It feels so good to be back in Oregon!

But, I can't say it is just perfect because it isn't the same living in the trailer as it was traveling in the trailer.  When we traveled, I was busy going on hikes and seeing the sights.  But now, we have not been hiking and I have seen the sights around here that I have wanted to see.  I find something every day that keeps me busy, but I don't like not having a real house to have my grandkids and kids visit.  With the predicted COVID-19 virus getting worse after the holidays and the southern states having record cases, we have decided it would be best to postpone our plans to travel right after Christmas.  So the decision for right now is to begin looking for a house and wait it out until next year to begin the travels again.  I have found a few houses online and we have been doing drive-bys.  We have toured a couple.  Right now, with it being winter, fewer homes are on the market and add on the virus and things are pretty slim in the home buying business.  It is not a rush, but I know I can't just live in the trailer if we are not traveling. 

The 6th of November is Joshua's birthday.  We drove to Salem and took the 4 of them to lunch.  Just after that, the governor closed restaurants back down a second time because of the virus.

The next day was an online play the Gabe was in.  He tried out online, did a call back and was selected for the part of Peter a mute boy.  Even though he didn't have lines, he had hard work to learn to express himself without words.  The acting company that does these plays really did a good job of getting it online instead of onstage.  I went online to watch the performance.

And then came Josiah's birthday on the 12th.  He had a couple of friends from school over and there was a drive-by for family and friends to wish him a Happy Birthday.

His parents gave him a fishing trip on a boat.They had to go away overnight to be there at the crack of dawn when the boat left. So I got  to spend the night at their house with the girls. We celebrated with a breakfast out and piles of pancakes. 

We had sad news that my Uncle Dale passed away. He was like a brother to my Mom and my Dad.  He was such a special uncle.  Each of my sisters and I think he thought we were more special to him that the other.  How does a person do this? He had pet names for each of us and we didn't really notice that until the past few years. Even after Aunt Carlene died, he continued to write Christmas cards to us.  I loved him. He will be so missed!

The last of the fall colors was beautiful and I saw some gorgeous sunrises from my back window.

I love it that the grandkids know how much I love certain things.  Hearts, bugs, butterflies, birds, chipmunks...and rainbows.  One day I received a phone call with an excited voice telling me to "look outside 'really quick'.  Its a double rainbow!"  I ran outside with my camera and captured a few shots as they drove in to watch it with me.

Just across the road is an historical house and a tree called a pointing tree.  In the settling days of Oregon, Indians used these kinds of trees to point out directions to certain things.  

All spring and summer, we were still able to visit my parents outside.  We took our own food and didn't go inside the house since March.  Well, with typical winter weather coming on, my Dad closed in the back porch.  They have a little gas fireplace out there already.  He made sure there is plenty of ventilation and we are still able to sit a ways away and visit with them.

The hope was that they could still have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner out there.  Well as time clicked on, my kids said no way did they want to risk exposing everyone in that area.  They each decided to have their own dinners at their own homes.  And so it was just 6 of us spaced out at two 8ft tables.  My Mom cooked the whole meal and my Dad wheeled it out to us.  Each of us had our own serving bowls for our very own private dinners.  Afterwards, we took home whatever was leftover in those bowls and we threw our plates and plasticware in the trash.  Not traditional and I hope we don't have to repeat it, but it was still nice to have a tiny resemblance to normal.

Two days later, the same six of us met up again at the same spaced out tables and celebrated Mom's birthday.  Cyndi had a special video message for her from friends and family.

And that brings us to December.  Vaccines are on the way, but it looks like Christmas will look like Thanksgiving out there.  The grandkids and great-grandkids are all seeing Grandma and Grandpa at a distance, all on different days.