New Year's Eve - Goodbye 2010 - Hello 2011!!

Tonight for New Year's Eve we walked across the street to our local Lake Oswego movie theatre. It is the kind of place where the same guy who sold us our tickets also worked the concession stand and started the movie! I liked that hometown feeling. We saw "The Social Network".

I agree with this review "Fantastic performances, compelling story for teens and up. "Iffy" for Ages 14–15" and I'd add "Iffy for people sitting by their Bishop." Movies make me so mad when they add sex scenes and drug use that they don't really need for the story. The acting is wonderful....even Justin Timberlake does a good job as a despicable character. Really smart people who come up with revolutionary ideas like the founder of Facebook are fascinating. And the whole chain of events that led to the creation of Facebook does make an interesting story. It is a good movie and I can see why it is often listed as one of the year's best.

Oregon Aquarium

Among the the interesting displays at the Oregon Aquarium were several made from trash found along the beaches of the area....like this fish....

and this piece of 'trash art'. Amazing and kind of sad that people leave all this junk on the beaches. Although I can honestly say that along the beaches in Lincoln City we saw almost no litter.

Isn't this little sea otter adorable? We watched while they were fed lots and lots of shell fish. They are fat little guys but I guess they need to be in order to stay warm in that cold water.

These fascinating things are called Sea Nettle. Watching them was hypnotizing!

I love it when I catch a glimpse of one of the little boys I remember in these big bearded men!

The aquarium at Newport, Oregon was a great way to spend a cool, rainy day!

Jackson's Christmas

Jackson is our 'guest dog' who, in May, came to our house in Eagle for a visit and is still there! Do you think we should stop considering him a guest? Jackson definitely enjoyed his Christmas holiday!

He was outfitted with the perfect jacket for those rainy Oregon beach days.

Santa bought him a new chucker and a big supply of balls.

The guys never tired of throwing a ball for him and he never tired of retrieving.

The beach was a perfect place to pick up chicks...well it would have been if he had been intersted in anything except for balls and balls and balls and the occasional stick!

He caught a few waves! His owner lives in Hawaii. It's too bad he can't go there for a visit!

The wind gave him a new look! What a handsome guy! After an exhausting day he could curl up on his own bunk bed for a long winter's nap.

While visions of balls and sticks danced in his wee little head!

Zoo Lights

Each year the Oregon Zoo here in Portland is transformed into a winter wonderland, aglow with a million lights. That is no exaggeration!!! More than 200 animated animals swing through trees, jump across lawns, hide in bushes and appear in places where they're least expected. Displays include swinging monkeys, leaping frogs, flying bats, diving penguins, and a perfect-for-photos light sculpture featuring a dozen animals. George, John and I enjoyed a fun, rain-less evening there along with about 8000 other people. It is definitely 'kid oriented' and will be a great grandkid excursion someday!

Christmas at the Oregon Coast

Our Christmas was a little different this year....we were in a beach house on the Oregon Coast. Matt, John, and Scott brought a few of our decorations to make it look like our traditional Christmas!

Among our activities.....we cooperatively finished a challenging puzzle!

Feasted on the famous clam chowder at Mo's!

Witnessed some spectacular sunsets!

Continued our Real Madrid/FC Barcelona rivalry with the boys Christmas gifts!

And enjoyed some long walks on the beach!

Does it look like I am standing in a hole? Nope, they are really that tall and I'm really that short!

Christmas 2010 was a holiday to remember!

All I want for Christmas....

I told my family that I wanted three things for Christmas:

#1 everyone to cheerfully make Christmas ornaments....

Success!!! And they are perfect memories of our beach Christmas!

#2 A bon fire on the beach

We actually did this twice and were reminded that campfires 'warm the cockles of your heart." There is just nothing like enjoying a big bright fire while sitting on a sandy log listening to the sounds of the ocean!

#3 A Nertz tournament

Even though some of the guys don't really like card games they played and were good sports. If I had won it would have been perfect (and a Christmas miracle) but George won every game no matter who his partner was!

Merry Christmas to me!

White Elephants

Almost two years ago I did this post about 'White Elephant" gift exchanges. http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6777362347994026791&postID=6774689587272163835

Last night I went to a church 'White Elephant" gift exchange and received a true 'white elephant' in the best (or worst) sense of the term! What do you think of this piece of original ART??????

