Short Post - Picking Up The Needles Again

I enjoy crocheting and a couple years ago learned to knit. It helped pass the time in the waiting room while Joe was having CatScan's, MRI's and other procedures and the year of sitting with him in the chemo lounge while he was getting infusions. When he died, I laid my needles down and didn't pick them up again until.....this evening. It just seemed like the plastic jar sitting by my chair that held the yarn was saying to me "pick up the needles and start knitting". I did and wonderful, I remembered how. I am looking forward to a  cozy fall and winter sitting in front of my fireplace knitting dish clothes. For now, I have no interest in making anything else. I only make white ones made with white cotton yarn. They wash up nice and can also be purexed.

• Bye for now
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• I'll love you for ever and for always
  Your Betty Girl

I'm "Awake" And On The Mend

Two weeks ago today I developed a fever and abdominal pain. Blood work indicated an infection somewhere. A CatScan was ordered and the results came back on the good side. The high fever came down, and eventually the pain subsided  and the low grade fever hung on for the next two weeks. I didn't have an appetite and all I wanted to do was sleep. Slowly I started feeling better. A generalized weakness persisted but Thursday the results from the last blood draw showed all was within normal range. (which is also an answer to prayers because I don't do well with most antibiotics that could be used).  I still deal with the low grade fever in the mornings and evenings, but I'm not sleeping as much and I'm working on getting my energy back. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and well wishes. 

Thursday eve my daughter in law and granddaughter spent a few hours visiting with me and playing SkipBo. It was good to feel like having company again.

Last month when I did some traveling I took the plants from my Secret Garden over to my sons. Last evening I stopped by to see the roses. Oh my goodness. So beautiful. Joe bought this rose bush at Al's in Woodburn and I worked really hard to save it this last winter. Looks like I did a pretty good job. The rose bush next to the yellow one is my Mr. Lincoln. I bought it at High School Pharmacy in Estacada earlier this spring. It is doing pretty good too. It has three buds on it. Sometime in October my friend Ruth and I will go back over and she will cut them both back for the winter and David will put them in his car and bring them back over here to me. Right now they are too tall to get in the car. I'm not going to "do" flowers next year. I have places I want to go and people I want to see and I don't want to be tied down with pretty flowers to keep watered and fed.

After enjoying my roses and David and Jennifer's beautiful back yard, Ruth and I enjoyed a Southern Gospel concert by The Liberty Quartet Joe and I both really enjoyed this type of gospel music and first heard this group in Benson, Az some years ago. If you like this type of music and they are in your area, I highly recommend them to you. 

Even though the smoke from the forest fires comes and goes, I feel fall is in the air. So this afternoon I pulled some of my fall decor down from the shelves in my closet and did a little "decorating." Candy corn fills this little basket.

The window behind my table is large enough to serve as a shelf. So it was fun to put a few things there rather than on the table. The table runner is easily removed so I can write, play games or put a puzzle together on it.

This stand is right by my glider chair. It has one drawer to put my "stuff" in and when the doors are opened in the front it reveals two deep drawers and they are both full of favorite DVD'S I couldn't part with after Joe died. The scarf  on top of the stand, is made from rug type material.We bought it in Los Algadones  one year while we were staying in Pilot Knob, CA. After I finished putting the "prettys" out, I sat down and had myself a "hanky soaking" cry. Sad that Joe wasn't here to enjoy the decorating. Then I wiped my eyes and sat and thought about it all and smiled. If he was here, we would be on our way to the desert by now. I only decorated when we were home taking care of his mom and then the last year while he was so sick.  The 22nd of next month will be a year since he entered into the presence of the Lord. He loved the old hymns of the church but I imagine I can also hear him singing this song too......Better is One Day in Your Courts
Bye for now

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I'll love you for ever and for always
Your Betty Girl

What? No Part 2?

