Saturday, May 26, 2007

Is it June 1st yet?

I am glad it isn't but wish it were. . . you see, I am in the process of moving and also carrying on life as usual at the same time. I worked very hard today but didn't get accomplished as much as I wanted to. So glad that I have tomorrow and Monday to get more packed up before my helpers come Tuesday early evening. Will take some of my things to the new house and store in the garage. IF the tenant has moved out and they were able to clean the carpet in room, I might be able to put my things in early.

I have so much more packing to do. I haven't begun to do anything in the kitchen yet. Both bedrooms are finished. The hall closet and one other closet is finished. I thought the bathroom was looking good a month ago but will have to start all over again in there. Tomorrow and Monday I will work my head off in the living room and kitchen and little nook where the washer and dryer are. It has been a long haul since I have all my school things here at this place too. I gave lots of my teaching stuff away to granddaughter and another teacher who teaches Kindergarten. I haven't completely given away teaching materials for Kindergarten or preschool tho. Still have all my puppets and puppet theater I built the first year I taught my own classroom. One day, my younger granddaughter will get that since she wants to teach pre-school someday--she has 4 more years til she is in college.

I found an alternate route to get to a bus stop and it is just over a mile from my place instead of over two. That will be good if I decide to keep subbing. I subbed again two more times. First in Kindergarten -- two sessions of half day -- and then in Special Ed (3rd, 4th and 5th grades). On the way to this last school, I saw some plants that were beautiful and wondered if they were weeds or wild flowers. . . from the responses I got, I haven't decided what they are. Maybe someday. . . Got any suggestions?

Well, slowpoke over at Tnet found my answer! It is a Knapweed. It is so nice when people I never even met will keep trying to find an answer for me. Ü



Wednesday, May 23, 2007

When it rains, it pours. . .

I finally put a deposit on a shared house for June 1st and today my former landlady calls me and says one of her roomers is moving out and she will have a place for me if I still need it just after the first of the month. The lady moving out has been there two years. Why could that not have happened yesterday morning before I paid to move to another place that is nice but a couple miles from a bus stop?

Today I subbed in a 5th grade class. Of all the kids only 6 were responsible. The principal knew it and she spent a good portion of the morning in my classroom. When she wasn't there, the counselor was sent in to help keep order. She told me it wasn't because of me -- they are just an unruly bunch and no guest teacher deserves their kind of treatment. lol In the afternoon we had two birthdays to celebrate

We also had computer lab and their old teacher came to the classroom to bawl them out first. . . sigh She was there being interviewed to be a principal. . . she was an acting VP at another school and has a long term sub (who I was subbing for today) in her classroom. She made them all sit on the floor and bawled them out for treating me badly. I didn't think it was horrible. Yes, school is almost out and they are hormonal and such but gosh. Anyway, principal came to computer lab and asked if I would be ok. I said sure. It worked out ok because I took no guff from ay of them. At the end of the day, I wrote down the 6 names of students who were very cooperative all day to give to principal. She suggested I do that when I mentioned some had done a very nice job for me. I hope she gives them special recognition. I could have subbed there two more days (they called for another sub) but I already have a request for tomorrow and Monday in Kindergarten!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND now a job in special ed for Friday. . . when am I gonna have a chance to finish moving?

I guess subbing is better than being penniless again. One more month of it. I also have to move to my new place and out of this one by end of month. Busy, busy time for me.

The school was a 20 minute walk in my neighborhood. I saw many Iris along the way. Guess what I did on the way home?









Tuesday, May 22, 2007

I found a place to move to. . .

I met my three roommates today. They all seem nice. I can move my stuff to the locked garage before the first of the month and move it in as I need to -- they want to clean the carpet after the present tenant moves out and before I move in and that is good. Now I can concentrate on finishing packing up and moving from my duplex. That is, if I am not subbing every day!!!!!!!!

I am teaching a 4/5 split tomorrow and Thursday I will be in Kindergarten--two sessions. Monday, I will be back in the same Kindergarten again. The Kindergarten jobs were a request. Nice to be wanted. I miss teaching Kindergarten soooo much.

