Jacksonville Invasion

Oregon .... part II


After a wonderful night sleep... (no one snores in Oregon) ... we were greeted with freshly brewed coffee. We took our coffee to the front porch and were joined by tiny little frogs and hungry hummers...


We made a trip to the garden and by then breakfast was ready.



Tracy had set two lovely tables outside for our breakfast.

The menu consisted of:
Tiny egg souffles
Potato casserole
Assorted fruits
Orange juice and coffee

Doesn't everything look delicious?

This girl can bring home the bacon and treat her guests like royalty. The ultimate multi - tasker.

Off to Jacksonville.
(click on Jacksonville for more info on this quaint town)

Can you see the grapes growing on this vine?
After a day of sightseeing and shopping... oh yes we did do some

shopping we headed for dinner at the historic Bella Union

and enjoyed dinner under the stars. Yes I was there, that is the
downside of being the historian... you are always on the wrong end of the camera.

We ate too much...

and didn't laugh enough .... because you can never laugh too much.

Until Part III.... Harry and David's, Ashland and beyond.

Are there Cougars on the Oregon Trail?

Oregon ... opening night ... part I

Are there Cougars on the Oregon Trail?

Well, maybe but not on our plane.

Thursday evening, 5 lovely ladies and myself headed off to visit the lovely state of Oregon. Our friend Tracy....the hostess with the mostest .... invited us to spend the Labor Day weekend with her at her wonderful home.

But I get ahead of myself....where was I? Oh yes, heading out on
Thursday to LAX.

We arrived at the airport and and everything went smoothly...
parking...shuttle...airplane on time (it was an extremely small prop plane and we had many jokes going as to whether it would get us off the ground) ... nice flight... and
landing in Medford.

In Medford, Shelley (who always has her picture taken with the captain)
stopped for a pose with not one but 2 pilots.

We were greeted by Tracy and her luggage friendly rental van.
(Good thing we were only packing for the weekend)

and home to a delicious feast.




and a cute little lady named Jenny
( who had us all eating out of her paw )

We got in late so Tracy had pizza, wings and cucumber salad waiting for us.

Oh and did I mention wine?

Catching up on old times.
Tracy played bunco with us when she lived in So Cal.

So we feasted and talked and laughed....


and drank wine...

we retired for the evening. Tracy had a fun
filled day planned for us on Friday.

Part II ... the Invasion of Jacksonville.

The Secret Life of an American Baby

Babies live in their own secret world and Madison is no exception. She is one of those babies that puts everything in her mouth.

I had one of those....Stacy ....she went as far as putting a live cricket in her mouth. Honestly, I don't know how she caught it, and I wouldn't have believed it but I witnessed the whole thing.

Madison dropped by last night and since she would rather be running around with Riley

(but can't quite walk yet)

she is content to crawl (outside on the hard concrete)

She is very stealth -like and I am sure she thought no one was watching..... but we were.


She headed over to the planter...

What's this brown stuff...kinda looks like chocolate?

If I can just pull myself up and have a peak... no one is watching.

Doesn't feel like chocolate but maybe if I can get a closer look.

Don't tell Gwammom but she has let all of these beautiful flowers die.

Maybe one quick taste while no one is looking.
A girl needs her chocolate

Yucky .... not too good.

But this is a big yard and I can always try something else.
Tee hee!

Maybe down there.

Like my grandma's friend says..... I'm off like a herd of turtles.

Playing with my camera

Happy Outdoor Wednesday.
This event is hosted every week by the very lovely Susan

At a Southern Daydreamer. Check out her

wonderful blog and see who else is participating today.

I got a new camera several months ago and have been

having fun playing with it.

For Outdoor Wednesday today I played

with the focus.

Here I focused on the flower with the birdbath in the background.

And here is the fountain in focus and the rose out of focus in the foreground

And in reverse



I love my camera and am anxious to take a photography class to not only learn more about my camera but more about how to take photos. I am so inspired by the beautiful pictures the bloggers in blogland post.

There must be a lot of professionals out there. Speaking of beautiful photographers head back to Susan's for more outstanding photos and outdoor fun. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm Back

I am back from the most wonderful trip to Oregon.

Over this Labor Day weekend, my girlfriends and I went to Central Point, Oregon to visit a friend of ours who moved there several years ago. I have taken about 600 pictures of our trip...don't worry I won't post all 600, but it will be hard to choose because we did so many fun things.

When I list all of the things we did you will think we were there for a week. Tracy had everything well planned out and treated us like Queens.

Before I left I had a visit from 2 little stair climbers.

Madison is infatuated by the stairs and can climb "up" in a flash. Down, however is a different story. Here is Riley teaching Madison how to climb down....the wrong way.

Head first is never a good thing.

Against Riley's better judgement she went down head first too.

A little help from mama.


Two cuties...



Pictures of Oregon coming soon... I can't wait to post and relive the fun we had.

Tablescape Thursday

Happy Tablescape Thursday


Tablescape Thursday is hosted by the very lovely and talented Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch who just celebrated her blogs 1 year anniversary.

Under the Tuscan Stars
By now I am sure you are all tired of my bunco group... I however, am not. I love these ladies and since it was my mom's turn to host bunco we decided to cook them an Italian dinner served under the stars. With our evenings so warm and beautiful it seemed like the perfect thing to do.

We set up our meal in the gazebo. I had left the curtains up from spa day and I used the two banquet tables to form a square once again. We all agreed it was such a cozy way to eat... the next best thing to a big round table. It was so cozy we almost didn't make it inside to play bunco.

Our Menu:

Pasta with Feta, pine nuts and basil
Eggplant Parmesan
Italian sausage pizza and peperoni pizza
Chopped antipasto salad
Chianti


Mr Rooster was the guest of honor... he really came out for the Rooster Party at Barb at Bella Vista but as usual he was late. This guy is never on time for anything. She has her party posted until Friday so you can take a peek.

He bedazzled us with his sunflowers

Isn't he proud and handsome?

We paired mom's yellow dishes with a red, cream and yellow checked tablecloth. Since we didn't have enough yellow napkins,

we alternated yellow and red in the wine glasses. Remember this

is outside and we do get very breezy in the afternoon.

The setting was just perfect.

Plenty of candlelight... and the gazebo has lights

along the outside which adds just the right amount of additional light.

The sun was beginning to go down.

I even tried to make a drippy candlestick out of an old Chianti bottle.
I think I need a little more practice.



A tabletop view



Weren't the rays of sun pretty on the table?


Is it time to eat?
food


These ladies belong to the "Clean Plate Club"
Did anyone belong to this club when they were kids?



We visited, ate, and laughed ....




ate and laughed and laughed again ... into the evening.




Thanks for visiting.. hope you come back again soon. Head

on back to Susan's for some more tablescape fun :)