I wish you guys had never come.......

My father used to say this at the end of every visit.  It was his way of saying that it would be so hard to see us leave.

We have had that experience twice this year.

This weekend we had our fifth annual camping trip to Lincoln Rock State Park with Jules, Jessica, Ian and Adam.  The reason for the trip is that Jules, Vicky, and I (and on one occasion one of Jules' and our friend) do the Apple Century Bike Ride.

This ride is one of our four or five favorites.  Of course, the main ride of the year is the STP (Seattle to Portland, 210 miles).  Our other favorites are the Inland Empire Ride (with Jules) and our yearly Century ride (with Jules), and the 40 mile ride around San Juan Island with a stop at Roche Harbor.

The Apple Century is lovely.......and hilly.  It begins in Wenatchee, WA, and goes several miles north of Leavenworth, WA.  Along the way you travel through apple orchards with beautiful views of the valleys and the Cascade Mountains.  This year Jules did the entire century (100 miles), and we did 80 miles.

.........and need I mention that he beat us to the finish line by at least 30 minutes even though he rode 20 more miles?  It's because he's fast and we're slow, a dynamite combination.  Here he is, on Deadman Hill, when he caught up to us and passed us (and, yes, there really is a steep steep hill called "Deadman Hill").

Here we are at the half-way point of our 80 miles:

Some shots along the way:

Along the way Vicky spotted a beautiful elk high on a hill.  Several of us stopped to look at it.

And we looked and looked, and it didn't move....and didn't move.....and didn't move.

Finally, we all came to the realization that it was a statue.  It was very realistic.  Someone has a terrific sense of humor.

We did this ride on Vicky's birthday.  So, Jessica, Jules, Ian and Adam had a party for her upon our return.  Sweet, huh?

Vicky trying to blow out the candles on her cheesecake:

Everybody laughing because they were those candles that don't blow out!

 Including Jessica who hadn't realized that she had purchased that type of candle!

Isn't that fun?  What a life.

Vicky and I took our camper:

Our plan was to stay another day and take our kayak out on the water.  But after everyone left, the weather wasn't that warm and it was windy.  We sat for a couple of hours trying to get inspired, and just felt the emptiness of them being gone.

So, we said what the heck, packed up, and went home.  Good decision.  

I wish they had never come.

The other time we felt that way this year was after our trip to Disney World with Emily, Sean, Soren, and Sebastian.  We did something similar with them---we stayed for a day after they left.  The difference was that we had Disney World to entertain us and this is where we went for our honeymoon, so we still had special day.  But I remember telling them their last night:

"I wish you guys had never come."

It's a nice feeling.  It means we would like to do it all over again.  How great is that?

Vicky's birthday: All the ice cream she wants

This year, for Vicky's birthday I did something fun for her---I bought her all of the ice cream she wanted, and all of the flavors she wanted.

And she could just eat and eat! 

Her birthday gift (the sign, not the tree)

In 1944. On an island in the Pacific. Killed by a Japanese sniper.

We could hardly have a richer life.  In just the past year some of the highlights have included a 6700 mile, 4 1/2 month road trip where we camped on our beautiful public lands and hiked 540 miles in grasslands and deserts.  We have cycled about 2000 miles all over the state of Washington, including our annual STP with Jules.  We went on a cruise to Alaska---the best part being what was almost our personal dance band to which we danced for hours every night.  We attended my 50th high school reunion.  We spent a lot of time with our children and families.

Since we have returned from this latest road trip we have made improvements to the house, have planted dozens of flowers, and are feeding and enjoying the birds that live in Washington State this time of year--birds that sing so loud to us early every morning that we have to close our windows in order to sleep.  It is beautiful here.

Of special importance, in just the past two months we have gone to Disneyworld with two grandchildren, gone to one grandson's play (Little Shop of Horrors---it was great!), gone to another grandson's baseball game and watched him pitch, catch, and hit, taught one granddaughter chopsticks so she can play it at the talent show this week, sang Happy Birthday to one grandson yesterday, barbecued with two little boys who call us aunt and uncle, and watched Vicky teach another granddaughter how to sew a dress from scratch (she's actually hard at work next to me as I write this).  All these little lives we get to be a part of.

