'Twas the Week Before Christmas

Really? Christmas Eve is a week from today? It can't be---I'm not ready yet, and in fact, I might never be. But the important event has happened, the annual BVG Christmas dinner party at my house. It was Monday night. I worked so hard decorating the house and cooking up a tasty dinner, but wait, no pictures? Really? Then as far as this blog is concerned, it never happened!

It happened, it was wonderful. We dined on Smoked Salmon Caesar Salad, Chicken Picante, Brown Rice with the Picante Sauce, Roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Roasted Butternut Squash with nutmeg, plus desserts made of either pumpkin or Rice Chex. It was a great dinner if I do say so myself. It's just always so fun to get together with the Sisters, but it is especially nice in the midst of the extra busy times leading up to Christmas. We all needed a night to chill and pretend, if only for one evening, that we didn't have a care in this world. We had our gift exchange, and the BVB's, who had been out to dinner, joined us for the dessert. We sat in our own rooms, BVG's in the living room, BVB's in the family room. We savored each moment for our visiting. We love us!

Two things I won't to add here, for no particular reason other than the fact that I have carried these four quotes around on a piece of paper in my purse. I wrote them down many months ago. So here goes: "If you don't like the food, drink more of the wine," and "How merlot can you go?" Then, "My mind is drawing a blanc." And finally, "Give us this day our daily red." Then Elletu happened to share this with us the other night: "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. When the white's gone, I'll switch to red."

Merry Christmas, Readers.

Oh Christmas Tree: Part 1

Having completed decorating our Christmas tree on Saturday, a song has been stuck in my head and driving me crazy. I knew only the title, not the lyrics, but the tune would not leave me. I finally looked up the lyrics this morning, and now I know how apropos those lyrics are. I present to you, "Oh Christmas Tree":

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

Thy leaves are so unchanging;

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

Thy leaves are so unchanging.

Not only green when summer's here,

But also when it's cold and drear;

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

Thy leaves are so unchanging.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

Such pleasure do you bring me!

O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree,

Such pleasure do you bring me!

For every year this Christmas tree,

Brings to us such joy and glee;

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

Such pleasure do you bring me!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

You'll ever be unchanging!

A symbol of goodwill and love,

You'll ever be unchanging!

Each shining light, each silver bell,

No one alive spreads cheer so well;

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree,

You'll ever be unchanging!

******

You may recognize this as a German Christmas song, "O Tannenbaum," which was based on a traditional folk song. A Tannenbaum is a fir tree. The modern lyrics were written in 1824 and did not refer to a decorated tree but to the fir's evergreen qualities as a symbol of constancy and faithfulness. It became associated with the traditional Christmas tree by the early 20th century and sung as a Christmas carol.

 

Our Christmas tree is definitely 'evergreen.' That's because it is artificial! The 'leaves' are definitely 'unchanging' from when we bought the very tall thing to grace our living room in our last house with its soaring ceilings. Now it only fits in the two-story entry hall of our McCormick Woods house. During the rest of the year it fits in one large, cumbersome box, and I'm quite sure it is green 'when summer's here.' We for sure have precious memories of our family outings--in the 'cold and drear'--to pick out and chop down a Christmas tree at a tree farm with our three children. Once we moved to Hawaii and our house came complete with an artificial Christmas tree, we have never returned to the Christmas tree farm in December to get a fresh tree. Funny thing, the house we live in now is on land that used to be a Christmas tree farm, and we actually got some of our trees here all those years ago.

 

Our tree always brings me 'such pleasure,' and much of the pleasure comes from the actual decorating of it. As I am fond of saying, "Bring out the Christmas tree, and bring out the memories." This year is no exception. I admit to getting somewhat misty-eyed as I pulled out so many of our ornaments and thought of who gave them to me, who made them, when I made them, where I bought them, what they represent to our family history, special people, special times. One newly treasured ornament is a BVG ornament, with the names of the four of us on it, not our BVG names but our real names.

 

Front and center on our tree every year is an ornament I bought when our children we toddlers, and in fact my third child had not even been born yet. Every year it reminds us and our visitors that...

 

JESUS IS THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS. May it always be true for all of us!

