"Dr. Seuss" Trees

I have a perch which I use often--the view out my kitchen nook window!! Since we built the house in 1975, I've stood at the window surveying our kingdom while conversing on the phone. In our front lawn are 22 of these ancient oak trees. Grand old gentlemen who've seen a lot as they've stood here on top of Strawberry Mountain protecting our little Camelot.

Some years ago, our neighbor across the street asked if we would allow him to have our trees trimmed as they were obstructing his view of Mt. Hood. Sure, if he wanted to spend that kind of money. We listened carefully as the tree trimmer explained what he'd do to the trees--sounded reasonable--maybe even good for the old boys. The tree trimmer never came back. A year later, we came home from work to a scene right out of a Dr. Seuss book. Our goreous trees had been nearly hacked to pieces!! Tragically, the tree trimmer had died, and our neighbor had hired an unemployed wood cutter to do the job. We were devastated, and there was nothing we could do because we'd given our consent a year earlier!! The Kennedy oak trees became the topic of much discussion around the faculty room, break room, and church parlor among our friends. We should sue!! The trees would never come back to their pristine glory!! The horticulture teacher brought droves of students by to see the horrible slaughter. Get over it!! Move on!! was the rally cry of other neighbors. Leave them alone. Mother Nature will take care of them. Which, of course, she did! Now, the trees create an overhang along the driveway and front yard, which gives us privacy and quiet.

Notice the absence of our bird and squirrel friends. After paying nearly $200 to replace chewed up wiring and hoses in our two vehicles, we had to reluctantly empty our bird and squirrel feeders.

I can't get a good picture of this view of our backyard. The trees here have grown so large that, from certain places at our window and on our sundeck, they obstruct our view of Mt. Hood. We may need to call in a tree trimmer, but we'll check his credentials before we allow him at the trees!!

The county assessor came by a month or so ago, puzzled by an assessment report he'd found from years ago. "It says here that you have a view of the river," he says, scratching his head. "I just don't see how you can." I explain that we did have a view of the Columbia River--before the Dr. Seuss tree incident.....

I love my mountain home and invite anyone who wants to see the old gents who kicked Dr. Seuss in the you-know-what to come on in!! We're mostly home...on the deck...watching the trees.
Love from Mom

All of us could take a lesson from the weather; it pays no attention to criticism." (Anon)

WHAT WILL BE THEIR MEMORIES?

In the last few weeks, I've had many opportunities to ponder my fate!! It began with my 69th birthday in July. On that day, I had a memory flash to the day my parents signed the mortgage for their first home. The year was 1954, and we were gathered in our brand new living room. They marveled that, through regular payments, the house would be theirs in 1984. We girls would be 42. I remember trying to imagine what I would look like at 42...old, certainly, wrinkled, probably. Now I was 69--older than my father had been when he died, and I looked just like I'd imagined I would look at 42. Old age is a strange phenomenon in one's life; it's retrospective, frightening really, and certainly not for the faint-of-heart or sissies!!

A week or so after my birthday brooding on my advanced age, I visited with my mother-in-law, who's 96. She showed me 3 or 4 small journals which she calls her quote books. It's a hobby that Peggy and I have in common--we love to collect quotations, poems, song lyrics. Hers are neatly written in small journals, and she includes her own poetry and personal thoughts with her gleanings from the writings of others. Mine? They're in an online journal, old three-ring binders several, on the backs of envelopes, etc.

Peggy held her little journals tightly to her tiny bosom and said tearfully, "These are so dear to me, but I know you kids will have no use for them and throw them away when I'm gone." Shortly afterward, I went for my annual health check-up and mentioned to my doctor that I was experiencing some shortness of breath lately...my oh my!! This statement prompted a series of heart stress tests, ending in a recent day in Emanual Hospital's ICVR unit for an angiogram. Wow!! Although I didn't want to think about it, my mind kept reverting to panic mode! What if there's really something wrong? What if I have a bad heart? What legacy have I left for my posterity? What will be their memories of me? Will those "things" which are dear to me be thrown out after I'm gone? (Angiogram revealed the need for a change of medication and weight loss...Whew...I have a little time). Tomorrow, I'm going to visit a friend my age who thinks that she is dying--a fact her doctor is hiding from her she says. She knows he isn't telling her because he asked her for a hug. She wants to put her affairs in order and asked me to help her write down her testimony of Jesus Christ for her children. So here I am, on a warm, warm Sunday morning contemplating how much time I have to get my affairs in order. Let's see, there's:

1. My genealogy: Binders full of pictures, memorabelia, documentation, etc. of hundreds of ancestors whom I've found through my years of genealogical research. How I love these wonderful people and treasure what I know of them and the small mementos I have of many of them! But, my family will never know them as I do unless I bring this chaos to order!!

2. Pictures: Boxes and boxes and buckets and computer files of pictures--to be organized, filed, discarded, labeled.....3. Personal history to write. I do have that started; I got an A on an autobiography I wrote for a personal history writing class that I wrote in 1964. And my journals, personal writing, and novel gathered up..

4. The Grandchildren Quilt Project. I'm sending quilt #11 out tomorrow. Only 6 more to go. Then, I move on to the Children Quilt Project. And then....

Hmm...the tasks before me sound delicious...fun to do...Maybe this winter?? Because, right now there's:

1. This little guy...Yuri...our ten pound seventeenth grandchild. He's the love child of our son, Tom. With that little Buddha-tummy, Yuri needs a warm, cuddly afghan to keep him warm this winter.

2. And this guy...Vale, who returns August 29th, to the elite Kennedy Boarding School to begin his freshman year of high school.

3. And these guys, who seem to think they need three meals a day and a clean house...

Maybe I can work it all in...the present and the future.....before that hug from my doctor comes.

Contemplatively, Mom

Because two people fell in love

Because two people fell in love, acquired six children, then married most of them off, those two people have 16 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, some in-laws, grey hair and old-age liver spots. Because they fell in love with all those relatives, they have the insane desire every year or so, to bring them all together in a confined area for a few days of togetherness and......

BEACH BUMMING





































PLAYING:

TALKING:







ELECTRONIC-ING:



















POSING:

TALENT SHOWING:

GOOD-BYE-ING:

We missed TJ, Tobin and family, DeAnne, Kevin and Debbie, Steve and Michelle, and Tom and family, but in a year or two, we two people will have the same urges, and we might all come to YOUR house! Thanks, Marie, for being such a good hostess!!

Love to All. Mom