Sunday, June 21, 2009

Double Duty

Today we celebrate our fathers as they do indeed deserve to be celebrated! For my family the celebration is expanded as it is also the anniversary of my 39th birthday!! So the kids get a twofer today. Happy Father's Day to all the dads and Happy Birthday to me. :)

It's pretty quiet around here today with the three boys away at camp. On Friday I drove an SUV full of boys to the camp which is on the east side of White Pass, which is near Mt. Rainier - beautiful country!
Saturday I get to go pick them up. We'll be stopping for lunch in Yakima at the famous Miner's which serves humongous hamburgers - always a huge hit with the boys.

Yesterday DH and I drove over to Kendrick, Idaho, for a memorial service for my uncle. It seems that funerals are the only time I see my mom's family any more, so I do make an extra effort to get over to represent my mom who was the first of her eight siblings to pass on four years ago. It's always nice to catch up with my cousins and remaining aunt and uncles.

As much as I enjoy visiting with family, I love reconnecting with the land where my mom was raised. The soil on the ridges of the Kendrick/Juliaetta area is rich and deep, excellent farm land. We took a jaunt up to Cameron and I was stunned at the 360^ view of verdant fields as far as the eye could see topped off by a sky filled with puffy white and dark rain clouds which spilled their shadows over the fields. I can so understand why Mom needed, really needed, to get up to the ranch to visit not only her folks, but her land. The drive up the Clearwater River from Lewiston is always beautiful and it seemed even more so as many months have gone by since I had seen those rock studded hills. I gotta get back there more often to soak it all in.





With the boys gone this week, I hope to get caught up with some housework and laundry, and get started packing for our Cali. vacation coming up a week from today! Woohoo!

11 comments:

Kathy A. said...

Happy Happy Birthday Von. Hope you had a wonderful day
1

doris said...

Happy birthday! Wow, Von, you've been very busy since I've been gone. I love the pics of your mom's country.

Dawn T. said...

Happy Birthday, Von!! I hope you had a great day.:)

Brigitte said...

A very happy birthday to you, Von. And thanks for sharing those wonderful pictures. I love the scenery you show.
Enjoy the quiet time at home.

Ronel said...

A very Happy Birthday to you! Have a great day and may all your dreams come true this year!

{hugs} Ronel

mainely stitching said...

I had to read "the anniversary of my 39th birthday" a couple of times before I got it, LOL! Need more coffee this morning!

Happy birthday and happy Father's Day! And wow, those pictures are gorgeous. What a stunning part of the country!!!

Siobhán said...

Happy belated birthday!! I hope you have an excellent year. :)

Andrea said...

Happy Birthday Von!

Nancy in IL said...

Von, your pix really do the places you visit justice. I really feel I'm just about there... so beautiful... such interesting places. It's always nice to get an inside look at your family too.

Your stitching amazes me. Each stitch is put in with the greatest of care. I really like the two RR squares, and the piece, Acorns and Threads... such vibrant colors!

Nancy in IL said...

Oh, and I forgot to say that Happy Birthday for you this year was also Happy Father's Day for the males in the family. I hope your birthday was wonderful!

Maren said...

Happy, happy birthday! You live in my old stomping ground. We used to live up there in the Bellevue/Redmond area, but when we moved to Oregon, we'd still cruise up along I-5 to visit the Woodland Park Zoo at least twice a year. And every time, we'd stop at Miner's for their burgers. Yummy!