As we come to this holiday it is always a good time to remember and enjoy family.
Put away all of the stressful stuff that will come with the next upcoming holiday. I really dislike all of the decorations for Christmas being in the stores now in October and Halloween hasn't even come and left.
Thanksgiving is becoming more of my favorite holiday as it really seems to be the time that everyone concentrates on being with family and/or friends. There is no big pressure on having to give a gift, it is just the time of enjoying your time spent with loved ones and remembing how lucky we all are. This is how it should be, you celebrate time spent with your loved ones!!!
So enjoy the holiday and eat well!!!!
Take pictures and just enjoy the time spent with family and/or friends.
And if you are one of those individuals who goes out on Black Friday, have fun, as you won't see me out there at the mall. Not what I consider a fun day!!!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Family Secrets and Discoveries
For those of you that have known me for quite few years, know that I have been thinking about doing research on my Dad. Attempted a couple of times over the years, but never really took it to the next step. Maybe one of the reasons I decided to do this now is with the birth of my grand-daughter Chloe. My sons's Dad comes from a very large family and my side has always been small, my Mom, younger brother Ed and myself. Along with being retired, I have the time to do the research and having access to the internet you are able to utilize many resources.
Felt I was ready on an emotional level for what I would find out. Yes, I have been doing the could of, should of and would of and Ron had been telling me for years to do this but realized you don't start this until you are ready to deal with whatever you discover.
So I began my research in earnest about 3 months ago and have discovered family. First I located 2 half-sisters (Carolyn and Mary Jo). Then while doing this research saw that someone was looking for information on Dad. As I was not sure if this person would be checking the web site again, decided to see if I could figure out her email id. Tried different email endings and bingo got the right one. It turned out to be my half-brother Tom's daughter Katie. My small family universe has grown.
At the time we left for vacation, my new found family grew too:
2 half-sisters, 1 half-brother
The sisters and brother are:
Carolyn who lives in WA with her husband Mike. They have 2 sons
Mary Jo who lives in Houston, Tx with her husband David. They have 1 son
Tom who lives in Northern AZ with his wife Vicki. They have 2 daughters and 2 sons
Additionally, located a cousin who lives in Indiana. Her name is Barbara Ann and we have talked as well. She is quite a character. Barabara Ann has been working on doing family research and provided quite a bit of family information over to me. Found out that Dad was 1 of 8 children. She is working on getting some family pictures and other stuff put together so we can add this information to the family tree we are working on to build/update on the web.
On the trip up from Portland to Anacortes, I actually met and visited with Carolyn. Her and Mike live about 35 miles North of Portland. We had a real nice visit and talk. At the time of meeting Carolyn, I was only aware of the half-sisters and half-brother.
When we went up and stayed Anacortes, WA, we made a trip down to Oak Harbor as this was the last address that we had for Dad. Discovered through the death notice, that my Dad had remarried after my Mom and he had a couple of step-sons (Larry, Bruce and Harry). Having their names, I started doing some research on the web and found Larry. Harry passed away about 3 years ago. When I contacted Larry and his wife Marcia, they were surprised to hear from me. They wanted to know if we were passing by their way as they live in Vancouver, WA. As we would be heading down to Portland to visit with Jim, told them that I would try to give them a call when we got into Portland. We were able to get together and had a great visit. Each of us shared stories and pictures.
Yes, this has been emotional and I have experienced all kinds of stuff. But I am so thankful to have finally learned what happened with Dad and gaining additional family is great and what a wonderful gift to discover. A lot of questions that I had were answered by Larry along with the sharing of some funny stories from him as well. After I got home, I made a call to Bruce (the other step-brother). We caught up with each other Monday evening and had a long chat.
