I was being held captive in a faraway town called Sequim

We had company this afternoon. Rachel, Daryl and darling little Avery in her Halloween costume. Mom and dad were in costume too. They were on their way to a party.

The house I spent all week during my "captivity". Donna and Laif have a very nice house with such a great view. Yes, Debbie, in case you are reading this, I love your house too.Last Friday, October 23rd, Donna came over here to take me to the "holiday Food and Gift Festival" at the Tacoma Dome. We dropped Debbie off at the airport because she was spending the weekend with Jennie, Mike and Sophie. Maybe I should say that Debbie went to visit Sophie and it just happened that Mike and Jennie would be there.

We really enjoyed the food and gift festival. We had an interesting experience. One of the booths that we stopped at was "Viviane by Viviane Woodward". They sell Cosmetics and skin care. Apparently the guy who was demonstrating was the son of the people who had the booth. He was definitely not a salesman. He was such a helpless young man. Donna took over mothering him. He had his name tag on crooked so Donna fixed it and the gals in the next booth had even loaned him a lab coat so he would look a little more professional. He was very nice and polite and he kept opening jars of cream for me and I actually gave him an order. I liked the creams and the prices were very good and larger jars than most of the cosmetic products I buy. So--I filled out my order and gave it to him. He said if I put down my credit card number they could send the order right out. I was NOT about to put my credit card number on that loose piece of paper. Since I did not want to put my credit card number down he said that someone would contact me Saturday morning and verify the order and take my information. I have not heard a word about my order. It is hard to say what he did with it. He was so happy too because I was his first order. I may be old but I have more sense than to just write my credit card down on a loose order form.
So on Saturday, Donna and her neighbor Marge and I went to Port Angeles. Donna and Marge are both into quilting and are always buying stuff. I didn't take a camera because this was an unexpected quick trip and I forgot to take it. I will have to remember next time. Donna had made a real pretty quilt to go on the bed that I sleep on. I will take a picture of it next time.

Then the kidnapping scenario started. I left a message on Debbie's phone that I was at Donna's and she called Donna on Saturday and said she got this cryptic message that there had been a kidnapping. Then I was supposed to come back Wednesday but on Tuesday the school called Donna and asked if she could work Wednesday so we didn't go because it would be so late when she got back and also it was pretty windy. Debbie said she even bought me Blueberries and I wasn't coming home. Since Donna had to work both Thursday and Friday, we decided to come home today. (Halloween) If you haven't seen the pathetic picture Debbie put on Facebook, you will have to look at it. When I got home today the kitchen looked very nice. Debbie loves to tease me as she knows working in the kitchen is about my favorite thing. During the week she would say that when they ran out of dishes, they would use paper plates and this morning she was real funny, asking if you could buy disposable pans.

I am so lucky that I have children who will take care of me in my old age. After living at Merrill Gardens, I know how fortunate I am. There are some really lonely people there. Even though you have others around you, it is not like family.

Sunday, October 25th, we went to Church in Sequim. Donna and Laif made a nice big stew and put it in the crockpot so it would be ready after Church. The Missionaries were supposed to come over for dinner. Donna had rolls, a nice salad and she had made a cake. We got to Church and found that the Missionaries couldn't come. Donna called up her neighbors Marge and George and invited them to dinner. I didn't know Donna had made the cake for me. Donna and Laif made it into a birthday dinner for me. We had a nice time visiting. My birthday was really the next day, Monday.

Monday, October 26th. I got lots of phone calls for my birthday. I even got a call from my personal banker at Sound Community Bank. I remember when I was in Ketchikan last May visiting David, my banker called just to see how things were going. David said he never heard of a bank calling when you didn't owe money. Monday evening, Donna and I went to a Mary Kay party. Keely, the girl who is learning to do Mary Kay is so sweet. Keely cleans Marge's house. Marge has trouble do some of the work in her house because she has a bad shoulder. Keely's husband, Brian does their yardwork and right now is helping George put in steps and a railing. George makes Jewelry and the room he works in cannot be accessed from inside the house. So he and Brian are making an opening so George won't have to go outside. Marge says they are both real hard workers. They have two children and it sounds like Keely is going to sign up for the home schooling that Donna is doing.

Tuesday, October 27th. We went to Marge's house for the rest of the Mary Kay party. Last night they just had us use cleansers and creams. We did the one today at 2pm to do the makeup part. We had it early because Donna had to be at the radio station a few minutes before 4pm. I sat in the Sound booth with her. Since my other cosmetic order seems to have disappeared into nowhere, I ordered some products from Mary Kay. I got a catalog and I can order through Keely on line and she said there is never any shipping.

