Significant Birthday

It seems like such a short time ago that I was a little girl, blowing out the candles on my cake.  That was quite a long time ago.   With apologies to Mary Oliver for unauthorized use of her poem Self Portrait:

 "I wish I was 20 and in love with life and still full of beans.

Onward, old legs!
There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side
the roses are blooming and finding their labor
no adversity to the spirit.

 Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea
shining like a song, like a body
I want to touch

 though I’m not twenty
and won’t be again but ah! sixty. And still
in love with life. And still
full of beans."

Mary's poem reads "but ah! seventy."  Maybe I will use this poem again in another 10 years.
The group photo above shows me with members of my family earlier this month.  The two men on either side of me are my older brothers.  We are all in the 60's club now!  Everyone else in the photo is not yet in their 60's but give 'em time.

Yep, still in love with life and still full of beans.

Be well.

Family time

I've been enjoying lots of visits with my family this summer.

Nephew Nathan and his wife Becky and their 3 kids and 3 dogs came over.  They all enjoyed touring the yard while the dogs romped.

 Nathan's brother Justin and his wife Brittany also came with their dog. 

The dogs played and played and then they rested.  Mia took full advantage of the fact that we allow our dogs on the furniture.  Justin will have to retrain her after visiting Aunt Jan's!  It was funny because if Mia began to get too rough with Roscoe, Windy would step in and divert Mia.  Such a good big sister she is!!

It was good to see them all.  They might move out this way some day.  I'd like that.

 I gave Brittany this bracelet I made.  Looked good on her pretty arm.

We went to visit my cousins at their place near the beach at Pacific City, Oregon.  Most everyone camped on their property.

 Lots of cooking and telling stories around the campfire.  Plenty of dogs too, almost as many as there were people.

 Windy and Roscoe and I enjoyed walking in the old mossy spruce forest.

 Beautiful trails on the cousins property. 

Plenty of good eating too!

I used to call him Chainsaw man but maybe I should change Steve's name to the Chef because he sure seems to be the main cook at these events!  This is at my brother's.

Our next visit took us to my brother's where 4 of us siblings and our families spent a few days.  My nephew's are so athletic and spent hours jumping on the trampoline shooting hoops.

Of course then they needed their rest.  The little dog is Rosie.  She and Roscoe spent plenty of time playing too.

We managed to snap a group shot although not everyone got in it.  From left to right are Marshall (nephew), Debbie (my sister), Tyler (nephew), Beth (SIL),Rick (my eldest bro), me, Steve (my older bro whose home we were at), Robin (SIL), Dawson (nephew) and Riley (nephew) holding Debbie's dog Lucy.  I think there were 7 dogs altogether here.

So now I'm home again.  The hay got done in July and now we are beginning to put up veggies.  We canned 14 quarts of green beans from our garden yesterday.  The weather has been very summery, hot and dry.  The afternoons are spent being quiet.  I like hanging out in my studio then, it stays pretty cool in there.  

I hope you all are keeping safe and enjoying your summer, if indeed it is summer at your place.  Till next time,

Be well.