We headed to LA for Gabe's birthday via Reno.  On the way, I saw my first wild swans.  Trumpet swans, a whole bunch of them, right along the road.  Of course I had John stop so I could take photos.  

And, in usual fashion, I walked to the lake by the Peppermill while they had fun inside, I visited my swan and other water fowl.  The little heron above finally had to stare me down, probably was trying to figure out what I was doing.

I had never noticed the feet on the coot until this time.  Pretty strange, huh?

I like the way the tail on these seagulls looked like they were crossing their fingers.

The swan was still there.  This time he was really in the mood to pose for photos.  Maybe he was just looking for food, but he kept close to the edge and had my camera a clicking!  I could post a zillion photos of him, but narrowed it down to these three. (I really don't know if he is a he or a she)

Here are a few shots I took from the truck as we coasted on down to LA.  Not that great of focus, but what can I expect while moving 70 mph?  The hills were so gorgeous with the yellow flowers in bloom on the fresh green grass.  Then came the flowering trees, I am pretty sure these were almond trees.  

I actually took this one on the way back home going through the Shasta area, but I will post it here with the other drive-by shots.  

February started out with a retirement party for Cyndi and Dan. She sold the print shop and he put in his notice at his work. They celebrated with an island theme since that is their favorite type of vacation.    I took home a flower arrangement that fit in just perfect for Valentine's.

When I started thinking about what I would post for this month, I was pretty sure there would not be much to post.  It seemed like there was pretty much nothing remarkable to say.  But then I went through the photos and realized that there really was a whole lot that did go on this month.  On the first of January, I took a walk to the park.  I had not walked there since before my surgery in November.  It seems like so far it was our coldest day of the year.  The wind was really blowing, which was hard to walk in either direction, going it was pushing me ahead and coming back it was pushing me so hard it was hard to step forward. It really made for a nice work out. There were tiny waves on the lake.  There was ice covering the rocks and drops frozen in action dripping from the sticks.  Puddles had been turned to a fine layer of ice and leaves frozen to it.  The little pond behind the lake was so pretty with a layer of skim ice on it, it just shined.  I like how the bare red branches of the vine maples brightened it all up.

But as cold as the New Year began, we had one of our warmest Januarys.  We even took the grandkids, including little Lina wrapped in her Mommy's carrier for a walk to the lake. 

January is our biggest birthday month of the year.  Johnjr, started out the month, then Johnsr had his 60th!  After that came my Dad's 80th.  Emily celebrated her Sweet 16 with some friends and her brother ice skating and Ariel finished off the month.  

Since the weather has been so unusally warm, there have been plenty of the usual birds hunting food at the feeders.

I just wish they would not take off so fast and hit the window!!  These two left perfect marks.  Lucky for them they revived and flew away.

This fat guy was just sitting staring in the window.  I think he was in a food coma.

The Canada geese are flooding the park.  They are there by the hundreds, maybe thousands. They fill the sky, the lake and the grassy areas.  One day I spotted a white bird out in the middle of them.  He was the same size and I was Sure it was a swan.  I love swans.  I have never seen a swan here, I got so excited.  But I knew I had to be stealthy in order to get close enough to capture a shot of it.  As I got closer, I realized it wasn't a swan but a huge white goose.  Once I got the photo on my computer I noticed it had a black tail.  I Googled 'geese of Oregon' and found out it is a Snow Goose.  The black that I thought was its tail really was the tips of its wings.  Somehow he must have become separated from his own flock and these guys just let him hang with them.  He hasn't been there since that day.

One day, the geese were celebrating the warm sun, I guess.  I have never noticed them having such a splashing time.  They were actually rolling over in the water.  At times they would all have their wings out and I was all ready to hear them bust out with the YMCA song.

Besides the normal ducks that I always see in the summer, I have spotted a few new guys that I have not seen before.  The left top and bottom are called Buffleheads (top is a male and female).  Bottom right is a Ring Necked duck, but I don't understand why they named that because the ring is actually around his beak.  The top is a Merganser.  AHHH!!!  I can't believe it!  I used to make fun of my parents when they started knowing the names of the birds and getting so excited when a new one came around.

One day at the park, I spotted a Red Breasted Sapsucker.  He turned and looked me over, which was great for me to get a shot of him.

