Replay for 55th Anniversary...48º

Quick Post...50º

55 years ago today in McCall, Idaho...A day much like today, warm and sunny...Herb and Idella, joined by friends and families on their wedding day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Married and carried over the threshhold.

Turning Cooler...52º

A busy day yesterday and a hot one as well...Early morning walk, haircut for Herb, I met Carol for breakfast in Enterprise before shopping at safeway and stopping at the care center to visit with Margaret...At home Herb was watering flower beds and lawns.

For dinner we had marinated portebella mushrooms, topped with sautéed garlic scapes, onions and a sprinkle of blue cheese, quinoa, fresh asparagus and greens...Not bad for a vegetarian meal.

Late afternoon was windy and stifling hot and included an hour long power outage...Funny how when the power goes off, all you can think of doing, requires electricity!

Temperature in the cool 70's today and even cooler into the weekend...Time now for my morning walk...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

CHIP Potluck...52º

For my first CHIP Supper Club I took, seeded flat bread and spinach artichoke hummus, good reviews on both...I asked Pat to come as my guest and Janice also attended as an alumni...About 18 students and guests attended...A nice array of food to choose from and the film, "FED UP" was shown...A scary film about how our food supply has changed over the years and is controlled by big business...Advertizing plays a big part in addicting our children to sugar at an early age as it can now be found in almost anything that is packaged...Check out the film as I can't do it justice here in a paragraph or two.

My outside chores are calling me and I must take a walk before the temperature starts to soar...Made the decision to take a vacation from Write Group for the summer, so I have more time to spent enjoying my blooms!..Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Janice and Idella

Active Sunday...60º

Up early yesterday, I took a walk, then worked in the garden in the cool of the morning...Herb had sheets on the line before 7am, as we both knew it was going to heat up fast...9am found us on the deck drinking our mango, apple, banana smoothie, fortified with flax meal and chia seeds...We have found that this type of drink keeps us going until noon, when we have a snack of our choosing.

Cleaning the table and benches for our deck is a job that quite often gets put off...So even though it was warm by noon, I found a shaded spot and armed with soapy water and scrub brush, Herb manning the water hose, we scrubbed and sprayed until all were clean, getting ourselves wet and cooled off in the process...Then it was time for a real shower before I started slicing and dicing veggies for a tri tip Chefs Salad.

Pam came for dinner late afternoon and brought fresh cherries and strawberries for our enjoyment...I strayed from the vegan food plan, enjoyed a glass of wine and added small amounts of cheese and meat to my salad...The evening cooled of nicely, the sunset was stupendous and sleep came easy in our freshly washed/line dried sheets...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Outside...54º

Early summer follows early spring this year...Yesterdays temp in the 80º with the same for the rest of the week and thundershowers thrown in, adding a little coolness...Herb kept the sprinklers going yesterday and more today...I must get out for a walk early this morning and work in the veggie garden replanting carrots and beets as the first batch didn't germinate and the quail also used the bed for their daily dust baths, rearranging the few seeds that sprouted.

Our deck is wonderful for relaxing in the heat of the afternoon and plan to do more today...New planters adorn our deck, much less work than before, will see how they work out for the summer...There is still a lot of work to be done, with the never ending cycle of watering, weeding, planting, rearranging, mowing and cleaning keeps us busy and happy that we are able to do these jobs!..Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Iris's at their peak.

My dinner yesterday.

Graduation...52º

18 our of 30 people showed up for the last night of chips, to eat vegan potluck...We celebrated our last night with vegan food, no caps, gowns or diplomas, just congratulations on a job well done...Everyone who finished the program lost weight, got good results on their blood tests and no one planned to celebrate with a steak dinner or a big juicy hamburger...We had worked too hard to blow it all on a fat, salt, laden meal...Not sure how long that state of mind will last but hopefully we have all developed some new habits and can continue with restraint...The local CHIP group will host a potluck "supper club" every month, to keep people connected and remind them to eat lots of veggies and fruits...People are already signing up for the fall CHIP program.

My numbers again came up encouraging, with cholesterol remaining stable, while I cut my dosage in half, blood pressure down another 10 points and weight down a total of 10 lbs...I lost a bit of the waddle when I walk and look forward to eliminating that completely.

The sun is shining, a glorious day in Wallowa County...Pat and I have yard saling on our mind and after that the lawn and flower beds need to be watered...Herb cleaned the deck yesterday, I have the planters, planted and afternoon it will be time to view the mountain...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Orange Water

Dessert

Broccoli Salad

Noodles and Stir Fry

CHIP Potluck...50º

Our CHIP classes are about to end and in celebration half of the class brought potluck last night and the other half will bring potluck tonight, all vegan of course!..I couldn't decide which of my dishes to take so ended up with all three...Tabouleh, Pea Bean Salad and Pita wedges...Of course the bread was the most popular, because so few people make bread...A few of the dishes (all tasted wonderful) I remember were "Thai veggies, Kale salad, Seaweed wraps, "meat patties" made from pecans, and too many salads to remember, all in all, added to fruit ice cream, with toppings it was a lovely, filling dinner...Now looking forward to tonights dinner and our last night...We get results from our blood tests to see what progress we made in the second month...I know I lost a few more pounds and my blood pressure when down a few more degrees...More on that in tomorrows post!

Our trip to LaGrande yesterday, found our eyes are stable...HooRay!..Quick shopping trip and we were back home shortly after noon...I spent the rest of the day cooking for last night...The sun is hiding this morning with possible showers...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Tabouleh with Quinoa

Pea/Bean Salad