Stormy Seaside Scrapping

Hi, All!  Thanks for coming to visit.  Four fabulous days on the Oregon Coast with good friends truly did fly by as we worked on our scrapbooks, ate out several times, shopped a bit, and enjoyed our surroundings and visiting with each other.

During our stay, a series of storms continued to roll in from the West over the waves.  We had one blinding flash of lightning followed within seconds by a mighty crack of thunder, but our power just flickered and the  steady flames in the gas fireplace provided welcome warmth.

We laughed a lot, shared some tears and our faith in God, prayed, listened to upbeat music, and made progress on all of our projects.  I finally finished my granddaughter, Rosie's first year album [she is now 28 months old]!

Three deer visited the yard of the house where we were staying, and between storms we saw a rainbow over the ocean, and one colorful sunset.

One of my friends and I also enjoyed knitting: she on dishcloths, and I on the current preemie blanket I am knitting with Lion Brand 100% acrylic Creme Glacee Helado yarn on my size six KnitPicks circular knitting needles.

Now home again, I'm enjoying our one perfect Camellia blossom, and I had fun swimming laps in the pool for an hour this afternoon with Teresa.

I got permission to share a photo with you of my precious new little California friend, Ian, modeling the baseball cap I crocheted for him, too :)

My week is off to a great start!  How is your week progressing?

To the Beach and Back

I have been celebrating!  First I enjoyed Valentine's Day sharing hearts and flowers and a few sweets with my family. Then Friday through Sunday I joined some friends at a house near the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon.  

During the weekend I enjoyed seeing the sea, eating lunch at Mo's Restaurant and visiting with friends while I completed an album for my eight month old granddaughter.  For each of my grandchildren I have made little story albums for the first year of their lives.  The pages present the alphabet, numbers, pictures of them, and a bits of stories about them.

In 1955 when I was nearly five years old I moved with my family from Massachusetts to Missouri many miles from grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.  Boxes of gifts were mailed back and forth through the years, but one of my most treasured gifts was a scrapbook my Nana Bradstreet made for me.  She took plain sheets of gray cardboard and cut bright colored pictures from magazines and catalogues, then glued the pictures on the cardboard pages.  She punched three holes in the left side of the cardboard pages and threaded bright red yarn through the pages to bind them together.

While the style of the albums Nana and I made are very different, the message of our books were identical; I love you :-)

Sunday night when I got home my family greeted me with flowers, balloons and presents to celebrate my 62nd birthday!   Among the wonderful gifts I received was the stack of books pictured:  three about crochet and one, the Essays of E.B. White, best known as the author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, but he was also a respected essayist.  He defined an essayist as, "...a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest."  Could he have paved the way for blogging?!? 

Among the items of mail that arrived while I was at the beach was a packet from Mellie Moo!  She and I are among the bloggers who signed up to participate in the Grand Tea Swap kindly organized by Lucy.  Mellie sent me five bags of Twinings tea, a pretty pink coaster she crocheted, and a charming little black and white felt cow. Mellie is working on the International certification for Crochet and I enjoy visiting with her through her blog Mellie Moo Crochet. I have a lovely pot  of tea beside me made from the English Breakfast tea bag Mellie sent, and I am sipping a cup of it while composing this post for you. Thank you, Mellie!

Are you registered to participate in any swaps?

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