Look who came to visit!

Summer in Oregon brings so many pleasures and surprises, including a visit from Baby Ruby and her family! Pamela's cousin in Portland was getting married and Jer and Pamela had some time after the wedding and before the flight home to Berkeley. So Courtney, Aaron and I spent the day with them at McMenamins Edgefield Inn outside of Portland. (Very cool spot--I would definitely recommend it.)



It was much too brief a visit--only half a day--but great to keep that connection going with Ruby and see her progress and development in person. As always she kept everyone entertained and amazed. And it's very wonderful watching Pamela and Jer in their parenting roles.

Here's the whole gang, minus Aunt Hat who was behind the camera. That's Pamela's mom Doris on the left and her dad John on the right. What a sweet and very fun family.




Speaking of sweet and fun, our first house-guest of the season, Mabelle arrived on 4th of July weekend in her self-contained bed and breakfast. All she needed was a flat place to park and a bathroom. She's got a solar panel she plops up on top during the day and that gives her the juice she needs for a reading light and fan for the night.

Most the time we had spent with Mabelle in Monterey was at films or talks or on marches. We had a great time while she was here getting to know each other better, exchanging stories and finding so much that we had in common.

It was hot and sunny and we made a trip downtown to the farmer's market and a walk along the river, and Courtney took Mabelle for a tour around campus, but mostly we spent time in the haven of our backyard--sitting at the picnic table, eating and talking. Heaven.



Then two weeks later it was daVinci Days and we were blessed with more great company-- Helen came from Monterey and Peter and Lee came from Portland. As happened when Helen visited the first summer we lived in Corvallis, the temp went to 100+ and so much of our focus was on how to stay in the shade and keep cool and hydrated.

As always daVinci Days was wildly creative and entertaining. Below is the "Friendly Giraffe"--a one-man effort. But, as you'll see below, most of the machines have more than one pilot, as they're called, plus a pit crew.

The criteria is that the "kinetic sculptures" must be human-powered and be able to complete a race on the ground, up and over a sand dune, through a mud bog and down the river.






















Lots of puppets and pagentry, and most of all, incredibly creativity and fun. Helen was game for everything, despite the awful heat, including a night-time concert by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and then a hot and sunny viewing of the bog race the next day.

It was great to share the fun with our friends Peter and Lee from Portland. As was the case with Mabelle, we knew Peter and Lee from political work, specifically Palestinian solidarity, and this was the first chance we'd gotten to know each other more as friends. The five of us share a passion for Palestinian human rights work, but we also just plain enjoyed each other, so it made for a really great weekend.

When it was just the two of us Helen and I mainly spent our precious time together on the back deck--an especially nice place for our breakfasts and dinners. We created wonderful salads together and enjoying them over tall glasses of iced tea and long talks.




Just like last year Courtney and I went to the Peoria Gardens' big summer sale twice--filled the back of the Honda not once but twice--and then I had to re-pot all those danged plants. And then, just like last year, we had company (last time Frank and Margaret, this time Helen) who had to watch me pot and pot and pot some more. Luckily I can talk and dig in the dirt at the same time. Below is just a fraction of the fun flowers and herbs I scored...



...and here they are below after finding new homes, mostly around the deck in the backyard.









The front yard is more Courtney's domain. He's got the espaliered fruit trees growing up and along the fence, hardy kiwi, four types of blueberries, a Ukranian persimmon tree, nasturtiums...



...and snow peas, winter squash, wildflowers, lavenders and sages.



We're very inspired, and blessed, by our neighbor Jerry who invited us to pick cherries, and then more cherries, and then more. Big beautiful black cherries. And then he presented us with this incredible bouquet of sunflowers from his garden. His sunflower patch is about the size of our house--pretty stunning. He just broadcasts sunflower bird seed and let's 'em grow!





And speaking of growing, Aaron turned 14 at the end of July. Last year we had a big party for him and I invited neighbors and friends of mine and Courtney's, to help Aaron meet more people in Corvallis. I wanted him to feel part of our community. He of course spent most of his time with his cousin Matt (that's to be expected) and being a teenager he didn't hobnob and meet a bunch of new friends. Oh well, it was a good party and I don't regret it at all.

But this year his one request pertaining to his party was that there only invite people who he knows. Hummm, how weird. But I respected his request and it was an intimate gathering--Maya, Eder, my mom, Courtney, Aaron and me. (Ben was off doing his own thing.)





Here he is, the handsome dude. One of his birthday gifts from me was a photo album of his life. I'd been working on it for several years, but each year when his birthday would come around I wouldn't have it finished. So this year I stayed with it and got it done in time. We all had fun after dinner looking at the photos of his childhood together--laughing and reminiscing.

Aaron's other birthday gift was a week's trip to Monterey to stay with his buddy Robert and Robert's family. I love that Aaron and Robert have been friends since second grade, and Robert's mom Patty and I do our best to help the boys maintain their friendship. Robert was here last winter break and hopefully he'll be back this year.




The other handsome boy in my life, Courtney, is seen above and below doing his early morning watering in his garden along the south side of our house. I especially love the romano beans growing up the bamboo structure that Courtney built for them. During the two week period of hot hot weather Courtney was up and in the garden early each day trying to keep all his plants from frying. Here and there was a burnt leaf or two, but for the most part everything survive thanks to his care and diligence. Every household and garden should be so lucky as to have a Courtney in it.



Well, that's been our summer, more or less. I'm hoping to be more regular about blogging when winter comes. Too much keeps me away from the computer during the summer months--precious guests and family, the pleasure of being in the garden and among my flowers, and the total luxury of reading under the great shade trees in our backyard.

But so many things that I'd like to include in this blog get lost in my miniature memory bank. "Must not have been that important" goes the old saying, but I don't think that's true. So I'm praying for a long rainy winter in which to type away at the computer hour after hour with no regrets of missing time outdoors.

In the meanwhile, I'd better get back out there--before Ben's builds another tower without me!




Thanks for reading this and I hope your summer is warm, sunny, restful and rejuvenating.

Til next time, much love,

Valori