Family Photos

Kath and Carolyn



Barb, Carolyn, Kath - Sisters

Paul, Barb, Carolyn, Kath, Phil - Siblings

Mom and Dad


These are some family photos from Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

Snowy Cherry Orchard


Sally Peeking Through Fence


Beautiful View of House in Winter

Christmas 2008.........Reflections and Reminiscences......

The first thing that comes to mind as I think about the holiday season of 2008 is snow. Lots and lots of snow. And cold......extreme cold! We did not have temperatures above 32' for over 10 days. Often in the morning the temperature on our back deck was in the teens, the coldest being 13' one morning. And the deck is somewhat protected from the open cold, and I do not even know what the temperature was outside in the open. The result of all the cold was that the snow, which kept coming down, did not melt. We ended up having 10" of snow, with about 1" of ice on top of that, followed by 8" of new snow. Walking through this was difficult. And since we do not have studs or chains or a snow plow, we were unable to get our car out of the garage for 8 days! The day before we got 'stuck' up on our hill, I had gone to the grocery store and stocked up on double of the items I use most......"just in case". Thank God, I had the foresight to do that because we had enough fresh items to last us for the 8 days we were house bound. My first shopping trip after we were set "free" from our garage was quite expensive. But I realized how creative a person can be when you have a limited supply of groceries. Thankfully, we did not lose power for longer than 4 hours one night. The furnace worked so hard day and night just to keep the temperature in the house at a balmy 68'. The consequence of that was a PGE bill that was $100 more than the previous month! YIKES! But with layers, we kept warm.

My next thoughts are about family. My sister, Carolyn and her husband, Nelson, came out to the NW for a week from Chicago. They had not seen Mom and Dad's new little duplex. They stayed with Mom and Dad for 4 days, and then came over to our house for the last 3 days of their visit. My brother, Phil, also came down for 10 days from WA. He stayed with us the first part of his visit, and then went to Mom and Dad's. We were all planning to have a big Christmas dinner with the family, and our daughter, her husband, and grandbabies on Christmas Day. But the family in McMinnville could not get out, so they had Christmas with Mom and Dad. Jenn and her family did make it up to our house.....thanks to a neighbor who took his big truck and drove back and forth over the lower driveway to make a path for her little car. It was a nice Christmas with just the 6 of us. It was the first Christmas that Jacob, 3 1/2, understood the concept of presents. He did not care what was in them, particularly, he just was excited to open them, and more than willing to help Abby open hers. We did have a fun party at Mom and Dad's on the weekend. It was all the siblings and spouses, my niece, Elaine and her husband, Jeff. We ate tons of yummy food, and played games, and laughed a lot. Very special time as a family. This is why it is so good for Mom and Dad to be closer to family.

We ended 2008 with our annual New Year's Eve party with three couples who are very dear to our hearts........my sister and her husband, Crit and Janice Haney, and Max and Patty Huff. We ate lots, played games, and just had fun bringing in the New Year with very special friends.

My prayer is that as we begin a new year, we will all live by Proverbs 16:9 "Man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps." We may make plans that seem good to us, but we must be open to the plans that God has for us each day. Spiritual maturity is being flexible and willing to follow where God is leading us each day.

Winter in the NW

Snow in cherry orchard


Snow in back yard

Heavy snow falling

Well, we are in the middle of a winter storm event that is going to be about 10 days or so. An arctic blast from northern Canada decided to move west and south and park itself right over the Pacific NW. Combine that with some moisture off the Pacific Ocean mixed with a southerly wind warming things up in the upper atmosphere, and you get snow. Not a huge accumulation, but just enough to be an annoyance and cause problems on the roads. It is, however, lovely to look at. The unsettling thing about this Winter weather event has been the extreme (for our area) cold temperatures. It has not been this cold in 2 decades (20 years). We have had daytime highs in the low 20's, and dropping into the teens at night. Add a strong east wind of 15-20 mph, and you get wind chills of about 5-7'. That is cold! My cheeks are chapped from the icy wind. Sally does not seem to mind the cold. But I have to go out and check her water and break up the ice in her bowl frequently. I went around the house and closed all the foundation vents to keep the icy air off the pipes. The poor heat pump has been working nonstop. And I keep going out to fill the bird feeders. This morning there were about 30 birds munching on the Wild Bird Seed. We have Oregon Juncos, Chickadees, Sparrows of all sorts, Nuthatches, Mourning Doves, Towhees, etc. It is fun to watch the symbiotic relationship of the birds. Some of them are feeder eaters. Others eat from the seeds that fall to the ground from the scratching of the sparrows on the feeder (they are messy eaters).

