Home Sweet Home

Photo Book

2011-10-05T00:38:00.001-07:00

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40th Wedding Anniversary May 23,2011, Wawona in Yosemite

2011-05-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

For our 40th anniversary, we took a hike along the Chilnualna River in Yosemite. It was beautiful. the rapids were roaring and the river was full from the snow melt. We had lunch at the Wawona Hotel and saw lots of Pacific dogwood in bloom.

Photo Book

2011-04-20T21:08:00.001-07:00

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Retirement get together three

2010-07-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Pam, Pete, Maggie.

Last picture but there were many other people who didn't get caught in any of these pictures but you know who you are!

Retirement Get Together two

2010-07-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Maggie and Pam

Chuck and his wife Nanette who was the other retiree and Dan.

Pete, Maggie, Bill, Nanette, Chuck, Heidi

Maggie and Joe

Vince, Katherine, Evangeline

Retirement get together one

2010-07-15T13:13:00.001-07:00

Nikki, Nanette, Connie, Kristin with Allan in the back.

Maggie and Carol

Chris and his wife

Bill, Terri, Irv and his wife

Back: Irv, Carol, Chris, Bill

Front: Kristin, Maggie, Terri

Lunch at the mexican resturant in Virginia Beach

2010-07-14T18:39:00.001-07:00

Lunch at the Mexican restaurant. Terri, Bill, Maggie and Pete not shown.

Below is Kristin and Nikki

Below: Katherine and Connie.

Wait!! Who has the bunny ears?

Lunch was great. Afterwards, a bead shop beckoned so of course, all had to go in and browse.

Retirement

2010-07-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Carol and Maggie out in front after the retirement party. No, that's not a BIG glass but a ballon that floated in the front to let everyone know where the party was being held. Thanks Carol, it was a fun party!

Conga Line Retirement Celebration

2010-07-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone celebrated Maggie's and Nanette's retirement. A conga line was started that ran all over the back yard. Everyone had fun!!

Retirement Limbo

2010-07-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

The retiree ladies held the bar as lots of people tried to go under it.

Spring? 2010

2010-03-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

It was getting pretty cold and windy out there today. Covered the lilacs late in the day. About 20 minutes later, yep, had icy hail all over the place. Weather Underground is saying down to 32 tonight and snow down to 1000 feet. Sorry, no pictures it was just hail and farewell.
Guess the old farmers who never planted before Easter had a really good idea for planting at a time when your plants would flourish.

Spring in the NorthWest

2010-02-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

Spring has sprung in the Northwest. Plants have been budding and flowering for the last few weeks. We've been waiting for the yearly snow, freezing, etc. According to the Rose Society we have been hit late in the year other years and it has caused some really bad rose plant trauma. Our roses are all leafing and growing great guns. Talked with a man at church who has lived up here all his life and he said some of the last few wet/snowy winters are really on a 8-10 year cycle and this is more the normal type of year. Haven't had as much rain either this year (2010) although the end of '09 had its fair share along with a reasonably bad couple of days of snow. First picture of the plum tree just doesn't do the flowering justice so did a couple of close-ups. Enjoy!

Early Bird Special

2009-09-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

So we were walking back from the Navy Pier water taxi in Chicago and found this early bird special.

Gleneden Beach, OR - mid September

2009-09-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

We visited Z's & A's Aunt D at her house at Gleneden Beach. It is a beautiful place and while there we witnessed this amazing 'foam' phenomenon. The waves rolled in as foam and covered the beach with foam piling on foam. It was airy and of little substance, but left a residue on your skin and clothes that was green and yuck. It whipped as it swirled making you think of merigue and rolled in thick flows looking like white lava. It was weird and strange and fascinating all at the same time. Here are some videos we took to try and capture the scene from our time at Gleneden. Enjoy the giant cappucino!

Our Serenity Spot

2009-07-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

Our street is full of houses whose neighbors
are very close. For privacy, we populate our
upper deck with lots of plants. It makes a
pretty and peaceful place for those times
when you need a break.

A few fairies hang out on on the bench in the corner
by the bird feeder. It lends that air of pretend.
It is easy to pretend you are in a garden.

It is a great place to go for deep breathing,
meditation, Bible reading, etc. There is a bird feeder
in the corner and it is used often by a variety of birds.

One of 3 windchimes that hang here.
This one is brass and was a gift from India.

Lots of petunias, pansies and more.

Hanging pots of miniature roses at the end.

One of our benches with a table for the coffee,

iced tea or ???? depending on the stress level!

Fourth of July Picnic with friends

2009-07-09T17:36:00.001-07:00

Good food, good friends and family, good
fellowship and new little ones. A great way to
celebrate.

