Lost weekend

Wow, what an uneventful weekend.  I spent all Saturday sitting or in bed.  A really rough day.  LL, Kane and Max met Dave, Mom and Sally at the bowling alley down the street and I think they all had a good time.

Sunday I was doing a lot better.  I worked outside a bit.  LL and I went for a walk.  Stopped in at one of our many antique stores in town.

What do you think?  I really like this cabinet with chicken wire on the front.

I really like the chandelier in this picture, but it was missing a few crystals, and what would I do with it once I got it home?

This is a rarely seen view of the creek.  We are looking at the back yard of my neighbors across the street.

The waters are sure down now. It's good to have it at a normal level and not raining all the time.

I really am feeling better today.  It was a rough week all around but hey tomorrows a new day and a new week so we'll see what is in store.

Week 4, 2011

I have a happy husband, (Packers fan) and son, (Steelers fan).  Superbowl is on Max's birthday this year so February 6 will be a very interesting day.

What's the plan for the week?  Who knows.  Today, my sister Kris's sister-in-law is spending the day with her and taking her to the doctor, so I will not be going over there today.  I have lots to do around here though.  I am not sure what happens during the weekend, even though a good part of Saturday was spent cleaning, the family seems to forget where the dishwasher is located, how to wipe up a spill, and sometime during weekends, everyone seems to think the whole house becomes a junk drawer.  So I am going to at least spend most the morning making the house look like it is not quite the dump it is right now:)  It is extremely foggy right now.  I am hoping to have a clearer day later and take a long walk to snap some pictures. 

The rest of the week is up in the air.  I want to be on hand to help Kris if she needs it.  The weather is suppose to be dry all week.  Oh joy Oh joy!  That means hopefully lots of photo sessions with Baby.  My "digestion" was not too bad over the weekend, so I am trying to be positive and plan that I will have a week with relatively few "issues".

Something is going on with my computer and the play list site I get my music from.  It wont let me put anything new on.  LL will try to solve the problem sometime this week but till then I will just have to keep using music that is already on the list.  I know, I know, how will I survive without updating my blog with a new song?  Seriously having a hard time with it.  I tried to fix the problem myself, but something does not "compute" in my brain when it comes to following directions on the computer.  Anyway, have a great Monday.

Salmon Bake

Went for a walk yesterday with Baby in my hand.  So I took a picture of the little red house around the corner from my place.  Doug and Kris also like this cute little home.  It is for sale.  Soon, LL and I will be putting our place up for sale.  We have a wonderful place, but now that the kids our grown, we really don't need 4 bedrooms, family room and a living room, 3 lots, swimming pool and so on and so on.  Finding a place for Max to live will be our greatest challenge when we sell, but finding my ideal new home won't be easy either. 

I am going to want a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath house with a large great room (the kitchen and living room together).  I will want a yard for my garden and hopefully chickens.  And ideally on the creek.  I know!  Picky girl I am.

On my walk I saw this little lady.

She was just 4 houses over from my house and I was hoping she would come over and visit my place, but she ran in the other direction.

Salmon, baked potato, and vegetable was on the menu last night.  Since we eat a lot of fish, I try to do something new with it.  I morphed a couple recipes together and added my own twist.  It was delicious, but I think it would be better doing it with white fish like tilapia or halibut.  Yes Kris, I am going to give the recipe along with pictures just to drive you crazy:)

I melted 2T butter and mixed it with 2T honey and 2T Dijon mustard.  Brushed it on all sides of the fish.  I let that sit while I chopped fresh bread crumbs finely, about 1/3C. Chopped finely 1/3C hazelnuts and 3T finely chopped fresh parsley.  Mixed it together.

I brushed the mustard mixture again on the fish and then breaded the fish.

I baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  LL and I do not like our salmon pink but if you do, 15 minutes would be long enough.  It was delicious, but will try it next time on tilapia that I have in the freezer.

