Birthday at the Beach

What a nice week we've had in our caravan by the ocean.  I just wish you could hear the roar of it right now.. the massive waves pounding on the shore.. boom.. wash.. boom.. I put my favorite photo from Monday at the top here.. it's the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  Wasn't it nice of the weather to put some artistic clouds in the distance with the blue sky above?  :-)

Rewind.. backspace.. to Sunday.  My younger sister Denise drove down to visit us.  We visited for a while in the trailer and then hopped into the car for a drive north to have lunch at Kyllo's restaurant.  This is the view from our table.  It's our new favorite place for lunch.  The "D River" flows by, it's called "The World's Shortest River" as it flows from Devil's Lake across the road from the restaurant.  Isn't this a beautiful view?

All three of us had the filet mignon with mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies.  It was sooOOoo good!

After a perfectly divine lunch we drove down and went into Taft for Denise to check-in to her hotel, then on down to the turnaround and we snapped some shots of the seals napping on the beach.

If you didn't know they were seals they might look like a bunch of rocks.. lol.

See a couple of them looking at you?  :-)

Then I turned off Hwy 101 to drive up the Siletz River to show Denise our favorite "Nurse Log".  She had never seen it in person and was properly impressed and charmed by it!  A nurse log is a fallen tree which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings.  I just *LOVE* this log!  One year there was a Canada goose on her nest on the left end of it.

Dayle snapped this "artsy" shot with the branch across with moss hanging from it.

He also snapped a group of Cormorants on a mossy log.

I exited the car to get closer to the river bank to snap an image that shows how far off the bank the log is.  The tide was out so the log was higher in the air than usual.  I wonder how long this will remain there?  

We then went back to our trailer for some relaxing and visiting.  Denise and I crocheted - she's making the same Corner to Corner shawl that I just finished in another colorway.  I Finished my shawl and began a small lap blanket.  What a nice time we had!  She headed off to her hotel and returned on Monday morning.  More chatting and crocheting and then we headed off to take her to another restaurant we'd found and she'd never been to.  The Wildflower Grill is located in a charming vintage cottage sitting above a pond where ducks paddle around.  Here is the view from our table.

I love how homey this place is, they even have potted plants in the corner.. this unique variety of Christmas Cactus was in full and glorious bloom!  I asked the manager if I could take a small leaf to propagate and he said yes, and even gave me a damp paper napkin to wrap it in!  :-)

This wonderful painting of the cafe was hanging on the wall so I snapped a shot of it.. the manager said his aunt owned the place and this is what it looks like in summer when the flowers are in bloom.

Denise left and headed home after lunch.  Some gorgeous blue sky was emerging from the clouds so we drove on south down 101 to visit the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  I will never ever tire of visiting this place.  I pulled over as we neared the lighthouse to get a shot of it with the Pacific Ocean behind it.

We then drove on down to park right in front of it.  Just sky and artful clouds as a backdrop.  :-)

I zoomed in to show you the Fresnel lens inside.  It's designed to allow the light to be visible over great distances.

I walked over to the edge of the parking area to get a photo of the Common Murre - and there were none there!  So I stopped on the way out and asked the lady at the toll booth and she said they weren't nesting right now so they leave in the morning and come back at night each day.  LOL!  But I did snap some more Cormorants on a big rock with the waves crashing upon it.

I brought my little cutting home and asked Dayle to take a plastic container and get me a bit of dirt from the bank behind our trailer.. and I stuck the little thing down in the dirt.  Do you think this will grow for me?  We'll find out!

I'd put in the last stitch on my C2C shawl before we headed out to lunch.. I wanted to show you so I sweet talked my husband into modeling it for me.  :-D  I'm not sure it needs an edging.. what do you think?

The fun thing about the way the stripes work on this is from the front the stripes are vertical and on the back they are horizontal!  The yarn is Red Heart Boutique "Unforgettable" in the "Polo" colorway.  

Funny story.. I had a pile of yarn ends sitting next to me and I grabbed them up for Dayle to toss into the garbage as he walked by.  So.. later I was looking for my 25th anniversary ring and could not find it.. we looked everywhere, turned over my chair, looked and looked and could not find it.. so we thought about recent events and both realized I could have scooped it up with the yarn ends to throw away.  So my dear husband started looking through the little bin and lo and behold, nestled in yarn ends and coffee grounds.. was my ring.  OH MY!  Worse yet, had I not looked for my ring when I did, the trash would have been tossed into the dumpster on our way out to lunch.  Ai yi yi!

I wanted to show you the lovely gift my daughter Amy sent to me for my birthday - it's tiny flowers suspended in resin.  Isn't it pretty?

And next to my birthday card from my daughter Amy, is a darling little band of sheep all dressed in different little outfits, some holding books, one with a backpack, one with a bag.  Aren't these just adorable?  Kristi gave these to me.  :-)

Yesterday was my birthday proper and each of my 3 kids called and wished me a happy birthday and I also got to talk to all 6 of my grandkids, too!  That just made my day!  Here is a photo from 2013 when our whole family was at the beach together.  In fact it's been 4 years since we've all been together.  With two families now living afar I wonder if we'll ever all be in the same room again?  ::sigh::  But it was a great time and you can see more photos HERE.

This is our last full day at the coast, we'll enjoy it, and then in the morning we'll have coffee and then pack up and head home.  It's been a grand time.  Thanks for all your birthday wishes!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)