Oregon Tourists

 The main purposes of our trip to Portland were to visit friends, spend time with Scott, and see my doctor.

We also managed to play tourist!  First a stop at Multnomah Falls.  There was a crazy amount of water coming down.

 We went for a walk down by our old apartment and, just like most springs, there was flooding.  George delights in photographing 'rule following' Marilyn breaking the rules.  This time not only did I break the rules, I led others astray!  But there was a beaver!  A very shy beaver who did not want to get out in the sunlight to be photographed but a beaver! 

We made a day trip to Astoria which is over on the coast.  First on the agenda was eating fish and chips. I never order fish and chips but George loves them so I researched the best place and the consensus seemed to be Bowpicker.

The long line was further proof that this was the place to eat!

As you can see it is located in a boat.  You walk up the stairs and then have a few choices, either a full or a half order and you can get extra fish or extra French fries.  Order your drink, pay with cash, and enjoy! That's it. 

I took one bite and knew what all the hype was about.  These were seriously delicious.  Light, flavorful and not greasy!  I'm not sure if this will mean that I will order fish and chips often or if I will never order them again.   I may dream of these fish and chips. 

These were just that good!

We took an obligatory trip across the Astoria bridge and thought of our friend Paul who is a bridge design engineer.

I got my photographer fix...

We walked on the beach.

And saw the shipwreck.

I managed to do a little bird watching and found these two young barn swallows waiting for mom and dad to bring back dinner!

Can't call yourself Oregon tourists unless you hike to a waterfall.  I love hiking in the lush greenness of the Oregon forests.  

Young's River Falls - which was very pretty but not easy to find. For while we had dueling GPS but we finally got to the trailhead.

And of course we took the obligatory selfie!

I do love Oregon, even if you still need to wear a jacket in mid June.  It is seriously beautiful!

Father's Day

We were on the road coming home from Portland on Father's Day so this post is a bit late.

I totally agree with this sentiment expressed by Billy Graham.

I've been blessed with great fathers in my life.

So this post is to sing, praise, and notice their value to me and to our children.

I wouldn't be 'me' without the influence of my Daddy.

I couldn't have done 'life' without George by my side.  

He wouldn't be the man he is without his Dad.

So Dads I see just how valuable you are!

George and one year old Mary

And another of new Daddy George with 2 month old Mary

I don't have a lot of photos of my Daddy and Mary so each one is a treasure. 

This one is Christmas 1978.

And finally, George's Dad with his first 3 children

All heroes in my book!

 

Cancer Update 2022

My annual visits to the Medullary Thyroid Cancer doctor at OHSU in Portland is a great excuse for a trip!  It's a wonderful opportunity to visit Scott and also friends from our years living there. 

The conversation with my doctor was as perfect as it could be.   The graph shows that my calcitonin, the cancer marker in my blood, is actually going down a bit.  The high number back in 2016 is just before I had my 2nd surgery.  After the surgery, the big dive down and then the slow uptick is exactly what the doctor expected to happen.  He reiterated that while I do have microscopic disease, it is behaving itself and isn't causing any problems.  Dr. Madison's prediction is that the number will climb a bit over time but that distant metastasis are highly unlikely in my case. I will die WITH medullary thyroid cancer but probably not OF it.

I feel absolutely fine and continue to say that I have good health but I do have cancer.  I'm blessed.

Royalty

I readily admit that I have an obsession with the British Royal family.  I remember getting up in the very early hours to watch Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's wedding and I did it again to watch Prince William wed Kate Middleton. In Barcelona, I even went down to the Cathedral when one of the Spanish princesses was wed.  No one else in my family was willing to brave the crowds.  Mary would have gone with me, I am sure, but she was already away at college.   That day I got a very friendly wave from Prince Edward who, seeing my blond hair among all the dark haired Spaniards, probably thought I was British!

Our family has a bit of 'family tradition' relating to the Royal Family.  My Daddy was in the Navy and was actually in England during the time of the Queen's Coronation in 1953. 

 In fact he missed my birth because of that assignment. 

Family lore holds that he was part of the fleet that was sent to honor Queen Elizabeth.  I did some research and learned a bit about the ship he was on in July 1953 - the USS Antietam.

She was sent to England but her mission there was to conduct joint testing with the British on a new design for aircraft carriers.  The Antietam had been retrofitted with an angled deck.  Before this time, carrier decks were straight like the top design.  The Antietam now had the angled design of the bottom ship.  The result of this testing was that the angled design was most efficient.  The first ship built with this design was a British carrier; although other ships (like the Antietam) had been retrofitted with the angled design. Now it is the norm.   

Yes, in Top Gun-Maverick the deck is angled! 

While he was on board the Antietam in 1953, I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daddy made it home before my mother and I left the hospital. Of course, in those days, postpartum stays were often as long as a week. He must have been on his way home when I was born. The train carrying Daddy arrived late at night but he came directly to the hospital to see me. Moma says that I was wide awake when he arrived.While in England, Daddy bought a set of Wedgwood china in a pattern called Charwood and carried it home in a large box; first on his ship and then on the train from New York to Lonoke. Needless to say, it is a treasure.

Because of all of this, I have always felt a 'connection' with Queen Elizabeth and the royal family. 

So yes, I bought a Platinum Jubilee mug.

And I watched video after video of the celebrations.  

I was thoroughly entertained.  The kids, the pomp and ceremony, the fashion, the crowds so obviously honoring a woman who has served them well for 70 years!  

I confess to shedding a tear or two when the Queen and her 3 heirs stood on the balcony and sang 'God Save the Queen'. 