 

 

 

 

     

 

Oh Christmas Tree: Part 2

Christmas 2015

Special memories of Christmas in Hawaii

and of Christmas 2007 in New York City

of ornaments made by the mother of our Swedish foreign exchange from Sweden (Santa, above) and the many fabric heart ornaments I have made over the years for family and friends

and the red and green ornament my mother made for me back in the '70's (above), not to mention the storied legacy of the pink and white gingham ornaments I bought in Renton in 1974 at the Sears store in Renton

and the real story of Christmas, Jesus' birth

although so many in our culture focus on things like snowmen instead of Jesus. That does not diminish the special memories ornaments like this felt snowman made for me by one of my Port Orchard piano students back in the early '90's bring back of special people, special times in my life. Every ornament, every memory is to be treasured. When I bring out each ornament, out come the memories too. Thank You, God, for memories to hold people and places so dear to our hearts this time of year. And above all, Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Tales from the Dark Side

A potent wind and rainstorm pummeled Western Washington on Tuesday, resulting in power outages for the BVG's. Oh yes, many more people were affected, hundreds of thousands, actually, and some people are still without power two and a half days later. For some communities, power will not be restored until this weekend. I pity these people, because we nearly froze our buns off over a two-day period. Well, I wish I could have. If you're going to be frozen, you might as well get something good from it, like a better physique. No such luck.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of times I try to turn on the lights when the lights are out. I wonder how many times I did this in a period of 26 hours. We don't have a generator, and we don't have a gas fireplace, so we huddled around the fire my husband made in the family room fireplace. With two blankets on me in my recliner, while wearing my coat, warm scarf and gloves, I stayed fairly comfortable. Then I made the trek upstairs to our cold bedroom and crawled in bed wearing long pants, long nightgown, hooded coat and gloves, with two extra blankets. I stayed pretty warm, while my husband had at most two hours of sleep downstairs while he kept the fire going in the fireplace. Much gratitude to The Duke!

There was much rejoicing when the power came back at 2:30 yesterday but also much grumbling when we discovered last night that our cable was still out. Everything we had DVR'd for Tuesday and Wednesday just didn't happen. The cable didn't come back until late this evening, and even now, we don't have our Wi-Fi connection. Life is tough.

No, not really. Not for us. Three people lost their lives during this storm. People have had to be rescued from rapidly rising flood waters in several places. People had their homes inundated with water and mud. We got cold and missed a few mindless TV shoes. How can we complain?

Times like these just require an emergency kit and a good sense of humor. My husband and I are resilient. Before he built the fire he had the kerosene lanterns and hurricane lamps filled and working, while I got the candles set up. And then, with no TV, no computer, and no cell phones at our disposal, we resorted to "Amish Scrabble," played by kerosene lantern. ("No lights, camera, action!") I sent the picture below to our three children, told them we were playing Scrabble like the Amish do, by kerosene lantern, to which our daughter responded, "Dad's suspenders go a long way to add to the illusion." Couldn't find a black hat for him though, and he doesn't have a beard anymore. The second photo shows the tiles I picked on my first draw of the game. They inspired me to invent this joke that would only make sense to other classical musicians:

Q     How does a popular Classical cellist go on tour?

A     By 'YOYOBUS.'

Don't worry, my husband didn't get it either.

  

Gone But Not Forgotten

We are putting our heads together to remember the many stores, restaurants and other businesses that have closed in Port Orchard since the four of us moved here about 40 years. They are gone but not forgotten:

Grocery Stores
     Thriftway, Mark-it Foods, Stock Market, Safeway, Haggens---but it's coming back to Safeway!---Saar's, King's Fish

Coffee Shops
     Olympic Coffee, Tully's

Taverns
     Ale House---but we still have the Bethel Saloon!

Restaurants
     Myhre's (because of a fire, then insurance fraud on the part of the owners), Captain K's, Tommy C's, Pietro's Pizza (a frequent hangout for the BVG's and the BVGO's), Godfather's Pizza (just recently), A&W (but it came back!), Popeye's, JJ's Fish House, Soo Hoy Café (that was a heartbreaker for the customers but a good thing for the dogs and cats in the area!), Pot Belly Deli (my 32-year-old son still talks about the times I would take him to lunch there before his afternoon at kindergarten), Tijuana Jail, The Beachcomber, Clam Bake, Mary Mac's (now Clubhouse), Happy Teriyaki, Best Burgers, Boston Market, Safari, TCBY, Delilah's restaurant, Morningside Bakery and the bakery that replaced it, from the owners of That One Place, Everybody's (was Pietro's, now Clubhouse Grill), Los Cabos, Tweeten's Lighthouse that closed a few times, became Gino's for a while, then back to Tweeten's Lighthouse but had to close due to one of the owners being arrested, now open as just Lighthouse and it's great, in fact our next BVG night will be held there on November 30

