A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO OLD
                                   Originally written October 13, 2014

I'm beginning the Winter of my life ....... but wait ....

Winter of my life would be

when I'm old OLD!

Perhaps I'm  just on the edge of Fall ...... .before Winter.

Spring and Summer have long passed me by.

Gone are the days of raising squabbling children crying in the back seat of the car that their sibling is "...thinking about touching me!!!" (one of my grandchildren's memorable quotes!)

Adding another potato to the pot to make it go further is but a distant memory. 

Canning and preserving food is delegated to the top shelf in my current pantry ... oh wait! I sold my canning collection to a young mother last summer.

In a flash ....grammar school ... high school ... weddings and military service ..... Our children were on their way.

College came for our four children after they were parents.

Weddings and dramas ..... new family member (still occurs through grandchildren's weddings) has settled nicely with all spouses in place in our lives (and ex spouses still in our hearts.)

THE MIDDLE YEARS

Anchored securely in God's Pocket, West Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada

Sunset La Paz harbor, Sea of Cortez, Baja Mexico

High sea adventures and quiet serene anchorages are memories stored in albums and  mementos gathering dust from long distant ports and vivid photos of dramatic sunsets in the Sea of Cortez.

And gathering food in the most unusual manner! No Safeway in the Sea of Cortez... but friendly Mexican fishermen willing to trade lobster.....LOBSTER!! ... for water we produced with our watermaker.

Beach gathering and tidal forays for clams and oysters with other yachties brought us meal after meal of free food to share at almost nightly potlucks aboard our cruising companion's humble to sumptuous yachts.

Hurricane disaster struck, shattering and destroying dreams of sailing off into the sunset. Our sailboat Quasar was safe through this horrific destruction.

"I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE

A COWBOY AND A SAILOR"

Original song title, Dean Lawson

Toward the waning years of our cruising adventure

Eldon and I were visiting family in the states and watching in a theater the movie

"Perfect Storm"

and at the moment the fishing vessel was stuck, bow pointed upwards at the massive

gargantuan wave about to crash over and obliterate

all aboard and the worthy vessel itself,

Eldon leaned over toward me in the hushed

movie theater and said,

"NOW would be a good time to visit

Lakeview and Paisley....."

Why Lakeview or Paisley?

(In our child raising years he had driven tanker trucks delivering gasoline to stations in Lakeview and Paisley and was taken by the quaint little towns in rural Oregon.

My thoughts at the time were .... "Yeah, sure..... 100 years from now ... but in the meantime .. we have little kids to raise." 100 years went by in a flash.)

....... always wanted to be a cowboy and a sailor .....

Check off "SAILOR"

onto "COWBOY" chapter

We did the sailor chapter from 1984 through 2002, selling our sailing vessel Quasar .... difficult last look at her as we pushed the final load of belongings down the dock and away from her bobbing gently at Marina De La Paz.

And onto Lakeview, Oregon,

10 acres of bare land - if you consider waist high sagebrush, bitter brush, scrub brush and trees.... Juniper and one lone Pine tree .... bare land. We found the perfect place for a home site on top of the hill overlooking the valley and Crane Mountain, and only one mile from a trout filled lake.

At the top of the hill were four giant Junipers ... ancient and sturdy (considered by some as weeds worthy of removal)

and we knew placing our home in the middle of the four giants was our way of

honoring our four children .... The tallest, promising shade in the summer, we named Vicki; across the field full and lovely we named Jill; beside 'her' and off away was Dean - strong but with limbs going off in all directions; and finally Neal... densely covered boughs with stout trunk .. strong and resilient.

.....................................

to be continued as we plant gardens, bring new animals into our life, laugh and love, play and stress .... future posts will highlight the joy of living in Lakeview Oregon... and further on to Goldendale WA.. as a widow.