Monday, Once Again

Everyone was back at school or work today. Todd and Forry went over to continue working on the new house (Todd's putting down a vapor barrier underneath and Forry has been changing out plug-ins.). Which left me home alone again most of the day. So nice!

Micah's school (91 School) was scheduled to have their Spring Band and Choir Concert this evening at six, which meant he had to leave at 5:30 which is before his Mom usually gets home from work. We decided the easiest thing might be was to eat dinner after the concert. I was trying to think what I could make that would keep -- something that wouldn't mind sitting for a half hour or more. Todd said they had lots of packages of stew meat in the freezer, so we decided beef stew would work very well.

I was going to have the fellows pick up onions and hard rolls on their way home, but when I called them I discovered that they would not be home until after five thirty either. So when Havela and Kyra got home from school, we went into the Safeway in Canby and picked them up along with a few more groceries.

The 91 School (Grades K-6) had full bleachers in the gym for the Spring Concert. The music alternated between the band and the choir, telling the story of the settling of the country and the explorers and settlers that game to Oregon. The program was only a half hour long, but it was very well done. Grandson Micah and his trombone are hard to spot in the above picture as he is way in the back...

When Havela went to start the car to go to her choir practice after Micah's concert, it would not start (even though Dawn had just arrived home in it!) Grandpa took her into Canby, then came back to eat supper and to help Todd work on the car. (They ended up getting a new battery for it. Can you believe they actually found a Reilly Car Parts open in Woodburn at 10 PM at night?!)

Navajo Tacos

We definitely have a communication gap around here! Luckily things all worked out and we got to where we were supposed to be when we were supposed to be there...

We worshiped with the congregation of Salem Mennonite today. This is the church where our son-in-law Todd has been called to be the new pastor in August. It's quite special for us that our dear friend Duncan Smith is serving as Interim Pastor, so we got to hear him preach today. It was also good to see Lynn Miller, another pastor I've worked with in the past as well.

Yesterday, Dawn had mentioned to me that Todd had purchased tickets for a fund-raising Navajo Taco dinner today. We both understood that it was to be this evening. But as we were getting in the van to return home after worship, Todd informed us that the meal was planned for this noon -- Sunday Dinner!

So, off we went to Louise and Glen's home. They taught in a school in the Navajo Nation several years ago and learned how to make fry bread there. When we arrived at their house, Glen had a batch of bread ready to fry. Served with a bean/hamburger mixture, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese and salsa, they were delicious. Glen made mine nice and crispy, just the way I like them. As an added treat, we all had seconds with warm honey. Then they served a wonderful dessert of angel food cake, whipped cream and fresh Oregon strawberries! We were definitely stuffed. And the kids got a nice donation towards their trip to the Phoenix convention next month.

We didn't get back to Auntie Violet until late afternoon, it was time for a nap. But, soon Granddaughter Kyra was knocking on the door asking for help on the project she was doing. She was packing the wrapping paper/bags collection from her Mom's underbed cupboard and needed someone to hand stuff back out to. (The cupboard is a narrow one that runs from the foot of the bed to the head of the king-size bed. Once she had crawled all the way to the head, it was pretty hard for her to turn around...) Once we got that task done, it definitely was time for that nap!

A BIG Costco Run

The guys and Granddaughter Kyra left early to haul trash to the recycling center and then went on over to Salem to do some work on the new house. Kyra and Todd were working under the house removing old fiberglass, putting down a vapor barrier and doing some other work. Forry is replacing some of the outlets in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Daughter Dawn, Grandson Micah and I went to Costco to start stocking up supplies for the Graduation Party next week. We were also getting ready for a house full of relatives who are all coming to help Havela celebrate. We bought hamburger patties, chips, cheeses, big paper plates, little paper plates, cups and all sorts of other stuff needed to feed a crowd.

Granddaughter Havela finally got home late this afternoon after having marched with her high school band in the Rose Parade this morning. She was one tired cookie, but she and her Mom made another grocery run for chilies and small tortillas, then came home and started making a second batch of mole (Dawn had already made and froze one batch last week). She's going to add smoked turkey to the mole and serve it on the little tortillas at the party. One thing about it, it sure makes the house smell good!

A Puzzle and a Cleaning Spurt

I wish I knew how to copy someone else's video and paste it here. Daughter Dawn posted a video of Granddaughter Havela's Cantalina group singing "Rock My Soul" at Canby High School's Spring Concert Wednesday night on her Facebook page. I shared it on my Facebook page yesterday as well. I sure would have liked to put it on my blog...

