The Adventures of GrannyBabs in Oregon - in pretty random order I might add!

Sheri Mac Dowell, who used to live in Monrovia (Phoebe taught her kids swimming and she used to babysit for them), lives down the street from Phoebe. We enjoyed visiting and "catching up!"

The Monday night before Agnes's birth was David's company party at an amusment park - Henry loved the rides!

Calvin was pretty fond of them too - especially the ones he was tall enough to go on!


Phoebe and I pretty much limited ourselves to the train and the carousel - thought this stork was pretty apropos!


Burgerville is Oregon's answer to In 'n Out - the burgers aren't as good, but their fruit in season shakes and lemonades are REALLY good!



Calvin likes their chicken strips.



Agnes had her first bath today. She loved it. And Calvin loves participating.

Henry has taken well to being the big brother who can hold the baby while Mom does something like answer the phone or the door.

I got the afghan done - Phoebe had started it for Calvin - so I pulled it out and did a stitch I knew how to do.

Calvin and Henry got new bubble guns and had a great time with them on the deck.

Phoebe made Agnes a little bracelet.

The gray, rainy days have finally given way to sunshine. The boys and I went swimming tonight while Phoebe and David went to the show to see Harry Potter. Agnes went too.

Most of our evenings consisted of me crocheting or sewing while Phoebe fed Agnes and David walked around with her when she needed burping. We watched whatever Netflix had left that day! (Lots of House episodes!)

I leave tomorrow afternoon. I will miss being here. It is work, but it's not the kind of work that seems never-ending - because it's not at your own house! Laundry and meals are never-ending, but for me they are not - because I'm not always here. And everyone here is very appreciative of my efforts - that always makes it more fun! I think our own children are appreciative of what we do, but it does become routine and we forget to acknowledge what we do for one another - both parents and children.

And I've enjoyed reading the dragon stories of Ruth Giles and Henry Reed's Babysitting Service to the boys at night. I never did chapter books with my kids - I'm not sure why - I always read to them, but they were usually one-sitting picture books and when they got to chapter books, they read them on their own.

We will be back in a few weeks for the Hood to Coast Relay that Dad will participate in and Agnes will be blessed that weekend too, so I'm looking forward to that.

And after I'm home for 2 days, it will feel like I never left!

Random Thoughts

I was thinking about how it's so green and wet and cool here - odd even for this area in July - but I am enjoying it.

The problem is, it's normal for these folks to have gray, rainy days. It's not normal for me. I feel like we should be "seizing the day" and curling up with a book - like Harry Potter! They (the locals) just go on like usual!

And speaking of Harry Potter, the UPS man delivered my copy yesterday just before noon - just like they promised!! I love the packaging when they deliver Harry Potter -"Attention Muggles: do not deliver before July 21st!"

Can you believe it ? - I'm saving it for the plane ride home. Mainly because I brought a book up to Phoebe for her book group in August - and started reading it last week and it's really good, so I need to finish it before I can start Harry Potter. (It's called The Glass Castle - a memoir that is pretty fascinating - truth is indeed stranger than fiction!)

And I also thought that the world is full of Harry's for me - my husband, my son, my grandson, my uncle, my father-in-law, my own grandfather - and since the advent of Prince Harry and Harry Potter, no one thinks Harry is such a strange name.

(When I first met my Harry - officially anyway - I knew I had danced with him the night before at the Y Center Grand Opening - but couldn't remember his name. So I coyly pulled his ID card out of his pocket - and saw that it said "Harry Porter" and figured, well, he must have a nickname. No one was named Harry except old people like my Grandpa Stevens, Harry Truman and my Uncle Harry! Imagine my surprise when every one who passed by and knew him said "Hi Harry!")

Harry is a fine name! And don't tell me if Harry dies!

Wedding Fashions Over the Years

There appeared to be some response to the photos from Alice's wedding - so here are the lovely gowns from Lyn and Roseann's wedding in 1966. I actually cut mine off to be a street length dress and wore it to church a couple of times - but it still seemed to yell "Bridesmaid's dress!" (It was a linen blend.)

I like how girls do things now like skirts and tops - so you can at least separate the parts and recombine them so the outfits aren't a total loss.

I remember Joan had a closet full of bridesmaid dresses - a "dress up" treasure trove if there ever was one. I especially remember an emerald green silk sheath dress - I wanted to be old enough to wear it with panache - I never was at a point where I would have done it justice - but then again I used to imagine being Miss America!!

And below are the dresses from Joy's wedding, also in 1966. They were velvet and crepe on the bottom. That dress was a total loss - I didn't like the color! The things we do for our friends!

And Joy ended up divorcing Dale, so all those lovely studio shots are probably gathering dust in some basement! (This is obviously not a studio shot!!)

Jumping on the recipe bandwagon

Our friend Dana recently joined the church and often joins us for Sunday dinner. She brought this recipe - said it's a family favorite. It looks intriguing to me - not sure if I will get a chance to make it at Phoebe's, but I thought I'd post the recipe. (She didn't bring the finished product, just a photograph from the recipe book and the recipe.)

Lemon Fruit Mold

To duplicate the photo, double the recipe and use a 13 by 9 glass or porcelain baking dish.

