You did what?

I ironed. I don't remember the last time I did it but I ironed. I have set up the equipment when I have sewed in the past to press newly stitched seams on Halloween costumes and aprons, but really iron clothes? It is almost foreign to me now. I do remember times I would set up all the stuff:iron, ironing board, spray starch, hangers, ironing basket, then turn on the tv and watch football or old movies all Sunday afternoon. But not in the last 15 years, at least.

It all started because the weather is changing. I am feeling colder even though the sun still comes out. Sometimes. I have two sweaters that needed hand washing before I could wear them for the season. I had a blouse I washed this summer that really came out wrinkly. I had a blouse I took to the cleaners a year ago to be laundered but because of the sequins on it, they said "no thank you". It needed to be washed by hand. So I washed all that needed washing. The sweaters dried on towels very nicely and the blouse dried on a hanger. I think I let them sit around about a week to dry.They smelled great and any spots were out but boy were they wrinkled.

So, I gathered them up along with the other machine washable blouse with the wrinkles from hell...actually make that two washable blouses and set up for the task. Where do I set up an ironing board? I found room in the dining area so I could look out the windows at the ocean. Can't be all bad. I plugged in the antiquated iron and set up the antiquated ironing board. I think I will swap them out with the nice ones at our Portland condo since those REALLY don't get used. I filled the water in the steam iron and waited for it to warm up.

Okay, the old spit on the finger and touch the iron trick and I was sure it still worked. I started with one of the washable items in case the iron decided to spit back in protest. Back and forth. Back and forth. Those wrinkles barely budged. AHA! Spray starch. I threw out the last rusted can when it stopped dribbling out starch with still three quarters of a can remaining years ago. I jumped in my car...top still down because it isn't snowing yet...and ran to the grocery store. Back awhile later with Magic Sizing. I am hoping it works better than the old spray starch and it does contain the word "magic" so maybe it will iron the clothes on its own.

So, sssssss, and I am off again. In no time, those wrinkles are out. The blouses are hung up and look great. The sweaters needed the wrinkles steamed out too. They looked great and folded up nicely. Dick asked me to iron the collars of a couple of golf shirts. You know the Mayor needs to look decent. I think this need to have things ironed must have been contagious.

We now have nice wrinkle free clothes hanging in the closet and folded in the armoire. I don't think I want to do it again soon and definitely don't want to start another "ironing basket" but the old art of ironing has not died yet! At least in this household.

Awareness

I am finally becoming aware that since moving to Lincoln City years ago, I have become fascinated with the people of Lincoln City and how varied they are. They are so unique. Probably that happens everywhere but in a small town you can get to know people and see this uniqueness much more easily.

Also, events, groups or happenings in town are more interesting in a small town. You are more aware of the diversity of what is around you. I might have heard of the same things in the Portland area but it was much more interesting to get to see the workings of such things up close in a small town.

Of course, Dick being the Mayor has opened doors for such things too. Here are a couple of examples:

Taft High School Football. The school system here is not very good. The Administration is working on it and a lot of people are trying to help these disadvantaged kids get food to eat, clothess on their backs and school supplies. After meeting with the high school principal and hearing of numerous great things happening, I want the people of Lincoln City to know about the positive things happening at the school. It doesn't hurt to have a little school spirit! A friend of ours is the cheerleader/dance coach. She had so many girls try out this year, she was getting ready to make cuts when the school district stepped in and said uh-uh. Keep them all. Wow, what a problem to have. We have a new football coach this year. We have the most kids in years go out for the team. The usual season with NO wins could have a new look this year. Dick and I went to he game just last night. Cheers exploded with each first down. The team doesn't really have a kicker so they went for two points after their touchdown...yes they had one. Because of that extra point, the game rolled into the fourth quarter with the Tigers in the lead at 8-7 over Seaside. We didn't make it this time, bu the possibility was there. I have hope that before the season is over, these guys are going to make us very proud. Once the kids can take a little pride in their school, they can take pride in their school work.

