A Full-time Life

KEEPING IN TOUCH ...

... in the time of Corona Virus

 

The first day of Spring in this hemisphere happened last week -- but it was kind of overshadowed by all that other news.   I hope everybody was able to go outside for at least a breath of fresh air.  

 

 

We are using technology to keep in touch during the isolation  -- but for us that really isn't all that different than ever, since we are so far away from family.     Just that it is even more important these days.    

The Blue Jay pictures above are mine -- taken near home (the Florida one) on the first day of Spring.    The rest of the pictures were texted to me from further away  ---   also on the first day of Spring.   I'm grateful that all of our families are well and able to go outside and breath some fresh air.    

The first two below are from Oregon:

 

A Rhododendron  blossom from our daughter and son-in-law's yard.

(in Oregon)

We didn't venture far from home last week.   Nature parks and beaches (and restaurants) are closed here.   We kept busy  -- working on the Canal Cottage project and spending some time assessing our various traveling options in light of the current situation. (Traveling back to our home in Oregon -- nothing more exotic than that needless to say.)

 

 

Cyndi and Jeff's beautiful Black Walnut Tree and the Spring garden under it 

 

The next picture came from our son in Colorado.  Their back yard (taken on, may I remind you, the first day of spring).  It's definitely an outlier among the blue skies and spring flowers:

 

 

 

Colorado people are strong and healthy and happy in all kinds of weather though (aren't they?) --   and anyway, by now, it's highly possible that the snow has melted and the sun is shining.    

My sister sent the next picture from a walk in the park near her Seattle home.    Our oldest son who lives in that corner of Washington State also texted that he  spent the weekend working in their yard.   

 

  

Perfect Spring Days in the Pacific Northwest!  (except for the you-know-what).       As the old song said "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle" --  it should have added "when it's not raining."    (That is also true for our corner of Oregon .)    

 

(from Oregon) 

Don't forget to keep in touch with those you love. 

And go outside to play as often and as long as you can.

Thank you to our family for essentially writing this post. It would have been a boring blog with just one picture of a Blue Jay.   

 

Linking to the following:  Thank you hosts!!!! 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING 

MY VIRTUAL WALLET SNAPSHOTS

 

Some proud great-grandmother’s bragging about a most important part of our Oregon season! 

I would normally spread family get-together posts over the months we're here, but this year I was determined to document our early summer trip while I still remembered a little of what we learned.     Of course, I could never forget family, even without pictures.  But it is so much fun to have them!   

 

This picture taken by their mother -- our granddaughter 

These three -- our oldest great-grandsons -- live in Eugene now.

 Luckily for us! 

 

Random snapshots from Thanksgiving.  

 

With an almost 10-month old, there was no lack of Thanksgiving Day entertainment.

 

 Top left:  The boys' Aunt (expecting our fifth great-grands0n this winter!); and their Dad (our grandson-in-law).  Top right:  Our daughter -- The proud Grandma.

Lower left:  Grandpa  (our son-in-law) giving the baby's mom a break (that's our granddaughter!).  Lower right:  Our son-in-law and our oldest grandson (sadly with his back turned) doing kitchen duty-- he is the father-to-be.  

I wish I were better about taking people pictures.   At least it would have been nice to have gotten each family unit together .. or even better a group shot!     But at least this is better than when we visited the other branches of our family  -- I didn't even get a single picture of people on any of those visits*** -- too busy catching up to remember that I owned a camera.

 

Same baby -- a month earlier

 

He usually sees us at his own home or even oftener at his grandparents -- and didn't quite know what to make of visiting the GGs at our apartment home.     Especially when Great-Grandpa entertained him by putting on a matching stocking cap.  

 

Big brother -- in September

 

This one is in middle-school now -- and big enough to help his grandma and grandpa with Saturday yard work at their home out in the country.   

 

Same baby -- way back in August

We were celebrating big zero August birthdays -- Great Grandpa turned 80 and the middle great-grandson turned 10!   

 

 

*** Here is an update with pictures added later -- this is our oldest grandson and his wife -- and their puppy -- and even better our great-grandson who is expected in April.  I took these on the Sunday after Thanksgiving when we all went back to our daughter and son-in-law's for leftovers!  

 

It is a joy to watch the family grow and change  (it's certainly more immediately obvious when the person doing the growing is under the age of one-year.)     We are grateful to be a part of our great-grandchildrens' lives.  

 

 

 LINKING this week to the following: 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS;   THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY; and  FRIDAY  BLISS.

Thank you to the hosts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIENNA (part 2)

 

We met Jacob and Maya  after breakfast on the second day that the river boat was docked in Vienna.   Our fellow Viking passengers were preparing to board the usual tour buses for their day's events, but we were excited to meet our grandchildren for more of our own special time on this second day in the City.  (Vienna Part One is here). 