We are scheduled to have more snow tomorrow - up to 3 more inches. And Sat. looks like it could be a nasty snow/ice storm. Not fun for all the Christmas events scheduled. A Christmas concert that I wanted to go to last weekend was cancelled because of snow. And our annual Church Ladies Christmas Cookie Exchange was also cancelled on Monday night.

At least I got all my Christmas cards addressed and sent to the ladies that are part of the Changed Choices program in the SE prison system. I sent out 52 cards this year. Many of the women have no family and getting a Christmas card means so much to them.

Well, that is all for now. Stay warm and well. And be blessed.

The beauty of the Sun as it sets and rises

Last evening Bob called me up to his office to look out his window over the orchard. This is the sunset that was visible. I ran and got my camera and got this amazing picture as the sun was going down and illuminating the clouds with bright red and orange. Beautiful!



That same morning I had captured this shot of the sun coming up over the orchard, with the valley all fogged in. I love living up on our hill above the fog line. The valley is often shrouded in fog this time of year, but we wake to beautiful sunrises quite often. The fog does move up the hill most days, but not before giving us a lovely look at the sun's greeting.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us such amazing beauty to behold. This is just a tiny glimpse of Your majesty, and I am sure a small taste of the beauty of our eternal home in heaven. Thank you for allowing us to see Your creativity through this amazing world .

We had a very fast moving thunder storm the other day. I was able to get a great picture of the storm after it moved over us and down into the valley. The sun came out and everything was all sparkling and bright. A rainbow appeared and was just the perfect finish to the storm event.

Mt. Hood peeking out over fog shrouded valley

Large old Royal Anne Cherry tree

Cherry Orchard at the end of Autumn

I was outside this afternoon admiring the lovely autumn afternoon. The air was crisp and the last of the leaves were still hanging on to the trees. The valley is white with fog, but we are above the fog line quite often, and today is no exception. Mt. Hood was just peaking out and looks like it is floating above the fog in the valley. I love it up here on our hill this time of year. We get to see sights that are not visible from the valley floor. So I wanted to share this autumn splendor with you all to enjoy.

Our Little Lamb

Eating the yummy fall leaves, like a good little lamb.

Thank you, God for making such a lovely world.

Am I adorable, or what?

Elsa Jane, our Little Lamb

I grew up in a very strong Christian family and we made a big deal about the holidays. We usually dressed up for Halloween and went Trick or Treating. It was just a 'fun' time for us. My husband's family did not celebrate Halloween at all. No costumes, no Trick or Treating. Halloween was considered to be an evil day. I respected that, and since it is not a big deal to me either way, we did not celebrate Halloween at all when our children were young. Often our churches would have a Harvest Party on Nov. 1, and we would go to that. But Halloween was not even acknowledged. Our kids are pretty normal even tho they did not dress up for Halloween or participate in any of the 'festivities'.

Miranda sent me some pictures of our little Elsa Jane all dressed up for Halloween as a little black and white lamb. She was so adorable, that no matter what you believe about Halloween, you could not be offended by this Little Lamb. I just wanted to squeeze her when I saw her costume. Surprisingly, she did not even pull at the fleece on her tummy. How precious.

Colors of Autumn

Brilliant gold and reds of God's palate
Brilliant beauty of fall leaves

I LOVE this time of year! I drive around town and the trees are amazing with their intense colors. I know it is not as amazing as the East Coast this time of the year. But I think, somehow, that our colors are better because they are mixed with all the Evergreens that don't change color. So the contrast is greater. I have seen pictures of the colors in the east and it is stunning. But I really love seeing the bright reds, oranges, and yellows against all the green here in the NW. I took some photos today to illustrate what I mean by the beauty of our colorful trees.