Spinning Through July

With my oldest sister, Carolyn, my great niece, Katie, and family friends, Ralph, Rachel and their nearly two-year-old visiting this week, our household is really spinning!  

Carolyn and I had the great pleasure of visiting Teresa and Dayle on their beautiful farm.  Teresa had a lovely table set for us on their deck under the gazebo, and Dayle prepared yummy grilled salmon for us while we brought salad and some cherries to share. ...a beautiful, peaceful, setting with an interesting, creative, and delightful hostess and host :-)

I took Carolyn and Katie to Chariteas in Sandy, Oregon, for delicious rhubarb tea, and I met with a number of women and some of their off spring for several gatherings for church related  activities this week.

We had a bridal shower for our good young friend, Krista, and then enjoyed attending her wedding Saturday afternoon.

And in between all that I finished a crocheted yellow dishcloth.  Knit and tore out some rows on a blue dishcloth and spun a bit more of the wonderful hand painted fiber I purchased from Sosae.

Our weather has been great throughout the week and definitely added a WOW factor to all my activities.  Has the weather enhanced your enjoyment of your week?

xx,
Gracie

Under The Blue Moon, 25 Rows From Home

Friday, thanks to the instigation of our family friend,  Grantie,

we piled into the white Dodge mini-van, 

and headed south from Portland toward the coast to  tour the 

Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon.

Just before we passed  the Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon,

we saw a very large USA flag at half-mast.

I Googled to find out why on my iPhone

and discovered that the Governor of Oregon 

had ordered the flag to be flown at half-mast in honor of

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon

 July 21, 1969.
He died August 25, 2012, at the age of 82,
a man who lived out my father's dream.
[As a boy in the early 1900s, my dad bought a ticket to the moon from a comic book.]

We stopped for a picnic lunch at Lincoln City, Oregon, in the park by the beach.
Although it was sunny it was only in the 60s and windy so we were glad to
be wearing our jackets!  This was the baby's first time at the beach,
not that she was too impressed since she is just three month's old :)

A few people were bravely playing in the water and we saw several kites flying.

Back on the road we caught a glimpse of a lighthouse just before
arriving in Newport.

The setting of the aquarium is lovely and some of the trees there
are already starting to change into their autumn colors.

The girls enjoyed being able to touch and explore!

We thought these sea creatures were especially beautiful.

Looking into this aquarium tube made me think of spaceships.

But my favorite exhibit was this one.  The  tubes hold food for
seahorses.  My son-in-law pointed out to me that as the
seahorses ate it looked as though little puffs of smoke
came out of the back of their heads (manes)
as they processed their food.
Interesting!

After several hours of wandering through exhibits, it was time to
find a restaurant to have dinner before we headed home.

This family restaurant was just right for us, and aren't their
flowers spectacular?

The adults all ordered fish and chips, and the bigger
grand girls opted for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches :)

This fruit was fresh and fabulous! And those who had cake or pie
raved about whatever kind they chose.

It occurred to me on the way home that I could knit,
and I discovered that it took me the entire trip home to
knit a 25 row, dishcloth from corner to corner.

Visiting the aquarium and knitting this dishcloth were reasons for being cheerful
I recorded in my journal this week, along with some others
thanks to Kate's Challenge.

Although I did not get a picture of the Blue Moon Friday night on the way home, [Make sure
you see Teresa's post because she has a fantastic picture of it!]
I dug through some of my scrapbook supplies and found a commemorative
newspaper from the Kansas City Star that I bought [for ten cents] in 1969, the year I
graduated from high school.
I was visiting some friends who were teachers and they had a little
black and white TV rigged up so we could watch the first man walk
on the moon.  We were so excited and amazed!!!

Saturday night I took the following picture of the moon.
I did not see the Man in the Moon,
but I thought of the men who walked on the moon,
and the amazing cooperative effort by so many who
made that possible.
That cooperative effort led one man to take an amazing step,
and  mankind to leap forward
to higher goals as well...
the time is right...once in a Blue Moon :)

xxx from Gracie