1 (6 oz.) pkg. lemon-flavored gelatin Fruit for garnish such as sliced strawberries,
3 cups boiling water sliced bananas dipped in lemon juice,
1/3 cup mayonnaise drained mandarin oranges, grapes,
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, cut in cubes blueberries, sliced apples dipped in lemon
1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate juice, sliced peaches and raspberries

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Reserve 3/4 cup gelatin mixture and let stand at room temperature; do not refrigerate at this point or gelatin will harden. Pour remaining gelatin into blender. Add mayonnaise, cream cheese and lemonade concentrate. Blend until smooth. Pour into a 9 inch pie plate or porcelain quiche dish. Refrigerate until firm. Arrange fruits over top of mold in a flower design, as pictured. Or, if desired, arrange fruit in circles, working from the outside in. Refrigerate reserved 3/4 cup gelatin until thick enough to coat a spoon. Carefully spoon thickened gelatin over fruit to glaze. Refrigerate until set or overnight. Makes 8 servings.

As a lover of pudding and custard, I'm thinking this will tempt my palate. I will try it with low-fat cream cheese and mayo too - but hey, with all that fruit, it's bordering on healthy!

Setting the record straight . . .

Somewhere in bloggerland, it is noted, erroneously I might add, that I don't know how to French braid hair.

Well, folks, I am here to set the record straight!! In the summer of 1980, Bonny went to a church camp with her good friend Krissie. And she had a good time - it wasn't an LDS camp, but they were good Christian folk with high standards.

And as a result, any Terrill worth their salt can sing "I am an M, I am an M-O, I am an M-O-R-M-O-N-L-D-S, L-D-S, and I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T, and I will L-I-V-E-E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y."

Bonny also came home with French braids in her long blond hair. And she wanted me to learn to do it. I kept protesting that I didn't know how to do it. One rainy Saturday, we were sitting in the house on Lime watching an old movie on T.V. and she told me to try braiding her hair. "You just have to do it over and over again and practice and then you can do it."

And then we went camping up Santa Barbara way after Christmas - and used Uncle Bill's motorhome too. It was rainy and cold - I think that was the one year the Rose Parade got rained on.

And I sat in the motor home and braided hair until the girls decided I had it right.

I may not do it perfectly (i.e. snugly and tightly), but I do indeed know how to do it!

Let the record reflect the truth in this matter!

That's all I have to say.

The Saga of the Sewing Machine

It's a long story, folks, but I think I'm going to tell it anyway!

About 35 years ago, I bought a Viking Sewing Machine - I had a machine that my mom had given me as a wedding gift, but it was a cheaper model - perfect for the beginner I was at the time. I was ready for the bigtime however!

So I made payments on this great Viking - that I quickly outgrew as my sewing skills improved and expanded. Then I bought a really deluxe model Viking that "did everything" except the dishes.

I sewed up a storm on that machine - if it could talk, would it have tales to tell. After about 15 years though, it seemed to be showing its age. When I took it in - we were in California by then - it was going to cost nearly $300 to repair it. But the guy said it was worth it. I waffled - so he offered me a used machine in the store - which was much "newer" and a Viking - and repair of my old machine for a great combo price. (The newer Viking was computerized too.)

So I fell for it - and for many years felt I had gotten the good end of the deal. Two machines came in handy when we did sewing classes with the Young Women or when Phoebe, Eliza or Hannah wanted to venture into the needlewoman's path. Or when wedding or prom or baby sewing took up the dining room at Grandma Clayton's.

Chinks in the armor or holes in the dike, if you will, began appearing. More and more frequently I needed to take my "newer" machine into the shop. And I didn't sew all that often, so I didn't think about it all the time.

Then last summer, they had my machine for over 6 months!! It needed a new circuit board, the machine was no longer being made so they had to find a "reconditioned" circuit board, and then they sent an incomplete one so it had to be sent back!! I had their phone number memorized!

Finally got it back last fall - and two months later it went dead, no power, zip, nada! I took it in and they guy said it was a fuse and charged me $15.

So I've been sewing aprons nearly non-stop it seems - and yesterday I planned to finally get one made for my mom - and I sat down ready to work - and whoa, a dead machine again!

It was a holiday - I was fried! I thought of going to the church and borrowing the ward Bernina - but I don't have keys to our building anymore, and Harry was at work!

I ranted to the walls - and then went for the Yellow Pages! I found a sewing shop in Altadena that has been around since 1938 - why I haven't found it before I'll never know - I've hit all the other ones in the San Gabriel Valley. And the guy answered - on a holiday no less!

I said, "Are you open?" And he said, "For awhile."

So I hustled over there - and he said, "This machine doesn't use a fuse." First clue that maybe I had been dealing with the wrong people. Then he said, "I will have to take it apart to find out what's wrong." So I said, "What do you have for sale?"

And the rest, as they say, is history! I no longer have a Viking - except for my old, wonderful, workhorse Viking from 35 years ago that Phoebe is currently using - but instead have a new mid-line Riccar. It's not computerized - you turn dials and levers to make it work - and it works great - I made two more aprons yesterday - you may all get yours eventually - if you want one that is.

Turns out Viking no longer really makes Vikings - the company that makes Elnas and Necchis and many other names makes Vikings now. And my blue Viking was the first year of computerized Vikings - the guinea pig I guess.

Riccar makes their own - that sold me on the concept.

I am a happy seamstress these days!!

Thanks for listening.