Last Days at the Beach and then Home

Hello!  We had three more days at the beach after my last post.  We were gifted with gorgeous weather each day!  We had one rainy night, but it cleared up the next day.  I actually think rain should happen at night and sun during the day, wouldn't that be nice?  I am fascinated by ocean waves that are backlit by the sun.. I try over and over to capture that beautiful image.. 

Each wave has their own personality.

Oh Pacific Ocean.. your blue purity makes me have hope for the future.

Dayle took Buddy on a walk down to the beach.. he came back with gifts from the sea for me.  A big agate the size of a small walnut.. another nice sized one and several tiny ones.

The second biggest one.  Such pretty honey color.

I love these little teardrop trailers.  Kind of the opposite of our big roomy caravan.  But you can pull these with little cars!  I talked to the man who had this, it was their maiden "voyage" with his new little trailer.  He said there is a full bathroom, a shower, a kitchen and a king-size bed in this!  I went to the T@B Teardrop Trailer website and was amazed at what was inside.  I wish both my sisters would get one as they'd love it.

More ocean images.. :-)

A shot from our door of our trailer.. you can see the site we like is up the hillside a bit.  You can see the trailers on the bottom level.. we used to park our trailer there but all you could see out both sides of our big picture windows was the trailers on either side.  Now we park sideways on the hillside and our view is the ocean, the sky and the far horizon!

I'm still amazed at my Lumix camera's zoom capabilities for a pocket sized camera.  I spied this fishing boat WAY out near the horizon so I zoomed in and snapped a photo not sure what I would get.  But you can see the fishermen on the back, the skipper at the helm and the name of the boat.. Eclipse.  I was happy for these guys that they had sunny days all week.. can you imagine doing this job during the winter with storms, rain and big waves?

On our last full day at the beach on Wednesday we decided to have lunch at Kyllo's which sits directly next to the "D River - Worlds Shortest River".  :-)  See the river out the window?  The river flows from Devil's Lake into the Pacific Ocean.  The lunch was delicious and I want to go back next time we're there.

After lunch we drove to the beach at Taft, a favorite of ours, a great beach for kids as it's on Siletz Bay so it's protected but you can see the ocean also.  There is a spit across the mouth of the bay and it's a safe place for seals to relax in the sun.  

When I downloaded this photo I had to laugh.. it looks like these guys are wondering why in the world I'm taking photos of them.. :-) -- hey guys.. it's the SEALS I'm interested in.. not you!

As we drove out of Taft I said.. stop!  And I zoomed in and got a snap of this wild rose.  Isn't the color of this amazing?

And of course we had to pull into this tiny little park around the corner to get my photos of these little islands in the Siletz River.. I just find them so photogenic.. :-)  Can you imagine owning that house back there in the left hand corner?

These must have names... let me check.. brb... Google failed me.  I think I will name them.. the "Three Sisters" after me and my two sisters.  :-)

Then my extremely patient husband turned and drove up the Siletz River to find my "Nurse Log".  Did you know that is what they are called?  When I put the photo of last year my blog friend Kathy told me they had a name.  What a perfect name!  This big log got stuck here and over time new trees have grown in the rotting wood.  How did the seeds get there?  Birds?  Last time I caught a Canada Goose nesting on the left end!

Then on further to get a photo of the house that was built for the movie "Sometimes a Great Notion" from the novel by Ken Kesey, starring Paul Newman, Henry Fonda and Lee Remick.  A side story is this was built for the movie and then was going to be burned.. the USFS refused to give them the burning permit as the forest was dry.  So instead, they sold it to someone who finished up the building of the empty shell and made it into a wonderful home!  I want it!

Then back "home" to our cozy trailer.. I did some coloring in the beautiful book Gracie gave me with the colored pencils she gave me.  That was fun!

All good things come to an end.. and we stowed everything and ran in the slides, I helped hook up the trailer by guiding Dayle and the truck's hitch to the trailer hitch and then lowered it onto the ball.  Then we pulled out and headed home.  Buddy helped Dayle drive.  :-)

We traversed through the Coast Mountain Range going through Van Duzer Corridor.  It's deep woods here which is such a change from being on the beach for a week.

When we got home Kristi had a big birthday surprise for me!  She got a new tablecloth from Pioneer Women's new line of linens, and she'd made a centerpiece with a glass bowl of mine and a collection of small Japanese glass fishing floats they used with their nets on the ocean.  She also got the prettiest flowering plant to put in it.  Isn't it gorgeous!!  And that's not all...

This flower is called "Orange Star".. aren't they gorgeous?

The glass fishing floats were made using recycled glass from beer bottles, coke bottles, and who knows where they got the yellow glass from.  Most are shades of aqua blue green.

Her magic didn't stop at the dining table.. she completely scoured our master bath (yes, it's tiny) and got new cotton rugs, a bath mat and towels in a delightful shade of aqua.  I pondered on showing you the bathroom.. not what I usually would do.. but thought it was neat that she got new towels and rugs for us.  Our sink is hand-thrown pottery in blue and beige glaze.  I have one of my hand-painted clocks in there.

AND.. she dusted our master bedroom and all the things on top of our armoires (we each have one) and oiled all the wood furniture in there!  Amazing, huh?  Not only that, but she got a new coverlet and pillows for the bed.  I adore the colorful bed now!

See my dollhouse in the bay window area?  Those French doors open up to our little forest.  Makes a very peaceful view from our bedroom.

My Kromski Polonaise spinning wheel is for sale if anyone is interested.  I'm not giving up spinning but going back to my old cherry wheel.  

Thank you Kristi for my birthday surprises and all your hard work!  You are a one-of-a-kind daughter-in-law!  

Our son Shawn has arranged for a moving truck to load his house up on Tuesday and he and the two boys, 3 dogs and one cat are heading out for California on Wednesday.  ::sigh::  We're going over to visit him on Sunday and taking dinner.  One last time.  

((hugs)), Teresa :-)