Happy Kid Times

So during the weeks prior to Christmas (kinda since December 1st) our household has consisted of Me, Stu, Blake ,Scout ,MacKenzie, Jason, James and Jeremy. (And Brogin randomly). The week before Christmas we lost James and Jeremy, but were rewarded with Cousin Colin on Christmas night. Even so...he departed today. So we are now back down to 6 + Grampa - that makes 7. Oh wait, Brogin is here so that is back to 7. No! 8! Crap I can't count!
Anyway,
it is a happy thing that all these people who are under the age of 26 are filling my house with loud energy and cutting edge thought/philosophy. (Of course we all know they are young and what ever they are spouting is utter crap...) ;o) no just KIDDING! (sorta.)
Anyway, it is a happy house that is filled with people, all young and all different from each other. Especially during the holidays.

These make the days when I am glad that I am still above ground.
;o)

Blog Books?

Normally when I see the obvious marketing strategies of online printers advertising that you can "turn your blog into a book" I think to myself, "ugh! As if anyone wants to read anyone elses inner krap! what a self absorbed thing to imagine!"

Today as I sat in Lisa W's office we were chitty-chatting about where our lives were in the past and things that happened back then to shape you we are today with God and such.

She said, "Michelle, you should write some of this down!"
Apparently there is this guy who put forth a Nove3mber challenge to write everyday no matter what.

As I listened to Lisa she3 mentioned that at times when she had gone back to read stuff she had written adn to write down things she remembered from her past, she was amazed and reminded of how good life is and how active God had been in so many ways at the time.

So I thought, "I have at LEAST 5 years of blogging going here. Surely I can pull our a few highlights for myself to remind myself of how good things really are.

Since my blog has aplty fallen on the title "Stop Talking, I'm Out of Aspiring" perhaps the only title for the snippets would be "Aspirin."
I dunno.
And I dunno how I will format these snippets into any sort of valuable entertaining retrospective.

But it got me thinking.
Soemtimes it is GOOD to revisit the past to remind yoru self of
A). How far you have come
B). How life is a series of hills and valleys. When yoaure on the mountain, remember that you will again be in the valley someday, so write down the good times. When you are in the valley, write it down so that you can remember how God brought you through it.

So it has set me to thinking...


ADDENDUM:
sometimes it is also good to give oneself a break and to say, "Screw the Typos. I Yam What I Yam." so yeah, there are a poo-load of typos in that, and I am going to turn a blind eye to them. Besides I am certain most of you can read fluent typo. ;o)

Beaters

So it's the holidays and I found my self buying a new hand held electric mixer.
I threw out the old one and was prepping to throw out the matching beaters. (It seems as though I go through this process every few years). I thought to myself, "what if I just take the beaters to the thrift store?" And then I thought about that.

How many electric mixers do I imagine come into the thrift store with no beaters?
None.
Because we throw them out because they are DEAD. It's the beaters that go on and on and on for ever with no hope of use or solace.(Pregnant pause...looks at self in mirror? Moves on...).

So THEN I thought to myslf, "I wonder if there is a sculpture or some sort of wind art I could create using all of these beaters?"
I bet the thrift store would practically GIVE me them all to create a sculpture or something for their silent auction each year.

Hmmmmm......food 4 thot....

Kristi's Kritters

Got a few photo's of Kristi's animals. Ok only a few - there are like 30-ish horses and 3 dogs and 2 cats and a bunch of cows and peacocks, so this is only, uhm...2 animals but hey!

Here they are in all of their fuzzy, fluffy glory:

Kristi's Kritters (All two of them for today)

I Am Yurt

Love the Yurts!

New, exciting, fun AND cheap. $40 a night. Heated with electricity. What's not to like?!

So I did a prelim investigatory visit to Newport.

Pics can be seen here.

Also, I checked out the November Yurt site for Lynn Nancy and Paula and I:

Seen here

Basically, the yurt is heated and has electric lights and plug ins. There is a covered porch where we are allowed to cook - as there is no cooking allowed INSIDE the yurts. There is a water spigot next to the yurt but we must walk to use the camp ground restrooms and showers - which aren't too far. There is a small table and chairs inside as well as to heavy duty plastic lawn chairs. There is an exterior picnic table and fire pit.

I did not bring my campstove but I did bring my electric cook pot - shaped like a soup pan but plugs in like an electric fry pan. I used it to cook soup and boil water for coffee in the coffee press.

I think maybe the most effeicient way of getting here might be to go up to Albany and take Hwy 20 west to Corvallis / Toledo /Newport...but you guys may have a more efficient path. Each additional car costs and extra $5 to park so I dunno if you all want to come together or what.

