My Dad and Sharon came over this week for a quick visit in-between Sharon's appointments at OHSU in Portland. She had a knee-replacement surgery about six months ago, the original surgeon ignoring the fact that she is allergic to metal. He said "No problem. Titanium is hyper-allergenic" and went ahead with the surgery without running any further tests. Well, she's having nothing but problems so there's a bunch of testing going on to make sure that it's because of the metal (they're 99.9% sure that it is) before removing the knee. Anyway, they came to visit and I took an impromptu day off of work to enjoy the sun with them. The sun decided to go away about 9 am but we meandered to the beach anyway. Here's a few of the sights we encountered along the way.
Mrs. Raccoon was wet from fishing in-between the big boulders that helps the Columbia River funnel into the Pacific Ocean. She came out to glare at me, "What you looking at?", before heading back into the rocks for more seafood. Sharon kept trying to find her again but had no luck.
Lots of pictures were taken of wildflowers at the beach.
Sharon and I got a little carried away - ended up taking pictures of each other taking pictures. Silly girls!
My Dad standing on the beach at the mouth of the Columbia River.
Coming back into town, we saw a cruise ship coming up the Columbia river. Today's ship was a Carnival Splendor, so we decided to go down to the port and watch them dock.
Watching the crew on board toss the ropes over to the guys on the docks was pretty interesting and fun. A rope's not the easiest thing to throw, it kind of uncoils and falls short of it's mark pretty often. They did finally get it and wrap those big ropes around the yellow anchors on the dock in about four different places. Interesting.
We then wandered home for naps before a dinner of burnt pork chops (so maybe I had the grill a little too hot.), baked potato's and grilled asparagus. It was a fun day at the beach and I'm so glad they came to visit.
May you all be blessed with an impromptu day off and family to share it with...
9 comments:
Love your "America" banner! So festive! The pic of Mrs. Racoon is too cute.
It sounds like you had a wonderful day, sun or not. It's nice to just do impromptu things and wander at will.
Glad you had a nice visit.
Yvette
Hi, Paula -
Love your photos of the day at the beach and the cruise ship docking and seeing the bridge in the background made me SO homesick for my favorite coastal town! It's about time for my sweetheart and I to plan a visit over your way. When we first lived in Astoria we rented a teeny, tiny house on Floral Avenue, just about the docks. The little house was a darling little cottage, just perfect for the 3 of us - our son was not quite 2. It's little windows overlooked the river and the docks below. We spent many hours watching the ships dock - and we could see a piece of the bridge from our son's little upstairs bedroom window. The teeny little house is gone - it slid down the hill awhile after we moved out and into our lovely 'new' home but we love to drive up there whenever we return and remember those days when we were just 3 of us in the little cottage by the docks. Sweet memories!
~Adrienne~
I love your pictures, The racoon is so funny!
I feel so bad for Sharon & hope they figure out how to help her.
That racoon looks like he's reprimanding him for interrupting his daily routine. Funny!
Hope they figure things out for Sharon soon. If only they had listened in the first place. Sheesh!
Love your beach shots and the cruise ship.
Reminded me of how much I need a vacation.
Paula,
I'm glad that you took the day off to enjoy with family. I can't imagine them putting a metal knee in someone who is allergic to it. That is just ridiculous.
I love those purple flowers. Wonder what they are. Just gorgeous.
Hope all is well with you.
Blessings,
Mary
I really love the banner.
The beach looks beautiful too. Glad you had such a nice visit.
Sorry about her knee-but looks like a fun day. Love the look on the racoon's face : )
I am loving this post with all the red , white and blue. I also love those Astoria shots. I am so glad you loved the book.I knew you would. I will email you soon. You should come see the valley now it looks like England or the Napa Valley with all the vineyards and wheat.
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