One of the Blue Herons that hangs at the lake was up in a tree.  I took a few shots, and then he flew away.  Once I got home on the computer, I saw he was only on one leg...even after he had turned around on the branch he was standing on, I could not see the other leg.  I know that they pull one up to rest, but it seemed weird that even after he turned, he didn't put it down.  I will keep an eye out this spring to see if I can find him again.

The fall was so warm, the leaves didn't really turn color and fall off some of the trees.  They are still hanging on.  I wonder what will happen when the new ones try to bud out this spring.

The camellias are blooming already!

REFLECTIONS

Most of the time the lake is full of ripples and some days it is practically waves, from all the gorge wind, but now and then it is so calm...just like a mirror.  

My favorite shot of the lake since we moved here.

So the weather reports said it was going to be rain, lots and lots of rain for a few days.  I decided it would be a good time to work a puzzle.  I love working them, it has been a while since I have done one, so off to the store I went.  I found a good one, came home and set it up.  I decided it would be best to do it up on the counter so that Josiah and Arianna would not be tempted to play with it and also I didn't want the table covered on it for days and days while I worked it.  I set to work...and did not stop for two days!  I could have easily have worked it at the table, it was done before the grandkids came to visit and I barely took time to eat anyway.  I was obsessed.

So I put the obsessive part of me to work on something that I have been putting off for years.  I pulled everything out of one of my old trunks.  This trunk is where I saved all my old letters, cards, newspaper clippings...that sort of thing....for the last...40 years!!!  Now you know why I have been putting it off!  Would you believe that I even had Every email that the kids wrote to me when email came to be?  That was in the middle of Dennis' college days, about the time Jessi left for college.  Argh!  I could not just pick them up and trash them!  I read every one!  and then decided to keep or toss.  It took me a full week to complete my task.  It was tough, believe me.  I ended up with 3 laundry baskets full!  Once I had gone so far to sort them out, I still could not take them right out to the recycling.  They sat in the corner for a few days, just so I could be sure.  Then one more time before I dumped them, I sifted through them just in case something had been put in there by mistake.  Finally the night before the bin had to be at the curb, I patted them goodbye and let them go.  Seriously, it was a hard thing to let go of.  But really what good is it to have all those memories stored in a trunk?  Someday, somebody will have to go through them and I sure would not want to have to sort through somebody else's memory trunk, so I decided that I would take care of it myself.  I now have a bundle of the really special ones, each tied with a ribbon for each of my kids, along with a few bundles of other special cards and memories.  It is up to them someday to decide to keep or toss.  At least I whittled it down, right?

I know it seems crazy to some, but that tree was up for almost a whole month!  I thought that it was going to be a little extra busy this year with the new baby coming, so I started getting ready for the holiday earlier than usual.  By the time Christmas rolled around, the tree was so dry.  It had a funky smell and the branches broke off just by touching them.  The once perky branches were hanging as low as they could go, ornaments were falling, it was a mess.  It had to go.  Soon.  So the morning of the 26th, we tore it down.  It was trash day.  The recycling said they would pick them up, up to 8 ft, so John had to cut off the top for them to accept it. Kind of sad, but it had to be.  Goodbye tree.  

 Christmas Day

John, Rachel, Emily and Joshua spent the night on Christmas Eve.  Jessi, Ariel, Josiah, Arianna and Lina (still in their pjs) came back the next morning for breakfast.  Of course we had the traditional oatmeal pancakes along with hashbrowns and pepper bacon.

Emily and Joshua all ready for the day.

We headed over to Great Grandma's place for the big family dinner.  

  The table now goes all the way into the next room, but we still all sat down to eat at one table, which makes Great Grandma pretty proud.   Lindy's son David and his wife Beth and their kids, Meri, Luke, Nate, Ellie and Sam came from Colorado this year.  Matt and Karely and Bane were there too, so Lindy was a pretty happy Mom.  We had a fun time together, eating, playing, opening gifts, hot tubing and all the things that make our holiday.  

 Christmas Eve. 

 It is so nice to have the house full of kids again.  It seems like that is how it always was and then suddenly they grew up and were gone.  Of course Christmas is always nice, but that spark was lacking.  But now, they have returned with their arms full of kids!!  It is fun to shop for toys again, even though the toys are different from the ones my kids had when they were growing up.  Sometimes, I have no idea what it is that I am looking for when they tell me something they want.  

