Vacation is over...for a while!!

Hi to all,

We, Dad and I have sorta settle back into the Salem house; it's really very easy to settle into the house in LaPine. We had a wonderful time, but most people would think that we're pretty boring. No fishing, hiking, playing in the lake...pretty much "home bodies" but that's how we like it. We did relax, fell asleep while reading, went on a couple of walks, and mom started knitting on Gabriel's blanket.

We did some work around the place; Dad painted trim on the house and I worked on a stone pathway from the driveway to the front steps. Dad also spent quite a bit of time trimming limbs on trees to raise their canopy...meaning the bottom limbs are about 13 to 20 ft from the ground. It really opens up the ground to sunlight without having to cut down trees. It's also a fire prevention measure required by the county.

The photos below show Dad's pic of a dove on our early morning walk to the river. Also the tree pic is from the front porch through the fog. The photo isn't nearly as spectacular as the real thing. I took it directly into the sunrise which you couldn't see because the fog was so thick. But it (the fog) quickly burned off and our walk home was MUCH warmer.

There is another new house going in across the road to the west of us, and we met some new (future) neighbors who just bought an empty lot to the back of us. I also made a blackberry pie and had a couple neighbors over for pie ala mode...yummmm! Everyone who comes on/near the place tells us over and over that it looks like a park, and that we need picnic tables w/benches set out in a few places. We are glad that the neighbors approve, but we are even happier about being able to share it with family and close friends.

We're now putting plans together for a small front porch, and trying to decide when the woodstove should be installed. It's highly recommended that we have two sources of heat, espcially since the main source is an electric furnace. The electricity goes out from time to time during the bad weather.

Well, I'm heading out for my walk...Stacey, you have inspired me!

Love to all,

Mom