ASK.COM NO MORE

Don't ever get suckered into getting a game on your computer where you have to download something called 'ask.com'. I've spent hours trying to get it off.........but OFF it finally is! Arggg!
It was not only ask.com but a lot of other arty kind of downloads that attached themselves.....and weather station, too. Ask.com tried and was taking over my home page with no way to delete it. Finally I did the 'restore computer' a couple of times. Had to be a couple of times since the first time it took off my McAfee too. What a hastle! But all is good now. Just be forewarned!

Saw a good movie last night........"Hereafter" with Matt Damon. Norm fell asleep but I enjoyed it. It was produced by Clint Eastwood which shows what he might be mulling over in his head these days.....That time of life comes to all eventually.

The top photo was taken of a flower arrangement that sits on my table. The pale leaves almost look like flowers themselves.............and the second are some dried grasses from a friend's compost pile in her garden. Anything that has the look of unusual grasses and I'm attracted to it.

Can you believe that it's Friday again, already?? This week has gone by waaaay too fast. Did manage to get more gardening in despite dodging the rain showers. Earlier in the week we were up in Coos Bay. It rained the whole way up and pretty heavy at times. But everytime we had to get out of the car to run in somewhere, the rain would stop. Then start in again........out we'd be......the rain would stop........and so it went the whole day. Weather made to order! Just the way we like it!

I wonder if many other enjoy 10 year old boys as much as I do. I have been getting so many chuckles out of weekly emails that my nephew has been sending out. The typo's are hysterical as are the workings of a young boy's thinking. He makes up these crazy things each (brave) person is supposed to do...like eating pickled eggs with maggots. When one of the dares was to jump down from a chair, I realized that these activities were probably not for me......no parachute allowed, I assume..........Or...........Tell your Mom that you are moving to Spain and walk out the door. On and on they go. So cute........

OK........that's it for this week I guess...........Hope everyone has a terrific weekend!

A VISIT TO THE DOCK

We had some time to kill this morning and the dock is always one of our favorite drop-by's. You might think that it would be the same old dock, never any changes. But if you live or spend anytime on any coastline, you know that it's never the same. Everything atmospheric guarantees change every second......even my mood influences the photos I choose to take, how I edit them, and which ones I post.
This first shot is looking down at the dock from up on one of Port Orford's overlooks. The sun was trying to break through the gray skies and was making some progress.....enough to make the sky dramatic. Same thing goes with this flock of pelicans that were heading north..........I always find migrating bird flocks very moving and very amazing. And I always hope they all make it to where they're heading and will be returning again next year. Sort of like our tourists! 8-))

Norm and I stopped in Siren's this morning for a cup of mocha. Yum! As always!! Carrie showed us the new kitchen equipment that is in place and getting ready for the addition of pizza to the menu. We're all looking forward to it and wishing Diane and crew much success. Yum!

Is anyone else having as much trouble this spring with allergies as I am? All around our place and especially noticable on the cars, is pollen. I don't know what kind, probably from one or more of the trees. The wind has been up a little which really riles it up. Kleenex and allergy tabs are the order of these days.............Sneeze, cough-cough.

Hope everyone had a beautiful Easter Sunday and have a great rest of the day and tomorrow!

COUNTRY ROADS

Well, I made it back to see those poplar trees that I'd wanted to photography. Along the way there were all kinds of neat opportunities for other shots, as well. Like this top one of an old corral fence alongside part of the poplar grove. I 'tinkered' around with it looking for another unique effect that brought out the fence wood more than the background trees.

And below is a peeking along a path that goes through the poplar grove to the country farm house beyond. Again, I fooled around with different filters for a different effect. Sort of a 'wispy' look.

After doing as much photo shooting as I'd planned (and more!), we went over to Coos Bay to run a few errands. We had a very good lunch at a new place I'd been wanting to try...........Margarita's Mexican Restaurant on Ocean Blvd. It used to be a Taco Bell, I think. I enjoyed the charm of the place and the food was very good. The young women who owned and operated it were full of charm and smiles. I liked that they didn't pile on so much cheese, which can be over-wheming, and the portions were reasonable rather than piled on too high. I really don't like to have food thrown away (voices from the past about the poor starving children of the world). And it's usually more food than I'm comfortable eating, which I don't need anyway. It's become my new "Favorite Mexican" food restaurant. So, those of you that travel up to North Bend and/or Coos Bay, give it a try. So..........

