Texas Wedding

Ashley Freed, Roly & Candy's first and our first grand daughter, was married June 13, in Austin, Texas. We started our 7000 mile journey thru Los Angles, then Phoenix and I-10 thru Texas to Austin. The photos will give you a quick view of this grand event which took place on the same week end as the national Harley-Davidson convention!!!!! Lot's of happy faces during and after the wedding along with Blake, Holly's son who was the ring bearer and will have his 2nd birthday in August. Ashley & Zack Steele were presented to the audience as Mr. & Mrs. Steele! Tyler & Holly join Roly, Candy & Ashley after the wedding. Roly seems to be especially glad to have Ashley married off!! The Wedding lasted about 15 minutes. . .right to the point! with a reception at the University of Texas Alumni Center that lasted from 7 to midnight!!! A wonderful event with lots of wonderful memories!

The next postings will become our summer travelogue with photos.

Downpour at Outdoor Graduation

For the first time, Ashland held their High School Graduation ceremony outdoors at our beautiful Lithia parks band shell, with seating on the grassy hillside. Lori and Bob's Amanda was one of the graduates. Bob & Lori had staked out a place by anchoring down a large tarp. We all arrived at 5:30pm carrying in lawn chairs & coolers full of picnic supplies. The day was overcast with clouds that looked suspicious. But we all enjoyed a picnic 1 hour before festivities began. About 6:45, the graduates gathered and began their procession to the front. . .all 300 of them!

Then the rain began! Gentle at first but within 5 minutes, the heavens let loose! Umbrellas popped up everywhere. . .jackets, hoods, tarps, anything people could find were flying everywhere. . .but nothing stopped the seniors with white and red mortar board hats marching to the open band shell where seating awaited them. Within minutes, they were all soaked to the bone and we, with jackets, hoods and umbrellas desperately tried to avoid the downpour. The program went on. . .and on. . .and on. Only one cello number was cancelled. Even the speaker was a droned on about herself and we all managed to stick it out until all 300 graduates had received their diplomas! What a graduation to remember!!! And Amanda achieved her goal with lots of smiles. When life gives you rain, you learn how to sing!!!! Congratulations Amanda!

In a few years it will be Adam's turn . . .pictured with Amanda.

Rhododendron Time in Oregon

May is the big Rhododendron season in Oregon. From Portland to Ashland, Rhodo's and Azaleas bloom their hearts out! Florence, Oregon has a Rhododendron Festival but all the coastal towns have their share. The various varieties start blooming the last of April and you see a few start blooming in February but most wait until May. The older parts of each town had the advantage of planting many years ago and the tree pictured in Reedsport must be at least 100 years old!

You have to wait for the last of May to realize that wild Rhodo's are scattered up and down the coast on highway 101. Their pink and white blooms are often on wild bush like trees that are often 10 to 20 feet tall. Without their blooms, you hardly notice their presence. We enjoy several nice plants at our cottage in Lakeside & thought you might like to enjoy them too.

We always think of Treva & Pete Woods at this time of year. They spent their honeymoon with us travelling north and south from our Lakeside cottage. It was prime Rhododendron time. Everywhere we were surrounded by Rhodo's and Treva photographed most of them! It was one of the most magnificent displays we have seen since living in Oregon. It must be the ocean breezes they like so well.

Morel Time in Oregon

When we moved to Oregon 22 years ago, we didn't know that the Rogue Valley was surrounded by great morel mushrooms!!! Finding this out was a grand discovery. The first time we tried, we didn't find any. Eventually, we learned that our garbage man was an avid hunter and he was gracious enough to give me some of his favorite spots!! Who would ever do this????? along with maps. We headed out the next day and sure enough started finding morels! Since then we have tried new spots. . .some good and some not. Now when one fails to produce, we have enough back-up places that we can usually find some. Last year though, was one of the poorest years we remember. However, yesterday, Lori and I spent most of the day climbing the hills and managed to find 2 pounds of nice sized morels. We came home very tired from the long day and the 80 degree temperature which seemed like ninety in the hills. It took persistence and eventually we were pleased with our find.

Dan, Sheila and Jaime arrived from Portland to spend Memorial Day weekend with us. Of course, Dan wanted to hunt morels!!! Guess what, we went 4 days hunting till we could hardly walk! At first morels came slow but with persistence, we found 3 1/2 pounds Monday. Sheila displays on of the big ones along with 3 baskets of nice morels! Esther made a gallon of morel gravy, gluten free, and 10 quarts of mashed potatoes which was cleaned up in less than 1/2 hour. Today, the house is again quiet and I have the task of drying the remaining morels. I then shrink wrap in small paks which keep indefinitely. This year was encouraging and helped our supply from last years poor pickin!

Corsicana, Texas

The center of attention in Corsicana is a kid named "Blake." When his mother Holly is teaching, Blake has the run of the house at Candy & Roly's place. Candy says, it's difficult to get a photo of Blake - he is never at the same place for more than 5 seconds so by the time she finds the camera she can't find Blake!!!! When Roly and Tyler hang on to him or read to him or hold him, the camera works! These photos are a taste of love that flows in Grandma Candy and Grandpa Roly's home in Texas. And soon all of us will arrive in there to celebrate the marriage of their oldest and our first grand daughter, Ashley. And we'll all get a try to corral Blake!!!!

Ashland, Oregon

Lori & Bob celebrated with Amanda at the Grizzlies last softball home game. It was senior day and Amanda with 3 of her team mates were honored before the game started. When the season is over and she graduates this June 5, she will start packing her bags for Monterey Bay, California where she is already enrolled with a softball scholarship at the University of California.

Congratulations to Amanda for this achievement! We're all cheering for you! Even Adam, her brother and Will, her special friend are always cheering too!

Medford, Oregon Tea Party Protest

In politics, we have never publically protested anything even though we have been very disappointed in the liberal direction our politicians are taking us. It seems our legislative bodies will always liberalize our policies even if we always elected conservative politicians. I wish we could call those elected, "leaders" but alas, they are politicians and seem to make all their decisions based on polls and becoming re-elected. With the Huge Debt - spending - that is now ours, we decided to check out the Tea Party Protest, April 15, in Medford. To our surprise their were over 1000 folks there from young to old, like us, and a very oderly bunch. . .all anxious to let the world know that we want our government to cut taxes and cut spending!!!! We walked about 1 mile to the county courthouse and walked on the sidewalks. . .obeying all the traffic laws and signals. There were no police there to control the disorderly. . .there were No disorderly!!! Of all the protests I have seen on TV, police are always there arresting the combatants, those who gather at all protests and seem to make protesting their job. None of that at the Tea Party Protest. These were working folks and some retired who care about our country and are proud to be a American. What did you see on network TV, discrediting this effort with ridicule and name calling. It was obvious this effort made an impact on our country. When you try to silence your opposition with hostile remarks, the true character of that group is revealed. I am trying to find a balance in the left/right, the up/down, the right/wrong, political debate that floods our airways. I have seen more "fundamentalism" in liberal circles - an unwillingness to accept me as a person with a right to a differing opinion. The zealots in our society have become hostile and intolerant. I struggle to avoid becoming like this and continually look for news sources that offer me an unbiased open hand. I often think of the scripture where Jesus said to be careful when you bite each other lest you devour yourselves.