Two Hectic Weeks

It’s been two hectic weeks of driving (2,500 miles), visiting (just about everyone in our immediate family), and eating. It all started with a trip to Portland to celebrate Thanksgiving and the girls’ birthdays. Jana arrived from Los Angeles Thanksgiving day and Scott and his family drove down from Seattle to help us celebrate. Our Thanksgiving meal was traditional with a turkey and ham and all of the trimmings, including Jana’s favorite, a pecan pie. Lauren’s home and table were decorated beautifully and with the help of four folding chairs (just purchased from IKEA) we managed to seat everyone around her small table. We started with what has also become a tradition, each of us in turn giving thanks for the year. Surprisingly, considering our family’s significant share of health problems in 2015, there was much for which to be thankful. This process took over 20 minutes with me weeping much of the time from the mature, loving, and insightful thoughts that were expressed. Years past our sharing has been light-hearted and accomplished in a few minutes. It has taken adversity to find the courage, strength, and depth of character we each possess. My children are truly an inspiration to me.

The birthday girls goofing around in the kitchen! Did you 

know they share a birthday? Lauren was born on Jana's 2nd

birthday...she still hasn't forgiven her for ruining her party!

Over the past few years we’ve joined in the craziness of Black Friday and 2015 was no exception. We walked our favorite outdoor shopping mall in the Portland area, Bridgeport Village, and shopped Anthropology (bought more dishes we don’t need, but they were deeply discounted), Origins (bought some beauty products we do need – LOL!), Lululemon (Christmas shopped for yoga clothing – even with the Black Friday discount, they are triple Fred Meyer in price (according to thrifty-conscious Lauren). The best deal of the day was a $20 gift card for every purchase over $50. This required that we stand in line at the outdoor Customer Service kiosk for about 45 minutes and freeze our arses off! Because it was so cold, they handed out hand warmers. Cool! We grabbed a bunch and put them in our pockets and, in Jana’s case, in her beanie to warm her head (she’s got barely an inch of hair). The warmers were a big hit!

Friday night dinner at the (first and original) Spaghetti Factory

that overlooks the Williamette River. Lauren is amazing with

kids. Could that be because she is such a big kid herself?

Saturday morning we all went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) for a special exhibit on guitars. Lauren is a volunteer at OMSI and works two or three Saturdays a month giving submarine tours. Her compensation is free membership to the museum and free entrance for friends and family. I really wasn’t expecting I’d enjoy the exhibit as I’ve never played a guitar and know very little about them. Well, I loved it. We all loved it. Besides all of the displays, including the largest guitar in the world, what made it incredible was a live presentation on the science of sound with demonstrations by a scientist/performer who showed how sound waves move. He showed how they could make a candle flame flicker and fire dance to the tune of music. Amazing! We then spent an hour playing with all of the ‘brain teasers’ that were located outside the exhibit hall. It was great fun! I understand why OMSI is such a “happy place” for Lauren.

Waiting for the Science of Sound to begin and afterwards in the OMSI

store modeling a helmet fashioned after the one used in The Martian.

We drove home Monday arriving in Volcano around 8 p.m. and got up early Tuesday and headed for the airport to pick up Maria, who was coming for a week long visit. Maria and I spent the first few days working on a quilting project in the studio. We have so many good memories associated with the cabin…or is it a studio? It was first the Cabin when Verne, I, and the girls lived in it for eighteen months while the house was being built; for several years Maria and Scott used it during the months they weren’t fishing. Later, Jeff, Trish, and their first two boys lived there for a year between living in San Francisco and relocating to El Dorado Hills and finally our friends Kathleen and Rita lived in the cabin for two years before moving to Santa Cruz. About five years ago it became the Studio when I decided I needed a long-arm quilting machine and the cabin was the perfect place for it. It’s now home to all things quilting and crafting. It’s my happy place.

On the fourth day of Maria’s visit, we piled in the car and took a driving trip to SoCal that included an afternoon and overnight stop to see our friend Sally Simms in Santa Barbara. I was about to say that the highlight was an amazing dinner at The Palace (a Cajun-Creole eatery on State Street that has the best gumbo I’ve ever tasted), but actually the highlight was spending those hours with our dear friend and fellow quilter. 

We got up the next morning, enjoyed Sally’s delicious and hearty breakfast, and drove on to Los Angeles to visit Jana and our other SoCal girls, Raelin and Lara, and their families. 

Note: Grandpa Verne and youngest grandson, Logan, were competing 

to see who could make the meanest looking face. I think it's a draw!

Here’s where it gets crazy…after dinner at Gloria’s in Culver City we piled back in the car and drove home to Volcano. Yep! We made the round trip in less than 48 hours. It was that or spend all of Sunday driving and we weren’t about to do that. Okay, I’ll admit that we were motivated to make the long drive home that night because we had plans on Sunday that couldn’t be postponed. Over the first few days Maria was with us we watched three episodes of the Hunger Games. We’d all read the trilogy and were anxious to see Mockingjay Part II (second half of the third book), which was in theaters. We worked our plan and got up early Sunday and went to a matinee. We all loved the movie making our late-night, exhausting drive home worth it.

Here are a few more pictures from our whirlwind trip…

Maria didn't believe us that Anderson's split pea soup is not

as we remembered it from 30+ years ago...she's a believer now!

Just an hour from Santa Barbara, we stopped to stretch 

our legs and enjoy the beautiful view!