Fall Color

Fall is already showing its colors, and how beautiful it is!  Truly, there's something to love about every season, isn't there?  Today I have a few photos taken on our September trip and, of course, I've got Wally and LuLu up first.  They posed nicely for me in front of this bush of rose hips, as pretty now as it was when blooming in the summer.  There are flowers growing all over this camp, looking quite natural in their setting.  I wish I'd photographed the hollyhocks when we were there in July.

With our preponderance of conifers here in the Pacific Northwest we don't get quite the fall foliage display you see in other areas, but where deciduous trees grow there's bound to be color.  In certain areas of McKenzie Pass, Oregon the maples, sumac, and conifers were taking a foothold in the lava beds and the contrast was quite striking.

We were unable to stop at some of the prettiest sites as we passed by the pull outs too quickly.  We were on our way home with a long drive ahead of us, but we did want to linger here and there to enjoy it.  In the photo below there's more lava bed showing.

Back at camp in eastern Oregon... we went for a long walk, exploring the area.  Apples on the branch speak "fall" very clearly.

Well, gee, here's Wally and LuLu again.  Can't take just one pic.

These don't look like happy faces, really.  They aren't thrilled about posing and they just want me to finish up and give them the treat I promised.  Sheesh, Mom.

I'll be back with more next Saturday.  Have a beautiful day!

Our Goofy Kids

As this post goes live we've just returned from another trip to the desert oasis we happened upon back in July.  I'll go through those photos later, but thought today I'd share a few fun pics from our July trip.

First of all, doesn't Rich look cute holding his little purse?  Okay, it's not his purse, and it's not even a purse.  It's a tote bag I'd packed up for a picnic.  We crossed a creek and headed down this little trail.  I cannot resist following a path in the woods.

We'd intended on simply crossing this creek on our way to the lake, but LuLu had other ideas:

The water was slow and murky, but, trust me, it's nothing gross.  Just earthy and natural.  However, we hadn't planned for the dogs to swim there.  Once she was in the water, LuLu had trouble getting out again.  The bank was steep and undercut, but we called her over to a different spot where she could climb out easily.  LuLu is a very obliging little girl.

Wally, however, has a stubborn streak.

No way was he letting LuLu have all the fun, so he jumped in, too.  Same spot and he couldn't climb out, either.  Do you think he would be called over to a different spot?  NooOOOoo!  Rich to the rescue.

Here's LuLu again after a dip in the lake:

Everything is double the adventure with these guys.  Enjoy your day!

What's in a Name?

If we'd waited to name Wally and LuLu we might have called them Shoes and Socks.  When one shows up with socks, the other cannot be out-cuted, so will run for a shoe.  Naturally, we find it adorable.  Not sure why something like that is so adorable to us, but we're under their spell.

LuLu with socks:

Wally with shoe:

Really, though... can you imagine what the neighbors would think if they heard me calling out "Shoes!".  "Socks!"?  They'd think I was the crazy lady of Pine Street.

When we were awaiting the day we'd bring our brand new Golden Retriever puppy boy home...

... we knew we were in for a beautiful thing.  A faithful, sweet, kind, gentle, intelligent, loyal, trusted friend was coming to live with us.  He needed a good name.

I looked up names meaning qualities such as those.  Everything sounded too intellectual and pretentious.  So where did Wally get his name?  Well...

...from The Most Trusted Man in America -- Walter Cronkite.  Rich and I had both grown up knowing Walter Cronkite as a household name, and he'd recently passed away.  We felt like we'd lost a friend.

Also, on a lighter note... there was this guy:

He tugged at our heartstrings.

So there you have a trusted friend who's also adorable.

Now... how about LuLu?  We were waiting for the day we'd drive out of town to pick her up (I was SO excited) and we went over and over names.  It couldn't sound anything similar to Wally -- Wally and Lily, Wally and Daisy, Wally and Molly.  You get the idea.  Then Rich looked over my shoulder at this:

It's a Little Lulu doll my friend made for me years ago.  He said, "How about LuLu?"  Oh, my gosh, it was perfect!  I loved it!  And that's how our little LuLu got her name.

We all lived happily ever after.

Wishing you a happily ever after kind of day.

Calendar Pics

Hello!  I just have a couple of calendar pics today.  I'm pretty sure I shared these on my stamping blog, but not here yet.  The first is LuLu for this month:

August's calendar picture is Wally and LuLu together.  It was taken on our first camping trip in our brand new trailer, which we've now traded in for the motorhome.  Many good times yet to come!

I have some busy projects going on right now, so didn't have time for much more than this.  We'll be going on our last fair weather trip soon, and I can't wait!  Have a good weekend!

Embracing Time

Hello again, and happy Saturday to all!  We went away again in August.  Just four days and only an hour's journey, but it was lovely.  As always, my favorite photo subjects are Wally and LuLu, and I'm especially fond of the portrait shots with just enough landscape showing to suggest their beautiful surroundings.

The first here is LuLu, framed by arching grasses and backed by deep shadow.  She's looking across a little stream at Wally. 

And here's Wally looking back.

Rich and LuLu are standing alongside that little stream (click the pics for a better view).

The stream fed into this, the middle fork of one of our local rivers.

All the joy of raising our son, introducing him to new experiences and watching his face light up has, for the last several years, been transferred to Wally and LuLu.  To see them happy means everything to us.  Corny?  So be it.

Back at camp...  Little by little we're becoming acquainted with the best dog friendly RV parks, and the best sites in those parks to request when we call to reserve.  Look at all this space!  And that's just a smidgen of the space we had in this site.  We do not like the RV parks that are little more than a parking lot with no room to call your own.  Who wants to sit practically underneath the next RV's slide out sipping coffee in your bed head and jammies?  Not me!  In this end site we had plenty of privacy.

LuLu again:

The nice thing about these little getaways is time.  We all have it; the same number of hours in each day, but having time on your hands, time you can embrace, is a wonderful thing.  No reason to hurry.  Go at your own pace and, really, there's plenty to do, but it's not housework, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, running errands, paying bills, keeping appointments...  We're planning another trip in early September.

See you next Saturday!  Have a happy day!