 

Statue of Empress Maria Theresa in front of Natural History Museum

We visited Maria Theresien Platz.  A monument to the Empress is the center point of the huge plaza which includes two almost identical  buildings that house the Vienna Museum of Natural History and the Art Museum.  There are also four fountains, other sculptures, and lovely landscaping.    Our 'guides' told us that at Christmas the whole plaza is transformed into a world-famous Christmas Market -- it sounded amazing!

 

 

The Empress Maria Theresa governed Austria from 1740 to 1780.   What I remembered was that she was the last of the Hapsburg line of rulers of the Austrian empire, that she led major educational reforms, and that she was the ruler in actuality rather than (as would have been expected at the time) ceding complete rule to her husband Francis,who was a royal in his own right from another line ....  And I remembered that she had 16 children!  I went to Wiki to check my memory, which was not wrong (but certainly not complete) -- she definitely deserves to be commemorated.   Here is the link to the wikipedia page.

 This World Heritage monument is huge!  The entire monument is over 60 feet in height; her statue alone is 19 feet. At the corners are statues of four of her Generals on horseback and carvings of other notables are around the bottom of the monument.   

The upper left and lower right pictures in the collage are two of the corners of  the Museum of Natural History.   They were meant to represent the  continents as they were imagined at the time ... the one on the top left is America. 

  

 

 

We got around the City  underground  -- on the subway/tube ..... our private guides were experts on the system (and the language!)   We had fun pretending like we were locals rather than tourists on a bus.   This picture is where we're exiting the Schonbrunn Station to return to the City Center. 

 

 

These pictures are of the grounds at the Schonbrunn Palace. ( (There is a picture of the Palace on the previous post.)   It was hard to get pictures of the buildings without a lot of people -- we were in Vienna on Ascension Thursday,  a Holiday for schools and many businesses were closed.  We certainly weren't the only ones who were enjoying this beautiful place.   

The center photo is (the top of ) The Gloriette which was built in 1775 during the reign of  the same Empress Maria Theresa and Joseph.      It was meant as a place for the royals and visitors to take in the views.  Now it is open to the public .. the Gloriette Cafe is housed on the lower level.   

 

 

Many elaborate sculptures and garden buildings grace the  grounds of the Schonbrunn, which was once the summer residence of the Hapsburg royalty.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 

 

Even with our private guides and a one-on-one tour, our one evening plus one full day gave us time for only an overview of the wonders of Vienna.  But we loved every moment of it -- and we learned so much.  What great memories!  

 

 

We are grateful to have had such a special time with our grandchildren in this beautiful city.   At the end of our day, Jacob and Maya went to board a train to Slovakia, where they would visit her family before flying to Finland  (where they now live).  We headed back to the Skirnir in time for its departure to the next port of call -- Melk, Austria.  

 

 

Linking to the following: 

ALL SEASONS;    MOSAIC MONDAY;  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  TUESDAY TREASURES  ;  SAY CHEESE;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   FRIDAY  BLISS;  and SKYWATCH FRIDAY.  

Thank you to all of the hosts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEAVING BUDAPEST; SEEING SLOVAKIA; ARRIVING VIENNA

 

Bratislava Castle (Slovakia) as seen from the boat.

 Our river ship departed Budapest at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday and would arrive in Vienna at about the same time the next evening, making Wednesday one of the longer days spent aboard the boat. 

We were looking forward to seeing  Slovakia, the next country we'd pass by.  That's where  our granddaughter-in-law Maya is from -- we would be getting together with  her and Jacob when we reached Vienna.    We'd pass through one of our first locks just before we arrived at that part of the river. 

 

Our ship was waiting to lock through

We didn’t dock in Slovakia, but at the top of the lock,   I was able to reach out from our deck and touch the ground.    (I'm not totally sure the boat was actually passing Slovakia at the exact moment we exited the lock,  but I really really want to believe that at least I've 'set hand' in that country.)

 

Slovakia from the Deck -- and requisite emergency drill

 

We boated past Bratislava, the country's capital city and more of the Slovakian countryside --  we saw the castle shown in the top photo and other castles as well, old stone fortresses, and scenic river shores.   So, whether I actually touched land there or not, we did definitely see and admire this part of Slovakia, if only from the middle of the Danube.

Wednesday was  the requisite safety meeting on the top deck. We had to learn where to go in case of emergency and how to put on our life vest (some people actually did have trouble).  It was funny to see every person on board wearing their  "Mae Wests" while many of them continued to take pictures of the beautiful scenery.   It's really hard to take your eyes off  it.

The day on board went by quickly --besides the safety drill,  there were program talks and of course breakfast and lunch on board -- and always that scenery!   The boat docked in Vienna as scheduled and we disembarked as soon as possible to meet our grandchildren. 

