Troutdale Museum and Friends

Jim and I have lived in our little town of Troutdale for almost 39 years. Our daughters went to our local grade school and had this wonderful man in the photo, Len Otto, as their teacher along the way. Over time, Jim and Len became fishing buddies! Len is now retired and his lovely wife Gloria is still teaching. They are good friends! Len grew up in Troutdale and is very active in the historical society. He has spent the last four years working on this very special exhibit about the Columbia River Highway. He contacted us last week to let us know he will be going in for heart surgery soon and wanted to show us the new exhibit that is now open. We all had today open for the grand tour.

We thought it would be fun to have a picture of Jimmy with our car at the exhibit for the future. The exhibit is in the barn and features the history of the highway in our part of the world.

It's hard for us to imagine a time when travel by car was something very special. It was fun to learn about the history of the roads in our area.

Along with the development of the Columbia Highway, came a variety of restaurants and yummy places for the travelers to eat. There were chicken restuarants, ice cream parlors and even a tea house.
This lady Margaret Henderson was known as the "server of the perfect dinner"....she had several restaurants. When one burned, she was raising money on the spot to build another one.

There was quite a display about Tad's Chicken and Dumpling's restaurant. It is still a favorite along the Sandy River. I really enjoyed all the vintage items.

This is the current and famous Tad's neon sign. It is one of our favorite places to dine in our area.

It's so cozy and I love all the wood inside. You can sit and look at the river but we like to eat by the fireplace in the winter.

Don't you love this little red car? It was hanging up above the displays in the corner.

The exhibit was very educational and entertaining. It was a delight to be there with our friends. We had lunch in downtown Troutdale. We are praying for our friend's surgery and speedy recovery. 

Saturday Fun!

We got our little grandson Otto for an overnight stay last night. He wasn't too sure about our changes with the remodeling of the house! He doesn't forget a thing and was even looking for my lip gloss in the bathroom. Guess I better get another one! He is my little sweetie.

Papa, as he has named Jimmy, aways finds some new toy for the little guy. They two of them were having fun making music and singing some tunes.

Otto was really getting into it after a bit of practice. It was nice outside and we enjoyed watching him play and run around the backyard.

He woke up shortly after we all went to bed and was scared. I'm not sure if he had a nightmare or what, but he wanted "gamma" and we finally took him into our bed. He settled down and fell asleep with his kitty and his softie (his blanket). He was up at 6:30 ready to start a new day. He had a good breakfast and had a nice bath.

We dropped Otto back at his home around 10:00 am and headed for the Aurora Antique Street Fair.
It's always a fun event and we haven't been able to attend for a couple years.

I think Jimmy was trying out for the Bullwinkle the Moose part!

I always find doll houses at these shows and unfortunately, I don't have room for another dollhouse...sigh.

It was a fun day with lots to look at and a few goodies came home with us...mostly things for Jimmy to sell in October. When you have to clean out things in your home, you really think about what you are buying!

We were pretty tired when we got home and enjoyed a little nap. Being a papa and a gamma is hard work, but we LOVE it. 

Tea Time Thursday #82 ~ Happy Anniversary

Earlier this summer, I found this charming little cup and saucer and just had to save it for an anniversary Tea Time Thursday posting.  What a darling old timey couple. They look like they are in love, for sure.

The saucer is even shaped like a heart and is edged with cut out hearts.

Both the cup and the saucer say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY in gold script.

The teacup and saucer are marked Kelvin Fine China. From the little I could find about the company, the china seems to be made in Japan in the 1950's. I just think it's corny cute!

When Jimmy and I were married, we went to Victoria British Columbia in Canada on our honeymoon. I fell in love with the city and with Queen Victoria. I have been collecting books, china, silver and ephemera for these past 42 years.  I recently found this wonderful advertising card. It is featuring the Leading Women of the World-at Home. I love it. It's in good condition and it was only a dollar.
I just love the roses decorating the card.

I like this image of the Queen and it is different from any of my other treasures.

I also like that it features Queen Victoria's beloved Balmoral in Scotland. I guess that is the "at home" part of the card! Not your typical home.

I have been thinking about fall and making some new fall Pinterest boards. I always start longing for fall right after our anniversary.

Our Anniversary

August 4th...our 42nd wedding anniversary! The day started off cool and cloudy, very much like our wedding day. In some ways, it seems like only yesterday that we said I do at St Rose where I was a primary school teacher. In other ways, it seems like soooo long ago! When I look at our wedding photos I see two young kids! Jimmy and I were talking about our 50th anniversary coming in just 8 years. Both of my grandparents were blessed to celebrate 50 years of marriage and I sure hope that God blesses Jimmy and me with that same gift.

