A little of this.. and a little of that..

We've had some nice days this week.  Low stress, this and that.  I'll begin with today - my sister Denise and I volunteered at Multnomah Falls.  Although all our visitors are nice, we usually have a special encounter that is lovely and memorable.  Today there was more than one.  A Hispanic family came in and their son saw my ripple blanket I was working on and he began telling me about his grandmother who could make anything, knit, crochet and tatting.  All four of them obviously adored their grandma/mother/mil -- I could tell she had passed on -- it touched me deeply how much the two young men loved the things she made for them.  I can only hope that my grandchildren will remember me so fondly. :-)

Below is a photo of Multnomah Falls Lodge all lit up for the holidays - it was very chilly and wintery.

Many people bring their dogs to the falls.. when I was out doing my "photo-journalism" thing, I saw these lovely dogs.. they are "Golden Doodles".. a cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle.  Handsome boys, they were!

The falls.. you know I had to do it. :-) 

On my walk up to the get photo of the falls, I noticed that there was frost on the leaves by the side of the path... at this time of year the sun is so low in the sky that it never shines on the walk up to the falls.  Brrrr.

My second highlight of the day was a kind young man said to me.. are you Teresa Kasner?  I said, yes.... and he said.. I'm Marcus, I went to school with your sons.  Of course I remembered him, he was such a nice boy!!  He introduced me to his wife and 4 adorable children.  He is an accountant for the Crocs company and lives in Denver CO.  They had driven by our farm on the way there and told me how nice it looked.  How sweet that was!

On Tuesday I met my dear friend Marita for lunch - we met years ago when she was the graphic designer for the Portland Yacht Club yearly roster and I was working on the roster committee.  We hit it off and have met for lunch a few times a year ever since.  We exchanged gifts.. do you recognize the little iridescent plate that I got at the Wild Arts Festival?  She loved it!

The little bag she gave me was sooo heavy.. I opened the tissue and there was a carved stone soap dish.. 

And a huge fragrant bar of soap.. it smells divine!  Thank you, Marita!

When I arrived home there was a padded envelope.. and I received my 4th ornament in the We Love Lucy II group ornament swap.. this was from Miriam in LA.  There was also a magnet strip for using when working on a pattern.  Neat!  Thanks!

I have a friend named Eric who is a talented organist and was asked to play in the Mormon Tabernacle a few months ago and was asked to play again in the college there on this amazing organ.. with 300 singers.  Do you see him there at the organ?  I just wished I could have been there to hear it.  

Here is a shot of our living room and the tree.  We are all set and awaiting Christmas day when our youngest child, Travis, will bring his family here for dinner and presents by the fire.  We have 2 roasts to cook with carrots and onions and will make Pioneer Woman's mashed potato bake and another corn casserole.

We've had a few anxious days as our youngest grandchild, Caleb, Travis' baby has pneumonia and his temperature reached 104.6 yesterday so Travis rushed him to the Emergency Room - he was listless and had shallow breathing.  Kristi had taken him to the doctor that day and unfortunately the antibiotic they prescribed reacted badly.  They have him on new meds and he rebounded, but is having a bad day today.  We'd appreciate it if you'd keep them in your thoughts and/or prayers.  


I hope you are all having a lovely and calm week and have a.... 

❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
*M*E*R*R*Y* *C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S*!*
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ 
((hugs)), Teresa :-)