Bright Spots on the Bingo Card of Life

I sip a very good Italian half cup of coffee, black, right now as I write this on ANOTHER rainy, drippy, soggy, wet day. But yesterday was the bright spot weatherwise. Sunny, warm and perfect for a picnic we headed to Winchester Lake immediately after church. I had prepared before leaving for church by packing up some fried chicken, salsa and chips, black olives, Perrier with slices of lime, and a scrumptious dessert of meringue pillows, whipped cream and strawberries. A thermos of coffee and more chips followed along with Jay's daughter's family. I'd packed bread, butter and bananas in case we needed more food for the kidlettes.

It has rained for months (when it wasn't snowing), and the forecast is for continued rain in our near future. So, yesterday was especially wonderful. Jay and I pose together after the particularly scrumptious dessert

pictured below with small paper cups of coffee.

Evan was not fond of the Pavlova (meringue pillows), but he gave them a try, and then passed the remains to Grampa Jay who is a nut for sweets.

Alina's description:

"It melts in your mouth like cotton candy!"

Isn't she the cutest little pixie...with a dot of strawberry on her bottom lip!?

Lovella and I took a walk around some of the lake while Grampa and Steve helped the kids catch a BIG trout, 3 brim, and 1 perch. We saw this heron fly up to the tree, and then take off a few moments later. The walk was invigorating, the conversation was sweet, and the time together was special because they are all caught up in building/sheetrocking/painting their house out at the ranch. The weather cooperated right up until we took our leave (4:00); it sprinkled on us the whole way home after the dark, gray clouds moved back in.

I thank God for the bright spot in the weather, for the bright spot at the lake, and the bright spot of a picnic. We don't do picnics much anymore because they are so labor-intensive. It was worth it to plan a very simple one with such perfect treats and perfect companions.

Years ago, and as a child, we celebrated this holiday with my Grandma Boothby in Portland, Oregon. My sister, Margy, and I would pick all the flowers in Gram's yard with her help, put them in the trunk of the car, and go to Grampa's grave at the veteran's cemetary where we decorated his spot lavishly. We called it "Decoration Day" back then, and we always had a picnic where my Grandmother would much on 'redishes' (she called them), and raw green onions with great enthusiasm. I miss her and those days when things were so simple. I tried to relive that simplicity yesterday, although we don't have but 2 tulips. We did have a conversation with an older fella who was fishing and wearing a United States Marine Corps cap.

It made me feel good inside.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Class Picture

on Costume Day.Dillon as Agent 007, Carson as Chef Gusteau, Faith...as our Lady,

Hunter as William Tell,

and me as Granny Smith.
Hunter is all decked out as William Tell with his famous popcycle stick cross bow.

Lady Faith dressed up for our pleasure.

At first I thought Dillon came as a preacher,

and then he put his glasses on and pulled out his airsoft gun

for an Agent 007 impersonation.

Carson, the French chef Gusteau.

Faith is not particularly happy about being the target,

but she is a good sport putting up with these characters.

We roasted marshmallows in the stove to make S'mores, and now my darlings are

playing with the science project, Flubber.

There is no end of things that can be done

with Flubber.

You don't want to know!

Spring Flavors

This is the view from the ranch where we run some cattle and are in the process of building a house for Jay's daughter's family. You can see the Camas Prairie in the background with brilliant yellow canola growing. And in the foreground is wild Camas, a lovely blue flower blooming in patures everywhere.

Here is Sir Evan.

We are crazy for a series called Monarch of the Glen, and I think Evan is taking Scottish plaids pretty seriously!

Canola, up close and personal.

More wild Camas

One MORE Pleasure of Homeschooling!

This is Part 2 of the homeschooling pleasures.

I left off with Faith and I going outside to 'play' with the bubble wand.

Here is: " Faith Framed by a Bubble"!

Below, we caught the picture just as the bubble begins to pop,

which you can see from the end moving toward Faith.

Yikes!

And...up into the wild blue yonder.

She sits beside me as I write this, helping me decide the colors of the font.

Truly a sweetheart,

my Faith is!!

One Pleasure of Homeschooling

This is Faith,

my darling girl who shows up every morning (unless she's sick).

Today Hunter called in sick; Dillon is at a band concert with his public school band class;

Carson called to tell me he'd rather stay home

to do his work since the other boys won't be here.

Faith?...well, she's faithful!

And her mother is the darling Aminta

who brought us maple bars and a mocha from our favorite coffee shop.

It doesn't get much better than this. I've been able to work with Faith all by herself as she catches up to be ready for 6th grade next year.

It has been a memorable morning, and I highly recommend this style of teaching!

And now? I'm off to make huge bubbles with Faith using our bubble maker because she's finished with her work and not ready to go home yet.

It's a bird; it's plane; it's an Impreza!

Okay, it is not every day that a girl gets a new car, a 'stylin' one at that. So, here I sit writing this up for you as I sip on some bubbly Perrier and nibble some chips as a celebration. Not a one of my friends is home, as it is an unusually sunny and warm day. They are probably all out with their families hiking.

I decided to begin looking for a 4-wheel drive car that Jay can get into and out of more easily. He test drove with me this morning all three cars in our town that met with my criteria. What was shocking to me was that he wanted me to get the more expensive one, and conservative as he is, it was a good choice. Neither of us had a single check in our spirits about it at all. I'm SO excited. Jay let me go back this afternoon to do the dickering while he went out to the ranch for a fence-building project with Stephen.

Below, you will see all the views possible of my 2007 Subaru Impreza. It is silver and has a 'spoiler', a huge trunk, plenty of leg room, automatic everything and even a radio that I can get hooked up to satellite... if I'm so inclined.

Oh, my, I can hardly wait to go to Lewiston for the big test drive on Tuesday to get my hair cut.

I'd had my Toyota for over 10 years. It was a '98 and still in very good condition, so I feel like a traitor to have gone over to the 'other' side with a Subaru.

I'd had Hondas and Nissans and Toyotas in my adult car life. Once I even had a Nash Rambler Station wagon that didn't have reverse in it.

The trade-in value for that car was a spare tire on the new one!

So, what do you think? Isn't she Pretty??????

And she has a sunroof.

Bluesday

As the snow blew sideways on Thursday my spirits went with the sideways snow. Before I knew I'd slid into the sideways-double lowdown blues. Fortunately I took all those thoughts and feelings captive and capitalized on a good thing...Christmas! I put in a Christmas CD, got out lights to string upon a glass table, picked a bouquet of red flowers from the sunroom and made fudge to pass around as I ran some errands.

My sister used to dub me the Silver-Lining Queen, so I guess the name fits. Anyway, my spirits were lifted, the snow melted and many where happy to share a piece of fudge around town.

The day before I'd visited with my daughter-in-law at her humble abode where she'd livened up the dining room with festive cloth hanging to make a sort of fort for her and Stephen as they celebrated their 15th aniversary. I'd provided Costco's cream puffs with some rhubarb jam drizzeled over, and which she shared with me the day after when I arrived for the inspection.

It is another of our few sunny days today, Mother's Day. I've heard from my precious son who is off to Warrior School with the National Guard before he deploys to Afghanistan, his wife, Melissa who is caring for their many children and enjoying it, and my daughter who is SO happy to be sharing a holiday with her sweet hubby home from Iraq.

God is good...ALL the time!