Love My Flowers!!

The Peace rose is an old time favorite.  We had one when we lived in Eatonville, too.  The yellow and pink colors are soft and subtle.  The red and white rose is called Scentimental.  As well as being unique in color, it has a very beautiful fragrance.  The deep purple bloom is also unique and pretty.  It is called Ebb Tide.

This Julia Child rose bush is amazing.  It is hardy and produces many, many blooms.  One of my favorites.

There are 15 roses in our rose garden.  We have planted 10 of them.  There are 4 red rose bushes scattered in the rose garden that were already established in the flower bed as was the pink climbing rose.  Love the dainty pink blooms on the trellis. There were irises and a forsythia bush in this flower bed, too, but we decided to make it all roses. 

The hosta later bloomed very nicely and the peonies had lots of big dark pink blooms.

The white hydrangea was a Mother's Day gift last year from the Battle's.  It seems to be very happy where it is planted.  The pink hydrangea was already established when we moved here 9 1/2 years ago. Two hydrangeas - two varieties.

Shad Fishing turned to Craziness!

Cute picture of Merry and her friend having fun!  (Only picture of this week.)

We planned a fun shad fishing trip for a week in June including Father's Day weekend.  We stayed at the RV park in North Bonneville where Bill's mother and brother live.  Lots of family - Bill's sister, our boys and their families, Teri's sister and husband - would be coming and going during this time.  The fishing was great with over 200 shad caught by our group.  There was a little mishap during this trip, however.  On the third day of fishing, Teri was going up the bank to meet Jason and Courtney and took a bad fall breaking her wrist.  A trip to the emergency room in White Salmon to be splinted and then surgery 4 days later to put in a plate and pins (nice souvenir.)  Then 5 weeks of physical therapy  (did wonders for several fingers that didn't want to work quite right.)  Carpal tunnel surgery in December helped lingering tingling and numbness.  Everyone was so helpful during the recovery and it was deeply appreciated!

Crater Lake National Park

We love National Parks so we took a side trip on our way home from California.  National Parks seem to highlight the most amazing scenery and historic landmarks.  Crater Lake National Park didn't disappoint us.

Crater Lake National Park was established in 1902 and is located in southern Oregon.  It is the 5th oldest national park in the United States and the only one in Oregon.  Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and the ninth deepest in the world.  Crater Lake lies inside a volcanic basin created when the 12,000 Mt. Mazama collapsed following a major eruption.   The lake is filled entirely by snowfall which averages 528 inches per year.  There is no outlet from the lake.

There was still snow on the ground near the gift shop.  We visited only several weeks after this part of the park reopened after winter.

The Crater Lake Lodge opened to guests in 1915 after a long construction period and even then was lacking in comforts most would expect of a lodge.  The magnificent views were the reason most visitors were willing to make the long trip to this remote and spartan lodge.  At times there has been 15 feet of snow surrounding the building which is listed as a National Historic Hotel. 

The burls in trees are caused when the tree has been stressed by injury, virus or fungus.  We saw a large stand of these trees as we traveled in the park.  The bird was pecking at the gravel like there may have been some seeds to eat.



California Mini-Reunion

Teri's brother, Jeff, arranged a reunion of the Moeller siblings for June.  We met at a Thousand Trails park at the Lake of the Springs, California on June 1st.  Bill and Teri and Coralee and Lance traveled most of the way together with Johanna and Marshall joining us for the night in Roseburg, OR.  Kay and Lee were planning to make the trip also but Kay was recovering from pneumonia and felt it best to rest.  Missed them.  Jeff and Elaine camped in their motor home and the rest of us rented trailers at the park.  

Jeff and Bill barbequed something for dinner every night - ribs, fish, chicken, steak.  We always gathered for dinner every evening after days of swimming, fishing, relaxing or running to town.  Elaine always got the dinner space set up and ready for all of us to enjoy.  We had hot weather most days so we enjoyed the cool evenings together.

Marshall was the only youngster in the group but he was able to entertain himself and we enjoyed his company.

We had great meals and enjoyed the dinner conversation, too.

There was lots of wildlife in the park.

Bill, Kevin and Marshall spent some time fishing and Kevin caught these catfish that we enjoyed for dinner.

We left our little reunion on Saturday, June 8, and headed home.  The drive through central Oregon was beautiful.  The scenery was amazing.  It was a nice day for our travels.

We drove through lots of rural areas with small towns.



Lots of green pastures and farms.