Unfortunately that is true. At least not for now. Blood work indicates I am battling an intestinal infection of some kind. My Primary Care Physician is keeping on top of it and by process of elimination, He will figure out where it is. I woke up with a 100.5 fever and it kept climbing, til it peaked out at 102.8.Yesterday, it finally broke and has stayed normal. It is not in my best interest to be going anywhere so I have cancelled my trip to Puyallup and Lynden. Besides I don't have enough strength or energy to hardly get from my bed to my chair and they're almost right next to each other. The good news is, the temp is staying normal and I felt like eating a little soup, some soda crackers and Ginger Ale. To those of you who knew, thank you for your prayers. And to those of you who know now, thank you for your prayers.

I'm sure with all the news and social media reporting you are on overload with the Oregon fires so I will just let you know, today I opened the door just for a moment and it smelled like I was living in the middle of a campgrounds smelling campfires, only it was our beautiful Columbia Gorge and surrounding areas burning. 

Bye for now.

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I'll love you for ever and for always
        Your Betty Girl

Fair Season Part 1

Before I start my actual blog today I wanted to share a couple of pictures of friends I had a chance to spend time with in the last couple of weeks

I was thrilled to be able to spend time with my friends Lois and Scott and......

my best "dog friend" Toby. I brought "lunch in a pot" so we could have more time to visit and play Fast Track" Scott and Lois were at Fairview RV Park for a few days before heading back to Coburg to have their slides fixed on the motor home. This meant they wouldn't be back in October like original planned. It also meant I would be saying both Hello and goodbye until sometime next year.

I also had a chance to meet up with  entertainer friend Kerry Grombacher when he did a concert at the Tigard Library last week. Joe and I had the opportunity to meet him a few years ago in Tombstone, Arizona.  It was good to see him again and visit a few minutes before the concert.

I love to go to fairs.  Town fairs, county fairs, state fairs...... it doesn't matter. I missed the Clackamas County fair and Rodeo this year, but I'll be there again next year.

I didn't miss the Oregon State Fair though. I went three times. The first time was with my daughter Sheila. We had such a good time. I could hardly wait to get there because my son Michael had an entry in the fair and Sheila and I would be the first in the family to see if he was awarded a ribbon. He wrote the following note to me. "It feels like Christmas morning and we're all sitting around the tree waiting for you and Dad to get your coffee so we can start opening presents.... We don't really care what we got it's just the thrill of opening. I'm trying not to keep my hopes up but boy it sure would be nice if I did win"

There it is YES!! He was awarded a blue ribbon for his hard work. This is the description standing by his work.

This is a to scale replica of the church he attends in Oregon City

Description reads:
"Although the exterior is not the same as the actual church, the interior sanctuary and stage is an exact scale replica of Victory Faith Church in Oregon City Oregon. The windows, carpet and exterior stone of this model were printed from hi-rez pictures of those items.

So that was the first trip to the fair. The second time was Saturday. After going to the concert at the library in Tigard with my daughter in law and granddaughter, we picked up my son David from his work and off we went to the fair again. 

This time, so mom could  could see the lights of the fair at night from the chair lifts. ( I borrowed   this picture from the internet) I don't drive after dark so what a gift of love from my son David and his wife Jennifer..... he goes to work at 3:30 in the morning. When we left for home, Jennifer drove and David slept. :)

The young lady on your left is my granddaughter Cassie and her mom (my daughter in law Jennifer). They bought new hats at the fair and I brought mine from home. The scarves around our neck are coolers. It was a bit warm that evening. 

The third and last time I went to the fair was yesterday with my friends Jim and Neila.  Jim and Joe were best friends. We met them years ago when we parked right next to them at an RV Park near Blythe, California. I don't like to do rides at the fair but Joe did and so did Neila.......so, Jim and I would hold their coats and items that would fall out of their pockets when the rides were upside down and they would do the crazy rides. Rides are no longer an option but we sure enjoyed our time together at the fair yesterday.