As to the other siblings, we are going to meet right after Thanksgiving. Tom and his wife are coming out here as one of his daughter's lives right down the road from us in Roseville. Talk about the six degrees of separation, him and his wife were actually looking at homes in the Auburn area before settling on moving to AZ from Southern CA. Mary Jo and her husband David are coming out as well. Getting really excited about all of this. Ron is trying to keep track of all the new found brother/sister in-laws that he has now acquired.
How Dad came to be in all of our lives is quite a story but that is for some other time and does it really all matter? For me, no it does not. For me, knowing some more history just closes those open issues that I have dealt with over the years. If out of this, we all decide we wish to develop a relationship and keep in touch then this is a positive. It has been pretty amazing to me how we all seem to be able to talk with a relative of easiness and also find we have some common interests. We have shared pictures and it is kind of weird to be looking at someone else who has some similar features and expressions.
Maybe there is a reason why all of us waited this long to start our research. Who knows how any of us would of handled this discovery when we were in our 20's, 30's, etc. Being a little older and dealing with life experiences probably has mellowed us out so we are not so judgemental. You know, getting rid of the baggage!!!
So I guess you can say, that life is not dull around here. Sharing a couple of pictues with you as well. One is of Carolyn and I. The other is of Larry and myself, then one of Larry, his wife Marcia, Ron, Jim and myself.
No, you won't find us appearing on "The Today Show", "Jerry Springer" and/or "Dr. Phil".
So what is next you ask, who knows. Going to be working on my Mom's family. After this research, who knows what I will discover.
Felt I was ready on an emotional level for what I would find out. Yes, I have been doing the could of, should of and would of and Ron had been telling me for years to do this but realized you don't start this until you are ready to deal with whatever you discover.
So I began my research in earnest about 3 months ago and have discovered family. First I located 2 half-sisters (Carolyn and Mary Jo). Then while doing this research saw that someone was looking for information on Dad. As I was not sure if this person would be checking the web site again, decided to see if I could figure out her email id. Tried different email endings and bingo got the right one. It turned out to be my half-brother Tom's daughter Katie. My small family universe has grown.
At the time we left for vacation, my new found family grew too:
2 half-sisters, 1 half-brother
The sisters and brother are:
Carolyn who lives in WA with her husband Mike. They have 2 sons
Mary Jo who lives in Houston, Tx with her husband David. They have 1 son
Tom who lives in Northern AZ with his wife Vicki. They have 2 daughters and 2 sons
Additionally, located a cousin who lives in Indiana. Her name is Barbara Ann and we have talked as well. She is quite a character. Barabara Ann has been working on doing family research and provided quite a bit of family information over to me. Found out that Dad was 1 of 8 children. She is working on getting some family pictures and other stuff put together so we can add this information to the family tree we are working on to build/update on the web.
On the trip up from Portland to Anacortes, I actually met and visited with Carolyn. Her and Mike live about 35 miles North of Portland. We had a real nice visit and talk. At the time of meeting Carolyn, I was only aware of the half-sisters and half-brother.
When we went up and stayed Anacortes, WA, we made a trip down to Oak Harbor as this was the last address that we had for Dad. Discovered through the death notice, that my Dad had remarried after my Mom and he had a couple of step-sons (Larry, Bruce and Harry). Having their names, I started doing some research on the web and found Larry. Harry passed away about 3 years ago. When I contacted Larry and his wife Marcia, they were surprised to hear from me. They wanted to know if we were passing by their way as they live in Vancouver, WA. As we would be heading down to Portland to visit with Jim, told them that I would try to give them a call when we got into Portland. We were able to get together and had a great visit. Each of us shared stories and pictures.
Yes, this has been emotional and I have experienced all kinds of stuff. But I am so thankful to have finally learned what happened with Dad and gaining additional family is great and what a wonderful gift to discover. A lot of questions that I had were answered by Larry along with the sharing of some funny stories from him as well. After I got home, I made a call to Bruce (the other step-brother). We caught up with each other Monday evening and had a long chat.