I am looking forward to moving to my new place but it is not near a bus line and I will have to be doing a lot of walking. Good thing I like to walk. It is probably 2 miles from a bus stop. I am on the waiting list for a small apartment but who knows when that will happen so this will have to do for now. The owner of the house seems very nice.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Sunday School Teacher's Appreciation Luncheon


Today, Sunday School teachers from the 50 years our church has been around were honored. After church services, we were guests at a luncheon. Members brought salads and desserts and the church committee bought sandwiches from Subway as the main course. Of course, everything was delicious as all potlucks at church are!

Stories were shared about Sunday School memories. Trip down memory lane for some who have been here since the church was built. My best memory was in the Sunday School Superintendant, Emil Meyer, that was there during my first 8 years of teaching 3rd and 4th graders. You never saw such a supportive person! He was there for the teachers, he was there for the kids. He gave us what we needed to share the love of Jesus with those we were teaching and he was there to lift us up when we needed it. He sought out extra things to support our teaching and treated us volunteers like real professionals. We knew he loved us teachers through the support he offered in our meetings and he loved the children we taught like they were his own.

To end the celebration, each current teacher was given a gift box with a pen, note pad, bookmark and "Scripture Mints." It is nice to be recognized for our efforts. The last couple years I have gone to helping with Summer Sunday School. We give the regular classroom teachers a break and take a group of all ages preschool through 6th grade. There are three of us. I have been a part of that team for the past 5 years. Liz does the lessons and Cathy and I offer support in helping kids find Bible passages and doing crafts. I also sub when Liz needs a day off from teaching the lesson.


The photos in this post are the corsage that I was given today and the three roses cut off and places in a mini vase at home. Tonight the roses are beginning to open up so I took more photos to share.



Saturday, May 19, 2007

My granddaughter's wedding shower is today. . .

Amanda graduated from college this month and already has her first "call" to teach in a Lutheran school. She will be teaching in Roseburg, Oregon. This afternoon is her shower.



She had told me that her new apartment, which they already have, has a swimming pool. So instead of hunting down things on her wish list, I bought two huge towels for them to use at the pool!

I didn't know how I was going to wrap them. I almost never buy a gift bag but this one was calling my name as I walked down the gift wrap aisle. The pastel quilt design and colored tissue papers I used works really well with the colors in the card I made so I attached it to the outside with two teeny pink clothespins without an envelope. I hope she likes it. . .

Less than a month until her wedding!


My grandaughter, Amanda was given a shower today and one of the games we did was to divide up and design a wedding gown with a bag of things given to us. I was on team number 2. In our bag, there were 4 pieces of white tissue, 2 white bows, bunch of rolls of toilet paper two white flower bows and a pink flower garland. This is what my team came up with:

Slim bodiced dress, almost sleeveless --slight cap sleeve-- but with long white gloves on arms, short veil with bow on top crown. Pink garland crossed over chest and connected in back highlighted gown. Bouquet of flowers (other white bow) with white streams of TP.

Long train in back made with strips of TP of course! Ü All held together with scotch tape! I gave the suggestions for the flower on veil, the pink garland over bodice and the TP train.

They had both girls go to a different room when we were finished and come in and model one at a time after Amanda came back downstairs. She had no idea who did what.

Amanda chose our "model" for the best wedding attire. What do you think about it?



Thursday, May 17, 2007

Found something in common with other BLOGS



I saw this little icon on a site I clicked on from J's Thoughts and Musings and followed it to a neat group I hope to participate with in the near future after I get moved.. They have weekly challenges to post a photo with certain themes. I added a blog roll to this site of participants on the right column near the bottom of this web page. I sure have my work cut out for me if I intend to visit them all!

Photo Hunters Website

Well, off to get started on this journey! Here's one of my favorite Iris photos:



THE LIST FOR 2007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Busy day . . . time for relaxing and more PHOTOS!

I spent a good part of the day hauling boxes to storage "next door." It is not a simple task even tho it is so close. I don't drive and am doing it all by hand on a small cart I own. At least it wasn't as hot as yesterday when I did the same thing. I gave a lot of things from my teaching days to granddaughter who is now a teacher and a few things to a K teacher in Longview but I still have a lot of teaching things to decide what I want to do with them.. Some I still have to sort and toss or give away. . . I have 11 file cabinets. Got two of them hauled over so far. 2 weeks to go. Hope I can do it.

Now that I am finished for the day, here are some of the other flowers from my walk down Evergreen Blvd. and the surrounding area on way to Columbia River the other day:







Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I've been tagged. . .

A B C All About Me!