 

 

We caught up with their busy life  over a scenic walk, dinner and dessert -- Sacher Torte in one of the city's classical coffeehouses.  According to what we learned on board about Vienna's cafe society, coffeehouses  have been a tradition in Vienna since 1683.  They wouldn't have been considered complete without red velvet seating and magnificent chandeliers.   Since most people lived in small crowded apartments, coffeehouses were considered to be second living rooms, where people could linger over coffee and conversation.    That last part seemed to still be true today.   At least it certainly was for us!  

 

Schonbrunn Palace -- the next day 

 

The ship would be in port the whole next day ...  and Jacob and Maya had a hotel room just down the street.    I'll show more of what these talented  (brilliant and good-looking)* guides to Vienna showed us in the next post. 

*  I'm a grandmother -- what can I say?

 

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to all of the hosts:

ALL SEASONS;    MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;  SAY CHEESE;   TUESDAY TREASURES ; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and  FRIDAY  BLISS

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME AGAIN --- with memories!

 

Traveling from the Florida Canal Cottage to Oregon was a bit different this year.  It was an amazing 'detour.'  We're home now and  still sorting out our memories ... and our pictures from the trip.     To get started while I finish that project, here are just a few favorites.  There will be more later.  

 

Budapest

We were on a Viking River Cruise for 15 days -- boarding the boat in Budapest.  The boat docked in a different port almost every day -- we visited twelve cities in four different countries, traveling along three rivers to Amsterdam where we disembarked.     

 

Bill in Ghent 

 

After that, we stayed (all on our own) for two weeks -- spending more time in the Netherlands and adding the countries of Belgium and Luxembourg.  We had a wonderful time -- the whole trip was a triumph for the travel planner (who is pictured above, in Belgium).  

 

With Jacob and Maya at Schonbrunn Palace and also enjoying Sacher Torte in old-town Vienna

Hopping backwards to our time  on the Viking  -- we enjoyed and learned from every one of those twelve stops ... sometimes we went on the   tours the ship offered and sometimes we went out on our own.   The very best guided tour of all though was our own private one during our two-day stop in Vienna.  Here we were met by Jacob and Maya, our European grandson and granddaughter (in-law), who flew to meet us.  It was  wonderful to see them and without doubt we had the best possible tour guides in the world, as Vienna is a familiar city to them. 

 

Castles and colorful villages on the Rhine

One of the best parts of a river cruise is that there are wonderful sights to see almost every minute of daylight.  These rivers aren't wide and the views from our balcony or on the top deck were  amazing.   The pictures in the above collage were taken from the boat on one day's travel --  between Wertheim and Koblenz Germany.

 

Wachau Valley 

 

Every morning of the whole trip, I woke up amazed ... the  boat, the cities, the food, the scenery all really were the stuff of dreams.    But I think even more than anything the  charming views out the window of our room enhanced the dreamlike quality.

This post barely touches the seventeen cities in six countries that we visited, not to mention the scenic points between!   Needless to say, there will be more!   ...   it was a wonderful trip and it is also wonderful to be home!  

 

Back in the USA - Colorado

To get here, we flew from Amsterdam to Colorado where we spent a week with our son and daughter-in-law --mostly decompressing, for which we are enormously grateful.  Then home to Oregon, where our daughter and son-in-law kindly retrieved us from the airport.     Because I always include a picture of the first mountain sighting when we return from low-land Florida -- and since we our trip was about the low  countries of Europe -- Colorado once again has the honors!   The picture is from a walk on the greenbelt near where our family lives.  

 

LINKING this time to:   ALL SEASONS;  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS ; TUESDAY  TREASURES ; SAY CHEESE;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY;   FRIDAY  BLISS   

 

Thank you to all of the hosts.

 

 

 

 

 

WE HAD VISITORS!

 

 It was a great week at the Canal Cottage.

 

 Super Snow Moon.

 

Skies were clear early in the week and the  super moon was beautiful.  It  seemed like a good omen as we had our fingers crossed for good weather because our son and daughter-in-law were arriving mid-week for a visit!     

 

 Although there was a heavy 'shower' the evening after they arrived, weather the next day was perfect for a boat trip to lunch.   I told Geoff that he made a better first-mate than I do.  (I think the Captain agreed.)

The next day Geoff  wanted to see alligators.

 

The Alligator Hunter

 

We knew how to oblige.  We drove to Big Cypress Swamp Preserve, near the Everglades, where we always find them.

 

 

Here is one of at least two dozen that we saw.   These were the first alligators of this season for us as well.    

 

 

Lisa wanted to see birds  and we thought they would be as easy to see as the gators at Big Cypress, but it was hot by the time we got there, so there wasn't much activity.