In short, life is good.  Awfully good.  Blessed, in fact.

These are the kinds of life experiences Guy Alley never got to have.  He also never got to be there when his children were born, or see them off on their first days of school.  He never got hired for his career job.  He never got to grow old and worry about his health.  Or maybe even fall in love.

He died before he could have any of these experiences.  In 1944.  On an island in the Pacific.  Shot by a Japanese sniper.

Guy was officially a "first cousin once removed."  In other words, he was my father's cousin.  That's close enough for me to think of him as a cousin.  He was family.

I did not even know about him until recently when I was going through some papers that my parents had saved.  There was a folder about him, information that was saved for a purpose I'll never know since my parents are deceased.

Here he is as a young boy.  He is the one on the right.

As an adolescent.  Again, he is the one on the right.  All of the names were on a piece of paper attached to the photo.  On the back of the photo someone thoughtfully made a note that the dog's name was Rusty.  

In uniform with his mother, sister, and a brother.  Little did they know the heartache to come:

 

His obituary.  You can see that the above photo was probably the only one they had of him in uniform, so it was cropped and put into the newspaper.

Like most Iowa farm boys, he probably volunteered for the Army, like my father did the day after Pearl Harbor.  He would have been 19 years old.

Guy missed out on so much.

Also in the papers I found was a note to my father from someone in the family who indicated that another soldier in Guy's squad saw what happened to him.  Guy was killed by a "Jap Sniper."  Another man in his squad had been hit and Guy went to rescue him.  The sniper was later killed.

He went to rescue him. Instead of being there when his children were born, or reading to grandchildren, or snuggling up with his wife on a cold winter's night, Guy's last act on earth was trying to rescue a fellow soldier.

Memorial Day is not Grill Hamburgers Day.  Instead it is a day for remembering who it was that made it possible for me to be here today listening to Vicky teach our granddaughter how to sew.


Statler Brothers:  Silver Medals and Sweet Memories

Today also marks the death, 48 years ago, of the most decorated soldier in WWII--Audie Murphy.

Audie Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, killing 240 German soldiers and saving many of his country-men's lives.  He was about the shortest hero imaginable--standing only 5 feet 5 inches.  He went on to a successful career in films.  However, he was a damaged man, living much of his life by himself, with a loaded gun under his pillow.  He died in a plane crash, too young for what he gave us, at age 45.

Two 50-mile rides on the Burke-Gilman Trail

One our philosophies about cycling is to have several different rides we enjoy.  In addition to the several different Whidbey Island rides we do, we go all over the state to ride.

Last week, for example, we went to the Tri-cities and rode the Inland Empire with Jules.

This weekend we went to Seattle and rode twice on the Burke-Gilman trail, doing 50 miles each time.

This ride is an old stand-by.  We have done it dozens of times.  The key to enjoying it is to not make it all we do.

One of the best parts of the Burke-Gilman is that one goes through many different types of areas.  From where we usually start we ride along Lake Washington, through Bothel, along the Sammamish River, and then along Lake Sammamish.   Another good part of the ride is that it isn't hilly.  Now, before you think that "not being hilly" means easy, it doesn't.  It is just a different way of riding, a more constant pedaling.  Doing that is almost like cross-training on a bike.  On a flat surface one can take it easy or one can go all out.  Both days we went all out, for 50 miles each time.  That is very hard work, as hard as riding the hills of Whidbey Island......only different.  Different muscles, and different aerobic demands.

On our first day's ride we were "accompanied" by Jules.  When we say accompanied, what we mean by that is that we saw him at the start and at the finish.  He's so much more accomplished that we are that this is the best way to do it.

It doesn't matter. I still feel like I am "riding" with my son.  I want him to be stronger than me.  Why would I want anything different?  It's really special.

