The Great Oregon Steam Up!

We got to ride on a little steam train

 Every year a Great Oregon Steam Up is held a few miles away from our house. We absolutely love this event, and go every year! There are displays of old tractors, engines, lawn mowers, farm equipment, fire engines, and Caterpillars. There is the little model railroad, which gets better every year. There is a truck museum, trolley car museum, blacksmith shop, and steam powered sawmill. The crowd is friendly, and it does not cost a fortune in admission costs!

Love these old tractors!

This is a 1913 Bull Run, and until two years ago, it was brought by an old man whose parents bought the tractor new! He was 95 years old last time we saw him here, and driving his tractor waving to the crowd. He has since died, and although I miss seeing him, it is pretty cool that his tractor is still there!

The trolley car ride was fun.......

and I loved the conductor! Isn't he adorable?

The big old steam tractors are pretty impressive!

Homemade ice cream, cranked by a steam engine! Best ice cream ever!

Stuart was in seventh heaven, between getting a train ride and being surrounded by tractors! It may sound dull, wandering around looking at old engines and tractors, but when you are there, smelling the smoke and hearing the rhythmic popping of the beautiful old engines, it is far from dull! There is always something different, always something so unusual you can hardly stop looking, and lots of people who are passionate about old things and love talking about them. I have some more pictures to share (A sno-cat! A velocipide! The prettiest Studebaker Hawk I have ever seen!) but they will have to wait until tomorrow-now it is time to take my sun-burned self off to bed!

pretty, happy,funny,real, summer edition!

 Pretty-The garden is in full bloom right now. The hummingbirds love this little corner, and I hear them buzzing around the garden as I drink my morning coffee.

 Happy-Panzanella salad with tomatoes and basil from the garden! Fresh vegetables from the garden is always happy, but when the season has been as late as ours, it is more like elation!

 Funny-Estelle keeping the kitten (which was dumped off at our store) happy. She wanted to sleep in there that night, but the kitten found a home that afternoon.

Real-This idyllic scene? Chaos a moment after I took the picture! Stuart decided he objected to the mud on his hands, and tried to wipe it on the cat, who promptly ran away. He then wiped his hands on Estelle, who threw mud back at him, which somehow turned in to a huge mud fight with three children involved. After showers and the girls sweeping mud off of my sidewalk and back door, we finished Wind in the Willows and peace was restored! Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for another week of pretty,happy,funny,real!

Lake fun!

 

Sunday afternoons are my favorite time of the week!

Saturday fun!

 The morning started here, with a big mug of coffee and an oatmeal scone. The farmer was already working on the days baking, and Stuart slept late. It was a nice way to start a very busy day-no computer, just a good book. I am reading through Life in a Jewish Family by Edith Stein, and enjoying it immensely. After breakfast and waking the girls, I went down to the store and worked for 6 hours. It was so busy, we were barely able to keep up. Blueberries and kotata blackberries are at their very best right now, and the weather was perfect for picking. I always enjoy working at the store and meeting customers. Some dear friends came out for the Summer Bloom Festival, so the rest of the afternoon was spent in the garden, talking, drinking coffee, watching our children enjoy each other, and listening to the live music. I am so blessed to have this circle of friends, and always feel better after spending time with them. Tomorrow we plan to do nothing except go to Mass and then hang out at the lake. We have pie (blueberry and blackberry), watermelon, sugar snap peas, and ice cream sandwiches made by Graham for nourishment, and I will make an urn of coffee. So looking forward to the day of rest!

 Estelle (on the right) with her friend Gemma, who is in town from another part of the country! I am so glad they got to spend some time together, although Estelle has been sad all evening that she had to say good bye!

And, lastly, my friend Caren (Gemma's mother) and I. I miss this woman so much, and it has been delightful to spend some time with her! I am also feeling blue this evening that we had to say good bye, but so glad I got to see her while she was here! And, that is it for today! Monday will bring with it another round of jelly making, Costco shopping, ironing, menu planning, and cherry picking, so I need some sleep to fortify me for the week to come.

from the garden

 The vegetables are finally ripening! Nothing looks very good, the beets, beans, and tomatoes look especially bad. However, we got a really good meal out of this, including raita made with our own cucumbers to dip the veggies in.