Friday, already!! Do you have exciting plans for the weekend? If not, it's not too late to make some............have some fun in spite of more sprinkles heading our way over the weekend. See you Monday!!


"Life is the movie you see through your own unique eyes. It makes little difference what's happening out there. It's how you take it that counts."

Denis Waitley......The Winner's Edge

MIDWEEK MUSINGS

Tomorrow I'm planning on heading back over towards Coquille to hopefully get some of those photos that we couldn't stop for last week. I hope the weather cooperates. It was nice today, huh? A little on the cool side but the wind seems to be coming from the north which is our summer cooling system, so things are a'changin....

These are a couple of shots from last week or so. The first one is the beautiful azalea hedge in front of Dr. Soper's dental office up in Bandon. It's right on Hwy 101 and I think it will still be in bloom. Try to catch a glimpse if you drive by.

The second photo is easily to recognize by south coasties.........Bandon lighthouse across the Coquille River. Aren't those clouds something else?? Our beautiful skies!

I got some new shoes recently...........Sketchers. I really haven't had any trouble walking in them....in fact they're pretty comfortable. They say that these shoes "may" firm you up and help you lose some weight............Haven't seen much of that yet! But one of my grandson's called Sunday and asked me if I'd go skydiving with him this September. Told him, probably, but I could lose a little weight first. Maybe the Sketchers will also help my landing so I don't do an imitation of a pelican instead of a swan for this next dive. The first one was less than stellar but at least I did come out of it in one piece!

"Thoughts are like Boomerangs."

Eileen Caddy, 'The Dawn of Change'

So let's all try to keep them positive. The world is in enough turmoil these days!

PASSING THROUGH COQUILLE

The first photo here is a beautiful red rhoddy from my neighbor's front yard......really something, huh? It really shows off it's right red color when not in direct sunlight. No problem there lately, right?

These are few shots I took while we stopped at a couple of rest stops.......one in Coquille, above. Love the children playing in the background. And the one below was on the way back home through Riverton. I didn't know that they had a little park........It's also has a launching pad. The river was pretty high..........but it wasn't flooding (yet!)

When we were back on the road and a little closer to Bandon we passed a grove of wonderful trees that might have been someone's poplar grove. The trunks were what I was interested in. We had just come from Costco and had so much to put away that 'you-know-who' couldn't stop. So.......I think we have a pretty clear calendar this week and I plan on driving back over and seeing if they were as much of a photo op as I thought.

Did any of you watch the first episode of "Game of Thrones"? We did and I think it will be standard Sunday night fare for us for a while. Beautiful sets and countrysides. A little on the gory side but still better than a lot that passes off for entertainment these days. Hope you all have a great week ahead! I think we're finally going to get more gardening weather so you know where you'll find me.

"The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it."

Thich Nhat Hanh

VIEWS OF BANDON

Norm needed to have some new eye glasses checked out the other day up in Bandon. While there, the sun was out and it was turning out to be a nice day so we took a tour down by the jetty. There were a lot of beachcombers and I wondered if any of them were looking for some objects that might have come over from Japan. This first photo was one I took of some of the seastacks from behind the grasses. I like the soft focus of the rocks in contrast to the sharpness of the closer grasses. The second photo was one of a couple of men who looked to me to be pretty experienced agate hunters. They had their round sticks that they would roll over the rocks and with eagle eyes, ready to catch the milky look of the agate.

Today we went back up, this time for Norm to actually see the optomotrist. I don't know if any of you have seen the story that has recently been making the rounds through forwarded emails and on Facebook about the woman at the airport. She had bought a bag of cookies to eat while she waited for her flight. The bag of cookies sat down on a seat beside her. A man was sitting on the other side of the cookie-occupied seat. She took a cookie.........he took a cookie...........she took a cookie.......he took one. You get the idea. She was mildly annoyed and more so as finally there was only one cookie. He took it, but broke it in two and placed the remaining half back on the seat.

But she was so outraged that he had eaten half her cookies, then the insult to take the last one....she huffed off very angry. Once on her flight she settled in and then opened her carry-on and there was HER unopened bag of cookies. It had been his that she had been eating. One of those times,like those that many of us have had during our lives, where we wish we could go back and undo some act, some words, some behavior..........