Stores
     Apple Annie's (j and I both have pieces of furniture we bought there, and we both painted these pieces last year), Sprouse Reitz, H&P Drugs, Kmart, Hallmark, The Hub, Bremer's, Grandma's Attic, Fashion Bug, Ben Franklin, Pay 'n Save, Payless, Ernst Hardware, Bethel Feed, Office Depot, Port Orchard Office Supply, Totally Video, Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, Mike's Video, Radio Shack, DJ's Music, the yucky New Age bookstore that was on Bethel Avenue (but not Bethel Valley Lane), Comfort Shoes, Great Prospects

Other Businesses
     SK8 Town, Plaza Twin Theater (now Dragonfly Theater), Hair & All That Jazz, Syling Rendezvous, the pest control place on Bay Street whose name escapes me but on their reader board they would 'honor' the Pest of the Month

Breaking News!

It isn't very often that the Bethel Valley Girl blog gets to announce something hot off the presses. It was announced in this morning's paper that the Port Orchard and Gig Harbor Haggens grocery stores are going to revert back to being Safeways again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is indeed big--and welcome--news. We have two Albertsons grocery stores in Port Orchard. We had one Safeway, and it and one Albertsons were there when I moved here 40 years ago. No one was happy when Albertsons bought out Safeway, but at least Albertsons kept it a Safeway. Then Bellingham-based Haggens bought up quite a few Safeways, including the ones in both Port Orchard and Gig Harbor. The transition was uncomfortable. No one liked the new high prices or the brands. The customers dwindled, and several months back came the big announcement that Haggens was going bankrupt and closing many stores, including the ones in Port Orchard and Gig Harbor. These are big stores, and it has been disconcerting to see the 'Store Closing' signs on these prominent businesses. Our pastor even worked that in to last Sunday's sermon. Well, I wonder if this news will make it in to tomorrow's sermon? At least it made it in to our blog! It was the 'end of an era,' but it's coming back, just like A&W did, just like Lighthouse did. Which gets me to thinking about Port Orchard stores and restaurants that have closed over the past 40 years. This topic deserves a blog post of its own, so stay tuned for "Gone But Not Forgotten."

Elletu's Trilogy: Will Her Third Surgery Be a Charm?

November 12, 2015 - Harrison Hospital, Silverdale, WA
 
As the historian for our group, I keep track of major events in the lives of the BVG's. Yesterday Elletu had pelvic surgery for the third time, and for the third time I was there with her to be her family representative. Elletu got out of her street clothes and in to the cutest gown which must have been made by Bair, hence the Bair Paws label. Her feet looked lovely in the non-skid red socks. She asked for a cocktail, and they must have given her something good because she became very relaxed. Once they put her blue hat on her, they moved her and her bed off to the operating room where they sent her off to dreamland and went exploring way up in her uterus. I know, TMI for a blog, right? But I think it's amazing that I am the one who figured out her problem. Once I saw the picture they took of her uterus, I could clearly see what her issue is: She has four uteruses! (Would that be uteri? Uterusses?) I'm surprised her doctor didn't catch that. It's kind of odd, I suppose, but Elletu and I actually have a good time at the hospital. We make the most of whatever situation we find ourselves in. We laugh. I take pictures. And when they call me back to Recovery when she is awake and doing well, I am the one who helps her dress back in her clothes, and then I take her home to my house to eat homemade soup, drink Ginger Ale, and we watch movies. Yesterday we watched "Pretty Woman" and "Return to Me." We figured out that 25 years ago she and I went to the Plaza Twin Theater in downtown Port Orchard on a hot, sunny, summer afternoon, and when we came back out in the sunshine, we felt kind of sleazy and dirty. Yesterday we just relaxed and had fun, she in my husband's recliner, I in mine, with pillows and blankies. She needed to rest, and I needed to be there for her, just in case. Speaking of my husband, he was kind and drove us to the hospital and back yesterday, and he ran errands for Elletu, like picking up her prescriptions and buying her an Eggnog Latte.