I am without a car today.  LL took the Focus and Bailey will be taking the van to work because last night, when driving to class, she had a tire blowout on her car.  Luckily she was not driving fast and she is OK.  But she needs to buy a new tire when LL and she gets off work today. 

So I am not eating this morning in case I need to walk around town to do errands.  If it is not too icy, I might ride my bike instead.  Maybe me not having a car during the day is a good thing.  Definitely am more active this way:)

Walking Through Life

LL and I took a lovely walk yesterday morning.  We walked around town but also took the path along side the creek so I could take some pictures.

Been thinking a bit about the upcoming year and the goals I have for myself.  Resolution is the wrong word, but I think goal is not quite right either.  When I make goals and resolutions, never do they pan out. 

I guess I want to figure out my priorities for the year.  Like last year's priority of being greener.

Living with intention, I guess requires having somewhat of an idea of where your headed but being present in the moment.

So with living with intention and wanting to be fulling engaged in my life.  5 priorities come to mind.

1. My first and most important priority is growing further in my relationship with God. 

My life in every aspect goes better when I am walking close with God and appreciating his gifts and creation.  I really would like to attend church more regularly because I think fellowship for me is a cornerstone for spiritual growth.  But I am at the mercy of my body.  So I need to make sure I am feeding my spiritual life here at home first and attending church will be a bonus.  Which brings me to the next priority.

2.  Creating a fuller, more well rounded life here at home. 

I pray that I have further improvement in healing my digestive system, but I think I need to try to meet most of my needs with my worst days in mind, not my best.  Which means figuring out how to be more social on my bad days.  How to get things done like cooking, cleaning, gardening on days where I have a hard time getting 20 feet from the bathroom.  And I need to figure out how to enjoy my hobbies and interests like photography, new books, etc. while being stuck at home.  I have many ideas on how to make this all happen, but some will take time and other ideas will take a little money.  Also within this priority is how, when I am living the hermit lifestyle, can I bless someone in need.  Being of service to someone is a necessity on living a fuller and more spiritual life. 

3.  I want to learn and improve in my photography hobby.  I love it!  I am a person who feels I am never any good at anything, but I really do think I could be good at photography and I enjoy it so much.  So this is definitely a priority.

4. Of course these priorities are not in order because this one would be close to the top if they were.  My health.  Between my diet and activity, I could be doing much better and after my last two years, well the importance of living a healthy lifestyle is all the more critical.

5. Iproving on living more green, sustainable and earth friendly.  I made so much progress last year but I and we as a family could do much better.  So this is just going to continue to get my attention.  I can't imaging ever going back to not paying attention to how my choices impact the world so I am not going to let this go.  We will keep getting better at living responsible.

Well those are my priorities for the year.  And just like last year, my goal is improvement, not perfection:)

Did What I Wanted To Do!

I was able to run my errands.  Grocery store, bank, drug store, and then go to Mt. Angel.  My brother David walked the Abbey Hill with me.  My niece came and visited and then we were joined by her mom Jalen.  It was a fun visit.  My "digestion" started acting up half way through our visit, but wasn't too bad.  LL and I did end up eating at Mac's Place.  It is a small town bar with food and on weekends, great live music.  I am a big fan of Northern Exposure.  It is actually my favorite TV show ever.  So if you know the show, Mac's place is a lot like the Brick.  A lot of locals, tourist stop in.  They are open for breakfast lunch and dinner and always can find  someone interesting to watch. 

So a good celebration day for me.

Tomorrow, I need to start getting Marlin (RV) ready for the weekend.

Hopefully get a post for you in the morning.  Max is being creative again:)

Silverton Murals-Gallon House Bridge

In the year 2000, this beautiful mural was painted by Lori Lee Webb.  It is one of my favorite.  The colors are rich and the scene it depicts, just puts a smile on my face.  But the Gallon House Bridge has a little bit of salty history.