As to the other siblings, we are going to meet right after Thanksgiving. Tom and his wife are coming out here as one of his daughter's lives right down the road from us in Roseville. Talk about the six degrees of separation, him and his wife were actually looking at homes in the Auburn area before settling on moving to AZ from Southern CA. Mary Jo and her husband David are coming out as well. Getting really excited about all of this. Ron is trying to keep track of all the new found brother/sister in-laws that he has now acquired.
How Dad came to be in all of our lives is quite a story but that is for some other time and does it really all matter? For me, no it does not. For me, knowing some more history just closes those open issues that I have dealt with over the years. If out of this, we all decide we wish to develop a relationship and keep in touch then this is a positive. It has been pretty amazing to me how we all seem to be able to talk with a relative of easiness and also find we have some common interests. We have shared pictures and it is kind of weird to be looking at someone else who has some similar features and expressions.
Maybe there is a reason why all of us waited this long to start our research. Who knows how any of us would of handled this discovery when we were in our 20's, 30's, etc. Being a little older and dealing with life experiences probably has mellowed us out so we are not so judgemental. You know, getting rid of the baggage!!!
So I guess you can say, that life is not dull around here. Sharing a couple of pictues with you as well. One is of Carolyn and I. The other is of Larry and myself, then one of Larry, his wife Marcia, Ron, Jim and myself.
No, you won't find us appearing on "The Today Show", "Jerry Springer" and/or "Dr. Phil".
So what is next you ask, who knows. Going to be working on my Mom's family. After this research, who knows what I will discover.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Long Way Home
All, we started out for home last Monday morning after having a wonderful weekend in Portland with family.
Once we got down towards the mid part of Oregon, we found out it was snowing over the Siskiyou Summit. As we do not have chains for the RV and do not wish to be driving in the snow we decided to spend the night at Seven Feather's Indian RV/Casino resort.
Our luck with weather defintely went away. We ended up doing a long way trip to get home. Had to drive over to the coast and head down that way to stay with the lower altitudes. Plus, we were about 2 days late getting home.
All in all, we had a great vacation with Dennis and Cathy. It was also a great trip of new discoveries................
So until the spring we are going to be winterizing the RV and getting ready for the holidays and exciting things.
Once we got down towards the mid part of Oregon, we found out it was snowing over the Siskiyou Summit. As we do not have chains for the RV and do not wish to be driving in the snow we decided to spend the night at Seven Feather's Indian RV/Casino resort.
Our luck with weather defintely went away. We ended up doing a long way trip to get home. Had to drive over to the coast and head down that way to stay with the lower altitudes. Plus, we were about 2 days late getting home.
All in all, we had a great vacation with Dennis and Cathy. It was also a great trip of new discoveries................
So until the spring we are going to be winterizing the RV and getting ready for the holidays and exciting things.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Knitting Shops In Portland
Well it is always interesting when you are working on a project and you realize that in order to continue you need to buy more yarn. Even though you might think you have enough it sometimes happens you run out. So you ask, just buy some more. This is okay if you are working on a scarf or maybe even a purse but you always have to worry about color shades and all. So, I just decided to get more yarn.
When you are out of town you don't know where to go. Fortunately for me, I discovered 2 nice little shops. 1 was "All About Yarn". This is a nice little yarn shop located in Tigard, OR. Went over there and they were having a drop in knitting session. For you non-knitters, this is where you can just join a group of other knitters/crocheter's and do a knit/chat along. While everyone believes I can just walk into a room and begin socializing this is not case with me. So what I did was stroll around the shop looking for the yarn I needed and listened in on the conversation of the ladies knitting. One of the salesperson asked if I needed help and she tried to help me find the yarn I was looking for. This always helps when you have a personable salesperson. Then I joined the group and had a nice visit with these ladies I had never met before. Knitted with them for a couple of hours. As I could not find the yarn I needed, they recommended another yarn shop that might possibly have the yarn I was looking for.