 

Breast of Friends

What happens when you combine the third annual BVG Bring a Friend Night with the second annual BVG Oktoberfest? Double the fun!! On October 30 we gathered for a rare Friday evening BVG night. We were disappointed that Carolyn, Lynn and Lisa could not make it, but Laurie and Sherry were there and we welcomed Rosalie and Tracie who will forever be invited to BAFN. I cooked Farmer George's brats----no, not some farmer's bad kids....Farmer George is Port Orchard's iconic meat market, so we went with his bratwurst---in my Crock Pot, in apple juice. Yum! Thanks to j we had delicious German potato salad, and Cool brought Billy B's homemade apple sauce. Elletu brought the brewskis! It occurs to me that we are not really big beer drinkers, since I delivered a lot elsewhere the next day. It also occurs to me that the laughter heard around my dining room table sounded like we had been drinking a whole lot! I think we are mere tasters. Now, about the wine...

We tried a new game, which is actually an old game, but we haven't played it as a group before. I had to prod them to play Scattergories, but once the game got going I think they were hooked. We ran out of time and didn't get to play as much as we had liked to. Next time.

The BVB's went out to dinner, then back to Cool's house, then to my house once we let them know the coast was clear. Now that they are all retired, I think it's good that they have this social outlet. As if we had to plan their time! They like each other's company like we like ours. After all, they have been the BVB's as long as we have been the BVG's---34 years!

I think Elletu, Cool and j would agree with me that the most memorable conversation of the evening was Tracie, Rosalie's daughter, telling us the 'disturbing' story of how her mother sold her favorite Halloween costume ever, Rainbow Bright, right off her back, and for only $10!!! This clearly traumatized Tracie. I had no idea. I was in Rosalie's will to take Tracie and her sister if something ever happened to her and her husband. Had I known about this injustice, I would have scooped up this poor girl and brought her to my house to live. And of course I would have replaced that costume. Thanks to Tracie and Rosalie for providing a picture of Tracie and her sister on the last Halloween she would ever see that costume that meant the world to her. After all, she won a Halloween costume contest with it! I will still invite Rosalie to BAFN next year, but I don't think any of us can erase this story from our minds. Who would want to? It got the most laughs!

Fun friends, fun times. We are blessed. And the Holiday Season has begun.

Trick-or-(Dog) Treat: Zoe is a Media Star Again

We are so proud of our girl Zoe. She is our only BVGD (Bethel Valley Girl Dog), and once again she is getting some media attention, this time on the website for The Groomery, her Dog Day Spa. They dressed her and her boyfriend Chewie up as beach bums for Halloween. Cool and I both have pink wigs that would go with Zoe's outfit. Come to think of it, we also have green wigs that would look great on Chewie. Thank you for sharing the photos, Elletu. You have a real beauty there.

Rainbow Bright Tracie: A Sad Tale

Had I not invited my friend (of 45 years) Rosalie to Bring a Friend Night, and had I not invited her to bring her daughter Tracie along, I might never have known the sad story of when Rosalie sold Tracie's beloved Rainbow Bright Halloween costume right off her back for a mere $10. You think you know a friend really well, and then you find out you really didn't know them that well at all. This is what Bring a Friend Night is all about!

Exercise Your Right to Vote

Today is Election Day. There were no real major things to be decided in this off year--no President, Governor or Senator to be elected--so we haven't been bombarded with partisan political clamor about our ballots. But the run for the White House is one year away, and the Democrats and Republicans are hard at it, swinging away at each other. We lived in Virginia when the 2008 Presidential election occurred, and that was such a contentious time for all Americans. Within weeks of the voting, my husband and I drove by this church in Franklin, and I was captivated by this sign and had to get a picture of it. I will be sending this picture to all of my friends next year as it gets close to Election Day. Most of my friends are Conservatives, and they will love it. The others, probably not so much. In the grand scheme of things, what we THINK isn't all that important. What is important is that we KNOW God and we make Him the center of our lives. That is where we need to put our TRUST---in Him, not in politicians or political parties. But.....we still need to exercise our right to vote!

Another Halloween Bites the Dust

I was gone from the blog for a few weeks because my husband and I were in California to see our daughter, son-in-law, and their two children. We always drive, mainly because I don't enjoy flying, but also, we are back road explorers with a particular affinity for Southern Oregon. South of the border is a small, old mountain town, Dunsmuir, CA, that is off the beaten track, thus we are drawn to it. We've seen it in all seasons, including one winter when it was buried in several feet of snow. This time around they were preparing for Halloween 2015. We weren't able to stick around for the SciFi & Horror Film Festival of the Zombies Walk, which was held the night before Halloween. In fact, we were back at home that night, and our house was filled with the BVG's and friends. It was our Second Annual Oktoberfest joined with our Third Annual Bring a Friend Night (more on that later). Alas, Halloween 2015 has come and gone. Welcome November!