The bridge's name didn't happen by accident.  The bridge lies between two towns.  At the time, Silverton was "dry" and Mt. Angel was  "wet".  While talking to my LL about this, he said, "It's hard to imagine Silverton "dry", but it would have been harder to imagine Mt. Angel ever dry".  It's true.  Both towns have plenty of hard working, church going people, who never have far to go to find a pub, tavern, or watering hole.  But Mt. Angel in particular has only one church building, St. Mary's, my home church.  But in the three block down town area, it has 4 taverns and many other restaurants with bars.  Man I love Mt. Angel.:) 

Anyway, the north end of the Gallon House Bridge was the drop off and pick up point for White Lightning.  A  Mt. Angel resident would drop off, and Silverton resident would pick up.  See, these two lovely towns were getting along even back then.  HeHeHe.  Very neighborly weren't they?

The bridge was built in 1916 and in great shape.  I use to go walking on a beautiful day, through it just to feel part of history.  If you are ever in the area, while on the Mt. Angel-Silverton Highway, turn going west on Downs Rd, Turn left on Gallon House Rd and you will end up going on the bridge.

Scottish Man Arrives

                                    Boy, I sure misjudged the day.  My "digestion" held out longer than I thought it would and the weather, well after some showers in the morning, it ended up a gorgeous day.  So after I got some chores done, I decided to go to the library again for more DVDs.  So I start walking.
                                     
This is an area of park I normally do not take pictures of.  But the lighting and grass were beautiful and I so wish for my Nikon 3000 camera I have dreaming about.

I found 3 more DVDs of Rosemary and Thyme at the library, decide to head back home.  But look what was calling to me.  Ice creme cones for $1.00.  Well you know I am always open to a bargain, so for the economies sake, I go in............

I order a coconut pineapple Ice cream.

Walk down to the little town square park close to my house.

Find this perfect bench, and start eating.  It is so lovely that I whip out a book and decide I will sit here as long as I want to and read and enjoy the sun.  This lasts no more than 5 minutes before it hits.  I have been in denial for quite a few months now.  Still am.  If you ask me if I wrote this, I will deny it because the solution it more than I can bare.  But I may be allergic to dairy.  OK maybe just an intolerance, but a bad intolerance.  OK, I said it.  But my love for cheese borders on obscene.  So I will continue on happily in denial.

I rush home, and get there just in time.  When things get bad, I lay on my bed because it is close to the bathroom.  So while sitting there for a while.  My lovely son Max comes strutting in as his newest obsession..............A Scottish Man.

Man, you have got to love the boy.  I mean Man.  I mean Scottish Man.

There's No Place Like Home

I make no secret about it.  I love my home town.  Silverton is the kind of town where anyone of any faith, political, color, etc. will be accepted and can call it home. 

I also love the fall season.  Last year while going through chemo, I did not feel up to long walks, but I remember one particular Sunday, LL was out of town, and Kane along with Max and Bailey took me for a long car ride in search of fall foliage and barns for me to take pictures of.  I also love old barns.  So yesterday I decided to walk to the library with camera in hand, hoping to find beautiful signs of fall.

Silverton is known for the many beautiful houses.  Victorian, Colonial, Cape Cod, but I think the real gems are the many Craftsman houses that are maintained perfectly.  The air feels crisp.  It "feels like fall, but not seeing a huge change in the trees.

I love this house.  It should have a troll living in it.  Or Snow White.  I think Thomas Kincade should paint it. 

Going through the park, I am sure to see golds, browns and reds in the trees.  Nope.

Silver Creek's green foliage is changing.  But only slightly.

So I cross the bridge and know I am almost to the library.

Here is the path to the back of the library.  Lots of green here too.

I know!  It's early.  In three or four weeks I will see plenty of fall colors.  But I am an impatient girl.

I find a couple good books and a DVD to check out and start back for home.

Nope, no real changes when looking at my own house.  So I climb up the driveway and what do I see right by my own front door?

My hydrangea is changing from blue to the beautiful rose and mauve color it becomes in the fall.

See, there really is "no place like home".