My sweet husband has brought me roses every anniversary! He hasn't missed a one. I think he loves roses as much as I do. This bouquet was such a beautiful orange color...so pretty.

With all our home remodeling and the extra work that we have had to do, we decided to save all our packages from our trip back east for our anniversary. It was so fun to open our souvenirs and remember our trip.  I will be sharing stories and items this month, so this is just a little peek into the boxes!

Our gifts from the Cellar Door book shop are always wrapped in this lovely tissue paper. It was such a treat to meet John and Jill Hare. They welcomed us into their beautiful home and we enjoyed our day with them. More to come on that later.

We found these pieces of children's sized pink luster little dishes in an antique shop. Bits and pieces in a lot that had to come home with me!

More treasures...some to share with friends.

We spent two days at Deerfiled in MA and I brought home several books to read up on the village on those long winter nights ahead.

Of course, I had to bring back some tea for tea time.

Just a little look here at some of the fabric and patterns I found in New England. I was also able to buy some of the Tasha Tudor fabric at the family gift shop and some more from the Cellar Door. I also offered to make my friend Melinda's A is for Annabelle quilt. She bought a kit when it first came out and she has been so gracious to me the past two years, I wanted to make it for her. Won't that be a s fun project for winter?

This is a little doll house with a great story to share! Another blog post ahead.

We did have a disappointment to day. Jim had purchased a beautiful Pink Luster tea set for me as an anniversary gift. It arrived smashed and bashed! I was so sad but as one of my friends said to me, the gift today is 42 years of marriage! How true.

We decided to go to Edgefield for an early anniversary dinner. It is just about 5 minutes from home.
When we arrived, we found that they were having a concert! Dinner plans went out the window. We just had to laugh! We decided to go to Troutini in our little Troutdale. They have wonderful food.
Here we are in front of the big fish in our little town park.

My Jimmy....great picture of my happy guy.

Happy Anniversary To you Jimmy....love ya lots.

Sunday Thoughts and Sweet Otto

I longed for a grandchild for many years and had finally just accepted that it was not meant to be. Then our oldest daughter became pregnant after several miscarriages and we held our breath for nine months. God was gracious and our little Otto was born. JOY JOY JOY! He is just a wonderful little boy, now two years old. Yes, he is the delight of us all! He is a happy little boy and a funny little one.

His Auntie Gina and Uncle Eric hosted his first birthday party in Seattle. Grandma and Papa were invited, so we drove up for the day to celebrate.

Otto is SO into cars! He was so excited with his special birthday cake!

 Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Otto, Happy Birthday to you!

He couldn't wait to get the cars OFF of his cake, so grandma had to help a bit.

Than he was ready to eat his cake...yummy...lots of blue icing all over everything!

Mommy had to cut some more cake. Don't you love her party hats?

Some help from big sister Ava. Cake and ice cream for all.

Aunt Gina and mommy....

More cars and little roadways for Otto's play time.

On Tuesday, we went to dinner at Calamity Jane's for Otto's other party. You can get a peanut butter hamburger or a hot fudge hamburger!

Lots of fun for the whole gang!

Otto is close to his other grandmother too....Grandma Kathy or Grandma K for short.

Daddy and Mommy...proud of little Otto.

I think this is his most favorite present~a big car to rid in!

Many blessings on you my little grandson. May God hold you close...always.

Hello August, Hello Blogging

August is here! A new month and here in Oregon, it is often the hottest month of the year. I am hoping that is not true this year, as it has been so very dry and so very hot most of July. Most yards are just parched and have the look of straw. It is scary to see everything so dry. The entire West is experiencing the same conditions.

August is also the month that my Jimmy and I were married. We will be celebrating on the 4th.

Our home remodeling is FINALLY winding down. I think it should be finished in a day or so. That will be the end of the inside remodeling jobs for this year. A new roof is the next job on the list to  be completed by fall.

As August is also the month of Tasha Tudor's birthday, I am going to be using this month to review our recent NEW ENGLAND vacation. It will be fun for me to share the most wonderful trip of our life. We loved New England~it is a great place to visit and so very different from the west coast.This would have been Tasha's 100th birthday. 

I am going to use this opportunity to get back into blogging...it has been a hard year for faithful blogging.