Winter is coming

Even though we had a 75degree day this week (which is warm any season at the coast), it is still apparent that winter is on its way. I noticed that the surf had eaten up some of the sand on the beach leaving a drop off that wasn't there before. The sand gets pulled out every winter and our beach shows off a shelf of rock and lots of pebbles along the water's edge instead of sand. It is coming! We see the changes daily. I also took a picture of most of the areas sea gulls having a meeting just below our house. I wonder what they were discussing. It's just the changing of the seasons.

Election time approaches

Dick and I spent Sunday at Chinook Winds Casino for the annual Candidates Fair. McCain and Obama did not show up but most of the State, County and Lincoln City candidates were there. Thank goodness Merkley and Smith kept their negative campaigns to themselves by staying home. They all gave short speeches, answered questions submitted to the emcee and then had closing comments. It was fun to see what everyone had to say. There weren't a lot of people in the audience but it was broadcast on 2 radio stations in Lincoln City and Newport. My brother, Rick came in time to hear the locals. There were several of our friends there also. Dick passed out brochures, talked with several big supporters and for a political day...which I am not thrilled about...it went well. Dick wouldn't let me take a picture of him but the newspaper took pictures. He had 5 letters to the editor in support of his endeavor published this past week but we still feel like the underdog in the situation since we haven't lived here full time as long as many others on the ballot. November 4th will be here soon. It was just another red, white and blue day!

Apple Cider Time

We had a lot of fun Saturday making our apple cider at Brett and Liz' house. Many new people stopped by with all the kids and some of the adults taking part in the cranking of the press. We had some of Brett and Liz' neighbors, Liz' sister-in -aw, the Kaufman clan, friends from their birthing class, my friend Connie, and one of Brett's college friends and everyone's family. Tank, Tille and Linc were all there and kept away from lapping up the golden cider. First we threw in the apples and cranked one wheel to crush up the apples into small bits. Next we cranked the wheel on top with a old Louisville Slugger baseball bat from Dick's childhood. Then, out comes the juice! We felt like we hit the motherlode just putting our cups under the flow of the juice to taste each batch. Cider jugs were sent home with all and the day was done. Check out the pictures. It was just a crispy, juicy day!

Fall Beauty

I spent a quiet day by myself last Wednesday. Dick went to Corvallis to golf and Linc and I remained at the beach on a bright and sunny day. It definitely was a fall day but we had sunshine and bright blue skies. I was working on Halloween costumes for the grandkids when a group of 5 connected kites caught my eye. I had to take pictures. They were beautiful! A little while later, a group of brown pelicans flew low over the water. They had been near extinction until recently so it is nice to see them back on the West coast. Later in the afternoon we sat on the deck reading and there were only 3 people on the beach. This is definitely off-season and very peaceful. Evening is my favorite time of day on the coast. The dark rocks really stand out against the white breaking waves. I feel like my eyes have been tuned to high definition. Finally by morning, a huge moon was still shining over the ocean and leaving a long reflection on the water like a moon at night over a lake. Looking back, it was an extremely gorgeous day. Just beauty and the beach!

Mo on Mo

It is official. Mo is a little girl kitty. Our neighbors, the Miesens, have taken her in to be fixed and are taking her back to Mexico later this month. The Miesens have a cat that has cancer and won't be with them much longer, so Mo has found a good home. We are certainly glad she has a place to stay before we get any more of the 100 mile per hour winds we had last winter. It's just adoption made easy for all.

Growth

We have been watching growth in all the youngsters around here. Earlier I wrote about Mo, our neighborhood kitten that was just hanging around and living under a neighbor's deck. She is still with us (I use she but we really don't know what she/he is) and getting bigger. We are close to catching her to get her spayed/neutered but the dilemma is in sending her off to Mexico with another neighbor who is willing to take her. No one else here has wanted her but they also don't want to give up the antics of our neighborhood cat. I think that as winter is becoming more evident, so is the need for Mo to have a real home. She will be missed but well loved also.

We experienced our grandson's first visit to the beach and growth being very evident there also. Just like most people who visit us, St. John tried out his beach coma mode. He made his first visit to Starbuck's so Grandpa and Grandma could show him off...golf hat and all and even had a walk with Mom on the beach to hear the wonderfully calming ocean noises and fresh salt air. It was so nice the last evening here, Liz and SJ were able to sit out on the deck and enjoy life without the need of jackets or blankets as the sun was setting. It's just growth...coming on much too quickly in my opinion.

Creating a Campaign Flyer

After trying out many types of tri-fold brochure software, deciding what to write, how to write it, where to print it, how to distribute it and when, we finally had to put photos into Dick's campaign handout. First, remember that Lincoln City is a small town, Dick's people have limited resources (Dick and me) and limited money so we decided to take the pictures ourselves. I took a bunch of head shots of Dick. I took pictures of he and Linc downtown LCity as a lot of people know him by sight from their daily walks there and then decided to include one with all the grandchildren. What an experience. Eliana is 8, Sarina is 5, Adena is 21 months and St. John was about 6 weeks old when we took the pictures. It took a lot just to get one that was useable but it was a riot. We either got someone with closed eyes, kids with drifting attention, crying SJ, a hand on hip pose from Sarina or if we weren't watching, Dena would scoot her little self right out of the picture. We did get one out of about 50 that we loved and now have a family collection of pictures that show off each grandchilds personality peaking out. It's just being oneself.

Brian and Kristin Visit

Mid September we had a visit from Brian, Kristin, Cooper and Jordan from California (my niece and family). They spent a lot of time hunting for agates on the beach as well as beach critters in the rocks on the beach. Kristin is an expert at spotting the agates and their car was probably 5 lbs heavier going home with all the beautiful specimens then found.

We also visited Barking Dog Farm which is a local organic farm. Not only did we get lots of produce but Heidi (an owner) does metal sculpture placed around the grounds. I got photos of her nest with birds and a kooky looking bird up in the plants on the deck. Fun. Check out the pictures attached.

We all went whale watching in Depoe Bay one day when the sun was not cooperating and did see a number of whales in the bay. We had a nice waterside lunch, bought salt water taffy and headed home.