Anyway, there is the scoop so far.

I can't wait!!!!

the Aftermath...

The resulting images of our sojourn at the beach can be viewed at the following link: Manzanita September.

Sunday Church with Cat Stevens.

Yes you read that correctly.

Some people would say that he got a lot of stuff wrong.
I would counter that by saying that he also got a lot of stuff right.
Now that I am older I can really connect with some of the truths he came in contact with
and purveyed them in their context.

I downloaded a bunch of old music from Buddha and the Chocolate Box, Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat.
On my way in to town to feed the cat and get groceries before everyone woke up, I put in this CD and was reintroduced to a song called "Wind".

It brought on a prayerful moment that wanted to last the entire day, so I changed my plans on the way back from the store. I decided i would take my camera and head south toward Fort Rock and Paulina Caldera, and the obsidian flow. I never made it to Fort Rock. I spent the day climbing around in the lava flow (and still have more to investigate there), and ran out of time to go further south.

Getting used to this new camera is really frustrating! I am just not familiar enough with the settings to get even remotely passable photo's with it. I have immense difficulty learning from written material, manuals etc. It's like I have this disconnect in my brain with regard to learning via reading. I am more of a "hands on, show me, gotta do it myself" style of learner.

So as it ended up I only got 2 barely passable images, but it was an awesome day to drive around, meditate on things, and climb about in the park and hike.

:o)

True thang.

Thanks to J Ryd for sharing this.

Found: Lost Surfer Beach Pics!

Lynn will be SO happy!

This was the June trip. It rained the first day but it was ok, the surfers were still out and it made everything that much more vibrant. Please excuse water drops on some images. I am too lazy to photo-shop them out right now.

Surfer Beach, June 2011.

This was the same weekend as when the boys came up and climbed the house and Arcadia Rock.

FINALLY!! Graduation pics!

Tah-DAH!
And now I give you:
Graduation, 2011

I apologize to Scout, Allan and everyone else for how longs it's taken me to get these posted...but at least I got it done before the end of the summer.
;o)

Dufur Threshing Bee 2011

Dufur is a wonderful little secret. Who would ever go somewhere purposefully, as a destination, to a place named "Dufur"? Well, I can't wait to go back next year. Hot as 12 yards of "you know where", it is also a picturesque farming valley. And for one weekend a year it is filled with draft horses, steam tractors, horse drawn farm equipment, parades, and a field full of food, craft and antique vendors. Not to mention the many garage sales that pop up to take advantage of the tourist traffic. Having said all of this, I heartily admonish you to avoid the place. Why? Because a well kept secret needs to stay that way. ;o)

If you MUST see, then here are just a few photos from my trip this year.

WHAT a DAY!!!

UGLY RANT.
DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR SOUL DARKENED.
HORRIBLE NEGATIVITY ABOUT TO COMMENCE:









-Stu's new Volvo dead again. Fixed and paid. so far this $2400 car has cost me
approx $4000.
-Visitor ends up being a pot/coke head coming down off meth.
(NOT the visitor from Mich. The OTHER visitor from Cali.)
I am not capable of seeing this person thru rehab.
We all thought he was clean to begin with B4 arriving.
Does that make me a bad person for saying, "Uh dude? I did not sign up to hold your hand through rehab. And apparently it would be rehab that you don't even think you need?)

-Against my wishes and better judgement, I LET Stu take the Montero!
-Montero breaks, needs new engine now! Blake James and Stu are stuck out in Jordan Valley, OR. Blake n James stay at the mechanic shop with the vehicle while Stu walks / hitch hikes the 150 mi to Nampa Idaho.

-Scout is burnt out and tired.
(How this is my responsibility I don't know other than...something.)

-Stu informs me that if he is supposed to pick kenz up from camp as was previously planned, then he will be forced to drive the Volvo - as if I am a bad person for not giving him the next good car in line to make that trip. He insisted on buying the Volvo! Now bloody drive it! I've sunk a krap load of $$ into and not a dime of his, so he has no right to insist that I owe him a different car to use, aka Scout's Subaru.

Can you tell, people?
Can you see?

Right now I'm A DONKEY ON THE EDGE!!!

A month before Blake was born, I was involved in a car crash at 9+ months pregnant.
I spent the first 6 months of his life in a wheel chair and on crutches. In order to move the baby around the house, I crawled on my knees and pushed him from room to room in a bassinette exactly like this one. When he was asleep in his crib, I filled this bassinette with laundry and pushed it down the hall to the washer on my hands and knees.

