Two Sisters

Faith walks before me, 
Holding up her lamp
As I try not to stumble in the ink-dark hours before the dawn. 
Her light illuminates 
One step and then another. 
Beside me, Hope, arm linked with mine, encourages and steadies
Sometimes in the tedium, 
Distracted by the pain, 
My mind begins to wander, then my feet. I hesitate. 
Unsure, I look to Hope. 
Her hand takes mine. 
The touch reminds me of another hand held out to me, 
One pierced and scarred
Yet oh so tender
Lifting me and blessing me when I had fallen and despaired. 
Remembering, 
I move ahead
Buoyed up by Hope, who sees the end with perfect clarity. 


By: Larry Hiller

Back to my continued blogging break...
 

Two Second Break in My Continued Absence

"Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we'll do, to press forward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

 (Italics & bold added)

On Hold & Hold On

Not that I've been posting a ton lately but I'm putting my blogging on hold.

How long? Don't know but probably awhile. 

Why? Ugh... I have reasons. Basically I'm not at a good point to be writing stuff for others to read, nevertheless be posted on the internet.  


I appreciate your patience/ understanding/ whatev. 

Kite Festival

One of the things I really appreciate is our area's sense of community. That's something you don't always get in bigger cities. Since we moved here we quickly noticed that there's always some sort of festival or activity that's being promoted. Driving through town you get to see banners stretched across the roads promoting something fun to look forward to: Cranberry Festival, Railroad Days, etc. 

This past week has been the Kite Festival. I really looked forward to this because when we first moved here we heard so much about it, however, we missed it by a couple weeks. In short- I was impressed by it. 

Kites are extremely easy to fly here. The wind is constantly blowing, especially further up the peninsula where there's no mountains obstructing it's flow. Plus, add the fact that our peninsula is known as the world's longest beach (Technically it is but also...not.) which gives one plenty of space to fly a kite. There's also a few designated kite stores and even a kite museum. It's pretty serious. 

Via

An aerial view. Note the rare sunny day.

Via

D and I wandered over to the festival to check it out with our friends, E and M. The boys body surfed for a little bit while E and I sat in the warm sand to watch some synchronized kite flying. We had no idea that this was a serious hobby! There were people who came into town from England and even Canada. 

Upon arrival we found out that a group of kite enthusiasts were attempting a new world record for most synchronized kites. It was truly amazing to watch them! They set a new record using 64 (or 65?) kites. 

 Getting into "grid" formation.

Creating a circle.

I shot this video with my phone of the kites getting into a circle formation, exploding from the circle, coming back into a circle and then back to a grid formation. This was right after they set the new world record. (I can't figure out why there's no sound.) There were also small teams of three to five people who did synchronized kite flying set to music. Truly a fun day!

A Little Bit of Everything Lately

D's new ride. Yup- we're the owners.

Coast Guard display at the Maritime Museum.

D in front of an old 44. We stopped at the museum to kill time in between a day full of medical appointments.

A rare view of the sun setting- though blurry- from the Astoria bridge.

Another sunset. We've had a few hot days in between the picture below.

We've had a lot of gloomy, foggy days. We've only had a handful of actual summer days. 

(Coast Guard boat just outside our backyard)

Ruca will be 6 months old at the end of this month. I can't believe how big she is. She's such a funny dog. She's no a fixed lil pup. I can't wait until her stitches come out so she can play harder. Bogey is now officially 2! Many people told us that German Shorthairs majorly calm down around their second birthday. Bogey was already a chill dog but now he's even calmer.

Me at the Astoria Sunday market with my parents.

Us at the base of the Astoria Column.

The parental unit stopped in town for four days. We had lots of fun touring the area and eating LOTS of good food at different restaurants. Sadly, this is one of the few pictures that anyone took while they were here.

You can purchase a little wooden airplane to fly off the top of the Astoria Column. Here's video of D's little plane taking flight:

Feeling Yucky... I think

Being a full-time "domestic engineer" I do keep very busy during the day. I know, I know most people ask/ wonder how it's possible to be busy all the time... to which I say- you learn. (But seriously if you still don't believe me I'll post a picture of my calendar. Oh boy.) The only problem with being at home is the internet is very, very distracting compared to, say, laundry... organizing... or even eating lunch. 

Besides losing myself in blog reading, reading celebrity dirt on TMZ (I seriously don't know why I do), or supporting my addiction to Etsy, I've started to Google ev-er-y-thing:

- Where's the humane society? Google it. 

- How late is a store open? Google it. 

- What does a baby armadillo look like? Google it. 

- What's the name of that one song on that one commercial with that girl? Google it.

You get it. 

For the past three days I've been feeling, physically, like a train has run over me. And I know I'll be feeling like this for a little while longer. Out boredom I decided to- wait for it- Google "feeling yucky." Google web results say that I'm either pregnant or have chronic fatigue. 

Uhh...no. 

Google images, however, has left me slightly confused. Here are some of the images that popped up: 

From here

From here

From here

From here

You have stumped me, Google. Apparently I don't feel yucky by your standards.

Sandsations

Last weekend the peninsula held Sandsations: a sand castle building competition. There were many different skill levels. It's hard to see from some of the pictures but I couldn't believe how many people came. Driving through town was terrible! 

Here are some of the creations: 

It's hard to see but there are little dolls as guards and a little princess up high in a tower. 

This one is called "What's the Next Move?"

The Great Wall of China 

Puppy dog

One side of "How to Train Your Dragon." These guys won a lot of prizes.

Other half of "How to Train Your Dragon." 

Hamburger, shake and fries

This one is supposed to be a fish bar. 

Raccoon (?) on a hippo. 

Bigger hippo

Jack's store

Killer whale circling penguins 

This one was called "Llamas on vacation." 

"Wotter bed."- one of my favorites. I love the baby otter on top of the mama. 

Another part of the fish bar.

My absolute favorite one: "Snoopy in the Sky with Diamonds."

D had to work during this weekend so I hope we're able to go together next year.