Our life in Oregon's Willamette Valley bounded by the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Ranges to the west, and the Calapooya mountains to the south.
My sister recently gave me Mary Engelbreit’s book: She who Loves a Garden. Then I remembered that I also had ME’s book: A Book about Tea. Since some grandchildren are coming to spend more time with us, I have been busy thinking about Elevenses, and Low Tea, and High Tea, and getting the tea things organized. My granddaughter informed me in one of our recent phone calls that she would like to do the watering of the flowers when she came. I have a watering can ready for her for that activity as well. Not to mention the doll quilts, and the refurbishing of the Pooh Club House in past posts. These two books in my ME collection represent two of my favorite things.
The last day of May was the perfect day for an afternoon drive over to the beach. It was sunny, in the 60’s, and a 14 mph wind that floated Marvin’s Tuskegee Red Tail Kite perfectly. We also found some nice agates along the water line. After a couple hours of kite flying, at Taft Beach in Lincoln City, we drove south to Newport because Marvin remembered he liked the hamburgers at the Arctic Circle. Then home again. A beautiful end to the month of May.
Tuskegee Red Tail Kite
Name Marvin means sea friend.
Pam Takes a Turn Flying the Red Tail
When a Gardener Has the Camera at the Beach: Photos of Giant Onions!
“Double Delight ” are the pink roses, and the yellow one is a “Peace” rose.
On our 33rd anniversary, we drove up to Mount Hood Lodge for their lunch buffet. We had never been there and heard the food was delicious. Sadly, it was so chilly, and spitting snow with an overcast sky, that we did not see much of a view from any vantage point. We did enjoy the meal and exploring the lodge. It was certainly a good idea for an anniversary meal, regardless of the weather. There were surprisingly a lot of skiers finding places to enjoy their sport. Did I say our anniversary is July 2nd?! It seemed like a safe time to ascend the mountain and see the vistas.
On the way home, in the lowland, we stopped at a large nursery and bought a rose bush for our future home on Vinyard Avenue. We originally wanted a “Double Delight” , and evidently so did everyone else. So Marvin remembered when he helped a lady with her yard, that she had a “Peace” rose that had a good fragrance, so we bought one of those. It is a beautiful yellow rose with rose bud pink edges, but later when we acquired a “Double Delight” there was no comparison to the fragrance.
When I was a young child, my grandmother often bought our birthday cakes from her friend. They were more delicious and beautiful than any cake that I ever bought from a bakery. I have specific memories of the perfectly shaped roses that tasted exactly like what a “Double Delight” rose smells like. If you only have the room, or want to care for only one rose, it simply must be a “Double Delight.”
Do you have a person in your life that will forever remain a life saver? No matter what is ever said or done, that person will never be removed from that honored place of gratitude. My Aunt Esther was my life saver.
I was expecting a baby, not my first, and not with any reason to assume that the pregnancy wasn’t going to progress normally, and become a special memory with the reality of having a precious baby to hold and love.
What was different, was that Marvin was in the military, and would not be able to be with me at the birth time. My parents generously allowed us to stay with them while Marvin was in training, and promised to deliver us safely to his duty station just as soon as the Dr. gave us the go ahead to travel.
Sometime into the pregnancy, my Aunt Esther ask if I had considered taking a pre-birthing class the hospital provided and having a birthing coach? No, I hadn’t thought about it, so I asked my mom if she had any thoughts about it. Her only thought after having eight children was that she was not going to watch her daughter go through the same ordeal. Hmm. I thought about it some more. It seemed like maybe it should be something we should do. I let my aunt know, that she could be my coach. What could it hurt?
What could it hurt indeed? Aunt Esther took me to the all the classes, and we had a wonderful time together. I thought we made quite the team. She was very attentive to all the instructions. We practiced, and I just knew with all this support it was going to be a piece of cake.
Near the due date, one night after going to bed around midnight, I sprang out of bed with my feet hitting the floor so hard my parents woke up. My water had broke! There was the usual hustle, trying not to wake everyone in the house, making phone calls, having Dad drive me to the hospital, and making sure Aunt Esther would meet us there. I thought my Dad would wait around, but after eight kids, I guess he didn’t see any point in that. I thought it would have only been a couple of hours, but I had a coach, so we got busy.
By two in the morning, my aunt and I were settled into our routines we had practiced for. Things progressed. Well it seemed they did, but daylight peeked in the room, and no baby yet! It couldn’t be much longer now, but still a couple more hours pecked away at my patience level.
Finally, it was time to be moved to the delivery room, and I realized, what a good decision it was to have a coach. We both worked very hard, and after many “this will be the last one” pains, the Dr. pulled up a stool and announced that for every inch I gained, the baby appears to go back two. I despaired! That was it!! I said very crossly that I was done and going home. Then I met the real “Coach Aunt Esther.” She commanded me very sharply, “Pammie, you put that bag over your mouth and do what I tell you.” I was into another pain, and I obviously was not going home. Coach Esther took over, and somehow, a baby boy almost ten pounds with the crabbiest little face I ever saw, came into the world. I don’t think I ever worked as hard, or got coached as thoroughly, as I did those last pains. I often wonder what I would have done by myself. I suppose there would have been a nurse up to the job, but I was always forever glad it was my Aunt Esther.
Allen Cox not very happy for his first day.
When it was time to go home, I invited Aunt Esther to come down to the hospital and dress Allen in his going home clothes, and help me with the hospital farewell business and take me home. We had all kinds of grandparent, and sibling company in the meantime, but I wanted her to finish what she started.
Allen was born the day before Mother’s Day. He was the best Mother’s Day gift I ever got, because he was in my arms on Mothers Day, and not the other way around. He never did get very cheerful for a couple of months. Being born had to grow on him.