Wednesday, October 28th. Marge invited me to lunch today. She made Chili, cornbread and brownies. Brian was working for George today and they always invite him for lunch too.

Thursday, October 29th. Donna had to teach PE today and she will have to teach it tomorrow too. Her knee was swelling some. I went with her after school while she got her massage. It is something her medical pays for. I got to go in the room with her. The Therapist is working on breaking up some scar tissue and works on relaxing her muscles. Donna says her knee is still not as straight as it should be. Laif came home for the weekend. We went to Applebee's to eat. I got the Orange Chicken Bowl. It was so huge that I took half of it home to have for lunch Friday.

Friday, October 30th. I didn't mention that I have been watching my Soap Opera all week. The bad thing about the Soap Opera is that Donna records her Soap Opera and watches it after work. She watches "All My Children" and now I am interested in it. I know I am going to hate myself but I just put it on my TiVo to record every week. I ate my leftovers from Applebee's for lunch. When Donna came home we went to Costco so they could buy candy for the Trick or Treaters. We ate dinner at Costco. We went back to the house to pick up a pair of black pants that I had ordered from Penney's on line to exchange. They were the same size as I always wear but they were so tight, I could hardly stand them. I had sent for three pair, 2 beige and 1 black. The beige pairs fit perfectly (meaning not perfect like on a model, but perfect for my lumps and bulges). Donna had wore them to work Wednesday because she was sure she could wear them but they were tight on her too. Finally, when she got home she measured them. The pants were too narrow in the upper legs. They were just cut wrong. We had gone to Penney's earlier so I could buy some more black pants and Donna hadn't tried mine on yet and it wasn't until she wore them to school that day that she measured them. I had bought 2 sweaters along with the new black pants I bought. When we went to exchange the pants Friday, I should have known better than to go into the store because I ended up buying another sweater. I love sweaters for winter. Unless it is extremely cold, I usually don't wear a coat, just a sweater over my top.

I guess that takes me up to today, October 31st. The day that I am no longer a "hostage". I am back in Renton now. I had a wonderful time. It is always great to be with family. I do miss Donna not being close by and I am glad I can spend time with her and Laif. Then this afternoon Daryl, Rachel and Avery came over to visit. They are such a nice little family. Erik went to Kyle's house to hang out for Halloween and help Kyle hand out candy for the Trick or Treaters. I still am trying to get used to Erik taking off in his car and going places by himself. Oh, yes, Debbie and Kent have gone out to eat and shop and I am left with handing out candy to Trick or Treaters. I really don't think it will be a problem. They have been gone about an hour and no one has come yet but the night is young so maybe someone will come, who knows.

Well, now that I have caught you up on my exciting life, I am going to go eat my dinner. Farewell for now.

The Beauty of Fall in our own backyard

My favorite season is Summer but I do enjoy all the beauty of Fall and the changing of colors in the leaves. I always wish it were Summer all the time but I will admit that we do live in one of the best areas in the United States weather wise. Usually we do not have extremes in weather like a lot of states.

Last Monday our group of ladies from Church had our monthly luncheon. We went to Olive Garden. We are planning on having Mexican Food next time. We may end up going to Tacoma or maybe Olympia.

Richard is always checking my blog. It seems like a lot of the stories happened in Bonney Lake. Richard says he remembers the time that I was taking the clothes off the clothes line in the back yard when I thought a dog was out by the swings. He just stood staring at me and I was thinking, Oh, no, not another stray dog. Finally he started walking away and I suddenly realized by his lumbering walk, it was a Black Bear. Then, it did shake me up a little to think I was taking down clothes and all the time the bear was just a few feet from me. By the swings there were a lot of Huckleberry bushes. I am sure that was probably why he stopped there. It was summertime and bears usually are not very hungry. Black bears actually are not really that dangerous and seldom attack people.

I loved the days that everyone had clotheslines. Your clothes always smell so good drying outdoors. Winter was not so great. I had drying racks to hang clothes on in front of the heater. I had a separate rack just for diapers. I used to dream about having diapers you could throw away, little realizing that it would really happen.

What I see from my room

I have been admiring the beautiful red leaves on the neighbor's tree. I decided to take a picture this morning. Richard sent an e-mail reminding me of how car tires used to be in the day of intertubes. Your tire didn't go down slowly like they do now. It would just sound like a gunshot when the tire blew and very difficult to control your car. I have had several blowouts in my life and I always managed to get to the side of the road. You could not go very many feet on a blown-out tire. I always had a big tank of a car full of kids so I never lost control like you would in a lighter car.

