Sunday was my 8th anniversary. We wanted to head out of town for the night so we went to Hood River. We started the day at Salty's on the Columbia for their sunday brunch. My husband wanted an old fashion buffet brunch where you can eat anything you want, where they and men carving prime rib and making omelets. It turns out Salty's is the only place that does that type of thing any more. they had wonderful bowls of crab but other than that it was kind of uneventful. The bacon was good and so was my drink.
After brunch we headed out the Gorge to Hood River. It was kind of overcast but I had hopes that the sun would be out in Hood River. We stopped at Multnomah Falls to get a photo and a crushed penny. The falls was full of tourists and we fled after watching the train go past.
We stayed at the Hood River Hotel in downtown Hood River. It was a nice place the room looked out over the Columbia River. It was also the harvest festival weekend so the town was hopping. We walked around looking at murals and sculpture. Though I was not fond of the yellow woman the sunset lit really up the mountains on the Washington side of the river. On monday we took a drive up highway 30 stopping at a view point called Memaloose State Park Overlook, overlooking Memaloose Island. Lewis and Clark called Memaloose Island "Sepulchar Island". It was one of several islands commented on by Lewis and Clark as containing burial vaults for the Indian tribes that lived along the Columbia River. Up that hight on the cliffs my husband posed by the Fleetwood, man that thing glides down the curvy roads of the old Columbia River Highway. We stopped in The Dalles and had breakfast at a place called Cousins, we got in right behind a group of over 50 people from a church in Salem. It was a cute place with a motel attached. They had the walls lined with preserves, green beans, cherries, corn, and peaches...to name a few. We then headed to the the local thrift store when I found a wonderful pair of curtains for $9. They look great in our living room, they really warm up the room. Winter is coming and it was time for a change. It was a nice weekend, but it's also nice to be home with the kitties too.
The last couple of weeks have been me helping to get my mother's things packed so she could move to town. It's a long story but we wanted her closer so we could respond to there strange and frantic calls. We found her a nice little 2 bedroom place in a retirement community close to everyone else but me. How did I get so lucky, I don't even get a spare key. Any way while cleaning out my dad's desk I came across 4 envelopes with the kids names and their birth year. My father was collecting the money from the year of each of our births. I was actually born in 1962. Oh well I have all the coins from 1963.
After packing so much of my mothers stuff I decide to drop off some of the stuff at a thrift store. So of course I had to go in. I found this lovely aqua, green and grey quilt top. When I brought it home I thought my husband would be mad that I was bring home more crap from my mothers (I have 3 bags of paperwork from the early 80's). When he saw the quilt top he asked for it to be a curtain for the back room...Oh yea, why yes it can. I love all the bright colors and the fussy cuts for the mermaids, birds and butterflies. All I have to do it back it and I have a new curtain for the back room, if I line it like a quilt it will help keep the draft down. I think I win either way.
The other thing I have been looking for at thrift stores are needle points. I want to make a small bag using a needle point like the one I saw here. I use to see needle points all the time but now that I actually want to use one to make something they are difficult to locate. I need ones that has tight stitching so things will not snag the yarn and break it. I found the above needle points recently, the top one was in a free pile next door. It was framed, when I unframed it I found the original tag for, I believe, the piece before it was stitch, the pattern was made in Israel. The second one was found at the goodwill bins in a stack of frames. I took the needle point out of the frame and left the frame. It's a very Thomas Kincade type of illustration. Not my favorite but it's a good piece to use as practice and I think it cost me about $1.
The place my mother moved into has west facing windows and gets a really nice amount of light. We hope it will also keep her warm. She is always cold, no matter how high the heat is in the house. We also provided her with several warm lap blankets.
