Sept. 26, 2013, On the move again…but not far!

We left Salem, OR, with plans of heading for Texas the day after we saw our doctors.
We had a quiet two-night run from Salem to Antioch, CA.  We stopped early the first day in The Valley of the Rogue State Park, where the scenery is beautiful and the weather was very mild.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the Redding, CA, Elks’ Club the next day, the temperature was 103.  We were lucky—as it had been 106 the day before.  That’s a bit too warm for me!
Apparently rice does well in warm weather—as we passed miles of rice paddies north of Sacramento, CA.

A few fields were still green, but most of the rice paddies had already been harvested.

We pulled into the Antioch Fairground RV Park and made ourselves at home, such as it is:

The Antioch area is suffering some severe crime events—including a murder on the fair grounds just three nights before we arrived.  Twice we heard gun fire during the night. What is more perplexing is the lack of sirens afterwards—it appears no one bothers to call the Police Department—located just four blocks from the fairground.   It wasn’t the best of times!  The worst assault was on our ears:  a five-hour Rap Concert held just behind the RV park.  It was LOUD and it was disgusting!  I have never heard so many swear words so loud and so often.  No wonder the kids are killing each other—they are being egged on toward violence in their music.  It actually was a blessing when the stock-car races started as the roaring cars—just off to the left in the photo, were quieter than the disgusting rap music we had endured from noon to 5 pm.  We just smiled at each with the race noises!
We thought we would be leaving for Texas on the 20th—the day after we were finished with doctor appointments.  Wrong!  Larry’s blood pressure had been climbing over the past month—until we realized it was just too high to start east.  We decided to hang on until Sunday, the 22nd—and then Wednesday—in the hope it would level out. We emailed his kidney doctor to see what we could do to bring it down into a safer level.  When she emailed back on Wednesday that we needed to adjust his current dosage for a week—and then add two more pills if that didn’t work—we called our favorite resort, Sugar Barge RV Park, and made a month’s reservation.  We are looking at least two week’s delay if her readjustment of his Terazosin works or 3 or 4 if she has to add or change one of his BP meds.
Sugar Barge is beautiful and so much quieter—no gunshots waking us up at 2 a.m.  I can walk in the evening—without having to keep an eye on the road outside the fairground watching for cars slowing down to do us harm.  So, I reluctantly cancelled our plans to be back in Livingston for the annual Fun Fest celebration.  I had signed up to help with event cashiers and market day to sell  my pottery.  Some very nice friends have picked up my slack and will make sure the cashiers are there to sell dinner and lunch tickets!  Thank you Joan Anderson, Sherry King, Joyce Houck and Beth and Wayne Roberts.  You are the best!!  Now if I could get someone to display and sell my pottery bowls, ha ha!
Tomorrow I will unload the car and run to the storage shed to put some stuff back in and to pick up the patio chairs.  We were ready to go—everything was packed!  And now we are on hold—until Larry’s blood pressure is back in the safe range.  Darn, and double darn.  There goes those plans—again and again!  And that is what RVing—and getting older—is all about.  Our plans are written in the sands of the Sahara—and can change with a soft breeze!  I had to remind myself—when we kept trying to make it work to get to Texas in time—when you are stuck in a hole and trying to get out—stop digging!  It could be so much worse—this is just another hick-up in our lives, not a major event.  We always have next year to make Fun Fest!
Meanwhile, I can help my sister by stringing more beads for her necklaces.  A good therapy for impatient hands!  This is just part of her bead stash!

So, until my next post, think of my eyes getting blurry and my clumsy fingers threading beads onto wire—in a labor of love!  If I didn’t love her, I wouldn’t be doing this, smile!
Happy travels—for some of you!  

Sept. 7, 2013 Saying Good-bye to Salem, OR.

After a great summer in Salem, OR, it is now time to pack up and head south for the winter.
I spent a lot of time at the Willamette Art Center.  I want to thank Karin (class instructor), Ken, Lee, Kate, Jim, Pat, Sue, Nikki (who fired the gas kiln), Jan, Jeanette, and all the other potters who generously shared their tips—and lots of laughs--with me.  It was pure heaven being able to “talk clay” with so many talented and creative potters!  I learned so much—a bit here and there from everyone at the W.A.C.  The Salem community is very lucky to have such a wonderful resource in their midst!! 
I have carefully packed away 8 bowls that are coming home with me—here are two:

The blue bowls are a new concept and the Ohata Red/White bowl is a glaze I used in Hawaii in the 1980s.  Many of the glazes did not work out—so they aren’t coming with us, ha ha.
We did a raku firing on the last class day:

That metal pipe at the bottom shoots a gas fired flame into the kiln—after the fiberglass shield is dropped down over the base.