It reminded me of this quote from the new Downton Abbey movie: 

Individual Crawleys come and go, but the family lives on.

Shoshone Falls

 Shoshone Falls Light Show

4 1/2 hours of driving

$30 Ticket

$75 worth of gas

But worth every penny getting to spend time with these people I love!

And for Isabella a chance meeting with her very best friends from kindergarten who happened to be there too....and who happened to be standing right by the path....was the icing on the cake!

Just making memories!

Goodbye Kindergarten!

 Time really does fly!  Can it really be nine months ago that Monica and I took Isabella to Pepper Ridge Elementary for her very first day of kindergarten? 

Yesterday we celebrated the last day!

All four kindergarten classes presented a wonderful music program to celebrate the end of the year and the end of their ocean/Hawaii unit.  Isabella is on the back row on the right with the green lei in her hair.  She was very serious about the program and knew every word to every song.

Grandpa and I enjoyed being back in an elementary school!

It felt very familiar to us!

Teachers make the biggest difference to a child's school happiness.   I'm so glad that she had such a wonderful, experienced teacher to begin her school days.  

That evening we celebrated with a dinner at The Village.

There were a few picture taking shenanigans going on! Much to Isabella's delight!

We ended the festivities with some enormous shaved ice!  Yum!

I sure love this spunky, smart, full of fun little girl!

I'm glad to be her Grandma!

Family at the County Historical Museum

 When you donate things to a museum, you never know if they will just languish in a back storage room or be on display.  I was so happy to see a few things that I had donated being put to good use in the Lonoke County Historical museum.

The punch bowl that my Grandma Boyle painted in the early 1900's.  China painting was popular with proper young ladies.  My Webster great grandparents even hired a woman to teach the skill to their young daughters.  George and I used this punch bowl at our wedding reception in Lonoke.

Presbyterian quilt which was completed for the one of the celebrations of the church's history.

The square my mother made had the verse, "Serve the Lord with gladness".  For her entire life, Moma was a great example of service to the church and her neighbors and family. 

This is the tailor-made navy uniform my Daddy wore to their wedding on December 25, 1948.  A picture of my parents leaving the church in tucked in the collar.

That' s my Grandma Boyle, Clarice Webster Boyle, on the right.  I read in the paper that she was 'among the most popular young women in the city'.  She is certainly a beauty.

A newspaper clipping about my great grandfather S E Webster when he opened a shoe store in Lonoke. 

Lonoke Equals Home

 Why does a place where I haven't lived for more than 45 year still feel like home to me?  Is it in my very DNA?  My ancestors walked those streets, attended the school, worshiped at the churches.  My parents and grandparents loved this little town on the prairie in central Arkansas. I lived there occasionally from my birth to age 8.  When Daddy was deployed on a ship, Moma and I would come and stay with my Grandma Boyle.  I attended part of 1st grade there and then came back in the middle of 3rd grade and stayed until I graduated.  There are memories on every corner!

My heart swells as I drive down Highway 70 past Anderson's Minnow farm.  I start smiling as soon as I seen the rice dryer and come around the 2 curves that take me into town.  When I get out of the car and feel the hot sticky air and smell the humidity and earthy scent, I am taken back to my childhood and teenaged years and to the many visits I've made as an adult.

The fish hatchery, the Court House, the office where my mother worked, the doctor's office, Melton Motor company building, the depot, the drug store, the Presbyterian Church, the school, our green house on Depot Street, friends' houses, the buildings in the middle of town...it is all as familiar to me as the streets I walk everyday in Eagle, Idaho.

In fact, sometimes when I can't sleep, I will mentally drive up and down every street in Lonoke.  That relaxes me.

A couple of things I've read recently resonated with my nostalgia for Lonoke. 

If a place is part of your life for long enough, part of your soul, then it holds the good memories and the sad.

Home is a place that lives in one's heart, waiting with open arms to be rediscovered. 

Perhaps those two quotes explain my feelings.  Lonoke is part of my soul, part of my heart.  Going back there, the town waits and I rediscover the people and the place I love. My soul is rejuvenated, my heart rejoices and I am filled. 

Lunch at Lonoke's new restaurant with my DePriest cousins - Kelly Probus, Janie Depriest Raper, Karol Depriest, Debbie Depriest 

My cousin Ross Moore who graduated with me

My cousin Jimmy Depriest

I was lucky to have two cousins in my class - Ross and Jimmy

When they built the new high school, the original arches from the old school were kept on campus.  My mother passed under those arches on her way to school, just like I did.

After a tour of the new school, a few of us got a photo in the place where we had gotten our senior class photo 51years ago.  

As you can see they incorporated the 'arch' design into the new school. A bit of the 'old' along with the new. 

Some of the walkway bricks commemorating graduates of Lonoke High School.

Me and my classmates

My mother - Bessie Jane Boyle

My Aunts Mary and Maudie

My cousin Janie and her husband, Pat,who graciously let me stay at their house when I visit.

A barbecue dinner with cousins Ross & Brenda Moore, Robin & Chuck Lewis, Charlie Cummings,  Kellie Huggs, Pat and Janie, Blayke Huggs and her friend.

It's not just family that makes Lonoke HOME.  It's my lifelong friends.

Pam Cordell Landis and Jeanne Cole Harlan

We had a sleepover at Pam's house for a few nights!

Not quite like high school days but just as fun!

Brunch at the Grumpy Rabbit 

Pam and Jeanne 

Ronnie and Sheree Wallace

Ed Willman

Kirk Fort

Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.

Robert Montgomery