Jenny at J's Thoughts and Musings has tagged me. This is the first time I have ever been tagged. . . I hope I can fill it out.


A- Attached or Single? Just me and my shadow. . .

B- Best Friend- Hard to say. . . probably best internet friend is Stacie in CT; best stampin' friend is Donna in eastern WA; best photography friend is Kay in Colorado; best church friend is Marge in California; best email friend is Ina in South Carolina. Best friend in heaven, my twin, Margie. And don't forget "What a Friend We have In Jesus" is my favorite church song.

C- Cake or Pie- It depends. . . if the cake is German Chocolate or pie is Lemon Meringue, its a tie!

D- Drink of choice- I love Pepsi but I have given it up and now drink Crystal Light. I wouldn't mind a good glass of wine or a wine cooler either. Come to think of it, I enjoy a good strawberry daiquiri also. . . hold the whipped cream, please!

E- Essential Items- Computer, digital camera with recharable batteries, a good book. . . some snow in winter would be good too!

F- Favorite color- since I was small it's been a couple together: blue and brown. As a teacher, I graded with a green pen for growth.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms- Bears -- never had a worm, don't want one either! I really only like the white ones. . .

H- Hometown- Now that depends on if that means where I was born or where I live now. . . born in Pocatello, Idaho but now live in Vancovuer, Washington.

I- Indulgence- Takng photos with digital camera while on a long walk

J- January or February?- January, my birthday month!

K- Kids- 3 : Todd Andrew, Shaun Michael and Heidi Ann

L- Life is incomplete without- books

M- Marriage Date- July 29, 1967--same date as Princess Diana and as you know she didn't keep the bum either

N-Number of Siblings- Three brothers, three sisters (one my twin)

O- Oranges or Apples?- both

P- Phobias/Fears- Not aware of any

Q- Favorite Quote- "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Einstein

R- Reason to Smile- when it's time to hike and take digital photos

S- Seasons - WINTER!!!!!! I love snow. I love to shovel sidewalks/drives, play in it and take photos of it. (I don't drive.)

T- Tags- Tagging Chloe Knits to play along! ( please leave a comment if you decide to write an ABC post)

U- Unknown fact about me- Well, if I tell, it won't be unknown any more will it?

V- Vegetarian or oppressor of animals? Much as I love my sliced tomatoes and other veggies, I would rather have a rack of ribs any day. . . but I gotta have my Idaho potato with it.

W- Worse Habit- correct other people's grammar. . . should that be "worst" habit?

X-X-rays or ultrasounds- neither

Y- Your Favorite Food- fried zucchini

Z- Zodiac- none, I don't believe in any of them

More -- about town -- in May. . .

The other day I forgot to take spare batteries for my digital camera when I was walking down Evergreen Boulevard where there are flowers galore so I decided to finish up yesterday after going to the park. I will post a few from both days. If it's spring and you want to see flowers, just go to this street for a walk. It won't disappoint you!

These are some of the Iris beauties I found. . .
















More of my flower walk another day. . .

Monday, May 14, 2007

Change of plans

I was going to put up the other flowers that I took photos of at the Lilac farm. . . instead I want to tell you about my day. I will do the other flowers tomorrow.

Found out I m third in line for an apartment with the housing authority today. That means almost nothing. Someone has to either die or move before two people ahead of me can get an apartment there and then me. I am not counting on that happening in the next two weeks.

Since there is nothing that I can do about it and the weather was going to be really nice -- got up to 81 today -- I came prepared with my digital camera. First stop, the park downtown. . . hoping to find squirrels and get some photos of them, I brought old bread to share. None appeared and I finally gave up and left. Before I left the park, I made a round of the flower beds and found a few roses and other plants to pacify me.









Tomorrow, I will write about the flowers I found on my walk around town today. There were lots of Iris, Rhododendrons and Roses besides a few others. I took over a hundred photos but will just share a few here.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

My lilac farm trip. . .

Saturday morning a group of ladies from my church went to the Hulda Klager Lilac gardens in Woodland, Washington. I had been there just once before Saturday. In anticipation of some more great lilac photos, I could hardly wait to get there. Now in the next sentence, you would not expect me to exclaim, "What a big disappointment!" . . . but it was. The late frost we had this spring ruined the budding progress of many of the bushes. I found it hard to believe they still charged the two dollar entance fee. . .




