Merry Christmas Eve!

There's nothing better than being with your whole family at Christmas time. Here we are in Simi Valley with J and P and kids, and S and M came from snowy Michigan with their boys . . . life is good! Here are a few pics we've shot before the big day!

Joyful Busy-ness

For the last few days our little "RV" has been full to the gills in "stuff" to fill our gift baskets . . . about a dozen when all said and done. We've enjoyed every Christmas CD we own (that's a whole bunch!) to fill the air with Christmas harmony.

If you've been reading my posts over the last few months you'll know what the contents of the baskets are. We've crafted, harvested, trapped, or just created some mouth-watering goodies for our family and loved ones. And the baskets are finally all wrapped and ready to load into the truck for the southbound Christmas trek, although a couple will be shipped to the great Northwest relatives!

We're heading down south early Tuesday morning . . . so excited to see the family, especially our kids and all five of the grandkids!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Feeling the Spirit of Christmas

It's always hard for me to feel the spirit of Christmas but when it does kick in I get a warm fuzzy feeling. It started to look like Christmas down at the clubhouse a couple of weeks ago when the tree-decorating party was held. A new tree was purchased this year through private donations - it's got to be at least 12 feet tall with over 1,000 tiny white lights. We were all asked to bring a new ornament to grace the branches since the tree is so much larger than the one that was retired after 15 years of gracing the hall. Then I hosted, with the help of a committee, the Holiday Tea and Boutique which was attended by about 60 folks who are still in the park. Many have already left for the warmer weather. K and I like the winter here plus we're near family for the holidays.

But the thing that really pushed my Christmas Spirit button was what happened this morning. A dear friend and his wife here in the park have been through hell this past year. After many surgeries he lost one of his legs just above the knee. Now he's facing more difficulties and his poor sweet wife is really having a tough time staying strong. So two other couples and K and I decided that we wanted to do SOMETHING for them and thought that maybe providing some meals to keep in the freezer so that after a day of doctors appointment, etc., she wouldn't have to think about what to do for dinner. Well - we ended up providing sixteen meals! Two each of Beef Stew, Chicken Noodle Casserole, Taco Stew, and four packages of Pulled Pork Sandwich fixings. We truly had fun preparing the food, packaging it up for freezer storage, and then we trekked down to Pat and Rays to deliver it singing carols at the door. Needless to say, they greeted us with hugs and were dumbfounded. We were filled with joy and delighted at our accomplishment. Now I'm ready for Christmas to come!

Here are dome pictures of the beautiful Christmas tree in the Clubhouse, and a pretty sunset taken right at our driveway a couple of weeks ago when fall leaves were still on the trees!

Home Again Home Again

What a blast we had the last couple of weeks. We headed south to have a nice quick visit with sisters P and H, S, and Mom - then we were off to see daughter S and family. Long travel times but oh so worth every minute of it! We were there for five days packed with lots of fun times. We attended a Hockey practice game where R made two goals (he's only six years old but he is such a good sport and great team player!) the a fun visit to a local apple farm where the kids picked out the "best" pumpkins available, and then Halloween was quite an event. R dressed as Dracula and a mighty fine Dracula he was with dripping blood from his mouth! And T dressed as a dog (what else?) and they had a grand time trick-or-treating with their friends who drove in from the country. I had a nice morning with T where we did "Art" and made a telescope out of an empty paper towel roll.

The fall color in the midwest is beautiful! We had such a wonderful time - as always time flew by too fast and it was time to say goodby.




Then a four-day visit with J and her adorable family. The first day was spent taking a field trip to the local airport with C's pre-school class and they got to board the sheriff helicopter - way fun! And then an afternoon at the brand new mall where I purchased my first pair of CROCS! Funkiest looking shoes but very comfortable! Then the next two days I spent mainly painting J a six-foot by eight-inch sign for her new family room. I love painting so I was happy as a clam. What a great family time we all had. Ken and I played Pegs and Jokers two nights with P and J and one night with the kids (while P and J went to a 20-year reunion with highschool friends of P's) Hard to believe our kids have been out of highschool 20 years - actually I think S has been out of college that long!

In this season of thanksgiving we sure feel blessed and thankful for our family! We've got the best family in the world!