 

Black-Crowned Night Heron 

This was my best bird shot.  We also spotted Anhingas, Cormorants, Great Blue Herons,  Great Egrets, and  Black Vultures.  And turtles.

 

Swamp Plants

There was quite a bit of water in the swamp ...  and a lot more humidity than people from Colorado are used to!    The pictures on each corner are plants growing under water. 

 

Full view of the Night Heron

We saw more birds on our way to brunch on Sunday morning --  Wood Storks, Ibis, and a Hawk in addition to more egrets and herons -- as well as several cute baby alligators    -- but there was food to eat and a plane for our guests to catch later, so I didn't take pictures.  The important thing was that they got to see them.

 

 It's always fun to share favorite places with favorite people!  We're so glad they came. 

 

 

 SHARING as well with the bloggers at the following linking opportunities.  Thank you to all of the hosts.  

 

NATURE NOTES;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;  MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAYCHEESE;   WILD BIRD Wednesday;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY;   FRIDAY  BLISS;   SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING  

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER'S END

   

 

The last of September was about enjoying  beautiful Fall flowers all around the City ....

 

 

 ... and the rich colors of Autumn in the country  ... here, on a walk to Kirk Pond.

 

  "Leaves of three, let it be."

Unfortunately, those richly colored plants included poison oak.   I paid for this macro shot with itches!  (Not the best memory of the month, but maybe posting it will help me remember next time.)   

 

Wall Signs as decoration at the home of our granddaughter and  family 

Like every month when we're home in Oregon, September included family get-togethers.  After all, that's really why we're here ...   the rest is a bonus!    For a change, I managed to remember to get a few snapshots.  I'm not very good at people photos.  It is more fun to just enjoy being together, but I like being able to look back.  

 

 

More floral beauty of the definitely non-poisonous variety.   All of the dahlia pictures were taken on the grounds of the Lane County Events Center (Fairgrounds) on the last day of September.

 

 

Out in the country again,  Mom and the youngsters were enjoying wild apples and leftover blackberries in a field near  our daughter and son-in-laws' home.

 

 

 

More flowers and below, another blue sky day.  We actually need rain and 'they' keep telling us it's coming.   But it is hard not to be grateful for beautiful Fall Days.

 

Thankful for Fall Beauty and family to enjoy it with.   And looking forward to October -- rain or shine!    Thankful also to  the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

 

    NATURE NOTES; MACRO MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY;  GOOD  RANDOM  FUN;  THROUGH MY LENS; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  FRIDAY BLISS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

 

SPRING -- IN FLORIDA and in OREGON

   

This is  a morning sky shot taken from our back porch.   It's beautiful and very quiet on the Canal now.  Most  snowbirds have left Florida for their summer homes.

 

 

We are snowbirds too, but we usually come a little later and stay a little longer than most of our friends.  In the sunshine areas that snowbirds frequent, the six-month  season is usually defined as October through April, with the busiest months being January, February and March.  We usually don't arrive until December.

So during the month of May we like to pretend we're full-time Floridians.  Just like the people who really are, we talk about how thankful we are to get around Fort Myers now that there are fewer cars and fewer people.    (And it really is wonderful.)  The weather is beautiful here now, but I do start to  miss Oregon Springtime a little bit by the end of April.  

So I was delighted when our daughter texted a bunch of photos of their yard.   All of the flowers in the mosaic below are blooming in their Oregon backyard right now: 

   

 

The up-side of staying in Florida during May is that we miss the worst month of the Oregon hay-fever season.  The down-side is that we miss  typical Spring flowers almost completely (it's too hot here for most of them).   So I loved the reminder of Oregon springs.    (I've showed the beautiful big Black Walnut Tree in the center picture often,  because we hang out under it a lot during the summer and fall.  But isn't it beautiful in the Spring?  (I had almost forgotten myself.)     

 

Now back to Florida for some Spring birds: 

 

Woodpeckers are our morning alarm clock these days.  They are fun to see and (usually) to hear.   And they are part of the reason why we know it's Spring.    The temperatures don't seem much different now, but the birds know what season it is and we start to see Spring migrants here, just the same as everywhere else in the Spring.      

 

Ospreys are everywhere ... we ate at the waterfront restaurant on the top left last week -- a farewell dinner with friends on one of their last days here.  When we came out this guy was sitting on a telephone pole directly above where our car was parked.  Every living creature has to eat!  

 

 

This is a view of Fort Myers from the dock of a different waterfront restaurant.  We've been eating out with friends quite a lot lately as people finish up their season.  Making more Florida memories to take home until next season rolls around.     

  

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities:   :  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; FLORAL BLISS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; Wednesday AROUND the WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

 THANK YOU to all of the wonderful hosts and to everyone who visits!  

