So, What Exactly is Going on in My Life?

On Our Way to Cannon Beach

Such a slug I have been!     Life sure has been busy but I am finally able to break away and update my blog with the next part of our trip

After a wonderful stay in Portland we headed to the Beach, Cannon Beach to be exact.

As with the entire trip it was cool if not cold as we left.   On the way we stopped by our old house in Forest Grove to see what 28 years or so had done to it.      As a kid, it was my favorite place to live.   It is out in the middle of nowhere off the beaten track. out in the country, the drive was beautiful!    It was great to see mountains, greenery, and open land.    At the higher elevations it started snowing and you could see it high up on the mountain ridge.  

To our amazement we found Vineyard's!     As we approached Timmerman Road it was flanked on both sides.    What a surprise.      The rest of the drive up to the old house felt very much the same, maybe a new house or two and a new one being built. But it remained much as I remembered back when I was 9 or 10.    It was beautiful.  Peaceful and quite.   My best friend Lori lived not far from the house: a filbert grove separated us and I remember many a day walking through it to get to her house.    We use to have so much fun,  there was so much land to play on and she had a lazy ol' pony that more then put up with us and our antics.   I remember playing Indians and running up behind him and jumping on his back and riding off in a rush!   God knows that I would not have the nerve nor is there enough money to make me run up behind a horse and jump on its back and ride off.   She also had the largest dog I had ever seen, a Newfoundland, Bo.  He was a great dog and probably what has made me like giant doggies so much.

As we approached the house, I was surprised as how many great memories I had of Forest Grove.   The surrounding area is beautiful, I don' t think that there is anything more beautiful then Oregon, really...    I remember sitting on top of the pig house and sketching the view, playing in the old barn, and eating raw wheat from the neighbors fields.   Oh to be a kid again, so much less to worry about.   The sad part was went we got to the house.   We both remembered such a lovely place.  It was huge, sat at the top of a hill and over looked the little valley below.      Well times have changed,  the House was in sad shape. Actually worse then that, the front looked like a dump and was over grown.    At one time there was a patch of grass in the front yard with two little trees.   My Brother and I were out playing in the yard one day and he must have been chasing me, as I turned to run, one of the little tree's jumped right in front of me and I ran smack dab into it.   We laugh so hard I have to admit I pee'd my pants!       Well those trees are now huge and the grass is over grown .     The view was the same and the rest of the homes were pretty much the same but the old house was, well, it was just sad.  Both my mom and I felt the same, a bit disappointed to see it in such sad shape.         We drove around for a bit, taking in the sites.    The tree lines were the same, the cows at the bottom of the little valley were still endearing and the area still had the same peaceful feeling.    That part was wonderful, especially since I have such great memories of Forest Grove.     In the picture below you can see snow on the tree tops and the back of the house.   We have pictures of the front, but to spare us all the sadness, I will leave those in the depths of my hard drive.

Below is the sad front yard and the what is probably one of the trees I ran into years ago!   But the better sight to behold is the view of the mountains beyond!

As we wished the best to the ol' house we made our way back to the highway to continue our adventure to Cannon Beach and beyond.    The sun did come out for a few minutes but as you will see in the next photos the snow and rain came back.     Rain and snow, what fun!    The drive was beautiful and the company with my Mom was the best.    It was amazing how well we traveled together.    We were on the same schedule for all of our activities, I could not have asked for a better mom!  

 The photo below is damage that was caused by hurricane force winds that happened earlier in the year.  It was amazing to see whole hill sides that looked like match sticks, the tree tops were ripped off evenly and  we saw hill side after hill side of this type of damage.    We did not get pictures of the trees that were completely up rooted and laying on their sides root balls and all.   It was like looking at a tree on its side with a plate stuck on the end of it.   But the plate was 20 feet tall.  It was amazing. 

So there we go, photo fun of the drive from Portland to Cannon Beach -    Let the fun begin in Cannon Beach with the next update! 

Finally - Vacation Pictures are Edited and Organized

I finally was able to sit down and finish resizing and organizing my vacation photos!    It has taken me the better part of the last threes weeks to go through them all and make sense of them.   My Mom and I were each using a camera and at the end of each day we would swap flash cards and down load them.    

I must say that this is one of the best vacations I have ever had.    I am sure it has everything to do with being able to spend so much time with my mom.  We ended up being on the same vacation schedule,   We are both morning people and had the same pace throughout the vacation.    It made for a great vacation.

As you saw in the 1st post we started the vacation in Portland.  We spent time with the Finley side of the family as well as we toured the old neighborhood from my moms eyes.   We were both so amazed as how many changes had taken place as well as just how much had not changed!  

The biggest shock was my Grandmas house.    After  she passed away, my uncle continued to live in the house and when he passed away my mom and aunt sold it.     I always remember it as being a huge house on a double lot.  The yard was huge and had an upper play area to one side and a guest cottage in the back.    There was a big old house next door was a scary house.  Big, over grown, and you could never actually see into the year and we all swear that a monster lived there, imagine the Amity ville Horror movie.  It scared my mom as a kid as well it scared me as a kid.  Well... that has not changed other then when my uncle passed away we finally met the gentleman that lived there and in the end her turned out to be an average guy, not the monster from our imaginations.  Here is the house now:















To our surprise, as we arrived at the old house we found a huge brand new house built on the lot that was once the part of Grandma's property.   It made the old house look tiny.  All the old hedges were gone, the driveway was gone as well as the upper play yard.  All gone and in their place was a beautiful, stunning new house.  Such a shock that when my mom sent a photo of the old house to my Aunt she did not even realize that it was the old house!














