FAREWELL TO LISA AND AMBERLY

As anyone who knows me must know by now, today was a very sad day for me. Lisa headed back south for school. She is such a joy to have around, so much enthusiasm for life,such a precious friend. She will be missed.

As Ron helped her pack up her car I made her breakfast request, bacon and eggs with feta, tomato and mushrooms. When Amberly got up I fixed her BLT as that was what she prefered. Farewells were said and off they went. We gave Lisa Ron's little Ford Ranger. It has airbags and is a truck so we pray she will be safer than with her old Camry station wagon. Only God knows, but you do your best.

The rest of the day I spent trying not to think of how long it will be until I see her again. (Maybe Thanksgiving) That thought is too difficult right now. Life seems to give us these times that we must adjust to and so we must. How is that for a philosophy lesson?

FULL SATURDAY

So here was a completely full day. I got up at 6:00 to clean bathrooms and wash the kitchen floor. When Ron woke up we took a walk and then headed out to the store to buy last minute stuff for tonight's dinner. As soon as I returned home I packed a picnic lunch because Lisa wanted to take Amberly to Howard Prairie Lake.

Lisa leaves tomorrow for school. I couldn't miss spending at least some of the day with her. So we headed off to the mountains. When we arrived at Howard Prairie we saw that the lake was so far down that there were no rental boats and the water was nearly dried up clear beyond the jetty. That was a bit disappointing. But heck, the lake is used for irrigation. What did we expect in late August? I had just forgotten. We did have our lunch out on the jetty though. From there the girls picked up some root bear floats for which this resort is famous .

From there we thought we needed to show her something beautiful so we drove a little further to Lake of the Woods. That was stunning. Amberly says there aren't these kind of lakes in Texas, at least anywhere near Houston where she lives. That seemed to satisfy Lisa. She wanted so badly to show her the pines, mountains, and deep blue water. Luckily we were home by 2:00.

I needed to shower and finish preparing the food. I made spicy pork salad, another of May's recipes and chicken breasts in a peanut bake (kind of a Thai shake and bake stuff) The chicken is served with Thai sweet chili sauce. I did make Jasmine rice at May's suggestion. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and the guests were quite complimentary.

They liked the movie also. It was a fun evening.

CATC HING UP

FRIDAY

Well finally Amberly started feeling better. She had a restful day still with one drive out to Immigrant Lake because Lisa just had to show her something.

Ron and I had our monthly Video Party coming up on Saturday. During the week we previewed quite a few films, mostly foreign. We decided on a Thai film called BEAUTIFUL BOXER. That inspired Ron and he thought we should do a Thai menu. I had never made Thai food before. But I had an excellent resource as you can imagine. May had long ago given me recipes for Tom Yum Gai and a spicy pork salad. May would say these are easy to make. That's because May is such a creative wiz at everything. Ron kept insisting on Thai and I couldn't convince to bring in take-out. So I made the Tom Yum Gai a day ahead of time. It tasted pretty hot and we are hoping it will cool down some when it sits. I don't know. Does it work that way? I also set the table with the best Thai decor I could find. That means chopsticks, an elephant, a turtle, and the placemats that May's gave us when she came for Rick and May's wedding. (Picture included)

TOURING ASHLAND

Amberly's first full day in Ashland was spent sleeping in for starters. When she got up we had a nice big breakfast. Then Lisa took her all around Ashland, the stores, a walk through Lithia park, the Shakespeare Theatre, etc. When they came home Amberly took a nap because she wasn't feeling very well. We weren't catching on too quickly. In the evening she said she felt better and we went to dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant, Senior Sam's.

From there we went to the Green Show at the Shakespeare Theatre. It is music and dancing that was absolutely amazing, so beautifully done. The choreography was great. The musicians and vocalist couldn't have been any better. We were all impressed. (Some photos included.)

However, after we returned home we found out that Amberly was running a temperature of 102. This morning we took her to Urgent Care only to find out that she has strep thoat. Her brother had this two weeks ago and she had hoped she had side-stepped it. Poor girl! She didn't! She is sleeping as I write.

And Lisa went to take her final Final for the summer. Wish her luck.

I am also including a funny picture of Yogi who prefers sleeping on our decorative pillows to his bed whenever possible.

AMBERLY ARRIVES

Life here has been very routine with Lisa in Portland. But she returned last night with Amberly, her USD friend from Texas. We are so happy to have her and Lisa looks forward to showing her some more of Oregon before they return to school. We began by feeding her spaghetti dinner. Hopefully, things will pick up from here.