The 2nd shop is called "Abundant Yarn". This shop is a little bigger than the other one and they do lots of fun things for their customers. They have a coffee/deli shop, offer foot spas and has a beer/wine area. Now understand, having a glass of wine while knitting poses it own challenges. The 2 don't mix for me especially during the day. This does not mean that I haven't had a glass of wine while knitting, I just know the end results. And if I was to get the foot spa, not sure I would be worth anything afterwards. Anyway, this is another great shop. Their selection of yarn if unbelieveable and they have a very helpful sales team. The shop has a lot of different people activity going on and everyone seems to be regular customers. As I mentioned earlier, I knitted with a lady (Susan), whom I had struck up a conversation with and had a nice couple of hours knitting.
I would reccomend either one of these 2 shops if you are up in the Portland area.
When you are out of town you don't know where to go. Fortunately for me, I discovered 2 nice little shops. 1 was "All About Yarn". This is a nice little yarn shop located in Tigard, OR. Went over there and they were having a drop in knitting session. For you non-knitters, this is where you can just join a group of other knitters/crocheter's and do a knit/chat along. While everyone believes I can just walk into a room and begin socializing this is not case with me. So what I did was stroll around the shop looking for the yarn I needed and listened in on the conversation of the ladies knitting. One of the salesperson asked if I needed help and she tried to help me find the yarn I was looking for. This always helps when you have a personable salesperson. Then I joined the group and had a nice visit with these ladies I had never met before. Knitted with them for a couple of hours. As I could not find the yarn I needed, they recommended another yarn shop that might possibly have the yarn I was looking for.
The 2nd shop is called "Abundant Yarn". This shop is a little bigger than the other one and they do lots of fun things for their customers. They have a coffee/deli shop, offer foot spas and has a beer/wine area. Now understand, having a glass of wine while knitting poses it own challenges. The 2 don't mix for me especially during the day. This does not mean that I haven't had a glass of wine while knitting, I just know the end results. And if I was to get the foot spa, not sure I would be worth anything afterwards. Anyway, this is another great shop. Their selection of yarn if unbelieveable and they have a very helpful sales team. The shop has a lot of different people activity going on and everyone seems to be regular customers. As I mentioned earlier, I knitted with a lady (Susan), whom I had struck up a conversation with and had a nice couple of hours knitting.
I would reccomend either one of these 2 shops if you are up in the Portland area.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Portland
Ron and I arrived late on Friday and have been visiting with Jim. As we defintely hit many places with him on our last trip, we decided to make this a more relaxed visit.
On Saturday, the 3 of us got together and headed downtown to take in a couple of museums. As I have been working on a knitting project, Jim heard me mention about having a need to get some more yarn. I had checked out a knitting shop on Friday, but they did not have want I needed. So he drove me over to this shop not far from where he lives and I was in 7th heaven. Jim and his Dad decided to do some father/son bonding and I chose to stay and knit for a couple of hours. Found the yarn that I needed and met this really nice lady Susan. Her and I knitted on our projects and chatted for about 2 hours. Big hugs and kisses to Jim!!!!
After the boys picked me up, we decided to head downtown and take in a couple of museums. As we were a little hungry, Jim took us to this pub for some hamburgers and stuff. We ended up getting a nice seat by the window where we could look over the Marina and people watch. We ended up staying there for about 4 hours, just visiting and talking.
While walking back to car from the Pub, we came upon this lady who was feeding the geese. It was interesting watching her as I felt this is something she did on a regular basis. It was begining to rain pretty good and she just got out her umbrella and continue on with feeding the birds.
We then headed over to Powell's and spent a couple of hours roaming through the aisles to see what we wanted. I love roaming around this place. When I used to travel to Portland for work, I would always check out Powells.
We had a great time on Saturday and a great visit with Jim.