Havela left for school very early this morning and got home after six tonight. She has been practicing with the Canby High Marching Band. She will be playing her flute with them tomorrow when they march in the Rose Parade in Portland. After two concerts two nights this week plus school, she is really tired and fell asleep on our couch shortly after she got home.

Forry and I -- and Havela -- shared the last care package of frozen smoked ribs that our friends Juni and Tom sent along with us from Albuquerque. They sure were "falling off the bone" good.

It's been a fairly quiet day. Everyone left the house early for school or work, so we were home alone. I got all of the pillow covers from the couch washed along with my special blue Agatha Franz afghan. I got ambitious and took down the greasy ceiling fan and screen from the kitchen and got them washed. I had washed the screen before we left Mesa, but hadn't washed the fan blades. It's a spinning plastic circle with blades inside. Of course, it was a lot easier to get it down than to put it back. I had to enlist Forry's help for that part. I also scrubbed the ceiling vent for the air conditioner. (All of the things I noticed yesterday when I was napping on the couch...!) 

Another Very Nice Day

All is quiet around here tonight. It was so gorgeous again this evening that we took dinner outside -- it is very nice to sit out under the grape arbor Todd built last year.

I had a Costco bag of shrimp that I wanted to fix for dinner, but wasn't sure that there would not be enough for everyone if I just boiled them and served them with drawn butter like I usually do. Todd suggested I fix them with pasta, which worked out very well. Since this family does not deal well with garlic, I substituted finely chopped onion in the sauce base. I made a lemon white wine sauce for the shrimp that served over pasta with Parmesan cheese and parsley made a very pretty dish.

It was so nice outside that we (the ladies anyway -- Forry went in to watch the ball game) stayed outside and just visited. We did do a bit of planning for the food for next week's graduation party. It's not just the party we need to think about, it's also the houseful of folks who will be staying here to help celebrate (three sets of grand-parents plus aunts and uncles!).

Forry and Todd spent most of the day over at the new house today. The electrician was there changing out the electrical panel, so they were without electricity and couldn't do some of the things they had planned. It makes it nice that Todd has been able to do some work on the house before the official "closing."

It was nice to have the motor home pretty much to myself today, but I sure didn't accomplish much. I hadn't slept real well last night, so sorta made up for it...

A Visit With a Friend and a Choir Concert

It was another beautiful sunny day today. This morning my friend Margaret saw the RV parked at Dawn and Todd's when she went by and invited me to come visit her and see the new building that has been built by the Pacific Northwest Historical Society. I walked the couple of blocks down Whiskey Hill Road to the building.

 

The building was built on the grounds of Zion Mennonite Church, just behind the barn that is used to store Mennonite Central Committee donations.

This is the library portion of the building. It has a great many of the historical records of the Mennonite migrations as well as the stories of PNW churches and families.

This is the archival portion of the building with movable fireproof storage shelves --

Margaret is currently working on the records of the now-closed Peace Mennonite Church. All of the records are in boxes that need to be sorted and cataloged.

I had a lovely visit with Margaret. It was such a joy just to sit and chat with her!

Late this afternoon we headed for the auditorium of the Canby High School for their Spring Choral Concert. Granddaughter Havela not only sings in the select Cantalina Group and the Concert Choir, but tonight she was honored to be the Senior Student director of one of the songs (Lacrymosa) of the Mixed Choir. She did an excellent job!

What a Beautiful Sunny Day!

It was a gloriously beautiful day today! The sun was out and it was most definitely shorts weather. (Though Grandson Micah, for the first time since we've been here, wore long pants to school today instead of his walking shorts...?)

I was going to make a grocery store run today, then Todd decided he had some stuff to mail and a stop at the bank to make. Forry decided to come along to keep us company, so we ended up riding in with Todd. They dropped me off at the store while the guys went on to the bank.

Todd had taken steaks out of the freezer and mentioned that he thought rice pilaf would be a good side dish to go with. I bought some orzo pasta and some brown rice and made a batch. Then my darling daughter thought I had bought a couple of boxes of RiceRoni! I guess I did use to buy it when she was a kid... I also made Tom's braised brussels sprouts with toasted pine nuts. Todd barbecued the steaks and we were actually able to sit outside to ear.

