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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

We have been traveling all over the place this past week. We started out last Friday by heading south along the Oregon coast to attend a steam boat mini-meet at Siltcoos Lake which is near Florence about 4 hours south of us. We had made reservations to stay in one of the cabins and there were about twelve of us at the mini-meet with only three boats. The weather was on the cool side, breezy and cloudy but we managed to get in some steamboat rides and catching up with folks we hadn't seen for awhile.

We left Siltcoos Lake early on Sunday morning as we wanted to attend my nephew Brian's wedding that afternoon in Hillsboro. So we headed back north for another 4 hour trip. We made it in plenty of time and the weather was perfect as it was held outside. The wedding ceremony and reception were at the same place, Cornelius Pass Roadhouse where two other weddings were taking place at the same time! The reception was held in the original octagonal barn that was on the property which used to be an old farmstead. There were about 100 people there and the only ones we knew besides our daughter Lara were our nephews and their wives plus my sister. Brian and his new wife Tanya are now honeymooning in Australia for ten days.

We returned to West Linn to spend a couple of nights with Lara and Greg's family before we headed south to Silverton to the Oregon Garden Resort to celebrate our 47th anniversary. Back in January, we were high bidders in an auction that included an overnight stay at the Resort. This auction was in conjunction with our granddaughter's trip to DC. The auction was to support their trip so it was for a good cause. The Gardens were nice but I had to force myself to back off and keep from pulling weeds and deadheading their flowers, especially around the lodge where we stayed in one of the bungalows. As beautiful and well kept as the gardens were, the grounds around the bungalow needed some work! Dave almost had to physically restrain me and remind me that we were on vacation! I can't help it - I see a flower bed that needs care and it's like it's calling my name! Anyway, it was really nice and peaceful there and that evening we had a lovely dinner in their main lodge dining area. The next morning we strolled around the different garden areas and then decided to take a drive to Silver Falls which is only 20 miles from there to take a look. When we arrived, we hiked along the 2-mile Maple Ridge trail that lead us around the rim to the South Falls and back. It was a beautiful fall day and was perfect for a hike. The only problem was that we didn't bring any hiking shoes or backpack so I got a couple of blisters from walking in sandals. Plus, my body is a little sore from all that hiking. We only had a couple of hours as we had an appointment in Salem with our financial adviser, so we didn't take a lot of time sightseeing along the trail. We made it back to Salem for our appointment but as it turned out we had to wait longer that normal for our meeting. Oh well, we rushed back to no reason.

We hurried back to Silverton after our Salem meeting and met Leslie and Jason, Ashtin and Paige for dinner before we headed back to the coast. Yesterday, September 13th was their 15th wedding anniversary and we wanted to celebrate with them. After dinner, we left for home and got here around 9:45. It was great to be home again after being gone for the better part of two weeks.

I spent most of Thursday trying to revive my flowers that were in much need of some tender loving care. The weather had been pretty warm while we were gone plus the wind blew and really dried them out. I gave them a good soaking and trimmed all the deadheads off so they may give us a few more flowers before fall sets in. I noticed that the deer had been through our place and pretty much trimmed my strawberries back to stubs. We have had a couple of cool nights here and fall is definitely in the air. I also refilled all the bird feeders which didn't have a seed left after being gone for 5 days. Of course the Blue and Scrub Jays were the first to arrive. They must sit up in the trees and wait for me to appear! A few squirrels and chipmunks came back and Finches were not far behind. I don't worry this time of year too much about them starving to death as there are plenty of seeds that Mother Nature is producing.

Lara had a good week. She didn't have as bad a reaction to the second chemotherapy treatment as she did the first time. She's back to work part-time and other than a little fatigue, she is feeling more like her old self. She's halfway through her treatment - her next chemo procedure is September 26th.

We will be home for another week before we head out on our next adventure. We are going to drive to Sandpoint, Idaho for a few days to visit with a cousin for mine that I haven't seen in years. I hope they have the forest fires under control by the time we leave.