Up Up and Away

01/05/2009


Monday was a nice day and we took off for another day at Putters but we stopped first at Mucho Gusto a really good Mexican Cafe in Oakway Plaza shopping center. Looking over the buildings you can see where the name came from - some beautiful giant Oak trees.


Mucho Gusto is a nice place to eat when on the run and they have a great selection of food. You can see the fresh veggies while waiting to order at the counter.


This isn't the right time of year for outdoor dining so we ate inside but it is a great fresh air experience when the sun is shining.


Well we did get to Putters Family Entertainment center again where we bowled, golfed and played games. Ansley even won 250 tickets on one game. We all got a hole in one except for Sharyn who won the round with consistent putting.


Back home we had fish tacos at home. Sharyn planned the meal and created the ingredients including a Rubio's white sauce.


The fish tacos went over very well and even got a thumbs up from the grands who are pretty picky eaters.


They just loved the tacos made with Costco breaded and frozen Talipia.

01/06/2009

It was time to take Matt and the girls to their hotel near the Portland Airport (PDX) and since it was lunchtime we stopped in Eugene at Hawaii Time BBQ.


Matt waited at the door for everyone to walk in while I took some pictures.


Hawaii Time is a very colorful place and the food is great. I had the pulled pork and the other got beef or chicken.


Of course there was plenty of surfing memorabilia ...


Sierra and I had a whale of a good time.


The waitress also got into the act (or caught in my photography trap) and stopped for one shot.


I liked this surfboard poster that displayed many different surfboard styles including one of Duke Kahanamoku

Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968), is generally regarded as the person who popularized the modern sport of surfing. He was also an Olympic champion in swimming.

Duke Kahanamoku was the first person to be inducted into both the Swimming Hall of Fame and the Surfing Hall of Fame. The Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships are named in his honor. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

I'm sure the girls were bored when we stopped by the bank to make sure Matt was listed on the access to our safety deposit box so I took a picture of them in the back seat while Sharyn and Matt went into the bank.


On the drive to Portland we stopped at a filling station where I got a long distance shot of a coffee drive through for inclusion in my poster suggested by our friend Doreen.


Well it was time for dinner in Portland and we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes for a salad and some soup plus a few other goodies.


As Sharyn and the girls walked into Sweet Tomatoes with Matt (not shown here) it started to sink in that our precious son and grandchildren would be leaving again. It's been two years and seeing them all was wonderful. The girls are becoming older and after being with them they are wiser. I am so proud of their poise and ability.

I can't say enough about Matt a very loving and generous father. He has excelled at his job overseas as a father I couldn't ask for a better son.

You will be missed.

No Scrabble

Quote of the Day

"And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." ~ Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese born American philosophical Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931)

Sunset to Splash

The sunset Sunday night was beautiful and it had been nice seeing the blue sky for a change.


The Christmas decorations are all put away making room for lighthouses and more free space.


Isaac told us about Splash a really nice water park in Springfield.


The place was huge and lots of fun. Along with a pool and very nice jacuzzi there was a very large waterslide ...

... a wading pool and a wave pool.


Matt took to the wave pool that wasn't much like Leo Carillo beach but fun none the less.


There was one of those cool mushroom shaped shower thingies in the wading pool that was fun to shoot.


Then Matt and everyone took to the waterslide.


After Matt's slide Sierra took her turn ...


...then Ansley...

... and finally Sharyn who ...

... came up with a smile on her face and bathing suit intact.


One of the nice features of Splash was the ample natural light.

Outside there is a great looking field used for Soccer, football and baseball Beyond the the sports field was a great looking barn in a real agricultural field.


Hungry after all the recreation we headed to Quiznos for the adults and the new Sonic Burger for the girls. It was another great day with family.

No Scrabble

Quote of the Day ~

"Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." ~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (Hungarian Biochemist, 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1893-1986)

Raptors and Thai Cuisine

Matt was reading "Wired" magazine while we waited to go out today. He had found a Raptor Center here in Eugene we wanted to visit today. But first...


... we all wanted to eat out and Sharyn chose Chao Praya a great Thai Cuisine restaurant.

The Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial river plain marking the mainland of the country. The name Chao Phraya is a Thai feudal title, which can be translated as General or Lord. In the English-language media in Thailand the name is often translated as River of Kings. It then flows from north to south for 231 mi from the central plains to Bangkok and the Gulf of Thailand.

While Matt and Sierra looked over the menu...


Ansley and Sharyn did the same.


Ansley was very pleased with her choice and gave us a great smile.


When the food came Sharyn dug right in to a great looking and colorful dish.

