Moving Forward

As I drove from Sonoma, California, to Boring, Oregon, March 15-16, 2018, I drove through a bit of snow north of Willits, California, and north of  Brookings, Oregon, much to my surprise! But the weather cleared beautifully so that I could stop at one of my favorite outlooks and take this photo, which you might recognize as a view similar to my blog header photo. [When I can figure out how to do so I will switch the photos :-) ]

If you look very carefully above the left-hand side of the plaque and near the water's edge there is a little red dot which is the roof of the Umpqua River Lighthouse.  The triangular shape in Winchester Bay is an oyster farm.

I chose this iconic view of Winchester Bay as a beautiful spot from which to visually launch my blog: an exploration of crafts onshore in the Pacific Northwest and my part in crafting in various forms as a growing Christ follower.

At the Biscuit Cafe, for breakfast on the Wednesday, after I got home, I met my knitting service group friends who knit and crochet preemie blankets for needy preemies.  On our way out of the cafe, I took a picture of this saying that is a pertinent encouragement for me now.

 On occasion, I have been accused of being too "preachy" in my blog. More often than not I accuse myself of not being clear enough in authentically reflecting my failings and faith in following Christ and I especially feel that since I have been home.  While the members of our household were/are committed to leaning in to know and serve Christ and not reject each other but to affirm who each of us is in Christ, nine of us have moved out and are not yet in communication with the three of us at home still.  We prayed/pray each other are blessed.

This raises all sorts of questions I can not answer for you or myself, yet, but I am believing our Heavenly Father the great Three in One, is drawing each of us closer to Him and I am praying that each of us glorifies the Lord in all that we do as Holy Spirit empowers us to do so.

 On the way home from California I experienced a bit of Spring snow and once home there was a bit more so that I felt I did not entirely miss Winter while I was in California.

Our ponds have Mallard couples visiting, and I have lost track of how many times the lawn has been mowed now.

My Spring Cleaning has been inspired by meditating on Christ's question,  "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" I heard a teacher recently say..."There are not any U-Hauls headed to heaven!" :-)

Yet one more season our huge Cherry tree blooms and flurries of petals are swirling to earth in celebration of Spring and abundant life!

My youngest daughter bought out my oldest daughter's share of the house and now my youngest daughter and her husband and I are preparing the house for sale.  I am looking for my first independent house in which to live and my youngest daughter and her husband are looking for their first "home alone," too!!

This is the latest preemie blanket I started since arriving home...one single crochet row, one double crochet row, repeat.

We are in the midst of hiring someone to finish painting the interior of this house and someone else to professionally clean the windows.  Someone else is scheduled to repair a pipe, and we have cleaning/weeding and some repair work to do as well.  The target date for listing the house is now July 1, 2018.

Oh, and I did get my taxes submitted and a refund that paid for my trip back home.  I also got my teeth cleaned and found I need another little crown :-( .  And I don't know when I will make it down to visit my sisters again, but both are doing well and keeping in touch.

Hoping you will check in with me and that I will check in with you!!

Gracie xx

Mending Crafts

Happy New Year!!!

While there were many wonderful travels and visits with family and friends in  2017 for me, I was so sad at the end of November to get a call from my oldest sister, Carolyn, in Sonoma, California, asking me to come be with her after she had emergency colostomy surgery. I have been in Sonoma since December 3, 2017.

I recently saw and purchased these two books and hope that as I read them they will help me focus on mending and creating even through difficult puzzling times.  Carolyn and her oldest daughter just finished putting together the puzzle pictured above.

I took two days to drive from Portland, Oregon, south through Crescent City, California, where I stopped briefly to take this photo of the Crescent City lighthouse on the island. Do you see the seal admiring it?

A few days after Christmas my older sister, Margaret, came north to Sonoma from Burbank to visit until New Years Day.  During that time, Carolyn experienced some difficult side effects from the five days of chemo she had just finished, but we enjoyed distracting ourselves by putting together puzzles.

One night after Margaret went home to Burbank, my niece gave me an extra ticket she had to attend a folk concert by John McCutchen at the Sonoma Sebastiani Theatre.  He plays the piano, guitar, autoharp, hammered dulcimer, fiddle, other instruments, sings and tells interesting stories as well.  My niece and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance!

Since I last checked in with you I crocheted a little silver heart, painted a card, knit a few rows on a dishcloth, and I have done some mending, including mending some seams of this quilt.

Last week Carolyn's oldest daughter and two of her grandsons flew in from Nebraska for a few days visit and we had a wonderful time!

Last Saturday we drove to Bodega Bay and saw this fabulous view.

Here, my great nephew, Phillip is looking out for whale spouts from Bodega Head.  At the beach, he and his brother, William, dared to get in the water, flew a kite and ran around enjoying sun and surf.

Today if Carolyn's white cell count is okay she will start another five day round of chemo at a lower dose that we hope will bring her healing without painful side effects.

I am so sorry that I have not managed to stay in better touch with you, and I hope to do so in the days ahead.

May you and yours know the Lord's blessings!

Gracie :)  xx

Foggy Cape Lookout Camping

Youngest SIL Gary sitting by the fire ring after setting up camp

Oldest SIL Jason and eight-year-old Hayley

Elisabeth, Sarah, Mary, Molly and Joy

Two-year-old Rosie and six-year-old Molly

Grandma [me] and Sarah

My youngest SIL put these magnetic letters on the hood of the stove in the camper

Trying to form a sachet for lavender with one of the cloths I knit with size 3 needles and size 3 crochet thread

Our one colorful sunset all week...