Does turning it this way help?

Not so much! This will definitely make an appearance at another one of these gift exchanges! Oh and by the way it is 28 inches by 14 inches, not exactly a small size. If anyone has a blank wall that is just crying for modern 'art' I might be convinced to part with it!

The Answer

And the answer to the frequently asked question, "How do you like living in Oregon?".....

But we do still miss Eagle!

Nativity Scenes

I have a collection of nativity scenes from all our travels. I looked in Nepal and India but never saw any for sale. I was so excited when I got home and read an article in Mormon Times about the Hyde Family in South Jordan, Utah. They wanted to do something to help people....well I'll let you read it in their own words.

We wanted to do a little good in the world. While contemplating what we could do as a family project to teach our children about charity and serving others, we had a very inspired thought. We started buying Nativity scenes from artisans in poor or developing countries as a means of helping the artisans generate income in a way that preserved their dignity. We thought we might buy a few Nativities, but now we have many.

Along the way, we started buying extra Nativities from artisans we found via great miracles. We sold the extras to our interested friends. We thought it would be a small project, but the response has been so high that we have sold 2,600 Nativities from 90 artisans since 2005. Profits are given 100 percent to charitable causes and micro-credit projects in Third World countries that benefit the poorest people on the planet.

As I browsed through their on line catalog I found one from Nepal! I'm so happy to add this to my collection and best of all to know I'm helping someone in that poor, developing country. Isn't it a wonderful addition? I especially like Mary's long braid and the crowns on the Three Kings. The figures are made of corn husks and resin. Along with the nativity I received a thank you note:What a wonderful way to involve the Hyde children! I also got a picture of the artisans at work.

If you are interested in knowing more about Hyde family's charitable project, here is a link to their website. http://www.worldnativity.com/

It's beginning....

...to look a lot like Christmas!

No snow, just lots of rain! No big tree! No nativity scene collection! No boxes and boxes of decorations! No kids around yet! But it does look and feel a lot like Christmas!

And the winner is.....

Barca 5 - Madrid 0

Cashing in on "Twilight"

The folk in Forks, Washington are definitely getting all the benefit they can from the popularity of the Twilight books and movies.

None of the actual scenes of the movie were filmed here and Stephanie Meyer never set foot in Forks until after she had written the books. Forks is home to the Cullens because it is the town in the continental US with the highest amount of rainfall so it's perfect for vampires. Residents have designated one house as:

It does fit my image of the house where Bella and her Dad lived. I can imagine Edward leaping up to the roof to get into Bella's bedroom.

If you drive out towards La Push you will find the treaty line which marks the start of the werewolf territory where vampires shouldn't go!

Some don't abide by the ancient treaties so you do get your daily threat level assessment!

You can see Bella's truck at the chamber of commerce and her Dad's police cruiser is parked at the city hall.

For a mere $39 you can take a tour. There are even choices....the "Breaking Dawn Tour", "The Volturi Tour" or the "Twilight Tour".

If you need any sort of Twilight memorabilia, and I do mean ANY sort, you can shop at "Dazzled by Twilight". My personal favorite was the bumper sticker that said, "Married with children. In love with a Werewolf". Now if it has said, "in love with a vampire" I might have considered it! The decor was pretty impressive and I loved their window displays.

People from all over the world have been impressed, as if evidenced by the pins in this map. This map was just started at the beginning of the summer of 2010. That's a lot of Twilight fans!

At the local restaurants you can choose from "Edbread" and "Swan Salad" or have a "Breaking Dawn Green Chili Hamburger" or "Lone Wolf Barbecue Sandwich....or even have Edward and Bella's wedding soup!

The park ranger we talked with told us that his pre-teen daughter decided at the beginning of last summer that she wanted an I pod. He told her that she'd have to earn the money herself. After she rid the backyard of slugs at five cents a slug she was still way short of enough money so she decided to set up a lemonade stand in their front yard. Lucky girl! Her house is on the street between the community hospital which has a parking spot reserved for "Dr. Cullen" and the designated "Swan House". The Twilight tour buses drive down her street and they started stopping. I didn't ask him if her stand had a sign that said "Renesmee's Lemonade"! Anyway, she made $65 a day for several days and had her I-pod!

The appropriate saying is "Make hay while the sun shines"....although the sun seldom shines in Forks, I'm sure you get my point!