Mother's Day and a few days later

Dorothy came down for a lunch of hamburgers and fixings. Steve did the burgers, I did the fixings. Except for dessert, Steve bought a chocolate cream pie. 

We missed having Tony with us. Remembering he was with us for 2016 Mom's Day is a beautiful memory to cherish. 

 "Families are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and the future." G.Buckley

 Jon brought down Granite, the chinchilla rabbit. Moses was very intrigued by the larger than he is mammal in a box. Rabbits are not a rodent, in spite of the teeth and ability to procreate quickly.

 Jon added strawberries to his chocolate pie.

 Most of these photos were taken with the cute little point and shoot Jon picked out for me. I took a lot of pictures to practice. This is one of the plants Steve picked out for me. He thought it was a bleeding heart, I was glad it was a fuchsia. This is one of my very favorite kinds. I hope I can keep it alive over the winter here in EO. He also got me the hanging pot in the above photo of Jon, Dot, Steve, and Granite.

 Young finch through the cleaned window and screen in one of the kitchen windows.

 Allium

 Kerria Japonica, these last 3 were taken with the older canon.

 The storm clouds on Monday were beautiful, so was the sunset on the other side of the town.

 The locust trees are finally getting leaves!!!

 Last year, at this time, I was in AK. Thankfully, the virus hasn't disrupted much in our immediate family, just travel to the north. Until then, may you find ways to shine for those around you. Below are marbles I'm wire wrapping. Tony did this for jewelry, mine are more for durability in all kinds of weather. I have more than two dozen more to add!! If you are in town and walk past, see if you can find them.

Christmas 2018

"...early Christmas morning

Much to his surprise

Snowflakes by the million

Were falling from the skies.."

: Burl Ives - Snow For Johnny 

Yes, this Christmas in Oregon, we got a bit of snow. I never wish or pray for snow for Christmas or my birthday, it doesn't happen. But, this year, it did!!!!!!!! We usually start our day with cinnamon rolls and sometimes sausage. This year, I opted to add eggs and Steve volunteered to cook them. He and Jon had 4 scrambled eggs each with a half a pound of deer sausage! (I ate some of Steve's) Jon added red onions to his mix. 

 The cinnamon rolls were a bit larger than my usual batch. I made 8 instead of 12 and put mini chocolate chips inside with an almond glaze. Jon declared them 'excellent'. I admit, they were soft and delightful!

 Then, we opened up Christmas socks and the rest of the gifts. Jon got Steve a new to him weed eater, hiding it in the back shed so it wouldn't need brought inside.

 Jon opened up his gifts with the aid of tools. He also helped open up the ones I was given.

 Yes, Jon said I needed one of these. I'm not entirely sure exactly what I'll do with it, but it looks like a great deal of fun.

 I gave the guys Lego bricks in their socks. Jon put his kit together a couple of times. He's on the floor next to the 'chicken roaster' he gave me. We aren't sure why he thought it was a chicken roaster, it doesn't say anything about chickens on the packaging! I was so excited to get this large cooking pan.

 This sign was also in Jon's sock. I saw it and absolutely thought it was Jon. He concurred and it is already hanging above the door of his room. Steve spent most of the afternoon watching one of mom's favorite movies. Jon and I chose it for his sock-Grumpy Old Men and then the sequel.

By the time dinner was ready, Jon had gone on a fire call to a nearby town. Moses didn't mind.

 After dinner we played Yahtzee with Grandma. She won by a LOT. We also gave her the presents we had gotten together. She was so surprised!

 She thought Steve was giving her Christmas lights. Inside was a battery tester she wanted and had a bit of trouble figuring out!

 Jon also got her another bird feeder. It is really cool, though!!!!

I'll close with another song. This one has a phrase my dad used to use all the time. 'Whoop de do.' 

(this is different. I used to be able to post the song instead of a link...) 

Happy Holidays to you!!! 

Thankful

While I was in the kitchen, Steve (and Jon) decorated the house. As soon as the lights were up, a storm hit with rain and wind. So, the lights on the fence didn't get in place til a bit later. I don't have a 'lit' photo, but it does look rather festive! 

