Actually, it is turning into a birthday week. Colleen and I drove to Yakima on Friday night to begin our annual October birthday getaway to stay in a lovely B&B that made us feel like we were in the heart of Germany. The host is German and he and his wife have made the entire abode look like a page out of a country German home.
With their recommendation, we stopped at an apple stand nearby and purchased a variety of lovely crisp beautiful apples for $.25/pound. Yes, twenty-five cents. They were considered seconds, but other than being a bit smaller, we could see no difference.
After a day of driving eastward via Dayton, Waitsburg, Pomeroy, and Uniontown, we arrived at the Spragues on Saturday evening. One stop made during our wanderings was at a working goat and sheep cheese farm. We tasted cheeses and sipped some wine before being on our way. The sidetrip to Uniontown was a double failure; the Sage Bakery had closed 15 minutes before we got there, and our favorite antique shop has been sold:(
Karen had a lovely dinner for us on Saturday evening, and Sunday was a frantic round of buying more produce on GreenBluff and then scurrying back to Karen's to get out the kettles and the peelers and the crockpots and the jars and the lids to begin the process of making apple butter and pear butter. Peeled apples were sliced and vacuum sealed for the freezer for apple pies, and the last of the season's tomatoes were cooked down for tomato sauce for the freezer. A very productive endeavor indeed.
Since there is serious construction on I-5 on the east side of the summit with extensive delays, we decided to drive home via Highway 2 yesterday. It didn't take any extra time, and it was much more leisurely. We admired the old hotel in Waterville and then stopped in Leavenworth for some German food for dinner. We arrived back at Colleen's about 9:30.
Ken had roses for me, and Craig had some very nice wine along with surprises from the two east coast Kirkwood families. All this love and attention helps ease the trauma of another year passing.
One of my favorite cousins turns 90 in November so we are going to meet up with family to help her celebrate next weekend .... in the thriving metropolis of Umatilla.
It is pretty quiet here this evening. Craig closed on his house this week so he has moved into his new home in north Tacoma. We are very happy for him, but we were quite used to having him around. We think he made a good buy, and he is only about a half hour away.
I have become obsessed with Words with Friends on my phone. There is a limit of 20 games at any one time, and I am always playing the maximum. It is addictive:) Excuse me, I have to go see if it is my turn:)
Ciao
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Alaska, Spokane, Coeur d'alene, Crooked River Ranch, Prosser, and back to Spokane
I am going to go out on a limb and make a commitment via FaceBook that I will blog on a regular basis. I enjoy FB, but I enjoy reading the blogs that contain so much more detail. I think I left off just before our Alaska cruise:
The cruise was fabulous and we had a delightful week with the Maryland Kirkwoods. Keith and Janet had a suite, so the girls and Ken and I spent lots of time hanging out with them and enjoying all their amenities. It was so much fun to have an entire week with the four of them and no responsibilities. We paid a deposit on another cruise but have no idea when or where!
This has been the summer for anniversaries......the second weekend of September we were in Coeur d'Alene with Jerry and Lois and family to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Last weekend we were at Crooked River Ranch to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Ken's cousin, Carolyn, and her husband Irv. Carolyn's sister and family were right next door so we got more family time. The weather has been beautiful throughout our travels this month.
At the end of our outing, we spent two days in the wine country with the Schulers. One day in the Yakima Valley and another in the Walla Walla area. Ten years ago we couldn't even find a tasting room in Walla Walla, but not so now. There are probably at least 200 wineries in that area. Walla Walla wines always seem to come at a dearer price than those of the Columbia/Yakima-area appellations, and since my palate is not that discerning, I will continue to purchase the Columbia River wines moreso than WW.
The final anniversary soiree was in Davenport with three couples celebrating their fiftieth anniversaries. We had a great time because half the county was there, and there were many that we seldom see since we are rarely in Davenport any more.
Our three weeks on the road provided a good shakedown cruise for the new-to-us coach, and of course we now have another "to-do" list, but all in all we are quite pleased. Ken has worked diligently to appease my need for orderly storage so there are now shelves in the cabinet designed for a washer/dryer, and the little Dustbuster cabinet is now the storage for the vacuum hose. There will be one trip back to Joey at Southside to finish up some other details, and then we will be ready to hit the road.