There were a few lilacs untouched by the frost and I did get some photos.













Although the photos are a variety of lilacs, they were not in abundance like in previous visits. If not for the other flowers, including this Wisteria Tree hanging over the gazebo, I would have been truly disappointed in my photo excursion Saturday. I will add more photos tomorrow of other flowers spotted during our visit to the lilac gardens.

;

Thursday, May 10, 2007

In Honor of Mother's Day on Sunday. . .



I wrote this essay a few years ago and had it on a website of my essays. . . My Mom died when she was 80 and I miss her a lot. I am so glad she was my Mom and I couldn't imagine growing up with any other. OK, here's a bit of her wisdom:



Buried Treasures In the Garden


I think I was already an adult when I finally realizd the whole truth about the money we kids found in our garden every summer . . .

Let me back up . . . I lived in the city of Pocatello (in southeastern Idaho) while growing up. My parents owned three lots and two of them were garden areas. We kids thought of ourselves as a "poor" family. There were 7 kids in our family and we all had to help out with the garden work each summer. Mom and us kids spent many long hours out there and then just as long a time, doing the canning but in the long run, we got to eat all that fresh produce and home canned garden goodies so I guess it was worth it even though we didn't appreciate the fact at the time. I remember I had to wash all the bottles because I had small hands . . .

I think we all hated for summer to come since we knew our friends would be off playing with other friends or doing fun things like going swimming at the YMCA or just hanging around -- something kids do best. We knew that we would be stuck helping out in the garden AGAIN!

Well, Mom knew we would rather be somewhere else and she tried her best to make up for it. One way she did this was to treat us all to ice cream cones from the corner A & W Root Beer stand restaurant. In those days, a cone was a nickel for a small soft serve and a dime for a large one. She would give a couple of us a silver dollar and have us bring back 4-6 ice cream cones - depending on how many were working that day. (Sometimes one of us would be babysitting for 25 cents an hour for a family we knew in the neighborhood.) It was always a double treat for the "runners" for the ice cream cones -- we got out of planting/weeding/watering for 10-15 minutes and got to actually LEAVE THE PROPERTY! This was a BIG time treat for us who were "almost slave labor!"

When we returned, Mom would give everyone a cone and she would place the change from the dollar in her shirt pocket and keep working. She never had a cone with us while gardening. We sat down and licked very slowly, trying to make the time go by faster but on those long summer days, that sun just never wanted to go to bed!

Every summer , it was the same thing . . . we worked in the garden and Mom treated us to an ice cream cone. But, one summer, something changed our whole attitude about working in the garden. We could hardly wait 'til the manure was spread and the garden was tilled.

You see, we found buried treasure and we were sure there was more "where that came from." No one really said it outloud . . . at first it was just a coin or two but when we found money EVERY summer, we knew we were really the lucky ones . . . and it was always in a different place that we found coins. Our whole garden must have been a robbers's hideaway!

We didn't get an allowance in those days -- "found money" was a godsend to us. It could buy lots of penny candy . . . I especially liked those cinnamon bears that were 2 for a penny and that chocolate licorice . . . so I was an eager beaver to beat my twin sister to finding the coins in the dirt . . . no one worked harder than me!

I will never understand how my Mom could keep such a straight face each time we found money in the garden BUT now that I am a Mom myself, I understand her wise ways. She knew exactly where that money came from the first time she treated us to an ice cream cone and put the change in her pocket. . . you see, it fell out of her pocket and got buried 'til the next summer when we were making rows again.

She could have told us and spoiled our fun of looking for "buried treasure" while doing our work in the garden but she was smart -- she knew about incentives and what a small price to pay for our eagerness in helping maintain the family food supply.

Today, some might think my Mom was too hard on us but they would be wrong. She was planting more than garden seeds. She planted love, strenghth to pursue a goal and unity. No, the treasure was not in the coins, ice cream treat or even the wonderful produce we grew but in the love of a wise woman called my MOM.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

search . . . flag. . . next. . .

I decided to explore from my blog so I saw those words in my title above and clicked on "next." I was feeling brave. . . I posted on someone's blog that I had never explored before -- I had only gone to blogs that a friend recommended on their site. . . AND NOW I KNOW WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was watching the blog addy fill up and take me to the site when I noticed the words "possible porn" in the addy. . . good grief! You never saw anyone click off Safari faster than lightning. I don't think I will do anymore clicking on that "next" button!

