Memorial Day

Spring is longgg in the Valley. It starts the end of February and continues right through Memorial Day. It looks like summer is coming tomorrow. They are forecasting a string of ninety degree (or close to it) this week. Once it breaks ninety...it must be summer. The saving part is that it cools to the 40s at night which gets things back to normal for a few hours. But we are ready...three screen/storm doors installed for the three new outside doors. Good cross ventilation, for sure.

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. At church I had a full bag. Four of us put on the service while our pastor was in Idaho at her preacher daughter's home (seeing grand child.) Two services in the morning... and May was my month to drive the van...which takes about half an hour between services and then again after church. When noon came, I was bushed.

Let me back up. I came home early (again) on Friday sick...so I slept the rest of Friday and all Friday night....whew...just felt terrible, but was able to eat Saturday. These purges are good for the weight maintenance, but lousy on your general feeling. I am finally down to my old working weight which is great for my BP.

Saturday, we did walk and go for breakfast (small) at French Bear. We are getting into a rut again...oh darn. I stayed low, but we did get a few things done. Saturday afternoon we went with the kids to a Korean restaurant in Beaverton...about 15 miles from here, so not too far. Amy Diehr was down from Tacoma (GVSU friend who went to Korea with Amy) and this was Asher's second anniversary of coming to America. Amy likes to honor those events with cultural activities. This place we go to is great. Mostly Asian faces greated us as we walked in...five WASPS and two little Koreans...I felt the glances. But the waiter was cool. I got the usual hot B Bim Bop...other than bulgogi (marinated beef) I am not too sure what I might be getting, so I stick to the basics. Tru has his favorite noodle and tofu dish which comes in a big bowl and looks like a soup. I was sitting next to him, so I forked out the noodles onto a small plate and he ate from that with chop sticks. He has mastered chop sticks. Oh, B Bim Bop is rice with vegetables that you mix at the table...they usually give you an egg to cook in the mix (the stone bowl is really, really hot.) But I passed up on the egg. Bren got an egg with his and it cooked up fast and hard.

Back to Sunday...after being sick, being busy on Saturday night then Sunday morning non-stop we hosted the family and Amy D. for lunch. I grilled steaks. Sweet.

Church went well. The other significant reader is the secretary at the high school, so I am getting to know her well. She reads the announcements over the PA system so I introduced her as the "voice of Newberg High." The other two participants contributed through a power-point show of Pentecost appropriate pictures while we read. The other guy was the worship leader. It went well. Attendance was down yesterday, understandably, but most of my UMM buds were there with their spouses. Good (old) guys, they are. The choir was down too and the director and his wife were at the coast, so, yeh, we were definitely the second team.

Aleene and I assess church periodically and we really feel a part of this fellowship. There are some very dynamic folks here across an age spectrum that is older than might be considered healthy for future growth, but good folks who would do anything for others.

Two of the widows I pick up in the van are favorites. One is a recent widow and is feelint very alone. She broke her wrist about a month ago (at 86), so she last week she asked me to come in to open a milk container for her...poor dear. She cried as I left. I know what she was thinking...she lost her helper and feels it. The other is Dutch. Still, after 50 years here, speaks with a heavy accent. She is 92. Fo (which is all I know about her first name, her last name is Good) lived on a dairy farm near Tillamook at the coast with her husband. When he died she sold and came to Newberg a few years ago to be near family. She is a pretty little blue-eyed lady. When I took her arm as she was getting out of the van we were eye to eye and said in her dialect, "You brought the Spirit into my life today." I about bawled on the spot. Whew...enough of that.

So...Memorial Day...back to where I started. We walked and hooked up a little freezer for the garage (Aleene has been meticulously working on this space) so she can freeze fresh fruit in season...and well, strawberries are in...now. I went to the park for the M. Day ceremonies. The park is about four blocks from here, so there is no reason not to go. It is very similar to other remembrances...VFW, American Legion...other old guys with their service ball caps on...so I feel right at home. They read the names of the Newberg vets lost in wars from WWI on up...a police Sargent recites Lincoln's Gettysburg Address from memory and scouts do some stuff. And there is echoing taps. Three high school queens were there in very short sleeves and it was cold this morning. I felt bad for them. I know one of them fairly well, so I know I will get an earful tomorrow.

Took a load of wood and metal to the paper mill...that is another story...so the garage is getting closer to being able to actually hold the Honda...then Asher came over while Tru and the family went to his last gymnastics practice...then brots on the barbie at the Connelly's.

Oh yes...the sun came out and it hit 75 today and I actually wore shorts and soaked in some rays.