Now the new house gets the scary old neighbor...

























It was amazing to see the house and the flood of memories that come with it.   A world come and gone, only to be remembered.    That was the sad part.  The fun part was to hear all the stories from my mom and her memories of growing up there.  From Ice cream stories where my mom was going to jump off the bus early to get ice cream and my aunt pretended to want to do the same thing only to let my mom get off the bus without her and she was left to walk home alone, to steel roller skating down a huge hill ( I would not have had the nerve to this - Huge Hill!) to the fun that was had up in Mt Tabor park as a teenager (details withheld to protect the innocent).   

We spent the afternoon driving around the neighborhood looking at the old home for friends and family.  The house of good friends, the apartment where my brother was born.


























We also Drove by the Wedding house that my parents were Married at.   It was still there, all be it overgrown so we could not see much. 














Portland was amazing, the flowers were just starting to bloom, it was overcast, rainy and in the high 30's the entire trip but the architecture and house's in the neighborhood were beautiful! Flowers blooming and spring on it's way.


















And Ron Goforths's old house

















And Reed College, where my dad when to school.














The most special place we visited was my Great Grandma Finley's house (Better know as Grandma Fin).  Every family has an extra special person in the family that keeps everyone together and for us or at least me this was Grandma Fin.
 
Back in 1997-1998 I visited Portland and stopped by her old house and met the new neighbors.    They had completely redone the inside of the house.     She was amazing an amazing person.   She always have red or black red vine  licorice hidden in the kitchen cupboard and made French toast with and orange slice and powdered sugar sprinkled on it for weekend breakfasts.   She also had a squirrel candy dish that she would keep spiced gum drops in.  Funny the things we remember.   I miss her dearly and it brings be to tears to think of her.  I can't think of a better childhood then the one I had with her.  She loved to walk and I remember many a trip walking with her up to Fred Meyers for grocery shopping on the weekends. From time to time I would walk up to a flower shop next to Freddie's and buy her a flower.  Damn if that same flower shop is still there, over 30 years later!   My Grandam had a funny little poodle "Pal" that was her best companion.  My brother and I would spend many a weekend with her at her house.  Holidays, sick days and fun days,  This was the 1st place I ever remember my brother sticking up for me.  If I remember right a neighborhood kid threw a snowball at me and hurt me.   I seem to remember that he went after the kid sticking up for me, I must have been 5-6 at the time and my brother would have been 9-10. 

Back in 1997-1998 I visited Portland and stopped by her old house.  The owners were home and let me tour the inside.  They had completely redone the inside.  I somehow always thought the house was large when in all actuality it was really small, around 900 sq ft or so.   Again, one of those things that I remember as big but was actually really small.   I also have memories of the back steps from the house to the back yard as being huge - maybe 10-15 steps down.  When in actuality it was 3-4.    (Confirmed by mom and Aunt this visit)     This trip we did not see the inside but the outside was in great condition.   My Grandfather built the house on NE 61st Ave and NE Hoyt many many years ago, I suppose back in the 40''s and she lived there until 1986. 

 
















The Funny Story is that while visiting my Aunt she had a copy of a property listing for the house.   My Cousin John's friend bought the house next door and when the house went up for sale her grabbed a copy of the listing.   I think my Grandma would fall over knowing her house was going for over 300K.      I would imagine that my grandfather built it for under $3000 all those years ago.    I have a feeling that my love for old house's came from this house and my Grandma Cherrie's old house. 

So now you have the highlights of the Portland part of the trip.    The next post will be the drive from Portland to Cannon Beach.    A little snow, wineries, beautiful landscape and a run down house will be in your future!

Weekend Chaos

The weekend started like all good weekends.   Watering plants, a few loads of laundry from the week gone by and garden bug control.    This weekend ended up being a little more interesting.   

We had a beautiful dog show up at the front  early yesterday morning.   He didn't knock as most guest would but rather snuffled at the front door causing my three to get very agitated.      Not realizing who was at the door I opened it only to find him trying to come in.       He has a collar, not tags, and is very dirty and very very thin.    I did not realize it at 1st but as he settled down and would let me pet him it became very apparent.  So me in all my wisdom, gave him water  as it was quite hot yesterday.   He spent the day going from the front door to the back gate (to the aggravation of my three).    As dinner time rolled around yesterday he was still at the front door so again in more wisdom I fed him dinner and a bit more water.      He wouldn't eat at 1st but a little hand feeding brought out the hunger in him.    He settled down for the night and slept on the front porch.   Happy to see me this morning, he showed me his pride and joy.  

































The dog and the possum are still out front watching each other patiently.     My three can't quite figure out the best way to handle the chaos.  front door to back door and back again.     I am sure that the possum will eventually need to find his way home now that day light has come but I am not sure my new friend will let him.   


















You can see the little lump under the car - that's Mr. Possum.   

I am not sure what the day will bring, other then catching up on work and figuring out what to do with my new friend.  I supposed a little internet search to find the SPCA and may be a poster or two.