Oktoberfest Links Up With Bring a Friend Night

If it were nice outside I suppose we could make it Decktoberfest (as opposed to Docktoberfest), but it will be blustery and probably raining when everyone arrives for our second annual Oktoberfest tonight. We are combining it with our third annual Bring a Friend Night, and it promises to be a fun evening ahead. With three cancelations, we will be a group of nine. Brats--and I don't mean bad children--are cooking in the Crock Pot, and there will be other German food and, yes, beer on hand for this festive occasion we have been looking forward to for some time. Ready to party!

Piggy Park Gets a Makeover

Our beloved Piggy Park (aka, as in 'actually known as,' Clayton Memorial Playground) was cleaned, painted and refurbished on September 19-20, 2015, thanks to 75 community and active-duty Navy volunteers. Though our voices will never be heard through this venue, we say thank you. Our memories of meeting at this playground with our children, summer after summer, remain vivid and treasured. (I try to forget Elletu's youngest daughter covered with the purple paint that had been maliciously spread on the little 'merry-go-round' that one day---oh, what a mess!) My youngest son's preschool graduation picnic was in that park. We had a BVG anniversary picnic there on June 3, 2014 (see Older Posts). I was interested to find out that the playground was originally built 43 years ago, in 1972, just four years before I moved to Port Orchard, and it was constructed by another Navy crew of volunteers in memory of one of their own, Michael Clayton (see article above, from the Port Orchard Independent). There is quite a bit of history there, and not just ours. I wonder how many other moms and grandmas share our feelings of nostalgia about this place. And one more thing...whose idea was it to removed the little piggies the kids could ride???

Most Senior BVB Turns 68!

 

He is not only the most senior BVB, but he is the most senior of the BVG's/BVB's combined. Today j's husband---aka William Braveheart---turns 68. He is well-preserved and all tuned up after knee surgery last week. I'm not about to check under the hood, but he seems to run smoothly even after putting on all these miles. He is a shining light at every after-church coffee gathering at Cutter's Point. This photo, by the way, is of his award-winning car, his beauty. Both the car and driver are classic, classy and tired. I should say the car is well-tired, and the driver is, well, tired, but then he is re-tired, as in retired. (Note to Cool and Elletu: Retired people do get tired!!) He shares a birthday with my son, who turns 36 today. Two good reasons to celebrate this October 28--two awesome guys born on the same day, albeit 32 years apart.

So happy birthday, William Braveheart! We are all glad you were born, that you married j and brought her to Port Orchard, specifically to Bethel Valley Lane, so we could meet and form this amazing group, the Bethel Valley Girls. Obviously, it was God-ordained. Thank you, and get ready to party-hearty Friday night with the BVB's.  

Nanny Cool Takes on Some BVGP's

Bambi and Sunshine are packed up and ready to go to Nanny Cool's house. A few decades down the road, and we have replaced M.I.L.K. (Mothers Into Little Kids) with G.I.L.P. (Grandma's Into Little Plants). A new kind of 'kid'-sitting. Bambi and Sunshine don't require as much diligent care as our children did when they were young. We were young too. Now we are old. Babysitting, aka Plant-sitting, is more our speed. These two BVGP's were excited to go to Nanny Cool's. As far as they are concerned, "Home is Where the Watering Can Is." If I were younger I would be stitching that out by counted cross-stitch.

Duck Boat Goose

 

 

A year before a tragedy involving a Duck Boat Tour vehicle occurred on Seattle's Aurora Bridge, I took these pictures of what was then such a hilarious scene. We were driving to Ivar's Salmon House on the edge of Lake Union, and just as we were approaching it on the left, traffic was halted in either direction--with us in the front in our lane--because of a row of geese crossing the street. That in itself was cute, because who doesn't like to see traffic stopped for a group of animals crossing at their own what seems like a ridiculously slow pace? The hilarity factor increased exponentially when we looked at the stopped oncoming traffic and realized a Duck Boat was stopped for a row of geese! I thought of the preschool game, Duck Duck Goose, and the photo I took gained the name Duck Boat Goose.