When I saw this in the store today, it brought back SO MANY memories.


Unlike this thing below, which I found in a booth while dusting. If one of my friends had found this, he might have put it in his "Um..." photo album on Facebook. It certainly does have "um..." value:



Yes it is an antique pottery jar.
Below is a close up of the text.




...um...

One of America's Great Cook Books

The Mirro Aluminum Ware Manufacturing company created cook books to help promote it's products. Without fail Every recipe that I've ever made from this book has turned out exactly as it should and some of our greatest family-secret recipes have come from this book.

Here is a picture of how it would have looked when my mom got it back in 1950:



After years of tireless use, you can see how ours looks today:

Smith Rocks July 2011

This is what we were doing while some imbecile was busy backing in to my Studebaker down at the depot.



To see the rest of the photo's from the day, click HERE.

And here is the terrifying CARnage. Be forewarned, these are graphic images and may not be suitable for all viewers:

Because of the extreme high and low tides due to the full moon phase, we were able to experience an abundance of wild sea life this trip. I am now strategically planning for future trips.








I am falling more in love with the south Jetty area as I scope it out and have now foudn that I can drive on this particular beach. Hmmmmm, a vehicle.....on the sand....food for thought.





We made a trip to the jetty and found a tiny little bird hidden amongst the rock as well as a large flock of Sanderlings behind the Jetty

Tiny bird

Flock of Sanderlings

We all had a great breakfast at a local hotspot:


A sample of plants from the Bread and Ocean Bakery in Manzanita




New Fave Place: surfer beach, killer tidepooling opps:



Found a new favorite beach to rival the previous one. This place BEGS to be shot with the fish eye lens. Fortunately Kristi and Scout M and I will return in September for a fish-eye fest. Here Lynn found some tiny shells clinging to a crack in a cave.


Lynn found a "thing". Therefore I have entitled this photo "Lynn's Thing."
Profound, no?



"Kelp Wad" - it sounds like a mean name I could call you.

Grampa Fish

Chinese stars

I have previously posted images of one of my favorite beaches and their difficult to reach rocks - except at low tide. I don't know what it is, but James has a need to climb. Climb the highest mountain. Climb things that no man (in his right mind) would think to climb. If yo like to go tidepooling, try hard not to think about the death that just occurred here...





The whole point of this visit was to get some fair pics of the boys inside this abandonment. I forgot my tripod, so apparently another trip is now required. Here are the sadly inadequate images sans tripod:

Brag brag...beach...brag brag...blah blah blah...beach...etc and on and on...

I am beach.

Got crabs...?

With another beach trip looming this upcoming weekend, I found this long lost foto from Scout's and my February 2011 trip:


Lynn and I are going to make the epic trip to Manzanita. Hiking will ensue, I'm sure.
As will appropriate wine consumption.

1997 Paris Tour Revisited

In 1997 I was priviledged to be sponsored for a trip to Paris by my Getty Art Prof. Friend.
It was a 1/4 credit accelerated art history credit through University of Portland's "Art for Educators" program. It was 2 weeks of intensive art immersion solely in Paris with one excursion to Giverny - The home of Monet. I am looking at doing it again...if not next year, then perhaps the one after:

See tour details.

This is VERY similar to the trip I took back then as part of Portland States Curriculum.

I am hoping to find a way to save up to take my kids on this trip.
It has become a goal.

Dear Child of mine...

...even while the words were escaping your lips, I knew that you were lying.
The proof came 24 hours later.
It took only a few minutes for you to destroy a lifetime of trust.
Now, no matter what you say, I have NO foundation upon which to stand so that I can believe anything you say whether it is the truth or not.
You have destroyed any point of reference.

It will take you a VERY long time to rebuild that ability to trust, and rfrankly, its not
my problem to rebuild.
It's yours.
Are you going to even try?
If not then don;t pretend to have a right to
be offended if I am distrustful.
You are the one who shattered the trust.
Did you think yourself to be so clever as to not be found out immediately?
Do you not remember the old saying: "Moms have eyes in the backs of their heads"?
There is an excellent reason why this saying came to be.

And now...
what will you do?
Will you come forward and confess of your own accord before I am forced to confront you?
that is the only way to immediately begin rebuilding the road to trust.

I am waiting but will not wait forever.
I WILL call you out after a short time.


EPILOGUE:

Grace wins.
Peace comes from truth.
Truth rebuilds trust.
Construction has begun.