Although pockets of fog gave us some fuzzy views of Cape Lookout and the surrounding area, our outlook on our trip last week was mainly positive.  This was my second year camping at Cape Lookout, but instead of being in a tent on an air mattress, I slept in a camp trailer on a couch/bed that was very comfortable without an air mattress. Trailer camping comes with its own set of challenges, but seemed less labor intensive than setting up our tent village the last time we went tent camping.  We were not hooked up to power or water though, so we had to learn by trial and error how much water and power we were using before we needed to replenish both, and then it was just a matter of running the generator or filling the water tank from a faucet with a hose to the tank... so nice not to have to haul buckets of water from a creek!

While we heard from our family in Portland that they were suffering through some very hot sunny days just two hours away from us, we had cool, fog tainted days for the whole week, with just glimpses of the sun, moon and stars, but beautiful in its own way, and we had fun.

While at camp we played some board games, my daughter and I colored and knitted, and I finished the book "Springtime in Magnolia", a heartwarming family drama set in the South USA during the Great Depression and WWII. I also finished reading a Cozy Mystery set in England and could not guess "who dun it."

One day we went to Tillamook and had good fresh made rootbeer and lunch at a pub.  We kept my youngest daughter company at a Starbucks while she used their WIFI to work on her Master's in Nursing homework.

On another day my oldest daughter and SIL, and their five little girls came over to play on the beach with us.  We had a grand time on the beach and also visited the interesting Tillamook Pioneer Museum. 

During our journey we had some tension in following driving directions, and dealing with road hazards, and not being patient, and then on the way home the wires between the truck and the camper glitched in communicating so the trailer had to be towed home by a tow truck, but we were safe and home by 10pm Sunday night...grateful for our safety and the good times we shared.

What has your outlook been lately?

Five on Friday: Flight >>>>>

One:  This past Saturday, my oldest daughter, Mary, and her youngest daughter, Sarah, and I drove to Seaside, Oregon, to spend some time on the beach with some of Mary's women friends from church.  We forgot our kite, but we had barely gotten settled on the sand when folks around us started launching theirs...more than six we counted in flight!  We could hardly see Tillamook Rock Lighthouse through the mist to the south of us; and once on our way back into Portland, Oregon, on Highway 26, we got some fleeting glimpses of Mt. Hood to the east, but the journey was a success.

Two:  At home we have had family and friends gathered around various tables and sometimes a campfire as we enjoyed the fire smoke taking flight above us and chasing away some of the annoying insects, especially mosquitos!

Three: Our fruit is taking a downward flight from laden tree branches and into our hands! Mary has made one apple pie so far, and I have eaten several fresh apples and one scrumptious peach.

Four: We have found several fledglings after their early flights.  This one used a rock as a resting nest for quite some time, and my oldest granddaughter, Hayley, watched in distress as a baby robin tumbled from his nest on the bat box on the garage, and fluttered down into the green lawn garden trailer of the mower below.  Mr. and Mrs. Robin are tending him there and we are staying clear so as not to disturb the process.[ I have been tending to my knitting and crocheting and reading inside :)]

Five:  The flowers are still taking flight toward the sun when it dares to shine. We are excited that the wildflower seeds my youngest son planted are now a lovely patch of Poppies and Daisies and such. We now have a pretty variety of colored Sweet Pea blooms, a first for us, and one Joseph's Coat climbing rose bush is sending branches up to the roof!

Since I plan to be trailer camping with my youngest daughter, Elisabeth and her husband at Cape Lookout State Park on the northern Oregon coast I may not publish a post next week, but thank you Amy for hosting Five on Friday.  I am really enjoying sharing common interests with folks around the world through this link-up format, and am sending my love to anyone who reads this :)

Have you, or things around you, taken flight this past week?

Gracie xx

Five on Friday: Fun!

Have you had fun this past week?  I hope so!  Since I last checked in with you, I am grateful to realize that I have had a lot of fun and want to share some of it with you in this post.

One:  On July 4th we gathered with family and friends at a home on the Clackamas River close by to celebrate the birth of the USA.  The kids had great fun in a little bouncy house, some went swimming, some played crochet, some played with various flying objects, there was yummy food and the evening ended with watching fireworks.

Two:  On Wednesday Teresa and I drove up the Columbia River Gorge.  We loved seeing the blue sky, wild flowers, and some sailboats that members of the youth Sailing Foundation had been racing.  We had good hamburgers for lunch and were able to swim at the gorgeous Bonneville Spa pool for an hour.

Three:  Mount Hood peeked out from under clouds as I drove around our area during the week.  The first view is off of Highway 212 in the Damascus area. The second view is zoomed in from 302nd street near our home.

Four: It was very exciting to me to see our Holly Hock start to bloom this past week! The magenta blooms are so pretty and bouquets of Joseph's Coat roses are amazing. Our generous neighbor brought us lots of Marionberries! They are delicious!

Five:  We are hosting a wedding at our house this Saturday and I have been experimenting making napkin rings with Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash, just single crocheting around rings.  One of the ladies in my Wednesday morning stitching group showed me a sock she is making on 9inch circular needles...another project I want to try :)  She also uses size 3 knitting needles to knit dish/wash cloths with size 3 HH Lizbeth cotton thread and I have started one.

I am also having fun joining in with Amy's Love Made My Home blog Link up and visiting bloggers from around the world.

What have you been doing for fun?

xx
Gracie