The time I remember the best is when I got a blowout coming up Eli Hill in this huge Pontiac. It was about 10am and I had just bought groceries at the Thriftway Store at the bottom of Eli Hill. I always did my shopping in the morning so that I would be home when the older kids got out of school. That morning I had the usual ones not in school yet, Richard, Debbie, Darrell and Dan.
I was part way up the hill when I got the blowout. I just had to leave the groceries in the car on the side of the road. I started walking home with the kids and was hoping I might make it before the other kids got home. It was probably at least 4 or 5 miles to the house but the problem was that I had to carry Darrell and Dan. Dan was not walking yet and Darrell could not walk very much. I had Richard hold Debbie's hand and kept them in front of me so I could see them the whole time.

My guardian angel was watching over me. I had probably walked about a half mile and one of the neighbors we had when we lived in Buckley drove by. She thought I was just out for a walk with the kids. She said she got up the road a bit and then got to thinking something did not look right that I wouldn't be out for a walk carrying two babies. She turned around and picked us up and we got the groceries and she took us home.

Now you are wondering why I did not just change the tire. I have never changed a tire in my life. Any time anything happened to a car that I was driving I would just leave it on the side of the road and when your dad came home he would rescue it. I know how a tire is changed but I have never done it. The biggest problem we had with tires was that we ran them until there was hardly any tread left and we almost never had a spare tire or even a jack in the car I drove. Your dad always had that stuff. He probably figured I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway.

There were many times in Bonney Lake when your dad would be gone for a week or more that I did have to figure things out for myself. This has always been hard for me to do. All my life I have been around men who would do things for me (until I met Clayton) and whenever there was a problem they would take care of it. I am still that way today. If I can get someone to do things for me I am happy. If I have to figure something out on my own I will but it is easier to let someone else do it.

Beautiful Fall Day today

Beautiful Fall colors.Last Friday evening we went to the stake center to watch the Shakespearean play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It was just great. For an a non-professional group, the acting was wonderful. The story plot was well done and the costumes were excellent.

My son Richard e-mailed me to tell me he enjoyed my story about Pegasus, the flying horse. It really makes me feel old when I think that most of my children and of course, grandchildren do not remember all those Mobil stations with the Neon signs of the flying Horse.

Richard also talked about Duane's gas station in Bonney Lake. It is now a car detail shop. Duane who owned the station also built the U-Haul in Bonney Lake and Richard says he is still alive. Richard talked to Duane's son and his son remembers going to school with David (the one living in Alaska now). He also remembers that your dad was called "Red". Debbie brought up an interesting thought. Of all seven children and all the grandchildren, none of them had red hair. Either it was not a dominent gene or it was a throwback from an older generation.

We bought most of our gas at Duane's gas station. It was down Eli hill and almost into town. That was the gas station I was happy to see the day I got lost carrying the dynamite caps around in the car.

Flying Red Horse

I got an e-mail from my son Richard again reminding me that I have not been keeping up on my blog. He says I need to be putting on current events and past events. I was pretty good at that for awhile but it seems to be getting harder to find things to write about, but, Richard, I will try. Richard says I am the best Historian for the family. If this is true, I think the family is in trouble. Richard give me some suggestions about things to write. We took a picture of the Flying Red Horse when we went to the Museum in Dallas. I think all of you are too young to remember when the Flying Red Horse was on all the Exxon Mobil gas stations. Not only do I remember all those stations but what fascinated me more when I was a child was to watch the gas being pumped from the big glass pumps.


So now I will give you all a little history lesson about the Flying Horse (Pegasus). According to Greek Mythology, when Perseus cut of the snake-covered head of Medusa, Pegasus the flying horse leaped full-grown from the blood soaked ground.

To tame Pegasus, the goddess Athena provided the mighty horse trainer, Bellerophon with a magical golden bridle. Bellerophon and Pegasus performed many deeds including the slaying of the fire-breathing Chimera. Unfortunately, when the ego-driven Bellerophon tried to fly Pegasus to Mount Olympus to join the gods, the winged-steed bolted and cast Bellerophon to Earth, where he spent the rest of his life wandering the planet shunned by both gods and man. Pegasus now resides in the heavens as a constellation of stars.