Maybe I will try the search button and put in a topic I am interested in. . . after all, someone (Judy) found me to relay the message that they had also attended the Medford Bell Choir Festival last weekend. Of course, they are also an employee of Google so maybe they didn't use any search. . . I will never know because I went to their site and it is all google blog stuff. . .

Maybe "this" old lady will get adventuresome and find some blogs with like interests soon . . . maybe, just maybe.

Postscript:

sigh . . . the search button only searches your personal blog. That's not what I wanted to accomplish -- I already know what I posted yesterday!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Well . . . we survived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The past three days were supposed to be a wonderful experience for those of us attending the last bell Choir Conference in Medford, Oregon. The lady in charge of it had been doing it for 26 years and she was retiring as a director of it. She was not retiring from playing bells. . . there just weren't going to be any more conferences in Medford.

Bell choirs from Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Idaho attended -- 500 of us this year! In the past, when I have attended ( three other years), there has been just over 300 in attendance from three states. It was truly an inspiring conference and a wonderful way to celebrate the last "Rogue Valley Handbell Festival" in Medford, Oregon. A new director has stepped forward and will be taking over but at the request of the first director, they have changed the name of the Conference Festival. I can't remember what but we are glad it will continue. Our church has players that haven't been doing it long so we are called the Tins, along with a few hundred other players from other churches. It's just as exciting for us tho so we keep on trying to get better.

Ok. Here's the story of our adventures. . .

Just three of our players from our church attended this year. One was the director of our bell choir. I rode to Medford with her. The other lady went with her husband. We needed two cars becaue we had all those bells and one table with pads and coverings with table drapes and our banner stand to take besides our luggage for three days. AND you know how hard it is for us ladies to pack a small bag for three days --might as well be going for a week since we wouldn't need any more things!



Finally, we headed south across the Columbia River on the I-205 for our 5 hour drive. The weather was perfect, after so much rain here the past week. Yes there were some rain clouds and we did hit a few showers but nothing to worry about. In fact, we saw a rainbow prism reflecting out of a cloud and I actually got out my digital camera to take a photo from inside the car through the windshield. I didn't know if it would turn out but I tried. Now home and seeing the photo, it didn't show us the prism as well as we saw it through the windshield.

As you can see now that I have the photos loaded, the color of the rainbow did not show up well. . . but those vertical lines in the middle of the clouds were a pale red, blue and yellow and it was certainly unusual to see for us.

We made it to Medford in good time and without too much rain, stopping only at Wendy's for lunch. Arriving at our destination, where the sun was shining brightly and we had nothing to do for an hour an a half, I almost went on my "hike for Iris then." Instead we just settled in and visited with the other group for a bit. Then we decided to get a snack from WINCO instead of going out to eat dinner. I found some delicious jumbo strawberries for $1.29 a carton! They were great! Our room had a microwave and refrigerator in it so we also bought some croissant sandwiches to nuke.

Then, it was time to go to the high school to set up our table and bells and meet some others we knew were attending. Then we met the 6 guest music directors and practiced our songs for the first time --all 500 strong! I wish I had thought to sneak off and take a photo from the balcony . . . guess it will just be one of those photos in my memory. There wee some presentations to the director of the concert who had been doing it for 26 years. . . the guest directors had emailed each other and written/composed a song we played for her. It was 6 pages long! They all signed the first page and framed it. Then they gave her a copy of the whole song in a nice album. We thought maybe that was it but we were surprised later. You see they had to do something to reveal this song to her since it was not in the program and we were playing it! Her own choir that she directed at home had to be sneaky and practice it without her before we came to the conference.

After the practice and presentations, we were invited for punch and cake to honor her. We quickly had some drinks and got out of there since we had an early morning to prepare for a big day. Not all the people traveled as far as we did . . . a few traveled further tho.



Saturday morning was finally here, along with my planned hike. Liz slept another hour while I walked. I began my trek at this park that has a trail around it. I had to cross a river to get to the park walking trail and this waterfall greeted me as I crossed over the bridge.






I headed first for the skateboarding ramps enclosure. No, I was not taking up a new sport at my age. . . the outside edge of the fencing around it usually has some gorgeous Iris in several colors. I love to take photos of them. What a disappointment to see only one plant in bloom. But it was a beauty! I saw a few other flowers and took a photos of them too.



