her "Guys" were off on an overnight camping trip, found us glass of wine in hand, sampling Thai food, before we spent the evening at FishTrap's open mic...After listening to Brenda Miller, Kim Stafford/Perrin Kerns and John Danials, we exited the parking lot with an almost full moon illuminating our way.

Moon through the trees.

We are blessed/cursed with an abundant apple crop this year...Since last year we harvested just enough apples for one pie I was pleased when the tree bloomed profusely in the spring and the frost stayed away...Not so pleased now as I climb a ladder, stick my head up through the branches and remove apples the size of golf balls so the remaining ones will grow to a nice size...Herb emptied two five gallon buckets of these over the bank to compost and I decend from the treetops "itchy and crawly" headed for the shower...This is not my favorite job but one that must be done.

The daily temperatures remain in the 90's and we water continuously and try to get our chores done early morning...Herb has been making new steps leading onto our deck, making the access easier as we get less agile... Also he is putting in new barrier poles along the driveway flower beds...So we work for a few hours in the morning and shade up for the rest of the day enjoying our lovely views of mountains, field of mustard and flowers blooming with utter abandonment in our yard...The vegetable garden got off to a slow start but is looking better now with garlic close to harvest, cabbages starting to form heads, cucumbers, squash, peas, beans and potatoes "growing."...The grape vine is making nice leaves that will soon be made into a batch of Dolmas/stuffed grape leaves.

Volunteer field of Poppies

Petunias on the Deck

Last night Herb opted out of the Thursday night music so Pam and I set up chairs along with about 100 other people to listen to fiddle music put on by the annual "Fiddle Camp" taking place in Wallowa this week...Good music and good friends made for an enjoyable evening capped off by a lovely sunset after I arrived home.

Barton Heights Sunset

News from our kids...Bobi has been nursing a badly sprained ankle for a week, only to find out after a trip to the doctors and xrays that it is really a broken ankle...A boot and crutches will be her constant companion for weeks to come...Rusty is finishing his job in Yakima and will return home to Bend next week...Cienna lifeguarding and awaiting the exact date that she will fly to Thailand to spend the next year as a Rotary Foreign Exchange Student...Hugs To All...OWAV:)