Coarsegold in the Fall

Well - we're getting ready for a big trip south to see P and H, Mom, and S—then to Battle Creek to see S, M, R, and T—then back to So. Cal. to see the Varner-Party-0f-Five. What a fun trip it will be. We are going to Michigan this time of year especially because the woods are to be in full living color. Well - I just had to share with you a picture of our beautiful tree in at the entrance of our place because when we return this tree will be completely bare for the winter months. We, too, have "fall color!"

Healdsburg Happenings

When we left our crabbing adventure we headed to Jackie and Rick's stopping at Gold Beach to pick up some wild salmon to take for dinner. We enjoyed three nights and two days including a morning watching a crew of ten picking the Zinfindel grapes at Jack's place. Pictured here is the grilled salmon - to die for - followed the next night by what I call the "Blue Plate Special" - crab cakes accompanied by a wonderful Thai stir-fry with crab, of course. Even Cokie got to enjoy some crab.

The harvest was a great experience - I don't think we've ever been there during harvest time. The grapes are beautiful as you can see. And the crew harvests about one tub full in two minutes earning $1.50 each time they dump them in the bin where Rick and his dad, Jack, are the "Quality Control Crew" picking out the dried up grapes and the leaves making sure that what the winery receives is a clean and perfectly ripened crop of grapes!

The time in Healdsburg always goes by way too fast! We always have a great time with Rick and Jackie - what great hosts they are!

Winchester Bay Was A Winner

We had such a blast at this beautiful coastal town in Oregon. We were with lots of friends, catching crab, processing crab, eating crab . . . Life is Good!

Here are some pictures I can share now that I'm back with access to the web with my Mac - the PC was a real challenge and I was never able to get the pictures uploaded.

• Ken and Mary, a great team, venturing out to set the traps in place.
• A great pot of crab ready to steam!
• Gary and Ken heading out to check the traps for crab - keeping the big males and tossing back any females.
• Picking out the meat is a tedious job.
• A freezer full of crab (over 24 pounds) is a very good thing.
• Ken and I (a "self portrait") when we were checking the surf out for Ricky at the south jetty.
• Bringing in the traps to get dried off before we pack up.
• A beautiful sunset said "farewell" to us on our last night in Winchester Bay.

Choices

Life has got to be good when one has to decide what to have for breakfast . . . Honey Wheat Blueberry Pancakes with blueberries as big as marbles hand-picked and in the freezer or California Omelette made with fresh crab caught in our traps just yesterday and avocado along with Pepper Jack Cheese . . . well, I picked Blueberry Pancakes because we've had Crab Omelettes the past two mornings . . . Crab Quesadillas the last two afternoons and Crab Pesto (of course made from our home-grown Basil) on Focaccia toasted in the oven for dinner last night . . . I guess we're getting "Crabbed Out!" - Awe . . . Life is Good!

We pulled in sixteen crab yesterday (our friends have left so we have nobody to share them with) and twelve this morning. K is out now gathering the morning's catch (his "deck hand" is Padraic, the one whose website I had mentioned in a previous blog) and baiting the traps for the last evening hide tide. We'll be pulling in the traps in the morning and washing down the boat and packing up all the stuff we needed to make this crabbing stay at Winchester Bay so much fun.

Check This Out

If I did this right I can give you a place to check out some pictures of us RVers at Winchester Bay. There's a picture of the whole group of us from Park Sierra, plus some of Ken in his boat, plus some of the whole event. This blog spot belongs to our teckeee friend Padraic (pronounced like Patrick only with a "D") and he and his wife have been fulltiming for a year and a half. Log on to RVEscapade.blogspot.com and see what we're up to! Life is Oh-So-Good!

Coney Island Washboard

Some have forgotten the lyrics or mix them up a bit so I thought I'd share them the way I know them. If they are wrong I'm sure my sistahs will correct me! After all we have brand new members in this family and I certainly want them to learn them the way Daddy and Mom sang them!

Oh that Coney Island Washboard roundalay
You can here it on the Boardwalk every day
Little soapsuds all around, little bubbles on the ground
Rub-a-dub-a-dub in her little tub
All those tunes she found

The little thimbles on her fingers made the noise
She played Charleston on the washboard for the boys
Now she could rag a tune
Right through the knees of
A brand new suit of B.B.Deeses
Coney Island Washboard
I mean Coney Island Washboard
Coney Island Washboard Roundalay . . .
Coooooohhnneeeeee Iiiiiilaaaaaand Washhhhhboarrrrd
Rouuuuunnnnn-daaaaaa-laaaaaaayyyy!