Fun Claymation

Kenzie found a cool claymation on Netflix instant watch the other night and it
is pretty danged good. It is called:


Max and Mary.

The link is only to the first trailer for it, but if you have netflix you can get it on instant watch.
Its really worth the watch.

The Quilt Abyss and it's Minions...

...have descended upon the town. Sometimes I just have to laff at the rudeness of these people who should be otherwise. I had to walk from one end of town to the other. No one...not a single person was willing to share the sidewalk with me. They kept walking 2 or 3 abreast and never even appeared to consider condensing to let on-coming walkers have room to pass without going out into the street while they hogged the sidewalk.
Ok.
Well what ever.

Then there was the lady that asked my friend at her bookstore, "Do I have to pay full price on this? I am a quilter. Don't you people have Quilter's Discounts?"

*Facepalm*

I actually proud of myself though.
There is a verse in the bible that says the equivalent of "Be nice to your enemies, because it will be like heaping hot coals on their heads, when you are nice to them and they are butt heads to you" (that was the Michelle paraphrase.)

So the way I get through quilt show is to take the concept and flip it around, by attacking the event itself with all the niceness I can imagine:

-By helping Wanda streamline the process of how the store works in order to SERVE these
naggy, self absorbed snitty creatures (instead of thwarting them?) ;o)

-By looking each creature in the eye, and trying to decipher their needs/wants and how to meet them in the most efficient way.

-By reminding myself of 2 things:
-This event only last for 1.5 weeks
-Repeating to myself, mantra-like, in the style fo the Matrix (there is no spoon) that
"There Is No Quilt Show, There No Quilt Show. There is no such thing as quilt show..."

Anyway, tomorrow I just have to survive it. Then it will be over for another year.

Why did I ever bother?

And what's more, why do I continue to?

Funky Animation: The Secret of Kells

Directed by Tomm Moore.

If you have NetFlix, search it.
Traditionally I have heard of the main character as "Aidan" as opposed to "Brendan", but even so, the animation is nutty.
I am liking it.

:o)

A trailer is Here.

And a blurb is written up Here.

More from Last Weeks Beach Trip

Morning walk on the beach at Manzanita with her trusty Americana thermos circa 1976.

Sand formations

What is this thing?

It's down on the river side of Astoria, by the canneries:

What ever it is, I like it. It is "Riven-esque".

Abandoned "Red" Cannery.

We took a walk along the wharf. Astoria has put a jogging path along the river that cuts right through the heart of the industrial area, and "Cannery Row" down to the Maritime Museum, abandoned train depot and beyond.
Scout found poppies growing along the banks. in the back you can see one of the cannery's. Just after we took this picture, one of the guys working out back was rinsing all the gurry out into the river, while a sea lion was enjoying the buffet. The stinker kept diving under every time I tried to get a pic of him though, so I eventually gave up.

More of Scout's Starfish

The tide is rapidly climbing up the jetty, and covering up all of the little Starfish.

Too freakin tired!

Perhaps its because of the busy tumult of daily living just catching up with me, perhaps it is the fact that we were all awake last night enjoying the wonderful thunder and lightening storms that came through the area dumping hail and mass amounts of rain. Perhaps it is just being tired after today's biopsy...nothing big, just a dumb 'ol pre-emptive thing. I just didn't expect to be this lethargic. Perhaps it's mostly all of the above put together. I know i spoke to other people today and it seems like we are ALL exhausted. I think it must be that we were all awake listening to the storm. I hope we get another one tonight. I'll just plan for a nap tomorrow if it happens. :o)

Killer thunder storms last night in the wee hours. Finally Scout, Brogin and I got up about 430 to watch. Awesome!

Animal Planet?

I have done nothing but care for other people's pets for the last 2 hours straight.
And that is not counting my friends cat in town.

Most of it is the fault of PetSmart!
The sold my daughter a sick rat, and lied about it. $100 later I will be going back in there to hold them accountable. I may end up going in there again if our other rat gets sick.

Ugh!

But now Pickles is significantly improved, and both cages are sterilized. The dog has been
medicated, the cats fed. Now I gotta do the aquarium and then go into town and do Spaz The Cat. (At least she is pretty easy and quick to care for!)

June Beach Trip, Day 2, Part 2

Scout finds some Starfish on the ocean side of South Jetty.

The mighty Starfish hunter on top of south Jetty.





PS - It's official: I think I hate this new camera.

Beach Day 2

Dismal Nitch.
That is the real true name of the place.
Named by Clark of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame.

Look at that green. It was VERY slippery. Now, in your imagination, can you imagine the stink? Yes. oh yes.