Garden Update - Part 2

Well, I am wrapping up my 1 week vacation and since it was a "staycation" all I have to show is garden pictures. I last posted pictures on June 21st - what a difference a month makes. The tomatoes have now climbed through the top of the cages and are taller than I am. They have all set tomatoes, but I am still a ways from anything ripening. The squash have loved the heat of the last 3 weeks and are crawling everywhere. I have Buttercup set now, but no Delicata or Butternut yet. The sunflowers are just opening. Unfortunately they didn't reach the 6-10' feet promised on the seed packet. At 5+ feet they are just a bit shorter than the tomatoes.


Down in the big garden thing are a bit behind last year. The Cosmos I started from seed have just begun to bloom and the bush beans are just beginning to bloom too. My first 2 dahlias of the year opened this week. Pictured below is "Weston Miss" a miniture semi-cactus.

In Loving Memory: Higgins

He was a good cat.

Camp Millacoma 21 July 1971

This is a copy of a letter Grams wrote to me 38 years ago while I was attending Camp Millacoma in Allegany, Oregon.

"July 21, '71

Dear Beth -

Wonder if you are spending most of your time in the pool. If it is as warm at camp as it is here that's the best place to be. It was 98 yesterday - cooler today supposed to be just 93. It is 8:15A.M. - Kristi & Grandpa still in bed - I've been up two hours - feel more like working when it is cooler. Cam is eating Frosty Flakes. Hope you are finding something to eat. Imagine you are doing some of your own cooking. Grandpa & I go camping this week-end. It is for our church - down toward Florence on Clay Creek. Been thinking I might take Ed & Kevin - will see. Will probably only get to stay Sat. nite and I'm not sure all the packing up is worth just one night of camping.
Took Ed to piano yesterday. He was at Grandma Cookson's - had his swimming lesson. Haven't seen any of the rest of your family - tho' I talked to your Mom - she didn't seem too happy about going back to work.
Talked to Aunt Sandie - she (& the rest of the family) had spent Sun. at Fern Ridge & she, Uncle Jack, Kevin & Mike got sun burned. She water skiied. They have six new puppies (or rather Tina did).
Hope you are having fun - will be interested in hearing about camp & the back packing.
Love from Grandma & Grandpa W."

Greetings from Lake Superior!

We were on vacation last weekend. We drove up to the Upper Pennisula (U P) and camped at Muskallonge Lake State Park. This is a pretty little lake and it is separated by about 500 ft of land from Lake Superior. The big lake is so clear! But, unlike Lake Michigan, it is just as cold as the Pacific. The beach is littered with many different rocks, including beautiful granite. It was like looking at countertop samples.

We spent 4 days camping and were visited by raccoons and a couple of thunderstorms. We also saw a bear, deer (one at Taquemenon Falls was 3 feet from Quinten), chipmunks, a field mouse, and yes even a small green snake. Both kids caught a Pumpkin Seed (Sunfish).

They were the calmest kids catching fish I've ever seen. Quinten quietly reeled it in and then said calmly, "I think I've got something."

We spent our days walking to lighthouses and waterfalls. We went to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI and saw the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Quinten expressed my thoughts when he said, "Papa would have loved this," when were looking at logging equipment from the late 1800's. I really missed him when I was standing on the shores of Gitchee Gummee. (My kids called Gramps "Papa"). Below are some of the sights.

Au Sable Light

Point Iroquois Light

Whitefish Point Light Taquemenon Lower Falls

Taquemenon Upper Falls Sable Falls

Road Trip - Corvallis, Oregon

Earlier this summer Lexa and I talked about driving up to Corvallis some Saturday and checking out their Farmers' Market. When on Wednesday I received a postcard from Friendship Crossing stating their annual cross stitch sale would be Saturday the 11th, it seems that it the time had come to make the journey to the land of Beavers!

Lexa made the ultimate sisterly sacrifice, and agreed to get up by 7:00am on a Saturday so that we could begin our "Road Trip" to Corvallis by 8:00am and be in Corvallis by 9:00am. As you can see from the photo above, Friendship Crossing had a sidewalk sale too! Everything on the front table was either $1, or $2 or $3 - how could I resist? I ended up spending about 90 minutes filling my bag with charts and fabric - so much fun!