Not that we were hungry or anything but we then stopped at "The Sweet Life Pâtisserie." In case you are wondering about pâtisserie, here is the definition - pâtisserie (n.): a bakery specializing in pastry, cakes and desserts. We got some goodies to go and off we went to the Cascades Raptor Center on Fox Hollow Road.

"Cascades Raptor Center is a non-profit Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital for birds of prey in Eugene, Oregon. Through wildlife rehabilitation and public education, Cascades Raptor Center fosters a connection between people and birds of prey. Our goal is to help the human part of the natural community learn to value, understand, and honor the role of wildlife in preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest."

These images came out OK but please forgive the mesh screen that caused some problems in getting ideal pictures.


These two little owls were just too cute.


I personally thought the owls were all pretty cool some so large I'd hate to meet them in a dark alley.


This cool guy had horns, Wow!

This Goshawk was very active flying around in the enclosure.

"The Goshawk is the largest member of the genus Accipiter. The genus Accipiter is a group of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae, mostly consisting of birds known as Goshawks and Sparrowhawks. It is a raptor with short broad wings and a long tail, both adaptations to manoeuvring through trees in the forests it lives and nests in. The male is blue-grey above and barred grey below."

"Raptor" is another word for bird of prey: eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, osprey and kites ... hunting birds with keen eyesight and hearing, strong feet with sharp talons for grasping and killing prey, and curved beaks for ripping up their food. Raptors are not the only predators of the bird world, but they are the only ones that hunt with their feet! The word 'raptor' comes from the Latin raptor (plunderer) and the French raptus (to seize and transport). The English words 'rapt,' 'rapture,' or 'enraptured' share these same roots.

Then we found the Bald Eagle where Sierra, Sharyn and Ansley watched intently while Matt was checking out the Snow Owl (didn't get a good picture of the owl) behind me.


I got some pretty good pictures of the Bald Eagle.

"The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is raptor found in North America that is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has a range that includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.

The Bald Eagle is a large bird, with a body length of 28–42 in, a wingspan of 72–96 in, and a mass of 6.6–15.5 lb The female bald are about 25 percent larger than males. The adult Bald Eagle has a brown body with a white head and tail, and bright yellow irises, taloned feet, and a hooked beak; juveniles are completely brown except for the yellow feet. The diet consists mainly of fish, but it is an opportunistic feeder. It hunts fish by swooping down and snatching the fish out of the water with its talons. In the wild, Bald Eagles can live up to thirty years, and often survive longer in captivity. The Bald Eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird, up to 13 ft deep, 8 ft wide, 1.1 tons in weight."

What a magnificent bird to see up close...


and I was fortunate to get these shots through the screen.

I felt very fortunate to see this eagle up close.


There were some cute little raptors...


...and some very noble looking guests at the center all being helped in this avian clinic.

"Cascades Raptor Center works with up to 200 orphaned sick, and injured raptors each year, using the highest standards of medical treatment and care possible. Most birds presented for care are suffering from injuries either directly or indirectly human-caused. They collide with vehicles, power lines, windows and fences. They are caught in traps, barbed wire, or fishing line. They are shot, poisoned (either directly or through eating poisoned prey), or had their nest sites destroyed by landscaping, logging, or construction. CRC's goal is to release them back to the wild: healthy and strong, ready to take their place in the wild population. We've worked with over 2500 birds in the last 17 years, returning nearly 1300 to the wild."

There were two hawks together in this enclosure,


... and a Turkey Vulture just recently reclassified as a raptor.


Short and sweet but even little raptors and hunters.

Then we took the long way home after viewing some Eagles, hawks, falcons and owls and having a great time. I will return to the Cascades Raptor Center and give my support to this great cause.

Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen 288 - Scrabble Princess Sierra 213

Quote of the Day

"A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl." ~ Ernest Hemingway quotes (American novelist and short-story writer, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, 1899-1961)

2009 In Like a Lamb

A new lamb came into the world in the field next to our home. They stayed in this makeshift manger at the corner of our yard just across the fence line. I thought it would be a good idea rather than write a narrative to just intersperse some words of wisdom between the images. So here goes...

"On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time." ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

"Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living for the ordinary human being." ~ Carl Jung

The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves. ~ Eric Hoffer

"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on" ~ Carl Sandburg

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." ~ Albert Camus

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true. [paraphrased of Buddha]

"You must love the crust of the earth on which you dwell more than the sweet crust of any bread or cake. You must be able to extract nutriment out of a sand-heap. You must have so good an appetite as this, else you will live in vain." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Happy New Year !