I love this time of year. The warm evenings when it stays light so long are just delightful when you are outside.

Packing Books

We didn't do a lot this morning, we're both still feeling a bit puny. (Forry really didn't have to share his sore throat with me...!) This afternoon I felt ambitious enough to go over to Dawn's and work on the packing.

So I packed books. And then I packed books. And then I packed some more books. It certainly brought back memories of all the books we packed up when we downsized from the Spokane house to the RV. We gave books away, we donated books, we even sold a few (very few!)

First I packed up the cookbooks. Dawn was worried when she got home from work that we might need some recipes for the graduation party. Granddaughter Kyra assured her mother that we would be able to find any recipe we needed on the internet.

Next I went to the bookcase in the living room and packed those books. Lots of books about Bolivia and lots of books in Spanish. I was using the small boxes Dawn and I had retrieved from the little grocery next door, but filled with books, even those are heavy.

Lastly, I headed for the bookcase in the family room. Kyra was home from school by then and helped transfer the photograph albums and scrapbooks from the bottom shelves. We got a bit carried away and filled one of the larger boxes. I didn't realize how heavy it was until I was taping it up. Todd used his dolly to move it to the stack of boxes in the garage and said it was manageable, but I still felt bad.

When I was packing the cookbooks, I ran into the box that held all of Grandson Micah's Boy Scout badges. So when I was finished with the day's packing, Todd found me a needle and thread and I spent an hour or so sewing badges on Micah's Honor Sash. He had six new badges that he recently got along with his First Class Scout badge.

Micah and Todd are off tonight to a Scout meeting, Havala is at a Catalina (honor singing group) practice. It's been a while since we've been in the midst of such a busy family (probably since last fall's visit to the Hardt-Andrews crew.).

Havela's Quilt and the New House

The Ladies Group at Zion Mennonite has a tradition of presenting a quilt each year to each graduating high school senior. Granddaughter Havela received hers in church this morning along with seven of her classmates. What a lovely job the ladies did! This quilt so perfectly reflects our very musical granddaughter --

This afternoon  we drove into Salem with Daughter Dawn and the children, meeting Todd at the Salem Mennonite Church (where he'll become the new pastor in August!) to go see the new house --

 

 

 

It's certainly obvious that the previous owners were great gardeners! I fell in love with this gorgeous yard. Even though it's right in town (Keizer), it feels very private and secluded. My mother would have loved all of the roses.

I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but it is very nice also. After our tour, Todd and the girls went off to a church youth group meeting while Dawn, Micah, Forry and I went to the Thai restaurant in a nearby strip mall. I think we finally filled Micah up -- he asked for a box to take the last of the calamari pad Thai home.

Packing...

We had a busy day today. Well, some of us did. Grandson Micah evidently didn't get a whole lot of sleep at his overnight party last night. We heard something about getting to sleep sometime after midnight, then waking up again with the sun shortly after four am... Anyway after Granddaughter Havela went to get him mid-morning, he ended up sound asleep in his room.

Daughter Dawn is not too happy with her yard. For some reason, everything is blooming early this year. I saw some beautiful pictures from a week or so ago with all of the rhodies and clematis in bloom. She would have like them to have waited a couple of weeks so that they would have been blooming for Havela's graduation party. I took a bucket and the clippers this morning and went out to dead-head the peonies, then Granddaughter Kyra and I worked on the spent rhododendrons in the front of the house.

This afternoon I started packing up the Mexican pottery from the tall cupboard at Dawn's house. They had gotten some packing boxes from a friend, but they were pretty big. We didn't want them to be too heavy, so I packed them about half full, then we filled them the rest of the way with comforters and pillows. It took three boxes to empty out the cupboard. I remember when we brought all of the pottery from Guadalajara in our private plane. We had the twelve place setting for us and a six place setting for a friend as well. They were all packed in boxes with wood shavings that pretty well filled the airplane.

We had been told there would be no customs fees as the pottery was considered "hand-craft," but the first agent at the US border wanted us to unpack ALL of it for inspection so that he could determine the duty owed. (You can realize how many years ago this was when you realize there was no concern about possible drugs...!) Fortunately for us, his supervisor came along and informed him of the "no duty" status for the pottery before we unpacked it all. (I don't know how we would have ever gotten it repacked as tightly as they had packed it at the factory.) The pottery has been enjoying life at Dawn's house since we down-sized to live in our RV and I'm sure it will enjoy the new house as well!