 

 

VISITING THE SWAMPS AND SLOUGHS

    

We've had company .... and we took them to the swamps and the sloughs.  Whoever said we weren't great hosts?   Our brother and sister-in-law are visiting from Spokane (the Eastern half of Washington State) where they left frigid temperatures and deep snow.    So we've had a great time showing off our Florida sunshine. 

In addition to getting warm again (at least for a while), they really wanted to see alligators -- and we knew just where to go.   And of course we saw lots of beautiful Florida birds too.     

 

 Egret keeping an eye on a fellow denizen of Big Cypress Swamp  

 

 

Anhinga

 

 

 Birds of Prey

 Osprey, CaraCara, and Red Shouldered Hawk (I'm sure about the first two -- I think on the hawk)

   

 

Green Heron -- trying to hide as he preens

 

Still in hiding!

 

 

X

 

Little Blue Heron

 

 

And some more shots of what our company wanted  to see!

(And of course  I know nobody would believe we were actually in SW Florida until I posted my annual alligator pictures.)

 

Not a lot of words this week because we're still busy seeing the beauty and fun of our area through new eyes.     It is so good to see family!  Thanks for coming Rik and Lyn!       

And thank you also to the link hosts who give us an opportunity to share with virtual friends  even when we don't have company in real life:  

SHARING  this week with:  MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY;  Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

 

 

SEASONS END

  

 The summer/fall season always goes  by way way too fast.  

 

 

 

 

 

And  it is even shorter than usual this time, because we're leaving soon for a bit of an adventure on the way to our winter home in Florida.   We love to travel, but I often wish we could be in two places at once, especially for the Winter Holidays.

 

An early  Thanksgiving get together at our daughter's and son-in-law's country home helped.     It was a perfect day for a perfect celebration.    Our oldest grandson has a self-timer camera and so he took the picture and then posed as if he'd been there all along.  Pretty cool.   

  

I'm linking this week to  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  ALL SEASONS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY.    I'll visit blogs this week and later if I can -- but won't be posting for the rest of this month.    Back in December with (I hope) lots of pictures.

October at KIRK POND

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE EDITION

     

The eclipse started here on the Oregon Coast and reached complete totality in parts of the State.   At one point last month it was estimated that over a million visitors would arrive in Oregon for this celestial event.    

We really wanted to be in the path of totality and knew that it would pass through the next county over from ours, but we didn't want to end up watching from a blocked freeway somewhere.   (There had been a lot of hype about how terrible traffic snarls were to be expected.)    So the family travel planner (that would be Bill) did the research and found a  route that would keep us off the freeway. 

We took an exploratory drive last month and located a  Linn County Park called Roaring River, near the tiny town of Scio.  It was about an hour and a half from home on a pretty back-road country drive.   The Park was a large open meadow with some trees around the edges.   We thought it would be perfect, as long as it was a clear day with no clouds and no smoke from forest fires (there was a fairly strong possibility of either problem in this Oregon summer).   We held our breaths.

 

 

 So on Eclipse Monday we got up at half-past dark, left Eugene at 6:00 and arrived at Roaring River exactly as planned in an hour and a half.  There was light traffic -- more  than would usually be on that road at that hour I'm sure  -- but nothing that was a problem at all.   We parked the van, set up our chairs and picnic table and had a pretty good breakfast picnic while watching what seemed like a normal  summer day dawn.   

 

 

(The moon started to edge over the sun a second or two after 9 a.m. -- just as we finished clearing up breakfast.  The maximum eclipse happened at 10:21 and remained at total for a  couple of minutes, then the moon started to edge out gradually.  The partial eclipse ended at 11:45.)  

 

My sister and brother-in-law are visiting from Seattle -- in fact, it was they who alerted us to the coming disappearance of the sun way back last Fall.  So we'd been thinking about this for a while and planning on the lovely company.    But until we got home to Oregon this summer, we really had no idea of the excitement and hype that would herald this celestial event.  

The top two pictures and the  middle in the bottom row are of course Bill and Pat and Mary Jo.  The other two on the bottom row are just to show that there were enough other people to make it seem like an occasion but not so many that we felt at all crowded.    

 

DISCLAIMER:  In the interest of not contributing to the modern epidemic of fake news please note that all of the rest of the pictures in this post are distorted by an inadequate camera and lack of time and planning on the part of the photographer.

 

 

 

 

Without special filters, my  little camera really wasn't able to begin to capture the wonder.   I couldn't see to take pictures as the eclipse began and progressed because of course we were wearing our special glasses to watch the sun.  You really can't see anything else at all and weren't really even supposed to point your lens at the sun.      When the eclipse reached the point of totality, we could take our glasses off and then I was able to snap a few pictures.   

 

 

 

But they don't capture the way it looked or the way it felt.    It was very quiet and still as the sun disappeared.   Nobody talked.   We were surprised at how chilly it got outside -- from a warm sunny day to cool evening temperatures instantly.    

