Lots of catching up to do.

Camped at mom & dad’s all week, with a 2-night trip to Olympic. Not many iPhone photos. Apollo 19 became coffee-central for me and my brother. It was great to see him and my nephew – the first time we’ve been all together there.

It was also nice to see mom and dad enjoying some good weather, for a change. They had visited me in Olympic National Park, as well.


Later that day, I went to Ruby Beach. Magical.

Attended the weekly coffee klatch at the Winlock senior center with dad and Uncle Von, and got caught up on all the latest Clark county goins’-on. Faced with a scripture reading aimed at getting the folks to vote Obama out of office, I felt compelled to admit the last Republican I voted for was Reagan in my 3rd-grade mock election. He was our (California’s) former governor, after all. They assured me their votes would cancel mine in 2012. Probably.

Mom invited me to Providence Hospital’s annual staff/volunteer appreciation BBQ. Delicious, and a great bunch of folks she volunteers with. The CEO was even there serving at the end of the line.

My birthday was last week, so of course I baked an angel food cake in the trailer’s oven. Thanksgiving in Key West should not be a problem.

The culmination of this trip, and my last day before I race back to Delaware was the annual family reunion. Huggy Pillow was suspicious of our “main dish” contribution.

Our family reunion goes back about 50 years, and used to be at Fogarty “Crik” State Park south of Lincoln City, Oregon. I went every year from birth until 18, then not again until 2004. This year, I saw some cousins I had recently reconnected with on Facebook, but hadn’t seen in as much as 30 years. And grandma’s 98th birthday was just around the corner.

Not the greatest picture, and an example of all my poor iPhone shots that day. So, I’ll leave to other family members to document this event. My nephew did get to climb a tree to prevent a football donation to the park.

Well, maybe I’ll include one shot of my grandma, mom, dad, aunt and uncle.

I’m really lucky to have an extended family like this that get along well enough to meet every year like this – and look forward to it. Maybe it’s because we only do it once a year. Cousin Alan and Irene took over planning it from grandma years ago, and we all owe them a heap of thanks for keeping it going all these years.

We’re all very different, but we gather for the love of grandma McD, to reconnect, share stories, watch the kids grow up. And share our apparent penchant for deviled eggs (three families brought them) and grandma’s “fruit salad”. And the Alaskan contingent brought home-smoked salmon and “moose balls”(moose meatballs in a delicious sauce). So good. I’m gonna try to come back more often.