We started out the evening with a steak and salmon dinner. Afterwards, Josiah and Arianna passed out the gifts to everyone from them.  Then Joshua and Emily passed out what they brought.  It is really amazing to have your grandkids hand them something they have just for you.  

Then it was time for the grandkids to open what we gave them.  Those crazy little ones had to be talked into setting aside what they had just opened in order to get on with the unwrapping of the other gifts that were there for them.  They loved everything!  Little Lina didn't get what all the fuss was about.  

This coming year is a special birthday for Emily, her Sweet 16.   We have been asking her for a long time where her dream place would be to travel to.  She said Hawaii.  So this year for Christmas we announced to them that we will be taking both of them.  In order to get their gift, they had to open up the gifts that led to it...starting with a bucket and shovel, sunscreen, flipflops, beach towell, beach ball, a lei, and a tiki glass...by the time they got to the final paper, they had pretty much figured out they were going somewhere beachy.  But they were pretty shocked to find out it was Hawaii.  It is going to be so much fun, probably more fun for me than them.

I just love it that John and Rachel were married in December because that means every year I get to have a whole weekend with Emily and Joshua while they celebrate their anniversary.  This year was their 18th anniversary.  Even though Emily and Joshua are getting older, there are a few things that stay on the schedule of things to do while they are here.  One is to have them help me make popcorn balls.

 The next is to take a drive to see Christmas lights.

And we just have to get to Lloyd Center and go ice skating.

This year it was also the same weekend that Josiah and Arianna had their Christmas at their church.  Lina slept through it all.

Josiah decided he didn't want to sing the song. Instead he just stood there.  Arianna went through all the motions.

 Here he is checking out what she is doing.

 So, he didn't want to do it, but he had to show her how to do it right.

 I could not believe it...it was just too much for him to stand through the whole song...it had me cracking up.  (not his mom)  well, at least he didn't just walk off.

Introducing Lina Louisa!

She was scheduled to be delivered by cesarean on 12/13/14, but God had another plan and Jessi went in to labor on 12/11/14.  Actually she had been having labor pains off and on for a few days.  Finally she was convinced that this was the real thing and we all headed into the hospital.  Sure enough the doctor decided that Lina was going to make an early appearance.  It all happened so fast!  I was pretty excited that once again, I was able to put on scrubs and go into the delivery room to photograph the arrival.  What an awesome experience it was once again.  At times, I got so caught up in things that I had to remind myself to shoot!  The doctor cut Jessi open, and there were a few whispers about the fluid, etc...but it was pretty much quiet as the doctor announced it was a girl as expected and she was really big and healthy.   And then...the cry...it was as if everyone had been holding their breath to hear it.  I looked over at Jessi, tears were dripping down her face.  Ariel was beaming.  It just never gets old.  Every birth is a wonder.  Lina weighed in at 9 pounds 12 ounces!  Just a little shy of being a 10 pounder.  I can't believe it, she sure looks tiny to me.  Josiah, Arianna and Grandpa waited for us in the labor room and both kids were beaming and jumping up and down as they wheeled Jessi and baby back into the room.  Both kids just adore her.  

We were able to keep them overnight for the two nights Jessi and Ariel were at the hospital with Lina.  That was so fun for us to have them for so long all to ourselves.  Each day we would take them up to see Mommy, Poppy and Lina and then it was so fun to bring them back with us again.  Saturday night they were picked up by their parents on their way home from the hospital.  The house was so quiet.  We started putting things back in place.  I just loved what I found on one of the Nativity sets.  I have three of them and the kids love to play with them.  Arianna especially likes to feed the animals and have everyone, including the animals lay down to nap.  Anyway, I am not sure who did it, maybe it was both of them, but I just had to smile when I found one of the Nativities  looking like this...

...even had a toy airplane as a gift.  so sweet.

We have been busy going back and forth to see if there is anything we can do to help them all adjust and get in a few cuddles with the new little girl.  Today, we took them to the mall to visit Santa.  Jessi had them wear the little Christmas outfits I bought them a few weeks back.  They were a hit as we paraded into see Santa.

The girls dresses don't quite show up in this photo, but they have the cutest little red fluffy skirts.  I hope Josiah will not take it out on me too hard someday when he looks back at this outfit.