Saturday, July 31, 2010

Sorry about the empty video frames. We couldn't figure out how to upload them onto my MacBook. Maybe later.

Here are some still shots of this suite at Ecola Creek Lodge. We are loving it.

 Jack continues to nap as I write and Ben snores on the futon nearby.











 Jack likes to lick our wet feet!




We have the corner suite looking out into this lovely garden with cascading pools into a koi pond and this sunny deck

. I love montbretia (crocosmia).

Today we rose leisurely and had time for breakfast and a yoga class in Tolovana. There, I learned of a yoga workshop happening August 28-29, $200, that I think I will return to take. I don't remember the name of the yoga instructor coming to lead the workshop, from London with a world class reputation, according to Christen the local instructor. She was wonderful herself, and the energy in the class this morning with just five of us was nurturing, which I needed. Info is posted on the local instructor's website: cannonbeachyogaarts.com. Anyone else interested? At this moment there is a studio available at the Ecola Creek Lodge that has two queens, $132 a night, no kitchen. We could look into something else or maybe someone has a house or connections for a house?

After yoga, Ben and I went to our favorite bakery-espresso joint, Waves of Grain. Later a short stroll to exercise Jack, then taco lunch at 'home.' Billy stopped by with a friend on their way to surf at Indian Beach. We look forward to sharing dinner with them later.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Our Suite at Ecola Creek Lodge







Here are videos of the Ecola Creek Lodge suite and part of our day at Cape Kiwanda, after we hiked up and back down the dune. Hope you find them as amusing as we do.
















By the way, some of you may want to view Pia and Dave's blog to keep up with the baby's development: http://thedaveandpiashow.blogspot.com/. Thank you to all who are joining us in our 40 day meditation for the baby, and sending prayers and warm thoughts their way. Also, I have to brag: I made the wedding dress you see Pia wearing in the opening photo with Dave at the beach. There's a story there I may tell some day.


We had a fantastic two days at Tierra Del Mar with Debbie, Bill, and niece Kara from Tennessee, and my mom. The days started with low clouds that broke by noon to bright skies and light breezes. 


It was a delight spending time with Kara. Kara is on summer break before her last year of nursing school in Tennessee. She will be a gift to the medical profession and all whom she treats. She's a help and a joy to me. As I have written before, I am blessed with many wonderful nieces and three fine nephews, each so very different from one another, with different gifts and charms. Don't you love Kara's fashion style? We had fun inspecting some interesting jewelry in town, with the plan to replicate some pieces. I hadn't realized how many interests and idiosyncracies we shared. 


 A study in black and white, Debbie with daughter Kara, Cape Kiwanda dune and stack in the distance. 



The pups had a rompous time on the beach, and in the house. What a difference between a spaniel and a terrier when it comes to water and retrieving. Jack has no interest in either, but Sadie...!


Today we climbed the short end of the dune for a panoramic view of the ocean and the small cove beaches at the base of the cape. When we figure out how to upload the video we shot, you can see for yourself the beauty of the place.

After a leisurely morning at the breakfast table eating Debbie's waffles and the afternoon at the cape and feasting on burgers at the Pelican Pub, Ben, Jack and I headed north to Cannon Beach, where we are now in the Ecola Creek Lodge. I love this place and this suite of rooms in particular. Again, when we upload the video, you can share in the charm of this place. We are sitting in a knotty pine paneled living room beside a brick gas fireplace at a round wood table. Earlier we dined on New Season's skirt steaks (double yum) looking out our window over a koi pond in the garden. I strongly recommend this lodging. Tomorrow, if we wake early enough, I will check out a vinyasa yoga class in the Tolovana Hall, wherever that is; nearby I presume. Ben has plans for coffee and Tillamook cheesy biscuits at Waves of Grain bakery in Tolovana, the prime culinary attraction for us here. Billy may be surfing at Indian Beach in Ecola Park tomorrow and we will join him there. We are hoping he will spend the night on the futon in our suite. Zac is busy this weekend competing in a marathon of events with kickball friends. Being a natural athlete, we have high hopes he will take the gold. Unfortunately, this prevents him from joining us for the weekend. 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Here's a recipe for a smoothie to help you gain weight. I hope it works for me. It sure tasted good, and made about 18 oz.


- 1 banana
- 1 cup frozen berries
- 1/2 mango
- 3/4 c mixed juices
- 1/2 bottle (3 oz?) Ensure
- 1/4 c coconut cream milk
- 2 T green powder (fruits and veggies)
- 4 T whey protein powder

Thought you might like to see the Callas girls: Debbie Hood, Becky Scleicher, Betty Hesketh, Kathy Callas, and me.