Well, with that story still somewhat fresh in my mind, today as I waited in the outside office for Norm to see his doctor, an elderly, robust little man came bustling through the door. Over to the desk, where he was welcomed warmly and a little chat followed. Very short chat, though. It was obvious this man had places to go and things to do! There is a plate of cookies sitting on the counter for the doctor's patients and the man asked which were the cookies that had NO nuts? The receptionist got up and pointed out which ones were nut-free and offered him a napkin. He took the napkin, carefully patted his mouth and helped himself to a cookie. He asked them when they wanted to see him again and was answered........"anytime you'd like, Mr. ......." So, he happily turned around and headed for the door, knowing he had been appreciated and was more than welcome to return. I was sitting by the door and as he neared me, and he did have a most lively bounce to his walk, so....he started to open the door then looked over at me and said "Want a bite?" with a big grin on his face! It made my day! Simple little human encounters and heart to heart encounters. We just never know when the smallest word, the tiniest smile might mean more than we know to someone we don't know.......or better yet, do know. How great it would be for me to remember this ALL the time. And a bite of that particular cookie was really, really tempting!

INTO THE GARDEN

Nothing quite gives me a feeling of satisfaction as does the back garden being weed-whacked. It makes such a difference in the over-all look of the garden. At the same time, as I wandered around in my 'whacking-mode', I did see how much needed still to be done. More than the last time I made that same statement. I also began some cutting back of last year's left overs and some that didn't escape damage after our snow days of this past winter. By the look of some of the other blooms, in spite of the neglect they've endured, not only suvived but are showing off gorgeous colors and a healthy growth that give me an enthusiasm for more "getting out there" and doing. So, here I am ready to go and the weather has done another switch. It's not raining (yet) but it's a cold wind that's blowing. I did replant some mint that had taken over one of Norm's pots that is designated as a future home to one of his tomato plants. He's been a good sport about roses suddenly showing up in many of his planters, but not so much now that he's tending to his little veggies. Otherwise known as his babies or creations. So.....no more sneaking new plants or cuttings into any of his vegetable pots.

The first photo up there is of my grape hyaciths that have such a beautiful color...........as does one of my favorites, the flowering current. I love this shrub. It grows wild here, although I transplanted the couple that I have from other locations. They're one of the very first announcements that Spring is here.

Norm and I are going to over to do some shopping in Roseburg this week. It's been a number of years since we've been there and I'm hoping that there will be some photo opportunities for me. It's predicted to rain, but you never know. I'm looking forward to seeing some different landscape than where we've been.....although our changing weather and the diversity of it always has a different face on Mother Nature. Still, I'm prepared to enjoy something of a change.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a good week with plenty of optomistic spring to your step!

UNTITLED

I'm drawing a blank for a title tonight..........too much rain, I think....... This top photo was one I think I missed posting a while back when I'd snapped all those beautiful cows and calves. This one looks a little sleepy while her calf is looking for a little snack, I think. We're having a return to some cold weather tonight, I guess. It should last only another day or so...........so the weatherman says. I do have some roots, seeds and such to plant before they start sprouting in their bags. And it would feel good to work off a little of the winter duldrums for an hour or so. I managed to go for a walk today just before the winds went wild and the skies opened up. Just enough to set off a craving for more of the outdoors.

This second photo was taken a few days ago over at my friend, Nanci's, garden. This particular blossom has opened up now in it's pure red color. Here, they were in their beautiful opening stages. Pretty, huh? Nanci's rhoddy's have the biggest, fullest blooms and then big fluffy flowers! They're enormous! I'm jealous!! For all the good that does! 8-)

I'm beginning a new project of painting a celtic design from the Book of Kells on the bench that Norm built me. It's a painting bench but I dare anyone to use it for that after I spend hours and hours working on it. Maybe I can get him to make up another one for practical use. When I was painting the bathroom it was perfect for standing, fitting into the bathtub and was very sturdy........I felt very safe on it which isn't how I normally feel on a ladder. Think of that if/when you attend the Port Orford Rotary dinner dance and auction. There is one of those beautiful painting benches that Norm made that will be there for bidding. For one lucky bidder! Could be you.

Around Port Orford, have you heard that we'll be having another couple of art galleries in town?? More on that as those plans solidify.

In the meantime hope you all have your usual fun plans laid out for the weekend. See you soon!