Thank you, Scrabblequeen!

The family has headed back to Portland, and it's time for my life to return to 'normal'. The same day the kids arrived, I got a package from Scrabblequeen. I won...yes I did! (The kids were quite impressed that blogger friends would actually send PRESENTS!) Miss Scrabblequeen gave a little quiz and I gave the correct answer. Now if your not familiar with Scrabblequeen, you wouldn't know how fond she is of tea...and it's a shared fondness. She knows this and sent me a box of Cameron Valley tea...which at this very moment, I am quietly sipping and savoring. Also in the box of goodies were two flavors of lip balm AND a Celtic Legacy CD!!! Be still my heart! I've just popped the CD into my laptop player and OOOOOh,  AAAAAAh, such soothing music is bathing my soul. I've been planning to reintroduce music to my blog...and this glorious instrumental music may be just the ticket...if I can figure out how to do it! Go raibh maith agat, Scrabblequeen! (the gaelic term for thank-you!)  My blogger friend is an accomplished knitter too! Stop over and see her Frankensocks...the most colorful socks you can imagine. How I wish I could do that! http://scrabblequeen.wordpress.com/

Two Free Spirits

Two free spirits.

Lookin' fer Crawdads in Fishtrap Creek

Today we went for a walk through the woods at Berthusen Park, looked for crawdads in Fishtrap and ate ice cream at the corner market.

Cooling Off In Lake Whatcom

Took Ana and Dane to Bloedel Donovan Park for a dip in Lake Whatcom. Wasn't it just last week that their daddy, his sister, and brother were splashing one another in this lake? More like 25 years. And has it really been 45 years since I dog-paddled out to the high dive, nervously climbed the ladder, held my nose and jumped? And when I was 5,  my older sissie and her pretty girlfriends walk me down to the lake with them. Back then, their were lifeguards with suntan lotion on their noses, hotdogs at the concession stand, and the loudspeakers were playing Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up is Hard to Do."  Wonderful memories! My dad worked at the Bloedel Donovan lumber mill in the 50's and 60's which was situated on the shore of the lake, adjacent the park. My grandfather ran a tugboat up the lake to logging camps; delivering log booms to the mill. He and Grandma lived near the lake. When missionaries visited The Firs Bible Camp and church that they attended, Grandma and Grandpa Cline would let the missionaries live in their home and  they would go up the lake with a tent and camp out for several weeks at a time on the lake shore.  Our family has a rich history with this old lake! Glad my grandchildren got to go there! They swim like fish! Another generation of memories.