I continued my hike on their trail and around the Bear Creek Park area
where I also saw this leaning tree trunk that I think is so unusual because the trunk is growing sideways but the branches are growing up:






Just before the end of my trail walking, I saw a sign for the park:


Shortly after that, I was at the end where I had to return to regular streets to get back to the hotel in time so I walked through a bit of the city of Medford that I call hotel alley and fast food row. . . Not anticipating any more flowers to photograph, I put my camera in my bag. God had a little suprise for me -- maybe to make up for the disappointment of a single Iris where usually many are in bloom. . .

In front of a hotel. . . MORE IRIS IN BLOOM!!!!!!!!!







There was one more and I took a photo f it even tho it was not open. . . but it was black!


Soooooo, my little hike turned out better than I first thought after seeing just one Iris in bloom. I got back to the hotel and roommate was ready to head for bell conference in a few minutes so changed hiking shoes and got ready. It would be a long day of workshops and practice, practice, practice with the whole group. All the guest conductors were very patient with us and we sounded pretty darn good. AND all that was that was just before lunch!

They served us a wonderful vegetable soup with mini hamburger balls in it. I ahd never had hamburger in soup before and it turned out to be quite a delicious soup. We also ahd a salad bar and I had a BIG plateful of various goodies and a glass of lemonade. They outdid themselves in the luncheon this year. Ü

Following lunch break, there was a hand bell concert put on by a few really good players from various towns. The program was excellent. We had some wonderful, experienced bell players amongst us!

Then it was back to more practice and another workshop to learn about bell playing. At 4:00 PM we had our final rehearsal with all the bell choirs in attendance. It sounded pretty darn good. We left to get a bite to eat before the concert at 8:00PM knowing we would be hungry if we didn't. You always play better on a full stomach! Following dinner, we went back to hotel and changed to our black pants and concert shirts.

The concert went well. Many relatives and townspeople came and filled the grandstands and balcony. The concert went well and we got lots of applause. In the middle, they made another presentation to the director for 26 years. . . she got a Memory Book and a plaque. We had all signed pages of the Memory book an they planned to add photos from the last gathering when they got developed.

Then it was time to put our bells away in their carrying cases and breakdown our table, followed by hauling them out and packing cars. We had a busy day and were getting tired and looked forward to a good sleep before heading home after a church service the following day. It wasn't meant to be-- not for Liz and I anyway.

We got back to the hotel after stopping at WINCO for a few snacks for traveling the next day and were surprised when my bed was not made fully and the toilet was plugged. Trip to the office told us they had no one to come fix our toilet. We had paid for two days and they didn't have anyone to help us out. We tried plunging it with a weird plunger they gave us but it did nothing. They had only one room available with a single bed to change to. We asked if we couldn't sleep where we were and shower in the other room. Of course they said no because then we would have two rooms. I told them I would bring them the key after we used the bathroom and I showered and pick it up again in the morning. They said no, we couldn't have two rooms because they were sure to get another customer in the middle of the night and they would need that room.

Can you believe it? Now if we had changed rooms, the "new" middle of night customer couldn't use our room since they had plumbing problems and it wouldn't be cleaned after us because no maids were on duty then. They didn't care. We got our money refunded and packed up and left after reserving another hotel in Grant's Pass, a half hour away but heading towards home. Poor Liz was so tired. Before we left we went back to WINCO and used their facilities. lol

We had to trudge up a flight of stairs with our baggage at the new hotel. Liz went right to sleep and I got my shower and waited for my hair to dry some before I could curl it for church in a few hours. They only had one service at 10:00 AM so we did get to sleep in a bit and had time for breakfast at McDonald's too. We still had 40 minutes before church services so we parked in the church lot and went for a walk. I could not believe it but I left my camera in the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so mad because we saw roses and iris and Rhodies and more. When we got to church, the bulletin had a note about someone going into the hospital and Liz knew them from a previous school where she taught. Small world! While she was visiting with them, I found some lilacs in the church yard:


When we were finally ready to leave, Liz told me she would drive me around where we walked and i got some photos after all.
In Grants Pass.









When we arrived in Vancouver around 4:00 PM we unloaded the bells at the church and headed home. It was good to be back. To top it off, the weather was also beautiful here! Now we have a break in playing bells until fall. . . but a couple of us are going to go over to church and practice on our own IF we can find some time this summer.