 

 

And as soon as the sun started to return -- even with just a little sliver -- the temperature returned to normal.     

 

 

These are after the sun started to return.  The little moon shapes are reflections through the trees on the edge of the meadow.  A man who was sitting  near us used his binoculars as a pin-hole camera to reflect the rising sun on our lawn chair. 

  

 

 We had a perfect location and great company for the viewing.  Although I don't have the words or the pictures to adequately to describe it, this once-in-a-lifetime experience couldn't have been better. 

 

 

Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:    SKYWATCH FRIDAY; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES;  and THROUGH MY LENS;  

SIGNS OF SUMMER

   

 

Either the priest or the gardener at this  beautifully landscaped church in Salem has a good sense of humor.   We were there to attend the funeral for Bill's Aunt Rosemary.  This lovely lady, who lived to her late 90s,  was the last remaining member of our parents' generation (on both sides).  Not that there was much doubt before, but we're certainly officially members of the senior generation now.

All of the rest of the pictures in this post are  from walks around the neighborhood here in Eugene.

 

 

  I love hydrangeas in all their colors and all their stages.  It's hard not to stop for pictures when I'm out walking. These are some I've "collected" from different yards all through my walking area

 

 

But even these lush blue bushes can't rescue this poor old house.   I first noticed it when I walked past when we were still here last October.  And at first I thought it was decorated for the Halloween season (the bushes of course were brown and withered then, adding to the haunted appearance). There have been no apparent changes to the structure since last Fall.   Abandoned homes always make me wonder about the story behind them.

 

 

The old house is about six blocks away one direction from our  apartment -- we are right on the edge of an older Eugene neighborhood (mostly with well-kept homes -- the one above is an exception).  

But when we walk the other way, we are in the middle of downtown.    We strolled around on the  First Friday Art Walk, listening to music and looking at some of the street art.  

 

 

It was hot though, so we spent most of the evening in an air-conditioned theater watching an Instant Ballet (the dancers, members of the Eugene Ballet Company,  take suggestions from the audience to put together a ballet based on a pre-determined theme and music.  

 

 

 

 The City installed this colorful piano in the middle of one downtown block.   It gets a lot of use.   Sometimes you get a concert.  And then there are the other times  ....    

 

 

 

 Eugene might be the only place in the world that would have this sign on the front of a City Bus.    We like it!

 

 

 Linking this week  to:  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; ALL SEASONS;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;  MACRO MONDAY; FLORAL BLISS; TUESDAY TREASURES; and SIGNS SIGNS 

 THANK YOU to all of the hosts.

BEAUTIFUL TACOMA

  

You  know you are a born road-tripper when you jump in the travel van and drive North to Washington State only a few weeks after settling in at home after a  long cross country trip.   (It's a 250 or so mile trip straight up the I-5 freeway to Tacoma .)

       

Mount Rainier in the alpenglow 

 

We had some  non-photo-worthy things to do further up the freeway, but the  days we spent in Tacoma made up for that.   Our oldest son and his family live there and they always find interesting things for us to see and do whenever we visit.

 

 

 

   

Entry to Point Defiance Botanical Gardens, Tacoma 

 

 

 

We always appreciate a clever sign that reminds people how to behave without using the words "No" or "Don't."

 

 

 

It was a good time to visit the gardens .... roses and lillies and other summer flowers were in bloom,

but so were dahlias and mums. 

 

 

A nice view of Puget Sound  from this spot at Point Defiance

   near where we saw several black-tail deer.

 

 

 They were used to people and unafraid -- we got fairly close.

 

  

Lilies and hydrangea

 

 

Most of the flower pictures I took were in my favorite color palette.  

There was floral beauty there in every color of the rainbow, but a lot of the time we were walking and talking and I was not taking pictures.

 

Brown's Point 

A view of Mt Rainier from a different vantage place.

 

My photos never capture people -- or good conversation -- or good food!  But they do capture some of the experiences we shared --  memory makers and memory keepers.

 

 SHARING this week with MACRO MONDAY; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS;  FLORAL BLISS; ALL SEASONS;  SIGNS SIGNS;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and SATURDAY CRITTERS.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to all of the hosts.

THE END OF THE TRIP AND HOME AGAIN

      

Yes, our annual summer migration is over.... in real life we've been home since the very end of June and, with this early August post, the trip will be over even in blog-land.    (It was a long trip, but not quite as long as it's been here on the blog.)

 

 

 

 Since our ultimate destination (our Northwest home) was Eugene Oregon  ....

 

 

.... I'm tempted to say, in the words of local icon and world-famous  author Ken Kesey "What a long, strange trip it's been." 