Ken wants to be out of Dodge the day after Thanksgiving to allow the best chances of getting over the Siskiyous without a weather interdiction. I'm not so sure I want to be away from home for Christmas two years in a row, so we are thinking we will either fly or drive back for same. Upon our return south we will be ready to pull up stakes at Foothills West and move out to the desert at Quartzite. I think we will stay for the better part of two or three weeks this year unless boredom (or too much laundry) sets in.
My quilt projects have been largely ignored this summer, but I think I am ready to get back into it. I have one within a couple of hours of being ready for the quiter, and another that is totally ready to go to the quilter. And then I can ponder which of my many unfinished projects I want to tackle next.
We have been following yesterday's news about the shooter at the Permanente plant in Cupertino, CA. We could see the plant's plumes of dust from our neighborhood when we lived there, and the shooter was captured just a matter of a mile or two from our old house.
We now have three grandchildren pursuing their higher educations; Sarah is now enrolled in nurse's training, Rachel is a junior at University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, and Nolan is a freshman and ROTC cadet at the University of North Carolina. And Keith is working on a master's degree when it doesn't interfere with diving or cruising:).
Thanksgiving is going to be in Madison Park with Jim and Colleen hosting. So far I have only been charged with making rolls. Sounds like a plan to me, but Christmas is apt to be a different story.
OK, I think I am caught up for a while. Here I go to FB to make my statement!! Ciao
The cruise was fabulous and we had a delightful week with the Maryland Kirkwoods. Keith and Janet had a suite, so the girls and Ken and I spent lots of time hanging out with them and enjoying all their amenities. It was so much fun to have an entire week with the four of them and no responsibilities. We paid a deposit on another cruise but have no idea when or where!
This has been the summer for anniversaries......the second weekend of September we were in Coeur d'Alene with Jerry and Lois and family to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Last weekend we were at Crooked River Ranch to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Ken's cousin, Carolyn, and her husband Irv. Carolyn's sister and family were right next door so we got more family time. The weather has been beautiful throughout our travels this month.
At the end of our outing, we spent two days in the wine country with the Schulers. One day in the Yakima Valley and another in the Walla Walla area. Ten years ago we couldn't even find a tasting room in Walla Walla, but not so now. There are probably at least 200 wineries in that area. Walla Walla wines always seem to come at a dearer price than those of the Columbia/Yakima-area appellations, and since my palate is not that discerning, I will continue to purchase the Columbia River wines moreso than WW.
The final anniversary soiree was in Davenport with three couples celebrating their fiftieth anniversaries. We had a great time because half the county was there, and there were many that we seldom see since we are rarely in Davenport any more.
Our three weeks on the road provided a good shakedown cruise for the new-to-us coach, and of course we now have another "to-do" list, but all in all we are quite pleased. Ken has worked diligently to appease my need for orderly storage so there are now shelves in the cabinet designed for a washer/dryer, and the little Dustbuster cabinet is now the storage for the vacuum hose. There will be one trip back to Joey at Southside to finish up some other details, and then we will be ready to hit the road.
Ken wants to be out of Dodge the day after Thanksgiving to allow the best chances of getting over the Siskiyous without a weather interdiction. I'm not so sure I want to be away from home for Christmas two years in a row, so we are thinking we will either fly or drive back for same. Upon our return south we will be ready to pull up stakes at Foothills West and move out to the desert at Quartzite. I think we will stay for the better part of two or three weeks this year unless boredom (or too much laundry) sets in.
My quilt projects have been largely ignored this summer, but I think I am ready to get back into it. I have one within a couple of hours of being ready for the quiter, and another that is totally ready to go to the quilter. And then I can ponder which of my many unfinished projects I want to tackle next.
We have been following yesterday's news about the shooter at the Permanente plant in Cupertino, CA. We could see the plant's plumes of dust from our neighborhood when we lived there, and the shooter was captured just a matter of a mile or two from our old house.
We now have three grandchildren pursuing their higher educations; Sarah is now enrolled in nurse's training, Rachel is a junior at University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, and Nolan is a freshman and ROTC cadet at the University of North Carolina. And Keith is working on a master's degree when it doesn't interfere with diving or cruising:).
Thanksgiving is going to be in Madison Park with Jim and Colleen hosting. So far I have only been charged with making rolls. Sounds like a plan to me, but Christmas is apt to be a different story.
OK, I think I am caught up for a while. Here I go to FB to make my statement!! Ciao
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