Today I didn't feel so good upon waking so I slept through yoga, which I hate to miss, as well as my good friends at yoga. But by 11:00 I was feeling better. I went to my 11:30 appointment, then to Elephant's to pick up a deli lunch and off to meet my SLP friend of 30 years, Debbie Haroun, at the Japanese Garden. Does anyone else find the gift stores in nice parks and museums as enticing as I do? I found exquisite sculptured napkin rings and a beautiful celludon (How do you spell it?) lotus bowl for inspiration in my meditation room. Yes, the garden was as peaceful and graceful as always. We sat in a quiet place and listened to the water feature, sharing our thoughts on life and death and our experiences with cancer and other life challenges and joys. Debbie's been my model for a long time now, ever since she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer years ago. What a woman she is, with a passion for life that knows no limits, so it seems.



Tomorrow we are driving to Tierra del Mar to join sister Debbie and Bill for a couple days then move north to Cannon Beach for the weekend. I am so eager to go that my bags have been packed for two days.

I hope wherever each of you is, that you have enjoyed this gloriously fresh day.

Pamela

Belinda Kegg Reagan and Clown (Polly Waller)

Polly was delighted to inherit my tap shoes. 

Pam, Joann Hardy (my HS dance partner), and Polly Waller, all best friends as far back as first grade at old Sylvan School.
Can you tell we had a great time reminiscing and laughing. We plan to continue meetingand maintain these old bonds.

Later in the afternoon, my good friend Leslie Dale came over. Jack immediately curled up next to her .

The final photo here is of our Patriot Hostas. This year their blooms are spectacular. 

I am fading fast here and having a hard time navigating where I want on this blog. I just wanted briefly to make a medical update: After a week of oral chemo and the initial infusion, I had lost weight, down to 95#, and had an increase in bowel issues. So the doctor had me discontinue the oral chemo until things were under better control. And now they are (only 4-6 poops a day!) and I just restarted the oral meds. I also took my usual cocktail of other drugs and am feeling a bit loopy. So it's time to sign off. 
Later, Pamela

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hondo Dog Park Gang - Hanging with the Small Dogs

Take a look at some of Jack's buds at the dog park. 






We are having fun watching all the dogs romp and getting to know the different dog and people personalities. After the park, we joined liz and John Etter for breakfast at Grand Central in Sellwood. It's a fine day.
Unforgettable....
That was one of the pieces the combo played after the wedding as the couples danced, and that was my thought again this morning about the whole evening. We went to the wedding of Leslie Taylor and James Vanden Bos at Leslie's grandma Jane Kendall's home. What a beautiful garden setting on the sloping lawn under huge old maples and beech trees. The guests were seated in rows of white chairs. The young women each had selected a different style of dress cut from the same burgundy cloth and were individually lovely. They had clearly gone to the same hairdresser who had done magic with their hair, each a different natural shade. Bride Leslie was especially beautiful in ivory skimming the curves of her body and her strawberry blonde hair coils piled above her beaming freckled face.

This is how I have always pictured her from the time I first met her at age five when we moved in across Lowell Street from the Taylors: an engaging smile on an adorable freckled face framed with straight cropped strawberry blond hair.  For the next 4 years, I think, Billy and Leslie were in the same grade school classes at Bridlemile. They and their brothers, Jimmy, Zachary and David, along with the close neighbor kids, Patrick, Sarah, and Tim Nicoles, Charlie and Amy Adelman, and some 'little ones' (at that time), the Bourdeaux and Fredericks, all romped in the street and across the unfenced lawns playing with dogs, shooting hoops, throwing frisbees, hitting baseballs. I guess our David is the oldest, now 31, and Tim Nicoles the youngest of this gang, in college. They developed strong bonds that continue into their busy adult lives. I knew of Ann and knew many of her extended family cousins from growing up in close proximity in the Sylvan area, attending old Sylvan Schools. So we just blended right into the neighborhood, over 20 years ago, and plan for this to be our last home. We love our neighborhood, our friends, and the bonds and memories forged over the decades. Even if I win the lottery, I'm not moving. So last night sharing more memories, adding the wedding to the mix, was very special indeed.

We also had the chance to visit with friends from Sylvan Grade school days, LHS days, and new friends made over the past couple years in the neighborhood and at the MAC. If that weren't special enough, there was an inspiring  classical combo at the wedding and a contemporary music group at the reception at the traditional Racquet Club at Sylvan, another throw back to my youth. The food, especially the exquisite assortment of melting and tangy cheeses put a smile in my tummy. I refrained from dragging my husband on to the dance floor but was pleased when Billy accepted my invitation to dance. That was an especially charming treat, including a drop at the finale. We were proud parents watching Billy and Zac mingle at ease and handsomely among their friends. What fine young men.

Did I say how beautiful Leslie was, how her emotions shown through the pores of her skin, the twwinkle of her eyes? And how pretty and elegant Ann looked, radiant really. Dave was a handsome figure, especially on the dance floor with Ann. As we say of our friends we are accustomed to seeing in workout or gardening clothes, you clean up real good Ann.


It was an unforgettable night that brought joy to my heart.