On Monday night I returned from Oregon, where my family of origin celebrated my dad's 90th birthday. This photo is of Dad on a seahorse. As you can see, he is quite the shy guy. I think he might be part-Texan, as he looks more like a roper than a sea guy.

I flew to the PNW from Dallas last Friday with my sister, Mary. Saw the snow-topped Cascade Range from the air. Then we had lunch with my niece, Heather, who picked us up. (In Portland you can actually eat outside in August.) And that night Mary and I had a quiet dinner (salmon) with my parents in Woodburn (about an hour south of Portland if you don't hit bad traffic--which we did).

On Saturday we decorated for the party and had the celebration, which brought a great turnout. Great to see so many familiar faces from my childhood. That night, Heather took us back to Portland with her, where we sat on the lawn in Washington Park near the Rose Garden and danced to Felicidades. Hundreds of people came to hear the closing band for the Portland Parks and Rec's two-week band fest. My brother and cousin were among its fifteen members. The band has a reggae, calypso, salsa, World-beat feel, and the musicians have performed together on and off for some 35 years. (Back when my hubby and I were dating, we went to Felicidades concerts!) It was so fun to sprawl on the grass with many family members and eat yummy food. The temp was around 85 with a nice breeze by the end of the evening, too. Made me want to stay.

The next morning, Mary and I took the folks to the town of Gates for dad's 71st high school reunion. Yeah, you read that right! Seventy-one. Then we drove past the old homestead land, and Dad showed us where Uncle Herb ran the Model T off the road. Or was it the Model A? You get the idea.

That night back in Portland, we sat in the hot tub at Carrie's (older sis) and marked the eleven-month anniversary since Gordon was killed. As we sat soaking with the family, we shared memories of Gordon. My favorite was hearing his sons talk about how he used to carry around a rocket in the back of the truck and try it out whenever he passed a "really good field." Yup. That was Gordon the Science Warden.

We returned Monday, again over the Cascades, and I arrived home in time to wash my clothes and re-pack them for the faculty retreat. I left for Pine Cove early the next morning. I returned Wednesday afternoon, and our family actually had dinner together! Gary had been gone two weeks for training, and our girl was at camp for a week. I left the car at the airport for Gary when I left, as he was returning that night. Craziness.

We are happy to be back together. And I have about 72 hours till school starts. Whew!