Lex was not bored out of her mind while I was floating (and buying) in cross stitch heaven. She met at friend for breakfast and a good visit at New Morning Bakery -just two doors down. After I was done shopping, I grabbed a chocolate croissant - it too was heaven on earth! A super-sized croissant with chocolate liberally drizzled on the top...and, if that were not enough, two layers of mini chocolate chips inside. Yumm!

Then it was on to the Corvallis Farmers' Market! We in Eugene are blessed with a very good Farmers' Market, and so now is Corvallis! They have created a fun, spacious market on a closed-to-traffic street next to the river. There were several booths with flowers, produce booths, booths selling organic meats, and a fisherman from Newport with fresh seafood. I bought halibut from the fisherman, spinach and onion sour dough bread from Alpine Sour Dough Bakery, and creamy Havarti cheese from the Willamette Cheese Company. So guess what we had for dinner tonight?

Tomatoes, lilies, and more lilies above - beets and radishes, basil and peppers below. Isn't summer beautiful?

Scandinavian Midsummer Festival

This year, I was in Oregon in time for the 2009 Scandinavian Midsummer Festival. I hadn't been to one in a long time, so I was pretty excited. My cousin, Jodi, was Miss Denmark, in running to be Miss Scandinavia, and I also got to dress up in one of my grandma's old Norwegian costumes (one of the many weird scandihoovian things we do in my family) Festival was fun, I got kissed by the troll, many times, and each time he kissed you, you got a button. I must say, I have quite a few! My cousin did win Miss Scandinavia and everyone was really excited and very proud of her. On the second day of festival, I danced around the May Pole with many other crazy scandihoovians, including my grandmother, while my grandfather and his group of friends played the accordion at the bottom. After that workout, I went inside to the booths, where there's always great food and cool little trinkets. I was quite hungry, so I bought a plate of Lefse. Lefse has got to be the best food the Norwegians ever created. It's a dessert/snack, and boy is it good! After a while of looking around at all the things at festival, I went back to my grandparent's house, where I finished my plate of Lefse. Overall, the festival was lots of fun and I'm glad I was able to make it!

4 July 1976 Geneva, Switzerland

From my journal - my first trip to Europe when I was 17. I went with a group of about 20 high school students from Oregon and Washington lead by a high school teacher named Jerry.

July 4, 1976 - 33 years ago

"It was really rather embarrassing to wake up this morning and not remember that today was the BICENTENNIAL. I forgot...Jerry said all the stores were closed so he didn't know what we'd do for our picnic. But he asked around and found out that Geneva was having a huge bash for all the Americans here (the biggest outside of the U.S.). So we took a bus to go to that. And boy was it American. The American Ambassador to Switzerland was there - did he ever speak terrible French! A Black woman sang the national anthem. There was a hot-dog skiing exposition, and eight hand-gliders landed...I had a very good hamburger, ice cream, and cotton candy (isn't that American). There were millions of food stalls all over the place selling American food - french fries and beer, and watermelon...I also listened to a jazz band from California and walked to "Independence Hall" and saw a good exposition of American history...The fireworks were SPECTACULAR! Only 15 minutes long but they were continuous and there were 10 bursting at the same time. The sky was so bright you could see just like it was day. They had ones that whistled, and ones that exploded with a bright white flash, and huge flowers ones, and ones that exploded three different times, and all sorts of rocket types...I was surprised how many Swiss showed up to attended and so did a lot of "blue jean" types. A group of girls on the bus back to the hotel started singing every American song they could think of from "God Bless America" to "Row Row Row Your Boat"."

4 July, 2009 - This Year
Lexa celebrated the 4th in Eugene fashion by running the Butte to Butte. We then went to the Farmer's Market later in the morning. This evening we will go to "Art in the Vineyard" at Alton Baker Park. The Oregon Bach Festival orchestral is going to perform and fireworks will follow.

Signs of Summer

The goldfinches are eagerly awaiting the time when the thistle will go to seed. They have their chicks very late in the summer after the thistle seeds are ripe. Now they perch a top the thistle - a brilliant yellow finial. Enlarge the photo of the thistle and see the bee hard at work. And what would summer be without some careless daisies in primary colors? Elmer's Glue White and Egg Yoke Yellow equals lovely summer simplicity!