Another example of an exciting event that might go without notice in a big town is the opening of our new Fire Department training tower. It is state of the art. In a small town, we not only had a ribbon cutting but made it an event all day with a Disaster Preparedness Fair included. Lots of materials for handling the tsunami debris that is invading our beaches, how to take care of ourselves after a tsunami (we will be cut off from help and the rest of the world for awhile) and even hospital and insurance information. Classes were held all day for education, information and the answering of questions. People attended. The tour of the tower with explanations of how our volunteer firefighters can get training in cutting through a roof, working in smoke, getting into crawlspaces and attics and manholes was amazing. Talking with the chief, he explained that most of our calls are medical/accident/rescue calls and it is hard to get on the job training for fighting fires. The men are volunteers. I am sure their families are breathing sighs of relief knowing they can be trained for these emergencies as they put their lives on the line. And, the Sherriff's department has already toured the facility with ideas how they can use it in their training also. We have a great new addition to our city. Would I go visit such a place if I still lived in Portland? Maybe but again, probably not. The turn out in a small town astounds me. People take pride in what we have rather than being too busy to care.

It is just a great place to live...for me.

Today started out very foggy. I still drove with the top down on my car to get coffee. Coffee with the Mayor at Pirates Coffee was rather quiet but Dick got there after his radio half hour with Roger Robertson. It was still foggy when we got home.

I had Dick bring in the tall ladder and I spent a good deal of time cleaning our metal sculpture on the wall. It is so high I had to climb the ladder almost to the top to reach all the nooks and crannies. With all the pointy branches, it took forever and ruined a perfectly good sponge to get it dusted.

We also installed a new top-down, bottom-up shade in the guest room and it actually worked. Dick and I are not known for our handyman skills but together we got it done.

I edited a letter to Sunset magazine for "the Mayor" to send off. Can you imagine leaving Lincoln City off the Oregon Coast map? Not a nice thing to do! Quite a domestic day.

So it is finally a sunny day at the beach. I knew it would happen...even in September.

Another quiet and restful day in the Anderson household. I polished inside and outside my kitchen cabinets. Definitely not my favorite chore but it looks great! I washed all the glasses that are gathering dust. Dick washed windows inside and out and it looks like a high definition view out to the beach. WOW!!!
The crockpot is simmering away and producing wonderful smells along with the fresh Challah I just pulled out of the oven. Next time I will try the bread with garlic and cheese added to the recipe. It is calling my name. Who will be the recipient of the second loaf? It's Labor Day and I am not sure who is around but someone will win.

It's a good smelling day...fresh windows, cabinet cleaner, fresh bread and dinner! Yum.

Yesterday was a day to clean house and do laundry. Not much exciting except the beautiful weather. It is September but the best one in years. We headed out to go watch the fireworks at the casino at about 7:30pm and noticed 2 police cars with no officers parked across the street. Went on our way. With a stop at Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone we headed for the casino parking lot. It was busy but we managed to have parking karma and found a good spot. Top down on the car, we "people watched", read a little in our books and just relaxed. Great fireworks for about 20-25 minutes right above the casino. We headed home to find the police cars still parked in the neighborhood. Apparently, the home one house away had some domestic problems.

It's just the usual day at the beach.

I have decided to turn over a new leaf and write on this blog daily just for myself. Grandkids have gone home. The house has been brought back to normal but still needs some attention to details. The summer sun is still out even though the fall temperatures are trying to creep in to the beach. So, now is the time to do something for me. Give me another 3 days and will probably complain that I haven't seen my grandkids or kids enough, however.

So, Dick and I went to the Portland Timbers game in Portland last night. We drove Dreidel home to his girls and Jason then off to soccer. I know I am a Parrothead and love following Jimmy Buffet but now I am hooked on the Timbers, too. Not quite ready at my age to start being in the Timbers Army but I love watching them and chanting along with that crowd. Great soccer weather last night and we have that trip with all the crowds down to a science so the comings and goings to a game are easy.

Then this morning we had coffee and French pastries at St. Honore in the sunshine and then to the Lake Oswego Farmers Market. I think this is one of the best around. It may not be as big as the Portland one but it has a lot and overlooks the lake. Sitting out at the bakery waiting for it to pen isn't too shabby either. So relaxing and we now have artichokes and corn for our dinners this week.

So after seeing ALL the family for a few minutes, we made a few more stops...including our Organic garden...and headed back to "our beach". The view right out our windows is one of the best in the world.

It is a 10plus day!

Election 2010

The elections are over. No more TV ads. I read today that Portland was #3 in the country for the number of political TV ads this season. Ugh, glad that is over but those shows we recorded still have them. Luckily we can skip right through that part.

