Older....still waiting for that wisdom thing!

Yes well, as each birthday comes and goes I wait with bated breath to see if this is the year I will get the wisdom that is supposed to come with age and each year I am left disappointed, and, quite frankly wondering if I have been left off the list permanently!  This year I was certain that with turning 60 and all - now the wisdom would come and take over and ....you know!  I have recently entertained thoughts that there is no wisdom with age and this may have been a hoax perpetrated on me by my grandparents and parents!!  My hopes of achieving that "wise old woman" stage are dwindling, I think it is a good thing I'm doing so well on the "eccentric old woman" which had always sounded like the most fun anyway!  Sigh....wise just sounded nobler somehow....oh well!

On the bright side I had a lovely birthday and my biggest surprise was my son coming along to see me for a week.  My daughter-in-law had been planning on being here and driving home with Mom - I knew about that - seems every one but me knew that Son number one was coming along, a truly lovely surprise!! 

Mom's visit began on the 21st of September.  We did a couple of day trips.  This one was to an old silver mining town, now catering to mostly tourists, ranch hands and hunters.  Population 12 in the summer, 2 in the winter!  The road is narrow and rutted and dirt for 20 miles or so.  but the scenery is splendid!

When we got there we ate lunch in the hotel which was getting ready to close for the season.  I was glad we had eaten our very good meal, with excellent coffee before I saw this side of the building.  I might have hesitated to go inside and it really was a good meal and very cozy on a chilly day!

On another day we went to see the Idaho State Capitol building, the Boise Art Museum (BAM), and drove around downtown Boise some.  As cities go I have always thought Boise is a very pretty one!

For moms birthday (our birthdays are a week apart) I got tickets to see the Gaither Vocal Band at the Morrison Center.  They are renowned gospel artists and when I was a teen our family used to sing a lot of their songs in church.  Here she is with the guitar player Kevin Williams!  She looks pretty good for turning 82 doesn't she!?

We hit the thrift stores, went to some of our favorite restaurants, and we visited and shared some labors.  (Visiting being the most important!!)  The Strawberry jam we made out of a seasons worth of the leftover strawberries, turned out just a little less firm than we hoped but the flavor is awesome!  You just have to hold the peanut butter and jelly sandwich flat while you eat it or put it on vanilla ice cream - yum!!

We picked some of the apples off the tree and put up 6 quarts of "chunky" applesauce.  (On a side note, we have since thrown away 60 gallons of apples that were wormy or too bruised and picked another 10 gallons that are in the process of being canned, it will be awhile before I like apples again I fear!)  That tree has outdone itself this year, we hope it lives through the winter with all of the broken branches.





When Davy and Laura got here we went to Baker City Oregon and the 'National Oregon Trail Interpretive Center'.  This is an awesome place and Baker City is a fun town to explore.  We ate lunch at the Geyser Grand Hotel, where Theodore Roosevelt stayed (a few years earlier!), and we drove out to the 'ruts'.

 I have become something of a 'rut-nut' in recent years which is local jargon for those who become very interested in the Oregon Trail.  The center in Baker City is one of the places you can still see the ruts from 150 years ago!  Imagine how deep they were then.  In grade school These kids played a video game called "the Oregon Trail" and you planned flour and water etc. and you might die of dysentery!  They remembered and it made it more fun to take them.

Inside the center are dioramas and story areas, the stories are based on diaries from a couple of families that survived the trip.  It is a very fun place to visit.

All good things must come to an end and they all headed for home the 8th of October.  I hope these visits become an annual event!



Since that time I have worked nearly full time as the young agent I am working with currently and his wife have welcomed baby number 3 into their family and I gave him a few days off for the arrival!  Don't really like the full time thing any more!  Ah well, I will be happier about all the hours when I get that check!
Hmmm....after 2 months of silence there is more to share but I will save it for the next post!

I'm sure you were wondering how Miss Lily was doing, here is my newest favorite photo of her!...Oh  and her folks as well!