This horse and wagon team took first place yesterday

Jim and Neila admiring the old Case steam engine tractor.
Well friends, this ends part 1 of "Fair Season". Part one you ask? Is there a part 2 coming?  Oh yeah,.....I'll keep you posted. In a few days I'm heading for my sister's in Washington to the Big One. The Washington State Fair. I'm 76 years old and except for a few years when I was living in Alaska and Idaho, I've been going to the fair since elementry school when they let school out for the day and the kids were given free tickets into the fair....
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It's been 10 months now since I've been on this journey of living life alone. When friends ask how I'm doing my answer with a smile is "less tears and more smiles" I've expanded my borders as to how far I feel comfortable driving. While I'm in Washington this time I'm driving further North to Lynden, WA to spend time with my sister in law before heading home. That will be my last trip with the car until next spring. I've put in an application for a volunteer position some where one day a week for now and will say more about it after I hear if I've been accepted. More great grandbabies are on their way and I'm loving the love that my adult kids shower me with. I am one blessed woman!!
Bye for now
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I'll love you for ever and for always
Your Betty Girl

On The Go

It seems as if I have been in the same blog "funk" as my friend Al Bossence from The Bayfield Bunch. Sometimes known as the gal with "so many words", I went into a slump for no real reason and blogging just wasn't there. Which was to bad because this month has been chock full of fun. 

So, today I was shopping at a local Fred Meyers store and a very sweet lady approached me and said something like this. "Excuse me, but do you blog? After I "recovered", I told her yes. And she proceeded to tell me she has been following my blog practically since I started writing. She said she never comments but always reads it. She said she saw Joe and I in a restaurant "with another couple" a year or so ago, but didn't want to interrupt us. I told her about being in my "blog funk" asked her if I could take her picture and use it. 

So here it is "Kaye from Oregon". Thanks for helping me get out of my slump. It was so nice to meet you. You brightened my day and made me feel special.

I recently took a trip with my friend Ruth and my sister Jan, to Vashon Island. That in it's self was wonderful but remember in my last blog I mentioned I drove to Redmond, Washington? Well this is the 2nd leg of that trip. I drove from Redmond back to Bonney Lake, WA, picked up my sister and with her in the front seat to help direct me to Anthony's Restaurant in North Tacoma, right next to where we would take the ferry to Vashon.

We ate lunch outside at Anthony's restaurant before
boarding the ferry for Vashon. 

This is a red Jelly Fish floating right by our table. I had never seen one 

We had time before boarding the ferry to enjoy this beautiful garden. Point Defiance Gardens

After lunch, Ruthie took the wheel and drove the car on to the ferry. She then became our tour guide for the week. 

They pack the ferry like sardines in a can.

My sister Jan and I enjoying the short ferry ride to the island.

We were guests of my friend Ruthie. This was the home of her grandparents, built in 1907. (I hope I got this right). It is still owned by family members.

This is the view we woke up to every morning. It was a week of reflection and healing for me and I was so grateful I had this opportunity to come back again. The last time we came here, Joe was with me.

I have never seen a tree this huge. The little climbing girl came out in my sister. 

Ruthie says this huge tree root has been here as long as she can remember and it is a tradition when one comes to visit they have their picture taken. I couldn't climb up to find a hole to put my face in but Jan did.

My friend Ruthie

Ruthie has many wonderful memories of her and her brother climbing and playing on these sand cliffs.

Ruthie was a wonderful tour guide and shared many of her memories with us. This is the light house keepers homes at Point Robinson My understanding is you can now rent these as vacation homes. (Quarters A  $1,785 per week. Max. 6 guests (or 8 with roll-a-ways).
Quarters B  $1,575 per week. Max. 4 guests  (or 6 with roll-a-ways).
 

There were many photo opportunities on the island.

This is the neighbor, Susan, walking her horse along the beach.

I was sitting outside reading my book and I looked up to see this....couldn't resist taking a picture. It looks like Jan is herding a gaggle of geese, but really they were on their walk and Jan was taking a walk lost in her own thoughts. 