Dick's campaign led us through a lot of ups and downs, letters to the editor, rumors about Dick, speeches, coffees, radio interviews and a few hives for me, stress for Dick before it was all over. He was overwhelmingly successful so it was worth it. Lincoln City has a population of about 8,000 people but about 30,000 with the tourists that come to town. There are approximately 3,600 voters but of course they don't all vote. Dick got a little over 1,600 votes to the incumbents 991 and there were a few who actually voted for the cannibus candidate. There were no real polls. Our friends said they heard that a lot of people wanted Dick to win but you never know if it is just the circle of friends you know that say that or if there really are enough votes to win. Thus, the last week before the election, I broke out in hives. I went for a massage and that helped so much. About the same time, we were out twice a day at the D River waving signs during what we call rush hour (actually, it is just the time people drive to work but no rush in Lincoln City except the tourists coming on Friday night and leaving on Sunday). I was also busy getting food together for our election night gathering. At least the last few days I had something to concentrate on and the hives didn't come back.

The sign waving was fun! Even when the rain dumped buckets on us and the wind almost blew us away, we smiled, waved and had fun. There were a couple of people running for city council out there. Dick was there. And one day a candidate for county commissioner showed up for a morning wave with the signs. It was fun smiling and waving and seeing how many people would wave back or you could at least get to smile. There was a lot of honking and thumbs up. There were a lot of ballots waved as people were on their way to city hall to drop them off. One man made me really nervous when he wanted to make sure he showed both sides of the road that he liked the candidates, took his hands off the steering wheel and did a thumbs up to each side of the road. One of the funniest signs had a hand written "Honk for Dick" on it. There were a few cars with passengers and drivers laughing so hard they had to pull over and then wave, thumbs us or honk. I only knew about 3 one-fingered waves and that is expected but it was an overwhelmingly a success.

The election night gathering was another unbelieveable election experience. We invited many of the people who were active in the campaign. We invited about 100 people but many of them were from out of town so we had no idea how many people would come out. Both Brett and Allison made it over from the Portland area for the night and it was nice to have family there! Allison hooked up her computer to broadcast our event online. It was slow but at least people could see what was happening even if they couldn't attend. Then she hooked up my computer to show the county results through a projector onto a big screen. We had lots of food and drinks and I brought out the custom M&Ms with Dick's picture and "Mayor Anderson" on them. We voted for our favorite local pizzas after tasting them. And then the results came in...

Wouldn't you know it but I was in the bathroom. I heard somone clap...just one or two. Then I ran out and up to the screen and saw that Dick had a wide margin and was in the lead. Everyone had believed it was going to be close. All of us! So, we just stood there and looked. We were shocked. No real screaming, clapping, hooting or hollering. We just stared at the screen. Then we all started congratulating each other and giving each other hugs. No one really wanted to jinx things by celebrating too early. But it didn't look like there were enough votes still out there to change the lead even if they all voted for Lori. But still no one wanted to jinx it! Lots of celebrating and happiness but no real outburst. It felt so strange but we were all so happy. It was a cautious celebration. Later, when more results came in, the margin got wider and we knew for sure and we all went home for a good night's sleep.

The group at the election gathering was unreal. There were those really active in the campaign people, behind the scenes people, financial backers, neighborhood walkers, sign wavers, and some who were quiet supporters. They were from all walks of life, retired folks, young people, Henry from the doughnut shop, the gravel pit people, construction people, waiters, people from the arts, people recovering from health problems, friends drove over for just a couple of hours from Wilsonville and it is a 2 hour drive, people from the coffee shops, art galleries, florists, accounting people, one friend who makes purses, a hotel owner, our kids, our friends and neighbors. It was a true mix of all kinds of people who had heard the names of most of the others but most had not met. We even had one couple who rarely get out attend. It was comfortable. It was Lincoln City at its best pulling together to elect someone who can change things and help the town become a true community once again.

Dick came down with a cold the next morning and had to be on the radio the next morning at 7:30am. We put Nyquil into him and got a cup of hot coffee. He stopped coughing long enough to talk to the community for half an hour. We have been stopping by our coffee shop hangouts to thank our supporters. We have driven all over town to take down signs. Dick is doing a lot of planning for the future and we have to get him a new notebook he carries to keep track of people, phone numbers, email addresses and most importantly...ideas from the community. He has two more interviews on the local radio talk shows on Tuesday and Thursday. People are calling for meetings. He met with the Siletz Tribal people. Dick is on the move. People are coming out of the woodwork and speaking their minds. This is a true community.

It's just another sunny day at the beach!