I never did post these photos because, quite honestly, I kind of lost them online, in fact I was pretty sure I had deleted them inadvertently. And then, just a few days after the Duck Boat tragedy (referred to in the post entitled Shared Experiences, the Ties That Bind) happened, these photos strangely reappeared on my computer. At first I did not have the heart to post them, and even now, with memorials happening for the International college students killed on the bus the compromised Duck Boat rammed, I wondered if I have even waited enough time. Hearts are still very heavy.

This oddly reminds me of a widely popular comedian, impersonator and musician from the early '60's, Vaughn Meader, who found fame in 1962 after the release of a comedy record, The First Family. The album spoofed President John F. Kennedy (with him doing his voice) and the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. It went on to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963. At the peak of his career he performed his Kennedy impersonation on variety shows. My family had a copy of his album, and it was hilarious. We loved it.

But then came November 22, 1963, a very dark day in American history, when President Kennedy was assassinated. We knew we could never listed to Meader's album again and ever find it even mildly amusing, so my mother purposefully broke the LB in half and tossed it in the garbage.

Vaughn Meader's career ended that day. Although he would later try to revive it doing non-Kennedy-related material, it was doomed because of what happened in Dallas on that fateful day. Copies of The First Family were immediately pulled from shelves across the country, and a JFK-related Christmas single that had been released shortly before the assassination was quickly withdrawn. Previously scheduled appearances, including one for the Grammy Awards show, were cancelled. Meader eventually moved back to his native Maine and went back to being a musician and managed a pub. He was still married to his fourth wife when he passed away in 2004 at the age of 68.

Forty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Meader quipped, "It was a character assassination. My character was assassinated, and I got a bum wrap." Forty years after the world tragedy, people were ready to laugh again---probably not his family, but other people perhaps.

Duck Boat Tours are primarily offered as tourist attractions all over the United States in harbor, river and lake cities. They are both educational and entertaining. My husband and I took a Duck Boat Tour in Ketchikan, Alaska and enjoyed the adventure immensely. I didn't give a thought to its safety. It was a fun experience. The accident in Seattle a few weeks ago cut short five lives, but they were on the bus the Duck Boat hit. The first lawsuit has been filed--I knew that was coming, and for good reason if indeed that particular Duck Boat had not followed maintenance requirements. The owner of the Seattle fleet was a successful business owner just a few minutes before the crash, and then everything came, well, crashing down. I suspect his career, like Vaughn Meader's, is over.

So is it too early to look at a photo of a Duck Boat stopped for a row of geese crossing a busy Seattle street? We saw the boat load of people up on their feet snapping photos of the geese too, but their perspective wasn't as humorous as ours. I'm sure they can still look back and say, as so many have, "Wow, that sure was a fun tour!"

I have cried tears over that tragic accident, but I can still look at this photo and say, "The Duck stopped for the Geese---ha ha ha!" And I am so glad I found these photos.

Autumn Blessings---it's raining and it's cozy!

Autumn Blessings

SEPT OCT NOV

Beautiful Colors

 apple cider * crisp air * caramel apples

Bringing in the Harvest

Carving pumpkins

HAYRIDES & Bonfires

falling leaves

bobbing for apples * Halloween

pumpkin spice lattes * sipping hot chocolate

CORNUCOPIA

Happy Thanksgiving!

The countdown to Christmas begins

SIMPLE JOYS * FAMILY * TRADITIONS

It's 5:00 Somewhere

This photo came in from j shortly after 3 PM today. She and Sir William Braveheart journeyed to beautiful Lake Crescent today. She must have gotten confused and thought she was in Chicago, if you know what I mean. This is one of the perks of retirement.

Laugh With Leslie

Seen in the window of Knapp's Restaurant in Tacoma's Proctor District. I don't know who this Leslie is, but with that pink boa, the sunglasses covering her eyes, a dog by her side and a drink in her hand, she looks suspiciously like a BVG.

Bessie Makes Her Way to Elletu

I'm sure Elletu will be MOO-ved by her latest and last birthday gift from Cool, Bessie for her Bathroom, who was late to the party, so late she didn't make it at all. I think she is UTTERly adorable! Elletu's birthday was so important we have spread it out for almost one month, MILKING it for all it's worth. We love Elletu, she's worth it, and that's no BULL.

