To Bring You Up to Date

On Tuesday the 7th of July we drove to Cannon Beach and back. I know crazy right?! We had originally planned on spending the 4th at the beach, but after Hawaii we were pretty poor. We even thought about spending just one night there, but that was going to be like $300! I had enough to pay for a tank of gas and so did Mom so we thought we can do it in a day. We got up like we were going to work, me at 4:30 and Mom at 5am. We left around 6:30 and got into Cannon Beach at about 11:30. The first order of business was to go to the bakery (Melinda is saying about now “But that’s impossible! The bakery isn’t open on Tuesdays!”). We didn’t think it would be open either but as we drove through it was and we think it may be open every day of the week during the summer. The second order of business was to go to Bill’s for some fish and chips, a fishburger and chowder and a pint of Blackberry Beauty beer. Unfortunately it looked like the holiday visitors diminished the wonderfully wheaty and slightly sweet waters we were craving, so we went with their homemade rootbeer which just as sweet and less alcoholic. The puppies had been anticipating their walk on the beach since we got into town and they perked up at the smell of the salty air. We drove down and parked close to the beach and walked about halfway to Tolovana before turning back to make it to one of the reasons we drove down, the Farmer’s Market. You see this Farmer’s Market has all others beat. They only sell food, no crafts, and oh my the food they sell! They have an artisan creamery that comes with cheeses, fresh milk, sour cream, butter and the best vanilla pudding you ever tasted! We walked over with the dogs because though you were wearing a jacket on the beach, it was pretty warm inland where the wind wasn’t blowing (ahhh, the Oregon Coast). I did manage to burn the top of my feet slightly on our beach walk even though I was wearing a jacket and my fingers were cold! I went through the market first and got two of the creamery’s large vanilla puddings, which was close to all they brought, a large chocolate pudding and a ricotta. I also got some fresh Rainier cherries and two small strawberry rhubarb pies. Mom went through and got some sour cream, fresh raspberries and blackberries and some artisan breads. We drove over to the fabric store and got some very lovely seashore fabric (which basically replaced our hotel stay in price) and then went back downtown. We dropped in to some of our favorite stores, Sesame and Lilies, Deuber’s and Bruce’s Candy Kitchen. Then we went to Morris’ for dinner for some more chowder, deep fried shrimp and fireside logs (fries). We took the dogs down and went for one more small walk on the beach and then it was time to head home. After another 5 hour drive we made it home at about 10:30. What a blissfilled perfect day! (One small problem with our $80 Cannon Beach trip is that we got a nickel sized rock chip in the windshield on the way down…)

On Wednesday, July 8th, Mom and I decided to go out and get all of the sour cherries off of the trees that we could before they went bad. She had made a small batch of sweet sour cherry jelly and it was so good we wanted to make more. We went out and each of us picked 3 bags of cherries that were so full they were too heavy to hold. The cherries were so full on the trees it was like picking grapes. You’d just grab a hold of a bunch and pull on the cherries until your hand was full and then empty it into your bag. I took pictures of the trees after we finished picking. These were all of the cherries that were too high to reach from standing on the ground. Hopefully the birds will get a treat too. We came in and weighed the bags on the bathroom scale and each weighed about 5 pounds, so 5 pounds x 6 bags of cherries = 30 pounds of cherries! Mom started juicing the cherries to make the jelly yesterday and has been working on it today still. Maybe you’ll all get cherry jelly for Christmas! ;) On another note, in the extra couple of days we both got off recently we finished the picket fence around what will be our future raised vegetable garden beds! The next step is building the raised beds, but here it the beautiful fence all completed. Mom said she thought maybe the neighbors think we are building a small cemetery…

And on a third note...I got my hair cut short! I was sick of pulling my long hair back all the time and I had also managed to get back around to the same haircut I had in high school. I thought that this might be a more grown up hairdo, though I try not to act like an adult too much of the time.