 The flower garden, on the other hand, is in full, beautiful bloom. Lots of flowers, and everything looks healthy. The roses are in between cuttings now, so just a few of them are left, but they will be back!

Stuart, helping me pick cherries from my sister in law's tree! She kindly gave me permission to pick, so Stuart, Evangeline, and I got all we could reach. Hopefully tomorrow evening I can go back with a ladder and get more. The cherries are delicious, and I have several bags dried and ready for winter time baking! Yum! I have so many thoughts to blog about, so many pictures to share, but absolutely no time! Someday.......!

Block city

What are you able to build with your blocks? Castles and palaces, temples and docks. Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, But I can be happy and building at home.

Poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson (one of our family's favorites), block city by Stuart Andrew!

pretty,happy,funny,real!

Pretty-The sky last night. The Cascades were so clearly visible.

Happy-The boysenberries are almost ready! I have been out of jelly for two months now, and am so glad it is almost time to replenish my supply!

Funny-Stuart got in to his sister's nail varnish. He did a pretty good job, but it was nonetheless removed at once!

Real- My real pictures always seem to involve Stuart! Here he is playing with the flagging tape he found. He had wound it under the dining room table, wrapping it around chair legs and leaving tripping hazards strewn in his wake.

Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for another round of pretty, happy, funny, real. Go visit them, and then check out some other pictures! Happy Thursday!

 The world is full of so many things, I am sure we should all be as happy as kings! Robert Louis Stevenson

He says it so well, I hardly need to expound upon his words! I am trying to keep these words firmly in my mind as I go about these busy days. My life is full, very full. Instead of being stressed over what I perceive to be too much to do, I am trying to remind myself that a busy life is a full life. Happiness! Choose happiness! This is my constant refrain, as the phone is ringing, Stuart is crying, dinner is burning (or late, or not even thought of), the stack of paperwork I need to tend to is a mountain, and the toilet is malfunctioning. A full life is a rich life, let it bring you joy!

{pfhr} mixed up version

Funny-My sister and friend playing around on the fourth. My sister is good and funny!

Real-cleaning up the remnants of the firework display!

Pretty- Bench in the garden, perfect spot for morning coffee!

Happy-Stand mixer found at a rummage sale. It works beautifully, and I am quite enamored of it!

So! Ever since my computer was hit by 125 viruses, certain features have been working incorrectly. For some reason, every time I blog, my pictures will not load unless I keep the cursor moving. It also takes a long time to load the pictures, and some times it doesn't work correctly. This post is a case in point, as the pictures loaded out of the correct order. I am too frustrated to mess with it right now,so I am just posting as is! Blurg! Linking with Like Mother, Like Daughter for another week's edition of {phfr}, the mixed up version!

Waiting for the show to begin

Cleaning up on the morning after

Remnants of a really good party

We loved the fourth of July! This year's party included lots of good food, 65 friends and family members to help us celebrate, volleyball, and swimming at the lake. And, fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks! Hope yours was happy!

Oregon's best state park!

The parking lot-just a pull off along the road

The park's only picnic table!

being silly at the top

View from the rock looking north

Going up!

Entry sign- just what is an erratic rock?

Stuart heading up

Two geese we saw along the way

Stuart wanted to share his stuffed deer with them

The erratic rock!

view from the top

 We have a tradition of driving to Oregon's smallest (and least known) state park. It is called Erratic Rock State Park, and it totally cracks me up. You pull off the road, and walk up this hill. It is a fairly steep climb at the end, but you are surrounded by lovely scenery, so you don't mind too  much. At the top, there is a rock. A large rock, which you can climb on to and see for miles and miles. However, that is the extent of the park. Just a rock and a picnic table. I love it. We have been doing this since the first year of our marriage (19 years) and only once have we seen anyone else there. It is, in spite of it's smallness and obscurity, one of my favorite things. I am having computer issues (still!) and the pictures did not appear on my screen in the order I lined them up to, but it is too late for me to stay up fussing about that!