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We came home from vacation and

found our yard had exploded with blooms.

The hydrangea has never had so many
blooms.

So pretty...

Clematis

Fucshia

Bee Balm's first year.

Colorful

These were just leaves when
we left.

Roses

Our tree in bloom (really a
clematis).

Grasses and ferns are happy.

We have a huge yard and
not all of it has been  "done". These blooms
are dandelions and a volunteer tree.

This lovely orchid is in the sun room.

And it smells great!


I will not blog for a while because I am
working on things for A Vintage
Gathering  which is July 27 and 28th.

Please see the blog at avintagegathering.blogspot.com
and/or our FB page http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Vintage-Gathering/374701949207433

I'll be back later...in the meantime, please share
your smile :>)

Part 2: So, I changed my mind.

I am going to jump to the most awful part of this little trip
and then I will tell you why I changed my mind and decided
this was not the vacation from he!!.




After we were in bed in Santa Fe, our friends came pounding
on our door. They had just learned that the two couples in the
SUVs, who had gone on to Mesa Verde, had been in an accident.
No one was critically injured. However, one friend had a fractured
vertebrae in her lower back and both cars were totalled!



(just a random highway scene)

They had found snow in Mesa Verde so decided not to
camp. The RVers set up in Mesa Verde anyway but the
other two went on toward another location. One car came around
a corner and hit an inch of hail on the road. She spun out and up an
embankment and back into the road and then up the embankment
again. On the other side of the road was a 40 foot drop into a ravine.
As car 1 is coming down the embankment and into the road, car 2 hits
car 1. This causes car 1 to move forward and stop (thus not going over
and into ravine) but causes car 2 to roll twice.



Both cars were totalled. The only severe injury was the
fractured vertebrae. She was the driver of car 1. Her husband
got a cut from his sunglasses and a bruised shoulder from the seat
belt. The friends who rolled were cut a little because all the glass in
the car was broken and they had a couple bruises.

They all made it home OK. We spent 2 days in Santa Fe and came home.


(windmills on our way home)

Last night I watched tv, about all the bad weather, people loosing
their homes, their lives, their loved ones. And I realized that our
vacation was not from he!!. When we couldn't camp, we could afford to
get a room somewhere nice. We ate good food and saw beautiful sights.
We enjoyed each others company, as we always do. And when our friends crashed, they lost cars which can be replaced. They were blessed and we
were blessed. It was not the vacation any of us wanted, it could have ended
in a horrible way. But we are all safe at home and planning our next adventure.
So I feel gratitude and happiness. I hope the same for each of those who read this.
Annette

So, it was the vacation from he!!

(Columbia River Gorge...Looking from Oregon
over to Washington)

We left on Friday the 13th for a two week road
trip with 10 of our friends. Maybe, right then and there,
I should have had second thoughts. But we were anxious
to escape the rain and go to Utah and New Mexico for
some sunshine!!


Five of the 6 couples ( read that 1 RV and 5 SUVs)
met up in Bryce Canyon the second night. We stayed in a
cute 4 plex cabin for two nights. The weather was rainy
and cool. Not what we were looking for .



This picture doesn't show it but there was snow in
parts of the canyon. We did have enough sun to see
that this is an incredible place in our USA.



Back on the road again, we go to Arches National Park. My
husband had forgotten to bring our senior pass which we had
gotten just for this trip. Fortunately, I had not gotten one, so we
just bought another. Arches is where all 6 couples would meet up
and camp for three nights. (It is the middle of May, after all!!)
We are ready to camp and view the sights and enjoy our friends
around a campfire.
We put up 5 tents while the wind blew, and blew, and blew dirt
(red) into the tent. It was supposed to stop about 9PM. This trip
involves 5 nights of camping and I don't like to camp.