Our only other excitement was when our visiting deer showed up with her fawn. Bambi in the flesh.

VINTAGE SLIDES

Today Uncle Ron spent much of the day trying to put Uncle Dave's old slides on CD. He wasn't too successful in that the slides came out quite fuzzy. At the family reunion we had thought it would be easier to do than it was. Here are a few samples. Sorry about the sideways ones. I really am not very good at this. But I hope to learn. Did you notice our family's two angels on the first snapshot? They are kind of fun anyway.

Lisa left for Portland this morning. Ronnie bought her a ticket to join him, Amy and Amy's brother, Aaron, for a Cold Play Concert tonight. She will stay in Portland until Sunday visiting her siblings. A friend from USD who lives in Texas is flying into Portland Saturday night. Lisa plans to show her Portland, Eugene, and then Ashland before they drive down to San Diego a week from Friday. Busy future for Lisa.

FAMILY REUNIION ---MORE PHOTOS

I am sure there are a few more pictures you would like. I'll try to find them ( and then go to bed).

FAMILY REUNION SATURDAY EVENING

Ron and I with the help of Kerry, Donna, Mikaila, and Christie set up the tables in the afternoon ing the Deanza Clubhouse. It was the larger clubhouse so there was plenty of room for everyone. The dinner started at 6:00. We had excellent barbecuers and a fabulouse potluck of side dishes.

But best of all was the company. After dinner we held hands in a prayer circle of 101 people and prayed for Aunt Jeannie. Just over the weekend we found out that she is having some trouble with her lungs. It has us all a bit frightened and tests are being run to find out what the problem might be. None of Mike Cosley's family attended as they are all supporting Mike and Jeanne. All of them were really missed.

I have included as many pictures of the event as I could tonight. It was quite successful I believe. Those who couldn't attend were dearly missed.

FAMILY REUNION 2005 SATURDAY MORNING

In the early morning Ron, Steve, and Dan went golfing. I wandered over to the campsite to check on everyone. People were only beginning to arise around 9:00, except those assigned to the babies.

Anyway we all eagarly awaited the arrival of Mom and Dad (Grandpa and Grandma) to some of you blog readers. It only seemed truly right when they arrived escorted by Uncle Dave. Now the picture was complete. The major part of the day was once again spent visiting. Even my mom's sister, Aunt Dorothy, joined us. So much wonderful family everywhere, young people, older people and absolutely everyone in between.

FAMILY REUNION 2005 FRIDAY

It is difficult to know where to begin. But I guess I will start with Friday. We left at 6:00 am. We hit McDonald's for lunch. Lisa brought a friend, Natalie. She's been nearly a family member for eight years now. When we arrived we checked into the hotel.

At the campground we found the Dicksons, David III, Kim, Chloe, Melissa, Matt and Angela all settled in. Lisa and Nat had lots of help setting up their little pup tent. Soon after Steve arrived with Ryan and Kim. We hung out and visited. Brad, Angie's boyfriend, drove down for the evening and we all loved seeing him. We roasted hot dogs, ate snacks, drank wine or beer depending on your tastes.

We missed terribly our absent loved ones and you know who you are.

PREPARING FOR THE FAMILY REUNION

Well it's Thursday here and we are getting ready to head south tomorrow. I'm packing. Lisa's grabbing her bag and Ron is starting to load the car. It should be a fun weekend. Lisa's friend, Natalie, will be joining us. We hope to leave early in the morning.

This evening we had dinner at the Mongolian Barbecue. Yummy! Then Lisa and I went downtown to try a new favorite ice cream of hers. It is called KahluaCrunch. Ashland on a summer night is just heavenly.

ONE RELAXING SUNDAY

Hello there. I am a little late getting this blog out.
I am also uncertain how to inject the photos and text and all. As you can probably see something changed this time. Anyway, yesterday a beautiful deer wandered into our back yard. That was just before Ron and Rick started their little chipping game. Ron has quite the layout set up there for many family competitions. While they did that May spent at least six houre on the Sims game.

In the evening when Lisa got off work we took everyone to the Olive Garden for Rick and May's anniversary which was last week. But we enjoyed celebrating anyway, as you can see. You and Ron are next, Amy. May loved the after dinner mints so much so asked for some extra and received 15. The rest of our night was spent seeing BUBBA HO TEP, a rather bizarre and still entertaining movie. I don't necessarily reccomend it although Ron burned a copy. He must have really liked it.