A nice woman offered to take our photo at our lunch spot on the first day:

And I got this one of Vicky at our lunch spot on the second day:

I have such good memories of riding with Vicky and Jules on this trail.  These past two days have added to those memories.

Six year anniversary of our first data at Buck's American Cafe and Noreen's Dance

Our first "outing" together was to Buck's American Cafe in Everett, and then to a dance at Noreen's.  So, every year we celebrate this first "outing" by re-doing it. 

It was not an official "date."  But it was. 

These yearly celebrations mean a lot to us.

Vicky know that I have always wanted to own a real barn.  So she got me the next best thing:  Pillow with pictures of barns on them.

And I got Vicky another "engagement" ring, because the one I purchased, hurriedly, six years ago had lost two stones:




Always a terrific desert.

Another Mother's Day for me!

After our Mother’s Day party after the Inland Empire bikeride, I thought that Mother’s Day was over for another year.  Then Candice arrived with Marina and Stella and treated Dan and me to dinner at our favorite Whidbey Island Mexican restaurant, Patron’s.



Stella wanted to play the chopsticks with Grandpa for us after dinner.  They are really good!



The next day flowers arrived from Emily, Sean, and the boys.  What a surprise!  They are absolutely beautiful.  Thank you to all our family for a very special Mother’s Day that just went on and on.....

The Lupine Lady

May 17, 2017

Marina was excited to show us her science project.  Stella enjoyed looking at pictures with Grandpa on his computer while Marina got set up to give her presentation:




Marina did her speech and demonstration.  And then we got to see the final result...she held up an ice cube with a little matchstick.  I don’t remember the scientific reason that this works, but at the time she explained it quite well. We were all amazed!

Stella brought over her very favorite “ever” backpack.  She was upset because it had torn and was unusable.  I explained how she could sew and patch it up.  Stella determinedly set work with the sewing machine and proudly fixed her pack.  We were quite proud of her.











The girls still like to sit with me and have me read to them.  So I got to read them my very favorite children’s book about the Lupine Lady.  She travels all over the world and has lots of adventures, but as she gets older she remembers what she had been told as a child...to make the world a little bit better.  So as she takes walks she flings lupine seeds in all the fields and in springtime the whole countryside is blossoming.




It is a beautiful book and story. Marina and Stella have a bit of the Lupine Lady in them and make our world more beautiful, as all our grandchildren do.

A lovely spring with our Granddaughters

One of the first things we always do when we get home from a roadtrip is have a Stellarina Birthday Party.  And since they are girls and like pretty things to wear, we get to take them clothes shopping for their birthday present.  My favorite store to find dancing dresses and sun dresses is Target, so we headed off on a ferry trip to the mainland.

First Dan took all his “girls“ out to lunch at Subway, where we could each order our sandwich to our liking.



At the checkout Dan took a picture of our granddaughters eager to get home and show Grandpa what they had picked out.


They insisted that we sit at the far end of the living room so they had a full length runway as they modeled their new outfits.








The girls made cupcakes for their birthday cake.  Marina couldn’t keep her fingers out of the batter.







For Christmas we had given each of the girls a gift card to the local craft store.  Marina used her gift card to buy Fimo clay. She showed us the miniature food (including sushi), beads, and flowers  she had made by shaping, painting, and baking the Fimo.

Very imaginative and detailed work:



I spent all last winter making blankets for the girl’s beds.  They had picked out the yarn they liked best...both chose the same yarn, so I added a purple border to Marina’s blanket.





The first thing the girls wanted to do when they visited us and had an afternoon for projects was to start making jewelry again.  Stella said she had broken some of her bracelets and necklaces and lost lost of the earrings she had made.  Spring with Marina and Stella is underway!



They said that will keep their blankets “forever”.  Later, their Dad said that they sleep with them every night.

The Deception Pass Marathon, one of Candice’s races as a race director, was scheduled for the same day as the Tulip Pedal bike ride that Dan and I did, so on the way home, wee stopped off  for a surprise visit.  Marina and Stella were playing on the beach and it was wonderful to watch them play.