This is our "sunnyday in the summer" tent. It was
staked to boulders. We didn't build a campfire
because of the wind.We went to bed early. It was too windy
to do anything else. We had grit in our mouths,
grit on our faces, and we are hoping our tent doesn't blow away.
And then it starts to rain. Well, more like, POUR. We did not get
much sleep that night.
Turns out the winds were 50 mph. One couple had left their
wet, dirty, tent at 4:30 am and gotten a room in Moab. It sounded like a good idea to us. (did I mention that I don't like to camp?) The rain had stopped and
we took everything out of the tent and shook blankets, and swept floors and
then it stated to rain again.........so the tent itself was taken down in the rain and
shoved into the car as a wet, reddish, gritty glob.

My friend who has been here many times, and has camped here,
and told me "you can't appreciate the beauty without camping", Is
saying, "Isn't it beautiful, though?" And it was. We had a few sun breaks
so did some sight seeing. It is an amazing place. The color and
the formations are remarkable!





This is called Windows...one of the walks we did.
Fortunately we all got rooms for the next two nights
and our RVers found a good place next to us. The
place we stayed had an outdoor room with a BBQ
which we just sort of took over the first night we were
there.


This is Balanced Rock. We did see some wonderful sights.






Shopping in Moab is fun. This shop had a sign
I had to photograph. I have never seen one like this.
Our next stop was to be Mesa Verde, where the cliff dwellings
are located. Problem was we were getting bad reports about the
weather. So, one couple decided to go to Tahoe and see friends.
We decided, with another couple, to go on to Santa Fe and sunshine.
The RVers and 2 couples decided to go to Mesa Verde.





We decided to go to Mesa Verde on the way home from
Santa Fe because I really wanted to see the cliff dwellings
and by then the weather should be better. So we all go
our separate ways on Friday morning,...... and things get worse.
Stay tuned for part 2........I will let you know that everyone made it
home OK.............

What I've Been Doing

First we went camping on the McKenzie River in Oregon.
This is the view from our campsite. So beautiful.


There are many rafters and kayakers on the river. We
actually saw one guy fall out of his kayak and it went on
down the river and so did he...we didn't hear any bad news
so figure he got around the bend to slow water and was
rescued by his buddy.



Then we moved on to Eagle Crest in Redmond, OR. This
is the full moon from our deck.



Our place is on the Deschutes river...another lovely view.





Driving home over Mt. Hood we see this kind of landscape
that reminds me of the old westerns where the Indians
would all be on horseback at the top of the ridge.





Further toward home the trees are lining the road and
Mt. Hood peeks out in all her glory!





And one of my favorite sights is the runaway truck ramp.
First of all, there was so much traffic that a real runaway
truck would have run over someones car. Second, I have
no idea why the young lady in the VW decided to pull in
there but she was only a couple cars ahead of us. Looked
like she may have decided to turn around.......hope no trucks
were on their way.

We enjoyed both trips but are glad to be back home.

Hope your summer is going well,

Annette

Good Vacation

My husband and I spent the last week in central Oregon.
Many people see Oregon as plush and green and hilly.
Central Oregon is a high dessert. Our weather would be 31
overnight and 70+ during the day. I found some great things
at thrift stores in the area and then I saw the flier for "Junk

Between Us Girls" My luck was super because the sale was
the weekend I was there!!!!
It was set up at the home of a fellow junker that
I have "followed" for years in the Redmond, OR.
area. Lisa had a space in an antique mall that I just
loved and then she moved into her own garage, so I
had visited there, too.




So, I get out of my car and the first booth I see is our
very own local, Julie, of Kindred Roses!! How great is that??





This was a super fun sale. I was limited on what I could
buy because my car was already full of other "stuff".






This is Lisa's garage made over into The Back Porch. It
is very cute!!



Peggy is the other half of JBUGs and this bed was in her
booth.






More fun things.

And more....... I did manage to get enough that I had to

make two trips to my car. It was so great to see Julie

and she will be at Farm Chicks and Barn House. WOW!

So, for me it was a perfect vacation. My husband golfed

and I junked and the weather was beautiful! And my sweetie

and I had fun together, too. (well, when I just read that last

sentence it sounded like husband and sweetie were two

different people...they are the same..)

I have more to tell you about but that will be soon,

Annette