 

But although our home city might be a little  different -- "left of normal" (and we're all proud of that), our trip itself was actually a great one, with nothing strange about it.   We explored new places and favorite old ones, had not a speck of trouble on the road, and arrived safely.

 The above pictures are from around town, close to our apartment.   The Eugene Parade was held about a week after we got home ...  we were watching on a street corner less than a block away from our upstairs terrace apartment  -- where the street noise doesn't reach,  but the street excitement is  close by. 

  

 

 

Here is the road-map for the last part of our trip -- from Longmont Colorado  (where we stayed with our son and daughter-in-law) to Eugene Oregon.   The map for the first part of the journey (from our winter home in Florida to Colorado) is HERE.    Because we always break up the trip with a lovely stay with our Colorado family, I've called that our half-way point, but  that's not at all accurate.    (We drove 2,159 miles from Fort Myers to Longmont and then 1,222 miles from there to home.  A total of 3,381 road miles -- not counting side-trips  (mostly in Colorado and Utah).   

 

Abandoned -- along a back-road somewhere  --- Wyoming or Utah or Idaho  -- but the poppies don't know or care.

 

We did not necessarily take the shortest possible route on either 'half' of the journey  and we do not drive long days.  We never have enjoyed that kind of travel -- even when we were younger.    We also took a little longer on the second part of the trip because, while we were in Idaho, we read that temperatures of over 100 F were happening in Eugene.  So we decided to play on the road a bit until it cooled down some at home.

 

Onion seed field somewhere in Idaho

 

Temperatures in the triple digits do not make for good moving-back-in-weather.    And we knew that, this being western Oregon, the extreme heat would not last for long.   Happily it did soon cool down a bit and we arrived in good time for the family picnic on the Fourth of July:

   

  

 

Here are two members of the clan who do not mind having their pictures taken one bit.   We were in the "woods" .... the far back part of the boys' grandparents place.   (Their grandparents are our daughter and son-in-law. We are proud to be the 'GGs' ... the great-grandparents.)  

I took the bird pictures below a couple of days before the Holiday, also in our daughter's yard (closer to their house.)    I was meant to be unpacking our travel van, which we leave out there (we have a small generic car for city use) -- but it was more fun to sit and chat with the family while watching the birds.

 

 

I'm not having any luck identifying this amusing 'little brown job'.  We used to call all our brown feeder birds "LBJs" but that was years ago .   Now it bothers me not to be able to name all the birds we see and I'd love any help I can get with a name for this one.

 

 

Seen in many yards in Eugene 

 

It's good to be home on the West Coast.  We like it here!

   

LINKING this week to:  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; ALL SEASONS; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; SIGNS SIGNS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

Thanks to all of the hosts for providing these sharing opportunities. 

 

ENERGY IN PICTURES

 

 The great-grands defining energy!

(Last time I did pictures of the boys, a few of you thought they were my grandsons.  That's flattering, but I'm glad it isn't true.  I don't think we have the strength any more.  It's our daughter and son-in-law's turn to be hands on grandparents now! ) 

 

 

That's their mom and their great-grandpa in the background.

 

I was trying to learn to use the sports action setting on my camera.  Got a little bit of an eye-roll when I suggested the swing (swings are for little kids you know)  ... but it made for great camera practice.   

 

 

 

 Playground equipment has gotten more exciting, yet at the same time safer, over the past four generations!

 

 

Linking to OUR WORLD  with thanks to the team.

 

 

 

 

HANGING OUT

 

It doesn't take a lot to amuse this great-grandmother.  When I get a chance to hang out with our daughter on a summer day, I'd be happy just sitting under their magnificent black walnut tree.  It's a perfect place to visit or to read or just to listen to the birds.

 

 But it is even more fun when the great-grands are spending the day at the same time.    They bring the party!  

  

First we ran around the five acres.  And then we got slimed!     Here are the  two boys with their grandma (our daughter) creating the goo.  Some of us love to get dirty.  Others are learning to enjoy it.   (And as you noticed, I'm well out of slime range, taking pictures.  Somebody has to do it.)  

 

 

 

 Then there was a hose-off followed by a dip/swim in the hot-tub  -- a cool tub actually on this warm (for Oregon) summer day.

 

 

 

After that it was  lunch under the tree and visiting (for the grandparents and great-grandparents among us).  And more running around the acreage for the rest! 

It was a play-day for three generations.  We all had fun!  

 

LINKING TO:  OUR WORLD on Tuesday (Lady Fi, Sandy, Sylvia, Gattina, Arija, and Jenn);  and  Monica's  NATURE FOOTSTEP TREES.        Thank you to all of the hosts for these fun memes.

FALSE SPRING - REAL GIFT

We almost never see early Spring flowers, at least the kind that grow in moderate climates, because at that time of the year we're still in Florida  -- where all the blooms are the more flamboyant kind.  

