Fish are Bitting in Texas

Roly thought the family should see large mouth bass he landed Saturday. And he now has water all the way to his sea wall! Last summer they had no water under their boat and had to walk out to the end of the pier on lake bottom to cast into the water! He can again stand on the end of the pier and catch fish like this all day long, he says!!!!! And he boasts lots of hybrid bass 3 lbs and up just begging for something to eat and he feeds them artificial lures and big lures to catch big fish. It looks like this bass is somewhere between 3 and 8 lbs. And since he puts the camera at the best angle, your never sure how big it is!! Even Blake looks like he's surprised at it's size! But as you look closer, Holly and Joe apparently were touring the alligator swamp near their house and Blake was anxious to get out of the way! Maybe our next family outing should be at Roly's place. . .he has Lots of fishing poles and bait!

Texas Great Grand Daughter

Great News from Texas! Ashley and Zack have been waiting for this day and after some delay Alice Kay Steele finally arrived! On March 8 about 7:30 am, she entered our world at 8 lbs. Alice is an exciting edition to the Freed clan. Roly & Candy gave us our first grand child, Ashley. We send our congratulations to Ashley and Zack.

Sonoma California Softball

Amanda's team, Cal State, Monterey Bay, just played a 4 game series at Sonoma University. Lori drove the 400 miles and we tagged along to enjoy Amanda for these two days. The weather was beautiful, a little chilly but 60 degrees! They played a double header last Friday and Saturday. Amanda was warming up the pitcher above. Monterey Bay managed to eek out 3 wins out of the four. The trip went well for us old folks. We were testing our traveling legs after the big slow down year 2011! It appears that we can manage to do some traveling again!

Amanda was delighted to see us all and we were able to have dinner with her. Our family still enjoys each other and as long as we're able, we will be there with thanksgiving!

Church Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, January 8, we were honored with a reception after the worship service. A nice group stayed and enjoyed a taste of cake and punch! Our pastor had us gather in a large circle, holding hands she offered a prayer for us and then opened the prayer to anyone who wanted to add something. . .there was a long silence. . .then one by one our friends added a thanksgiving for something we had done for them. . .things in our distant memory. . .overwhelming! This was an unexpected event after which I made a difficult speech. . .unrehearsed! Fumbling for words, I was able to share our celebration at Lake Tahoe with family! I told them of the questions I had asked our grandkids. . .about who you guess was the troublemaker in our marriage!! They chuckled at the answer! How do you correct the trouble? I asked? When Joel quickly added, "You say I'm sorry!" Our friends responded!!! and readily agreed with Joel that the correct response was to look each other in the eye and really mean it! We received many cards and personal comments. . .we had no expectations only a fun time together but went home pleasantly exhausted! It was a grateful reminder that the little things we do for others, hospital visits, taking a loaf of bread to someone hurting, sharing our cabin with a terminal cancer friend, taking that step towards others often when you don't feel like it. . .all were reminders of what someone said, "People don't remember all you do for them but how you make them feel."

Our 60Th Anniversary is not a bragging time but a time of thanksgiving. . .that our Creator God has given us time together and given us wisdom to forgive and grow in our faith and commitment to each other and to our family. You all are the true riches of our lives!

Christmas In Tahoe

We started planning for a family Christmas gathering before my March heart surgery. It seemed like a long way away! But the time train keeps moving and before we knew it, we were travelling to Lake Tahoe! Roly had negotiated for a 6 bedroom 3 story house with an indoor swimming pool on the lower floor. We wondered how we would handle all the stairs!! but we did OK slowly with lots of help carrying things from a mini kitchen to the main kitchen. Can you imagine 24 of us in the same house for 1 week!!! We did it!! Played lots of games, had a wonderful Christmas and everyone had a stocking filled with many surprises! I took over 200 photos and will give you a brief sampling, and all unposed shots with some members missing. We all managed pretty well, all families had a bedroom, kids ended up sleeping anywhere. Lots of cushions and large rooms to get lost in. . .and of course the swimming pool, sauna and hot tub on the lower floor!! All this half way up the mountain with views in every direction. And this year, the entire northwest has had no snow!!! Lake Tahoe thrives on winter snow. Tubing was out but Ice Skating was available. Most of the time, everyone found interesting things to do and there were ample electronic devices and recharger's all over the place! Now we are all home and the Time Train keeps moving us to our next destination and we have found that if you never plan anything, you will arrive there, at Nothingville! Remember Sound of Music, "Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could?" So remember, always be planning something, something to look forward to, and you will arrive there and make a new memory!

Christmas in Ashland

Esther & I have been making sand candles for the past 12 years at our annual Church Advent Faire. It's always one of the most popular craft tables averaging about 25 candles. We go non-stop from 11:30 to 4 pm before finishing and wicking the last candle!! This year Jana, Payton and Derrick came to Ashland for the week-end. They helped with set up and made crafts for their Eugene, Oregon Christmas.

Over the past year and a half, Esther has been working hard on completing Payton's special Afgan. Payton knew it was coming. She had picked the colors several years ago and then forgot how long it took to complete a project like this!! Grandma had learned this craft from her mother, Florence Tuckey and has been making Afgans for all the grandchildren!!!

We are now focusing on our Christmas Celebration at Lake Tahoe!!!

Relatives Land in Oregon

Debbie & Keith Hake with Nathan & Jonathon (Phoenix, AZ) made Oregon their Spring break destination! It just happens their oldest son Brian is beginning his graduate studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where Jana's family resides. They ended up in Ashland for a few days. Fall weather was beautiful so we headed up Mt. Ashland thinking we would see lots of snow. About 10 inches had fallen two weeks earlier with the promise of ski season opening on Thanksgiving!!! As we headed up the nearly 8000 ft peak, Mt Shasta appeared off in the distance. . .about 60 miles south. . .but no snow!! We arrived at the lodge and still no snow! Thinking we would drive to the summit, Keith bounced us in that direction and the fork in the road headed up looked more risky when Debbie chickened out. Esther and I have made that drive numerous. . .slow but doable. Keith decided to turn around. . .drove a few blocks and parked at a great scenic overlook with wonderful views in all directions. Everyone got in the mood to rock climb. On our way back, we stopped at the Ski Lodge to look at the ski run. . .and behold, several small patches of snow, enough to make a foot tall snowman!!! plus many near misses of wet snow balls. It was a great memory!