Shared Experiences, the Ties That Bind

***As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, this is not my only blog. I have been writing something like a weekly blog for my family for over eight years, ever since my husband and I moved to Virginia from Hawaii and were, for the first time, empty-nesters. The blog has a name, Monday Morning Update, now just referred to as the MMU. It began as a way to let our three grown children (one in Hawaii, one in London, and the other in North Carolina) know what we had done over the weekend and the previous week to get to know our new state. Over time people asked if they could 'join the MMU,' people we consider extended family. Today there are 18 contacts on the MMU list, and it has become somewhat interactive as our children and others respond back and forth. Once we moved back to Washington the MMU morphed in to much more than an update on our travels. Often it is humorous, always I have various photos attached, sometimes it is a little bit serious, as it once a week ago. Because the subject was 'Shared Experiences, the Ties That Bind,' I though much of the Bethel Valley Girls as I wrote it. With just a little editing, I am copying it here:

 

Whether good or bad, shared experiences tend to bind people together. That’s one way families stay close together even when scattered and separated by many miles. It is the same with friends and even with communities. I have been thinking about that this past week, and certainly it comes to mind every week when I sit down to write the MMU. What started eight years ago as a weekly “This is what Dad and I did over the weekend to get acquainted with our new home, Virginia, but really to help us mask the pain we feel of missing all of you” eventually morphed into “Remember when this happened?” That’s because by reminiscing about shared experiences, we felt closer to our children we missed so much. Over time the MMU Family expanded because of shared experiences with more people whose lives have intertwined with the original five members of our family. These are the ties that bind.

Since last week’s MMU, a few things have happened in the Seattle area to bring people together, all with national, even International, ramifications. One was so tragic, it hurts to think about it. On Thursday a Seattle Duck Boat Tour vehicle with over 30 tourists aboard went out of control on the Aurora Bridge and eventually crashed in to the side of a charter bus carrying International students out for a tour of Seattle just days after they arrived here to study abroad. Dozens were injured, and tragically, five students from North Seattle Community College died as a result of this crash. As we watched the news coverage of this terribly sad event, I got such a lump in my throat as we saw reports of the hundreds of people who quickly showed up to donate blood, to bring food to the 90 first-responders who were on the scene almost immediately, of the people who jumped barriers to offer their assistance, multitudes who continue to reach out to grieving family and friends. As with any disaster, the goodness of people rises to the surface. People want to join together to help in any way they can. Bad times can bring people together.

And then, on the flipside, good times bring people together too. Of course it’s more fun to focus on that. Yesterday was a good example. A record crowd of over 69,000 filled Seattle’s Century Link Stadium to cheer the Seattle Seahawks on to victory over the Chicago Bears, 26-0. I admit I get a lump in my throat when I watch the jubilant Seattle players, whose stories we now know so well, hug each other after superb plays. I also get a lump in my throat when I see players from opposing teams hug each other after games, win or lose, big smiles on their faces. I get that same lump when I see the fans jumping up and down in glee, all wearing their ‘12’ jerseys, cheering on the team they love so much. Same lump for the singing of the national anthem. Shared experiences in good times bring people together.

Did you see the Blood Moon/lunar eclipse last night? After watching the Seahawks game, we drove out to Manchester, where we used to live, and parked on a side street just one block over from Leola Lane. We were on the hill looking across Puget Sound to downtown Seattle, West Seattle, the Cascade Mountains beyond, and, off to the right, Mount Rainier, which looked like a giant strawberry ice cream cone in the evening glow. As we drove to our chosen spot we saw all the cars lined up on all the other streets of this small community, filled with people with binoculars. We were all there for the shared experience of viewing something that won’t happen again for 18 years.

While we were waiting for the moon to rise and be eclipsed, I received a text from my friend Pat, with whom I had so many shared experiences in Hawaii, we are bonded for life. Pat now lives in North Carolina, but she was texting, out of the blue, about watching the lunar eclipse from a hotel parking lot in Kentucky, on the last leg of their three-week vacation. She had no idea we were preparing to do the same out in Manchester. How fun it was to text back and forth, sharing this global experience from opposite sides of our country. 

As we sat in our car, we reminisced about the eclipse of the sun many years ago, when our children were very small. I had them up to the window in our living room to watch how dark it got that morning. Over at the shipyard it got strangely quiet as all of the seagulls thought it was bedtime and went to roost! Yes, this was a shared experience for them too.

The moon was beautiful last night, from the beginning of the eclipse to the end when it became amazingly bright. And I was wondering, did our MMU Family members in Sweden and Greece witness the same eclipse?