Baby Karis

Old friends.

Cupcakes on a day so warm the frosting melts!

But they were yummy.

Cupcake creators!

Port Townsend, WA

2009-07-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

Our visit to Port Townsend on July 3. For
more details of the trip, visit
http://dmikalatos.blogspot.com/
Nothing better than a picnic.

We all know how much M likes lighthouses.

A beautiful view while eating ice cream in downtown.

Flower Beds at our House

2009-06-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

My idea was to have clematis growing in with the roses. In some cases that idea has worked and in other cases, the blooming times differ. So much for grand plans!

In the backyard:

Abundance growing with Royal Sunset

Pink Fastasy and Let Freedom Ring with one

Double Delight blossom on the edge

Jackmani and Tineke

Double Delight (We Salute You behind)

Backyard, along side of house

Garden Party

Marmalade Skies

Cherries 'n Cream

Front yard, beside front porch

Sheila's Perfume

Scentimental

Cherry Parfait

Family Vacation in Kauai

2009-06-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

Following in the pattern of Thailand in Jan. 2008, the same gang vacationed together on Kauai this May. We had a great time and enjoyed gorgeous weather and incredible views from our condo. We saw pods of porpoise from the condo and could view down the coast to the Spouting Horn. Here are some pictures that capture a little of our trip.

Our anniversary celebration.

Mai tais and hula - honeymoon revisited!
With a few added guests!

Botanical Garden Plumera, Hibiscus and more

Visit to the Coffee Plantation

Yum, Coffee Beans!

Poipu Beach, boogey boarding and playing in the surf

Family Vacation in Hawaii

2009-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

The porpoise from our balcony.

More views from our lanai - 2nd story

Spouting Horn

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T20:33:00.000-08:00

Long time, no typing.
For Thanksgiving we went to Sunriver, OR and shared a house with Matt, Krista, Zoey, Allie and Terry, Janet and Shasta. Have had a lot of fun and great turkey! Internet here is somewhat erratic so don't seem to be able to upload any picture. Went to the snow one day. Z and A had saucer sleds that they rode down this sorta steep downhill; about a 30 foot run. They both got air at the bottom of the run just as they slid onto the road. (NOTE: the road was closed to vehicles but not walkers or cross county type skiers.) Shasta took the hard job of giving them each a push down the hill after they got set at the top of the hill.
We did miss Dawn, Todd and Lynn, Dave.
Will do pictures when we get back to Vancouver

Slugs and Procrastinators

2008-07-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, I was procrastinating and sitting at the table drinking tea. I wasn't wearing my glasses so looking out the window i saw what I thought was bird doo on the house next door. They have had a problem with starlings nesting in the exhaust fan tubing and I thought this was just some left overs from them. A couple of minutes later, I was surprised to see it had moved down the wall. Got the camera because it was closer then my glasses and took a couple of pictures to finally be able to figure out what I was looking at. The real question is why was a slug sliming DOWN the wall? No flowers or green leaves up the way it had come from. Why was it up there in the first place? Just a sign that I was dragging my feet?
I still managed to put off what I was not wanting to deal with so this diversion only forced me to acknowledge that I was dragging my feet. Picture was taken 6/19 and is just now getting posted. Perhaps I'll be better at posting. Then again, proofs in the posting I guess so we'll see.

Mother's Day Dinner

2008-05-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great Mother's Day. Terry did the ribs and salomon and Janet did the asperagus and Maggie did the salad. Food was great! OK, so I'm not looking at the camera. I thought the other side of the table was being done, not both sides so you're stuck with a profile.

Maggie's not in the picture as she is the camera person.

Banana Cream Pie by Allie

2008-05-13T15:25:00.001-07:00

This picture is much clearer then the one of her holding the pie. The pie and cake were very good.

Mother's Day Aprons

2008-05-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

Maggie made the aprons, Janet made the cake. Could it be possible that Matt is looking for a piece of cake?

Mother's Day Tulips

2008-05-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

From the front yard

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens - April 2008

2008-05-01T15:51:00.001-07:00

For Maggie's birthday, we visited these gardens. Flowers, ducks, geese, squirrels and even a few fairies made it more beautiful.

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens - Portland, OR

2008-05-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens in Portland, OR

2008-05-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Northwest is full of incredible beauty all the time, but in the spring....

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens

2008-05-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is the end of our tour of the gardens. We have more pictures but why don't you go and visit the gardens? Then you can take your own!