In the 20th century, the Pegasus character was used as the winged mascot for the Exxon Mobil Corporation. Their flying red Pegasus symbol was used as early as 1911 and adopted as a trademark in the U.S. shortly after the organization of Socony-Vacuum in 1931. **

The Pegasus logo, a symbol of "speed and power" was first colored red by the Mobil Sekiyu in Japan. In 1934, Magnolia Petroleum Company (Exxon Mobil Corporation's predecessor) erected a "oil derrick" atop the 29 story Magnolia Hotel building. It supported two 30 by 50 foot red neon signs made in the image of Pegasus, the flying red horse.

A restored version of the original revolving Pegasus was reinstated as a part of the Dallas Millennium Celebration where a $600,000 duplicate flying red horse neon sign was relit at midnight to bring in 2000.

** In 1931, Socony merged with Vacuum Oil to form Socony-Vacuum. In 1955, Socony Vacuum was renamed Socony Mobil Oil Co. In 1963, it changed it's trade name to Socony Mobile. To celebrate it's 100th anniversary in 1966, "Socony" was dropped from the corporate name.

Temple in Dallas, Texas

We went to see the Dallas Temple when we were on our trip. We just walked around the grounds. Very beautiful. Sunday Debbie fixed dinner for the missionaries. It was a very nice dinner and everyone had a pleasant time. Choir practice started Sunday also. We only stayed for part of it because Debbie had to get back to her dinner preparations. That girl does so much all the time. It wears me out just watching her.

I have to tell you one funny thing. We were on our way to Choir Practice and Debbie called Kent and asked him if he would scrape off the top layer of cat fur on the black chairs. I just cracked up. Charlie really loves those chairs.

Today I went to the store and also I had a check to deposit. I couldn't deposit my check because it is Columbus Day and the bank was closed. I know--you can use those envelopes, which I have done but I don't like to.

The midwest is having some early snow and so is Colorado.

Fall is here with beautiful colors and falling leaves

This might not look like Texas to you, but it is. We took this picture at the Arboretum in Dallas. Here I am writing two days in a row. Last night Debbie and I went to the Relief Society meeting. It was craft night. Debbie was in charge of the craft where you put the dry ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cookies in a canning jar with a pretty cloth cover over the lid and the recipe for the cookies attached. I am sure you have seen them. Some of the other crafts were candle decorating, glitter pumpkins using the small decorative pumpkins and some other crafts mostly for Christmas. Also in the kitchen it was set up to make your own pizzas or tacos. There was a recipe booklet and some of the ladies gave instructions on how to make the dough.

Some of us "older" ladies didn't sign up for any craft. We just sat around and visited and looked to see what everyone else was doing. I am glad I went. We had a nice time.

Beautiful Sunset

I love pictures of outdoor scenery, especially sunsets and sunrises. I took these pictures from the back deck. Every Sunset has distinct coloring and shapes. Both of these pictures were taken seconds apart and see how rapidly the colors changed.

Richard reminded me that I have not written on my blog for six days. I have just spending time outside in the sun as much as I can. We are having such a lovely fall but I know the rains are coming.

Nothing real interesting going on. I just have something to ponder. In November we will have to decide whether Fairwood should be it's own city. I am waiting to read the Voter's Pamphlet to read the pros and cons. If this happens, we would be living in a different city without moving. If there is one thing you can count on in life it is change.

Since I don't have babies to write about, I will put on some more trivia I read. Thanksgiving will be coming in November so here is some turkey trivia.


TURKEY TRIVIA

Only Tom Turkeys gobble. Hen Turkeys make a clicking sound.

Domesticated Turkeys cannot fly.

Wild Turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 miles per hour and can run 20 mph.

June is National Turkey lover's month.

It is estimated that at maturity a Turkey has 3,500 feathers.

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin proposed the Turkey as the Official bird of the United States? He thought it was a much more respectable bird than the Eagle "and withal a true original native of America".

When Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin sat down to enjoy their first meal on the moon, their food packets contained roasted turkey and all of the trimmings.

Halloween is around the corner

Debbie took all these nice Pumpkins pictures when we were at the Arboretum in Dallas, Texas.

Fall is definitely here with all the beautiful colors of Fall. I haven't anything real exciting to talk about so I just thought I would put on some Halloween Trivia for you to read.

Halloween Trivia and Fun Facts

Orange and Black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

Jack O' Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out Turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!

Halloween was brought to North America by the immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.

Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped Penny candy in America.

The Ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween Night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.

Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.

Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for Trick-or-Treaters with Snickers being #1.

Halloween is the 2nd most commerically successful holiday, with Christmas being first.

Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the Roman Harvest Festival that honors Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees.

Black cats were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their powers.

We did go to a Potluck at Church last evening. Debbie made two very good casseroles and a fruit salad.