There was traffic of all sizes on the sound most every day. Kayak's, sail boats, fishing boats to these huge cargo ships.  Just off to the right of the water is Sea-Tac International Airport. Planes landing and taking off 24-7. 

Sunrises, and sunsets were incredibly beautiful every day we were there.

We took our chairs and left them sitting on the knoll. I sat down to read, but most the time I was just staring at the view. Jan would read for awhile and if you look down on the beach.......yep that's her. She would lay her book down and head for the waters edge.
It was a wonderful week. Thank you so much Ruthie for sharing your beautiful memories with us.

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I'll love you for ever and for always
        Your Betty Girl

Celebrating Birthdays

August 8th through the 12th was a week of birthday celebrations!! Mine was the 8th and Joe's was the 12th

My granddaughter took me to Red Lobster to start the celebrating.  I was so busy taking pictures of her Ultimate Feast of two Tender Maine lobster tails, steamed North American snow crab legs, hand-crafted garlic shrimp scampi and Walt’s Favorite Shrimp. Served with our wild rice pilaf and a Caesar salad. Oh and berry smoothie that I forgot to take a picture of my crab linguine with Alfredo sauce.

On my actual birthday my friend Ruthie took me to an early supper at the Roadhouse.  I totally forgot to take a picture.   You'd think I would have ordered steak.....but I don't eat steak. What I did eat was undoubtedly the best ever catfish dinner I've ever had!!! And I've had catfish meals from the East Coast to the West Coast.Sooo good. 

I was on the phone talking to our friends from Gervais and Neila asked me about my birthday plans. After I told her about the birthday meals up to that point, she asked when they were going to be able to help me celebrate. So Thursday I think it was, I met them in Gervais and they took me to the Home Town Buffet in  Salem. Wow!! What a great lunch. And the best part of that lunch we got to just sit and visit and visit. The servers weren't in a hurry for us to leave because it was in between lunch and dinner. Oh, but the celebration wasn't over then.  It was only going to continue......

Joe's daughter Kelly invited us to come to Redmond, Washington where she lives and we would celebrate dad's birthday by going to CleElum on Saturday. Friday evening I had time to love on Gage... the family dog, oops excuse me Hoi,(Kelly's husband)  Hoi's Dog.  It was suppose to be the family dog but Gage adopted Hoi. This particular eve, Hoi was out of town and  It was Grandma Betty who gave Gage the loves.

 We played games and then enjoyed Kelly's Indoor S'mores. Just as good as over the campfire.

 Saturday morning Kelly, was the chauffeur and tour guide as we headed to CleElum for the day to celebrate dad's birthday. First stop, The Bakery House where we had lunch.

Next stop the CleElum Bakery. Joe loved glazed donuts. They were out of those but we had some wonderful pastries.

So many choices.

Kelly and I had previously had a conversation about how I loved to shop at farm/feed stores.  And she took me to one in CleElum that was a combination Hardware/Farm Store. I couldn't believe all the variety of merchandise.I've been looking for a hat to protect my face from the sun. Didn't find one there but it was fun trying on these western hats.

Next the tour continues on to Suncadia.  A family member owns a home here. They are not year around residents so generously allows family to use it.

The next few pictures are views from Suncadia

A view from inside the lodge

80 minutes at this spa can be as much as $200

The day was fast coming to a close and it was time for dinner. So we were off to Swiftwater Cellars Winery

Our table was to the far left. What a wonderful end to a day of celebrating Joe.  Thank you Kelly girl for a wonderful day to celebrate dad.

We all missed him this day.  But I can only imagine what his birthday in Heaven must have been like.

Oh one last thing...... Joe's birthday (and any other day) would include a Baskin and Robbins Ice Cream. The flavor you ask? Baseball. And this evening was no exception.  Grandkids Kevin and Joleen had been at the movies. They passed us on the way home so we called them and asked them to turn around and join us at Baskin and Robbins for one final birthday salute. And yes, they did have Baseball flavor.

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I'll love you for ever and for always
Your Betty Girl