In Honor of My Daddy

When we arrived in Winchester Bay it just happened to be the day my Dad was born 90 years ago- September 21, 1915. Had he been alive he would have loved to be with us on the Oregon coast with all the tall trees growing right down to the ocean. Those of us in the RV world know that four o'clock in the afternoon is Happy Hour. This particular day there was a fellow here playing the guitar beautifully! My dad used to play the guitar and he loved to sing too! This fellow, I think his name was Ed, could play any song you could think of but he was the only one singing. He could tell that I would be singing along if I happened to know the words and he seemed to like that. He asked me to sing a song . . . "any song you'd like, I'll play along with you" he said. Well, being a member of the Burns family "Coney Island Wash Board" came to mind immediately. So I sang a bit so he could get the jist of the tune. And then he made a big announcement introducing me and "my" song. Well . . . I had to tell the audience that this was the Burns Family Song and that my daddy taught his five kids the lyrics by the time we were all three and we taught our kids, and now they are teaching their kids. Then I sang the song . . . in honor of my Daddy! I just had a feeling that my dad was with me in spirit at that special Happy Hour.

Thank you Lord, for the greatest Dad in the whole world! And thank you for the gift of loving to sing!

Saying Goodbye to Cascadia

Packing up our Cascadia home base gives me ambivalent feelings. Not that I haven’t been looking forward to our life ahead and actually thinking about what we've been doing and have accomplished the last three months makes me smile.

It usually hits me when I am defrosting the freezer. Now defrosting a freezer is only a once a year job but something about it makes it a reality that we are moving out. Now moving out this time means a whole bunch of things. . . taking the trailer in to Sweet Home RV center to get work done. Now that’s a big plus . . . because we’ve been having odor problems in the bathroom and after using every product on the market Ken has decided that it must be a plugged air vent. . . now that’s one I’m glad somebody else is going to take care of. And after we ditch the trailer we are on our way to Seattle to meet Samantha Clare . . . now there’s another big plus. Then we leave Seattle to go "crabbing" at Winchester Bay . . . another plus. Then we head south to see daughter #2 and her family which means a big Grandkid Fix . . . a huge plus . . . and then fly to Battle Creek for another visit with daughter #1 and her family . . . you got it, another Grandkid Fix! So now I’m guessing my ambivalent feelings are feeling a bit more on the positive side than the negative.

Thanks for listening!

Gotta go and meet a real cutie of a baby girl.

Life is good!

Ken’s Sautéed Green Cherry Tomatoes

RECIPE

1 or 2 dozen green cherry tomatoes
3 or 4 Basil leaves chopped
A teaspoon or so of chopped chives
A teaspoon or so of chopped parsley
Fine cornmeal (course is a little too crunchy
Sour cream
Cooking oil of choice
Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Cherry tomatoes— cut off two sides then cut them in half so that you have two nice (but small) slices
Toss around in the cornmeal to cover
Heat enough cooking oil in pan to cover the bottom
Add the tomatoes to the hot cooking oil; add salt and pepper and sauté until brown on both sides and soft when stuck with a fork
Blot and serve Tomatoes with a bit of sour cream.
Mix the herbs together and sprinkle on top

There that’ll teach those darn tomatoes not to turn red.

Two At A Time!

Okay, so this is it folks . . . two cherry tomatoes at one picking! What a celebration . . . one for each of us . . . we didn't have to share! We're leaving for Seattle in just six days and it's been raining now for two days and getting pretty chilly so I think that's gonna be it for our Cascadia garden.

Christmas in September

Today I’ve been playing Christmas music as I finish up my tole-painting projects before we head south. I can show you one set since this design was used a few years ago for gifts and I discovered I had five more sets to paint. Think I’ll sell these at the Holiday Tea and Boutique at Park Sierra. Only problem is I never know what price to put on the little guys . . . Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas to all and to all I hope you’ve had a good summer. By the looks of the leaves on the maple trees around here . . . and the fact that the grandkids are all back in school . . . summer is gone and fall is upon us!