Yikes! The fiberglass is lifted when the correct temperature is reached.  Those pots are about 1700 degrees!  I stood back to take photos—too hot for me!!
 
Kate applied her horse’s hair to her “HOT” vase to create a horse-hair glaze effect.  Yes, it smells—but the effect is beautiful.


The hot glazed pots are placed in a container filled with shredded newspaper or leaves, etc. to create a fire—which blackens the unglazed areas. This is my bowl.  Raku fired bowls are always a surprise!

As we planned on being here for 3 months, I wanted to get involved and do some volunteer work, so I joined Salem Elks’ Club # 336.  (Larry is a 20-yr. member of Los Banos, CA Elks.)  To keep in shape, I started weeding the flower beds around the building, as well as helped at a few functions. As I told Brenda Holm, the Exalted Ruler, “My hands are available to be of use, but  brain not included.”  I wanted to help, but not take charge of anything, smile.
  Imagine my surprise at being given this honor on August 22, 2013:

Wow, I was blown away with the announcement!  I felt like I had been paid already with the satisfaction of lending a helping hand—so this was just frosting on the cake.
Some other things we did were:

We made a few visits to Willamette Valley Fruit Company for a treat as well as numerous market stands to buy fresh tomatoes—for yummy bacon and tomato sandwiches.  

We splurged and had prime-rib dinner at the lodge!  Yes, it was yummy too!

Larry wants a trailer instead of the camper, so a neighbor walked me through hooking up a pull-trailer to show I could do it.  He even offered to let me hook up his trailer for him--for practice; what a great friend, ha ha.  Thanks, Mike!  Still not sure I can do it, but did see it wasn’t as difficult as I expected.  Stay tuned to see what happens this winter!


And we rode around the country side. And day after day slid by while we were enjoying ourselves!  About a week ago, we realized it summer was almost over—and time to do some “packing up” work!  And just about then—I came down with the flu or a nasty cold!  Sore throat, chills and fever, sinus pain, chest congestion, and plugged ears—GREAT!  I lost the last two weeks—and Larry held out for 10 days before he got sick!  The couple that lives together—in a shoebox—cough together!
This has been one of the best summers in many years!  We were surrounded with friendly neighbors and new friends here at the lodge, we contributed to good works, and my creative needs were fed by the welcoming, creative potters of WAC.  It just doesn’t get any better than this summer in Salem!
We expect to be healthy enough to drive out of the wonderful Salem Elks’ Club on Monday, September 9th.  We are headed to Antioch for doctor appointments and then hope to head for Texas for a few months.  The Livingston house feels lonely and probably needs a ton of work—costing two tons of gold—just normal stuff!  Stay tuned as we explore old roads—again!

July 13, 2013 Oregon’s delightful summer season

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July 2, 2013, Salem, OR--Views of the Midwest

Yes, it is hot in Salem too.  Not as hot as other places in the country where we hear numbers that are on a toaster oven--like 110 degrees, but we are enduring the 90s in this part of the country.  With the humidity, it means running the air conditioner from about 9 a.m. until midnight. 

One great point of being in Salem is the temperatures cool down after sunset and we wake up to comfortable temperatures. I love the early morning coolness and thank my lucky stars that we are here in beautiful Oregon.

We try to have a weekly drive around the Salem country side. The views transport me to other places we have visited in the past—such as Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  Here are a few views of the Midwest:

Is this a Wisconsin barn?  Or did we see it in Iowa?

I swear I saw this scene in Indiana!  (And, no, it is not a golf course!)

And this view….

Like Indiana’s Amish households with their fruit stands, many Oregon farms have produce for sale.  And it is yummy!

These fresh berries are sweet--no sugar needed!  (I swear I never thought I could say that, ha ha.)

Meanwhile, we have been busy with activities here at the Elk’s Club and my pottery classes.