Go to their web site at: http://www.rhodies.org/xtal/pdx-cyst.htm

The Restaurant at Fort Vancouver, WA

2008-04-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

This is a really nice restaurant, foods good, service is good also. Once a month they have a 'Wine tasting dinner". A local WA winery will come in and work with the chef to come up with complementary food and wine selections. The menu is generally around five courses. We've gone a couple of times when it fits into our schedule.
Seating is mixed with people you may not have met before unless you come as a group. This last time, we were seated with two couples who had come together and had been friends for many years. Really nice couples. One of those husbands did a lot of traveling for business. We'll call him Al (Albert A. Nonymous). Seems that they had gone to Washington D.C. to attend a wedding and were staying at the Embassy Suites. Needless to say, they were tired when they flew into town and the driver (Al) and navigator were not on the same page of the map while driving. He spotted the Embassy sign and went that way. She said "I don't think this is right" but as we all know, the driver is always right.
He pulled into the parking lot, saw a guy standing by the door and told him to get the bags out of the trunk. She said she wasn't going in. Grumble, grumble, stomp off to the front desk.
He got to the front desk and told her he had a reservation for the night. She of course needed his name. Weeelllll after a few minutes, the receptionist got through to him that this is the Nigerian Embassy, not Embassy Suites.
Al, being very embarrassed at this point, turns to the man who had brought in his bags and apologizies. Al then reaches for his bags to go back out to the car but the man says "No, I'll take them out for you. This is going to be priceless".

Lynn came for a visit

2008-04-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

Lynn came for a visit last week from sunny CA. Normally, you'd expect the sunshine to follow her around but WA weather being as unpredictable as always fixed that! Now when did that ground hog say winter was going to be over? It was sunny in the afternoon. Check the picture. Video clip ran for hours so deleted it.

When we moved up here, it seemed like it rained for the first couple of months every single day. Was talking with one of the neighbors and asked him when would the rain stop. He said generally it stops right after the 4th of July. Not too bad right? So the next question was when does it start again? The answer was the second week of August! Wow! The good news is that it is always very green and pretty up here so you adapt! It's worth the rain.

Dawn/Todd Sword Ceremony

2008-02-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

Maggie figured out a way to animate the weddings' sword ceremony which is presented here for your viewing pleasure.

Click on the picture to run the animation. It will run repeatedly until you hit the browser back key.

Have a banana?

2008-02-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Banana trees like this grew all over. This one is beside the road to the small village that was close to where we stayed.

Pond with lily pads

2008-02-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

The little house was where the staff stayed during the day and had the computer that gave us wireless access to the internet.

The pond was at the back of our villa and covered in lily pads and flowers. It was full of fish who swam under the back windows waiting for leftovers.

Start of the day

2008-02-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

Every day started around 6:30AM with a swim with the grand daughters. Maggie and Zoey having fun! Some days you could even get your coffee in the pool. Terry (Krista's Dad) made the first pot almost every day. Thanks Terry!!

Long boats

2008-02-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

Length = 30 ft, has a water cooled V8 on a pole. Propeller was at the end of a 15 ft shaft. So, long shaft is long tailed. The boat driver stands just in front of the engine with his legs on either side of the shaft that runs from in front of the engine all the way back to the propeller. He rests on the shaft and steers the boat by leaning one way or the other. For sharper turns he either moved further left or right or got off the shaft and pulled/pushed the shaft. The boats had three seats across and held about 9 people but could be crowded to holding more. We took these to the various islands.

Where we stayed

2008-02-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

The villa faced the Thalane Bay in the front with the back of the house located over the pond.

No Clue

2008-02-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

This guy was holding the traffic lights in Karbi. There was one on each of the corners. No idea about why or who or what in the culture this might be related to if it's even cultural. A closer look will let you see he looks rather 'cromagnum'. Any thoughts?

Mangrove tree in a lagoon

2008-02-12T20:09:00.001-08:00

Our boat took us into a lagoon through the single entrance. Spotted this mangroove tree. Plants are so very adaptable. If you look closely, you can see where a few new trees have poked out of the water and have a few leaves showing.

Rock Fish

2008-02-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

Exotic rock fish climbing the walls. Apparently Thailand is a rock climbers paradise. Lots of people come to swim out to the rocks and then free climb.

Disappearing into the jungle

2008-02-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

Same lizard moving into the jungle. After it was another 5 feet or so into the underbrush, we moved up to see if it was visible but it had totally disappeared. We could still hear it moving around. It actually sounded like a cat moving around in there. Spooky to think that something that large could make such a small amount of noise.

Monitor lizard in Thailand

2008-02-12T19:35:00.001-08:00

This monitor lizard was approx 5-6 feet long. It was on the main tourist path into the jungle and was a real surprise. When it finally moved it didn't seem to move very fast but I have a feeling if it was hunting, it would be a lot faster. Check out the claws on this puppy.