Wednesday, October 17, 2012

"First" Friends


  1.  One of the most awesome things about "social media" is the ease it allows for us to "find each other".  I love this photo.  This was taken in probably the summer of 56.  That is my oldest brother on the left.  Then sister Nancy, who was only a year old, Christy Myers then me behind her older sister Deb.  These two truly were my very "first friends".  Their parents are still in touch with mine, and I got to visit with them a few weeks ago.  Let them know I was on Facebook and they let the girls know.  
  2. How about that pool.  How about that water?  This was taken in the back yard in Kennewick Washington, the tri cities.  I hope it was the water itself that was so yellow and not any additives (NANCY!!)


 We moved from Yakima to Kennewick courtesy of this Consolidated Freightways  truck.  My Dad worked for this company.  The house we were moving into was previously occupied by the Meyer's family!  They had moved into I think a new house that was built across the street.  So that is how we met.  My Mom became very good friends with their Mom whose name was Sharon.  She worked at the Welch's juice factory in town and used to bring us home those amazing concord grapes!  That is why I still love them today.  Such a good memory.  
 This is a photo of my brother Steve and I in front of our new house.  I think we only lived here for maybe a year, before we moved just about two blocks away.  Close enough we could all still be friends.  
I know I have another couple of photos of the three of us, but can't put my mouse on them at the moment.
Their Dad became a State Patrolman.  He was the tallest man I remembered as a kid.  
Thought I better put this photo of Nancy here too.  LOVE those Iris's in the background.  They also became and are still my favorite flower.
I wonder if they grow down here?

Christy and I were pretty close buds.  We would play anything and everything.  Deb would join us more often than not, but there was NO DOUBT who the person in charge was when she was with us.....


It was a sad day when they moved away to Spokane.  Luckily the adults stayed in touch, and so our friendship was able to continue for many more years.  They would come over for a visit, and then take me back to Spokane with them for a stay, and then my family would come over and pick me up.

When we moved to Seattle, we still got together occasionally.  It was a BIG BIG deal when they got to take the train over and we all went to the first Beatles concert in Seattle!!  And we also had probably more fun than we should have attending the Teen Fairs that were help at the Seattle Center, courtesy of Pat O'Day.

I remember being in Spokane one summer and we all went to an outdoor affair at the high school Shadle Park.  The three of us with our long hair, short shorts hanging out around the tennis courts with the music blasting and the boys trailing behind......We also had a memorable night at a skating rink as I recall.....

Lots of time passed as we entered our young adult years.  We kept up with each other via our parents.  Once Lynn and I stopped in Ellensburg where Deb was living with her husband and they (being the hippies) they were, took us out into the woods to hunt for mushrooms......didn't find a single one....LOL!!

Deb had her daughter Jessica, Christa got married.  I began having children and we drifted apart again.  Then after my breast cancer treatment was finished, I connected again with Deb, since she was an attorney and married to a medical malpractice attorney to discuss whether I had a legal case.  Turned out I was about a month too late to file.  Life goes on.

A few calls here and there over the next few years, more children, grandchildren, a move to CA for me and now we are reconnected again.  Christy still lives in Spokane with her son.  Deb lives on Bainbridge with her husband, both of whom have retired.  Her daughter is the attorney in the family now, and her son is going to school at Gonzaga.  We are blessed that our parents are all still mostly healthy and well and enabled us to reconnect once again.

I think now that my "first friends" will turn out to be forever friends.  It will be easier to keep in touch.  But it seems to me that it will be worth the effort.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Getting to Know Yountville

 This is such an amazing small town.  Surrounded by vineyards and wineries.  
The harvest is going on right now, and just like in Lynden when I could hear farm equipment running through the night, now I hear the grape harvesters running.  And the wonderful aroma of crushing grapes in the air is amazing.
 I love this little stone garden!  In Lynden it was the PostKantor!  Here it is the Post Office, and it closes at 4:00 everyday, which is annoying!  

This stone mushroom garden is what runs alongside it.  Talk about easy care gardening!

Although having Jose doing the grounds at the condo is pretty low care for me.......
 There are several of these around town, a narrow bridge.  And notice the sign.  One of the town rules is that signs must be 'framed'.  

Even the stop signs are on wooden posts, with wooden frames around the actual stop sign!




 And this is the road sign on my street.  

All the signs around town are these short wooden pedestal signs, they are so cute.

I pass this tree whenever I drive into Napa.  It is in the median of the highway, so I had to take this from a bit away.  Can you see that big bump on the side? What IS that???
Someone told me, like a carbunckle or something, but I don't remember.  And all the bark has been stripped away.




This is a photo of the tree, from further away.  





So happy to have been introduced to a stick reader for my computer, so all my photos have been transferred now to my photo files, and I will be able to keep my blog more up to date!!  
Thanks for stopping by.