Our whole day yesterday was a happy one of shared experiences. After attending church together with friends of decades, we all met for coffee at our usual place, Cutters Point in Gig Harbor, sitting outside in the beautiful sunshine like we have as a group countless times. Funny, Pat and her husband came to mind as I sat there. I was thinking about the one time they joined us at Cutters Point after attending church with all of us when they spent a week with us two years ago during their move from Hawaii to North Carolina. I also thought of our friend John, no longer with us but such a key person in our life when we think about shared experiences. Laurie was with us, as always, bonded with us for life, because besides all the happy times we spent together through life, we also all walked beside her through John’s journey through cancer and then his passing in January. Our shared experiences of friendship have helped her cope, heal and become strong again. And yesterday, as we all sat around two tables together, we were laughing and reminiscing as we so often do. To be sure, we have all gone through very sad times in life, but because of the ties that bind, looking back on life, somehow it all seems good because we have experienced it all, the good and the bad, together.

I just want to say today that I am eternally grateful for all the shared experiences I have with all of you. They are what bind the MMU Family together.

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And they are also what bind the BVG's together.

BVB Gone Wild

To the BVG's, no explanation is needed. This makes sense to us. This is what it means to be a BVB. Sir William Braveheart. He doesn't get out often. Hat on loan from The Duke.

One More, Before I Go to Bed

Oh dear, the Sisters will slam me if they know I am still up at 1:45 A.M. As noted earlier, I have been dealing with computer issues. I sat here for four and a half hours figuring out some problems and doing one important thing, deleting e-mails going back three years! The majority of them included pictures and/or YouTube videos of each of my four grandchildren. How do you delete pictures of grandchildren??? I had to free up this poor thing so it can start 'breathing' again. Lots of my deleting e-mails were from the BVG's, things I didn't have the heart to delete, but I just had to do it. In fact, for the first time since the first day I ever did e-mail, my inbox is EMPTY!!! And here is one more things I retrieved from my messages, this from one of the Sisters. I think we adopted this phrase as one of the BVG Core Values, with a short rewrite to put it this way:

"Now that I'm old I don't want people thinking, 'What a sweet little old lady....' I want 'em saying, 'Crap! What's she up to now?"           INDEED!

Drawback of Husbands Retiring---Just One Little One

 

 

Had a fun day today shopping with j. She and I make up the 50% of BVG's who are retired and whose husbands are also retired. My retired husband was able to drive me to her house and drop me off so he could have the car for the day for running errands, since j was driving us to Tacoma. Her retired husband was busy with errands today but returned just before my husband and I were about to drive away. More the most part---and I would say almost 99% of the time---j and I are thrilled to have them around the house with us in the daytime, but there are those moments when we miss our alone time and our ability to get a zillion things done in a day, and quickly so, because we had the full day to ourselves. I can't say we've ever been startled by them, as the couple above, but just a little frustrated at times. It is all kept in perspective, though, by the fact that our friend Laurie who joined us today would give anything to have her retired husband be around the house with her these days. He passed away eight and a half months ago. So we don't complain about this minor frustration. How blessed we are!

Tragic Tale of Grapes

Due to severe problems with my computer I have spent hours deleting old e-mails (back to 2012???) and unneeded documents. Sometime, long ago, one of the Sisters e-mailed this to me. She will be surprised to see that I finally added it to the blog. For the record, I had grapes for breakfast this morning, and I consumed no wine. Is that tragic? You be the judge.

The Bethel Valley Girls in a Bygone Era

On a recent stay in beautiful Seabrook, WA, j snapped a picture of this photo from a bygone era. Look, it's the Bethel Valley Girls on a retreat to the ocean that none of us can remember! Surely it is as real as the trip to Bali Elletu and I recently took...

Sure Sign of Fall

When you see pumpkins outside your grocery store, you know fall is here. As it turns out, j tells me the pumpkins were outside this store in Port Orchard the other day when she was there. It was still summer. Well, I didn't see them because I wasn't by this store. It doesn't matter. Today is the first day of fall, and these are the first pumpkins I've seen outside of any of our grocery stores. Hooray for fall! Hooray for pumpkins!

Happy First Day of Fall!

MY FAVORITE SEASON ARRIVES TODAY!

SCENES FROM FALL IN VIRGINIA

WHEN WE LIVED THERE

BEFORE COMING BACK HOME

WHERE IS HOME?

HOME IS WHERE THE BVG'S ARE!!!!!!!