The Salem Elks Club hosted their annual car show.  The owners show off their restored “antique” vehicles and some of us reminisce about dating in these cars—when they were just “used” cars—not antiques.

 

The show attracted about 40 vehicles.  The cars from the late fifties looked like big boats compared to our smaller cars today..

We saw these three cars pass us on the road in Molalla and followed them to take a photo:

  

The three 1929 Speedsters were on a road rally. Each car was restored by the driver.  They offered to take a photo of me in the white car, but I declined; the cars were cute enough on their own--without me in it.

This next photo is for my friend Marge—a picture of the Willamette River as it passes the town of Independence, OR.  Here is the boat launch in the middle of town.

And here is the Molalla River ferry landing in Canby, OR.  Don’t you just love the green water rivers in Oregon?  Texas rivers tend to be dirt-brown colored.

It is fun exploring the country side, but you need to come visit yourself—to absorb the beauty of this state.

We hope you have found a comfortable place to be during this hot summer.  Stay cool and look forward to Fall weather—coming soon to a place near you.

June 3, 2013 In Salem, OR, for the Summer Season.

I am going to do a bit of catch-up blogging.  We did the Antioch, CA, to Salem, OR, trip in three nights.  See, I said we were slowing down.  First night we stopped in Redding, CA, at the Elks’ Club so we could visit some long-time friends, Jack and Nancy Reed.  We met them camping at Lake Shasta, just north of Redding, about 40 years ago.  As they were busy during the day, we took a side trip up to Whiskeytown Lake.

 

It is a beautiful lake, but the RVing facilities have always been a bit too slim to spend much time there.  The RV section is a large, sloped parking lot with side ways parking, so it takes two ways to level the rig and it is a dry camp.  The Redding Elks is on the edge of the Sacramento River with water and electric—and a sewer dump. 

The second night we stopped at one of our favorite camp spots, the Valley of the Rogue River State Park located behind the Rest Area.  It is convenient to the freeway and has pine trees!

 

We arrived at the Salem Elks Club the following day and got set up for the next month or two.

Salem works for us in several ways.  We are close to Wal-Mart, Costco, U.S. post office, Great Harvest Bread store,and even A.A.A. We found a convenient laundry mat with large machines and few visitors early in the morning. And most importantly, Larry can use our HMO doctor’s offices for his lab tests and other medical needs.  Plus it is a beautiful city located in a beautiful area!!

This year I am signed up to take a 8-week pottery class at the Willamette Art Center.  I start Wednesday, and I am looking forward to playing with clay and being surrounded by creative potters.  I think it will be fun to learn new techniques and get my hands and clothes dirty.

One of the main reasons we came this year was because my “walks-on-water” daughter-in-law’s family is having a entire-family reunion—which meant our son and his family drove over from Boise, ID.  They offered to come to Salem to see us first.  What a wonderful deal for us!  We only see them every couple of years because Boise, ID, which is HOT during the summer, isn’t on our “fly way” to and from Texas.

Our GRANDdaughter Chelsie and her boyfriend Shawn drove over from Boise too.  Left to right:  Chad, Chelsie, Shawn, Alika, and Natalie.  Chad and Shawn fished the park pond behind our camper while I took Natalie, Chelise and Alika around Salem.

State Capitol building and one of the two water features in the Capitol mall area.

The roses are in bloom in Salem and Portland.  What a colorful time of the year.

This is the paddleboat that gives tours on the Willamette River.  Larry and I are going to take a tour in the next week or so.  We have had rain almost every day since we arrived, so haven’t done much exploring yet.

And here is how we all gathered here at the Elks’ Club.  We were lucky they all brought chairs with them as we only carry two.

Then it was time for them to pack up and leave.  Darn!  They had a two-plus hour trip to Rockaway Beach to meet up with Natalie’s family.  Bye beautiful family.  We will miss you!

I will close with a funny photo—of Larry helping me with the housework.  We washed the sheets and had to remake the bed—a chore I hate, but doesn’t bother Larry.  I wonder why??

We will doing a bit more now that summer has caught up with us here in Salem.  We hope your summer plans bring you peace and contentment!  And make time to try all the fresh fruits and vegetables from your local farmers’ markets. Salem is blessed with several each week.  Life is good!