Jon did a great deal of CL on our Thanksgiving day (Cat Loving). Mittens was very interested in what that guy was doing on the ladder. 

 We had a yummy menu, even if most of it was common. Jon was happy to have cheese spread (he could have made it himself!) again. He was more impressed I added bacon. He was also glad I made broccoli salad, with bacon and onions. We decided the vinegar might have gotten bitter after two years in the cupboard. I've replaced a lot of old foodstuffs, I hadn't scrapped the vinegar yet. Thankfully, the salad was better the next day.

 The rolls were my idea. Jon wanted cheese biscuits, so I made those the night before. It took him til Saturday night to realise when you 'pull' the rolls apart, they end up in three sections. I felt they needed a smidge more flavor, nor did the poppy seeds end up on top of the rolls, but they were good. The turkey was perfectly perfect. It looks dark, but that is cuz I put a ton on seasoning on it and it baked on. I even baked a pumpkin pie and the crust was phenomenal. Hmmmm......I think there are more photos from this day on my cell phone-I didn't load those onto the desktop. I reckon I'll need to learn to do that!!!!!

Dorothy came over for dinner. She brought us her delicious deviled eggs. 

Moses was pulling on Steve's arm, napkin, and utensils in case someone forgot about this particular feline's liking for turkey nibbles. Steve eventually succumbed to the meow of the beggar and dropped him a morsel or two.

 After dinner, we played a traditional game of Triominoes. Dorothy was rolling right along, pulling ahead quickly. The rules say to play to 400, but we stopped at 300. In the last hand, I broke away and in a completely untraditional move, won the game! Steve and Jon barely broke 100, Dorothy was just over 230, and I ended up with 309! Absolutely amazing. (I made a LOT of points in the last hand)

 With the game, we had dessert. There was chocolate spice cake, the pumpkin pie, whipped topping, and then Jon got out ice cream. We were ready to be unimpressed. None of us care much for pumpkin spice. But this stuff was phenomenal! Much better than my pumpkin pie. This ice cream tasted just like pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream and crust. We weren't certain if it was right to scoop Umpqua with a Tillamook ice cream scoop........I reckon we paired awesome with delicious.

Probably the best thing I learned on Thanksgiving was this amazing hack. I do not like making greasy gravy. I've had separators and they are inefficient. I had some slightly cooled drippings and couldn't wait hours for the stuff to congeal and be removed. Online I found a method I will use again and again. This first time I could have removed more of the good stuff, but was in a bit of a rush and well, it was the first time! The picture is after the fats solidified and could be photographed better. Even Jonathan was impressed. Although, to be fair, I think most of that was cuz you don't end up with dirty dishes! Or maybe it was the title on the link. 

Truly a day to give thanks! 

Short and Busy Visit to Alaska

 I normally don't care for graffiti, but this was really cute.

Blogger is being wonky!!! Pic of the boys and dad's bench. Jon and Tony built mom a new (albeit smaller) wood box and a hut for wood. They needed Steve's help to get it together!

Jon putting Papa and friends in the lake. Most of the ashes are my dad's (Bill) and then there is the cat, Midnight, and one of mom and dad's friends (Jerry Lawhorn). 

Randall Pippin shared a short prayer (it was super cold this morning!) and a bit about Joseph being Jesus' step dad. It was beautiful!!! 

 We didn't get to do too much while the guys were here. We visited the beach twice at night (once was Arness Dock, another time was down by the Tesoro docks, and then the last night we got to see the sun set at Capt Cook State Park. It was also cold all three nights!

 Steve and the boys took the car to ANC. We had Jon set up the tripod to take a family photo. But, I opened the door to the Merc and all the pictures show a window on me!!!! Mom had some teeth out on Tuesday, so she doesn't look as good as normal.

 As the guys put some special things in the truck they rented to haul the trailer with the car, they got some things put back in the basement. It isn't quite finished yet, so we have to wait.......Here they are putting mum's organ back.

Wasn't able to take pix when they left in the dark. But, they head back to the states on Saturday.