Is this June, or what?

 Since getting back to Portland I have been caught up in a whirlwind of activities, graduations, arrivals and departures and birthdays and baby showers.  Oh, yes, and a high school reunion of sorts. First of all, my first Sunday back we celebrated Mother’s Day and four of our May birthdays, son-in-law John, me, daughter-in-law Nichole, son Brett.

  Then it was Memorial Day and some of us went to the cemetery where many of my forbears are buried.  My brother cleaned their headstones

and we talked about who was who and family history

and remembered the lives and sacrifices of so many…

Then it was on to graduation time and we celebrated with our Chinese student “Jeff”

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On the same day I had an all-class reunion/farewell party at my high school which is closing its doors forever.  Portland is eliminating 3 high schools this year whether for budget cuts or demographics or repair costs, I don’t know.  I saw my old art teacher that I spent a lot of time with, and my old principal who is still looking pretty dour.  Some things don’t change.  I was surprised at how unchanged the building itself was; amazing after almost 50 years.  It was fun to walk the halls and look at my old lockers, remember the sounds of high school…

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Then we had another graduation.  My darling daughter-in-law Nichole graduated from Nurses Training and got “pinned”.  At the pinning ceremony Brett was the one to “pin” her.  He has a new job now as an ambulance driver so we feel quite safe with them around!

A friend made these totally edible nurse cookies for Nichole’s party, and her dad made the cake below: There was time for coffee and catching up with friends:    

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and then it was time for our undergraduate student to finish up and go home to Korea for the summer.  Alan, alarmed at the sizzling fajitas he’d ordered:  Farewell, Alan!

Then we enjoyed the arrival home of our daughter and son-in-law and our grandson.  They are staying with us for a few weeks so I get to enjoy seeing my grandson for a while.

My girls:   And then we had Father’s Day.  It was a perfect day of enjoying our Heavenly Father in church, then taking my father to his favorite restaurant, then having my husband’s choice of a good time: having his kids over to play games.  We were going to do Hand and Foot, but we ended up playing Battle of the Sexes which always gets lots of lively conversation and friendly competition going at our house.  And a nice Sunday night supper. 

  My DH, the one who won my heart and who wins it still: (looking a little more rakishly charming than usual with his camping beard and sunburn) But, there’s more to come. Today is another birthday of a son and this weekend we are having a baby shower for which Emily made these darling invitations:

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I know I left my trip somewhere in Ogden, Utah, and I hope I will get us back home soon but so much was going on around here I felt the need to stay current so abandoned the trip temporarily.

Higher and Higher

This blog is dedicated to Gilly who needs to come and see the Rockies herself.

We left Denver on Saturday morning having said our good-byes to the family on Friday night.  Dad chose our route with input from me ;) saying how much I had enjoyed the Red Rock Canyon west of Glenwood Springs a few years back on a train.  I had noticed in narrow spots there was only room for the train, the Colorado River, and a highway which I hoped to traverse some day.  Subsequently, my DH and I drove it, but here was another chance!  A remarkable piece of road.

We were sad about the clouds going up into the mountains, afraid that we would miss the views:

But soon the sun broke through:     

  Coming up to the famous Eisenhower Tunnel:

The Eisenhower Tunnel is so named because of his effort to get an interstate highway system.  It is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, at 11,112 feet elevation.  It is 1.69 miles long which seems like a long ways when you are in it.  It is clean and bright which you can’t tell from my photos taken at 55 mph! Through the windshield, no less. At the summit is Lake Dillon, now frozen over:

        Ski runs visible in Vail: 

Many ski condos in Glenwood Springs and Vail:

Coming into the red rock area:

Nice textures:

   

There is a bike trail running alongside the river below the highway:  The photo below shows the train tracks on the left, the Colorado River, a very small ribbon of bike trail and then the split-level eastbound and westbound lanes of I-70:

I did not “fix” this rock color, I swear.  It was all like this, which is what makes the other photos disappointing. Impressive clouds; rain in the distance:

The day’s not over yet but it’s time for me to quit.

[I have struggled to move between Windows Live Writer, Picasa 3 for collages, and my original blogger site.  For some reason when I do a collage and post it , it always goes to Blogspot and not Live Writer where I am working.  Can anyone out there help me?]

Now, what shall I make for dinner?