 

But this year, November in Oregon gave us a going-away gift.  The weather there was strange   --  warmer Autumn temperatures than usual in addition to the normal rains.    

  Buds were beginning to unfurl on a couple of the rhododendron bushes in our son-in-law and daughter's yard.  And there were catkins on the pussy willow bushes.

In the more typical seasonal scene below, on the same day I took the flower pictures  our daughter was outside raking the black walnut leaves.

 

   (I helped by taking her picture.)  

 

 It is a little worrisome to think what will happen if there's a hard freeze later-- and there probably will be.  After all winter hasn't even really started yet.  (We're in Florida for the rest of the season, so we'll  only know the fate of these lovely flowers when we hear from the leaf raker!)   

 

Thanks to Nick at FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS and Denice at TODAY'S FLOWERS  on Sunday

LITTLE SHADOWS

FOR SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY

Pictures of our two great-grandsons, from last year.

(Which is a blink of the eye for us, half a lifetime ago for these little ones.)

It's fun the way having little ones in the family again brings back great memories.   My Dad read this classic aloud to me and I read it to our kids (including the Grandmother of these two shadow-casters).    Even in this computerized age,  I'm pretty sure toddlers wonder about shadows.  And great-grandmothers (and other bloggers) are still fascinated by them!

My Shadow (from "A Child's Garden of Verses)

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

 

FISHING THE PUYALLUP

FOR OUR WORLD, with thanks to the hosts:

That's our long-legged grandson last weekend, looking for a good fishing spot along the Puyallup River.

Here Grandpa supervises as the fishermen prepare their gear.

It was a lovely day to spend on the river, as you can see.

(Although only the youngest of us was comfortable in shorts.)

Our grandson and his parents moved back to Washington State this summer.

I think they're happy to be home!

GOLDEN DAY

For Nature's Footsteps - Waters. Bill and I are on the road again, but these are pictures from our last week at the Lake.

Here's our daughter Cyndi at Kirk Ponds. She and I went walking in this natural area along with the dogs (Freya and Chase) who live at her house. This was one of our last days at the Lake.

It was crisp and clear -- a day of pure gold in a part of Oregon where Autumn days aren't always this dry and sunny!

And a day of pure gold because Cyndi and I got to go outside and play -- one of my favorite ways to spend the day, and, luckily, one of hers as well.

SWEET CREEK, SWEET LIFE

This post is linked to THAT'S MY WORLD,  Click the linkes for a tour of our planet without leaving your computer.

Our great-grandsons are visiting this month -- really they are visiting their grandparents (who are pretty great too, in the other sense!).  But we get to spend some time with them too -- so how lucky is that!

We hiked up Sweet Creek Falls trail between here and the Coast.   

The little boys were fascinated by the creek, the big trees, and the series of waterfalls,  because they hadn't seen anything like that in South Carolina where they usually hang out with their parents.

Mom (our granddaughter) and Grandma (our daughter) helped the boys get ready to go wading in this quiet section at the bottom of the hike. 

They loved it -- especially for a couple of guys used to southern heat!  (It's been quite cool in Oregon so far this summer.  The weather front that has stalled the intense heat over much of the rest of the country seems to have stalled cool marine air here.)

  It''s a Sweet (Creek)  LIfe!

THE GREAT-GRANDKIDS VISIT

FOR MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY AND THAT'S MY WORLD  

  These guys live in South Carolina. Last week they came to visit us -- Great- Grandpa and Great- Grandma --  in Fort Myers Florida. 

 We went to the Imaginarium. 

  

Lots of the toys and games were just like the ones they have at home -- but the GGs don't have very many toys in their house, so it was fun to play there! 

Oh yeah, they brought a couple of grownups with them.  They came along to to drive the car and push the kids on swings and stuff while Great-Grandma took pictures.       

 

Great-Grandpa took everybody for a boat ride to Franklin Locks Park.

Mom and Grandma (and the GGs, not pictured) showed the kids how we all wear our life jackets and our hats whenever we go out on the water. 

It was a lot of fun. I think Great-Grandma and Great- Grandpa had the most fun of all.   But today we are taking a long nap!

 

 

 

    

VISIT WITH THE GREAT-GRANDS

 

On the last leg of our summer road trip, we were back in Charleston visiting our great-grandsons (and their parents).

Who could resist these beautiful smiles?

The weather was beautiful.  (When we were here in July, it was almost too hot to go outside and play.) 

This time they showed us how they ride bikes...color on the patio ...blow bubbles....ride  horses..... and, of course, we all enjoyed eating!

Life is good!

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRATITUDE

Gratitude is having Thanksgiving dinner with family -- dinner that we didn't have to cook or clean up from afterwards!  All of the pleasure and none of the work. 

(Andy took the family portrait using the delayed setting.)