San Juan Islands
Just about have you all up to date as to our travels in upper WA. After checking out some of the towns around Anacortes, we set out for San Juan Island. As we had a vehicle with us we took that over with us on the ferry. We lucked out with the weather, a little fog in the morning but defintely a little cooler.
San Juan Island is one of the bigger island and we defintely took in the entire island. We visited a really nice little marina called Rausch port. Defintely some money over in this area as there were some really big boats docked there.
Went over to where the British and American's fought over a Pig.
Yes, we defintely did all of the tourist stuff but we had a good time. At the end of the day while we had some spare time, we found a little wine shop while we were waiting for the ferry to come in so we could head back to Anacortes. This time we hit a good winery (compared to the one in Astoria) and bought a couple of bottles.
Sharing a couple of pictures.
We then headed down to Bothell, WA and had dinner with a good friend of mine and her husband. Had a great Italian dinner and greata visit with Bonnie and Carl. Bonnie and Carl are in the middle of finishing a remodel in their home. They have done a great job. They are in the last stages of the remodel as they now have a deadline to be done by Christmas as the family is coming to their place. Defintely agree that building a new home is easier on everyone than a remodel while you are living in the home.
Before we took off we toured a Stained Glass Company in Woodinville. It was a great little tour and we Dennis and I learned some new techniques on Stained Glass projects.
Dennis and Cathy began their trek home to New Mexico going back through Yakima and Lewiston, before going down through Moab. We had a great time with them and are already discussin our next trip in the spring. Think we will do the desert the next time.
Ron and I headed back down towards Portland so we could visit with Jim and do some things with him for a couple of days.
Anacortes, WA
After leaving Astoria, OR, we then headed up to Anacortes, WA. Did do some other visiting, but I will save that for later. We did check out a couple of outlet malls and bought a couple of things.
We decided to make Anacortes our base for a couple of days as we explored around the area.
As we had did our fair share of Fish and Chips and various renditions of Clam Chowder we were quite ready for either Hamburgers or Pizza. The manager at the campground we stayed at, recommended a pizza place in Anacortes so we tried that. Good reccomendation. If you are ever in Anacortes make sure you check out Village Pizza, it was so good!!!
We drove around Anacortes and went up to a bluff to catch a nice view of the Marina and the surounding area.
Astoria, Oregon
Made it up to Astoria, OR. Visited Ft. Clatsop which is where Lewis and Clark settled. That was really interesting. Afterwards, Dennis and Ron went and toured through the Maritime Museum while Cathy and I visited the Flaval House and Heritage Museum. Since we had been up here in June, wasn't ready to revisit the Maritime museum. We enjoyed them all. After finishing our tours, Cathy and I found a winery located in Astoria. Interesting little winery. This winery is pretty much a one person operation. We met up with the boys and headed down to check out the Eagle Viewing spot, however, they were not out and about so that turned out to be a bust.
The next day we headed over to Ft. Stevens. This post was established during the Civil War and has a huge armnament as they were protecting the coastal area around the Columbia River and Astoria. Cathy and I did some walking around some of the paths and realized after walking through one path that we were trouncing around a Bear/Cougar area. So now we know what those droppings were. The scary thing is the signs were nowhere around the area we entered but rather when we got to the end trail. Not sure what was up with that? But now we know what those droppings were that we were trying to figure out.
It has also been amazing to see the different colors of fall that we have seen up here in Pacific Northwest.
Having a good time and have lots to tell everyone when we get back.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Cannon Beach, Or
Made it up the coast from Newport up to Cannon Beach. Working to get the blog up to date on our travels. We took a pretty easy day traveling up to Cannon Beach. After we got to the RV resort we decided to take a walk on the beach and see if we could catch the sunset and get some pictures.
After a good walk, we walked into town and found a tavern and had dinner along with a couple of beers. We also lucked out and got to listen a bluegrass combo play that night. They were really good and a lot of the locals came in to listen and enjoy the evening.
Good time was enjoyed by all.
Hope you enjoy the pictures.
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