Clock Shop

Once a month we get together with the other office couples and the couple who serve at the mission's young womens camp. In February we went to the Conger Clock Shop.

This is the main clock and near the entrance to the museum.

I enjoyed this display of fancy old fashioned clocks.

Clocks,clocks everywhere!

There were more than just clocks at the museum. Here is a dislplay of old fashioned cameras.

 

All kinds of phones. We were joking that our grandchildren might not even know what these are!

The grandkids would have fun playing in this.

This player piano really works. We even sang along. Well, Elder Caldwell and I were the only ones who  knew most of  the words to"Mockingbird Hill"but everyone else gave it a good effort.

Airplane display.

All kinds of trains.

Helping Elder Caldwell figure out how to make a souvenier coin.

The ladies: Siser Rout, Sister Caldwell, Sister Oliphant and yours truly.

We went to lunch afterwards at a delicious bbq restuarant. The Oliphants are next to us, the Routs across and Sister Caldwell next to them. A great day with new friends.

 



Our Home Away From Home

Each day that we go to the mission office we are greeted by this sign:

The mission office is the hub of the mission. It's a little hard to find because it's located in the basement of a small shopping center. But once you find it, you have come to a busy and wonderful place.

 

Sister Terry's desk... This is probably the cleanest it has been in awhile. Usually it has several projects spread out over it. Through the window you can see the little courtyard. Our plan is to buy a barbeque and have lunch together out there when the weather gets warmer.

And here is Elder Terry's desk. He spends some time at it doing his housing responsibilities, but more often he is found here...

In the President's office. You can't see the desk in this picture, but it's got a computer so that he can use it to find apartments available. This bulletin board holds the pictures of the families of our missionaries. We encourage each family to send a picture before their missionary arrives. Our family picture is at the bottom just to the right of the phone.

This is the transfer board. It's a little hard to see, but each card represents a missionary and is set up by zones and then districts. By looking at this we can see who is where and who the companions are. There is a matching board at the President's home in his office there. Sister Terry makes two cards for every missionary shortly after they arrive.

This is the arrival/departure board. Sister Rout, who works with us in the office, changes it each month. The missionaries love checking out who is coming and who is going. Sister Terry also makes two of each of these pictures. One for our board and one for a board at the President's home. He and Sister Young like to be able to get familiar with the faces of those coming in and think about those going home. Yes, that is 31 on the left as the last picture is of a senior couple who just arrived. And it doesn't include the six visa waiters we just found out about! The work is moving forward at a rapid pace and we are so happy to be a part of it in our own little way.



Searching for the illusive lighthouse

There are 11 lighthouses in Oregon and our goal is to see all of them before we leave. Not long after Christmas we ventured out to visit one of them. We should have been prepared when the only information we could find about where it was said that it was by mile marker 66. As we passed mile marker 66 it was too late to pull over so we decided to try on our way back down. We drove a little further to Waldport and drove over this bridge:

Alsea Bay Bridge

After stopping for lunch, we decided to go back and try to find the lighthouse. Once again we approached mile marker 66 and this time pulled over. There was nothing to see even when we got out of the car to look. It was in a area with cliffs and lots of trees. As we drove away I caught a quick glimpse of the tower. Here is what it really looks like:

Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse. It is privately owned and obviously difficult to find. Although we are counting it as one of the 11, we plan to go back and really search it out.

We did manage to do some other sight seeing on our way home.

Devil's Churn. 

The waves on the ocean were huge and the water was choppy so we picked the right day. Devil's Churn is a narrow inlet where as the waves come into it there is nowhere for them to go so they crash upon the lava rocks. Very impressive to see in person!

Normally every fall we spend a week in Yellowstone. This is as close as we will get this year. This isn't too far from Devil's churn. As the waves crash up around the rock, it blows through a hole just like a geyser. So we call this our mini Old Faithful! 

Christmas 2012

Our first Christmas away from our family. It was different, but we made the best of it. Instead of buying each other stuff we wouldn't have room to take home at the end of our mission, we shopped for each other at the dollar store. It was fun and we were both creative! Elder Terry picked out the antlers for both of us to wear.

Here is Elder Terry looking silly holding his stocking with his presents.

It seems to be the goal of the family to try to make Mom cry at least once every Christmas. This year the prize goes to Michelle and her family. The plaque reads, "Missionary (noun) a person who leaves their family for awhile, so others can be with their families forever."

This may be out of order, but before Christmas we enjoyed attending the Christmas party held out at the Blue River Branch, where we attend church every week. Here the children are acting out the Nativity story.

Sister O' Connor, standing by the Christmas tree is the Branch President's wife and also, the Primary President, Young Women's President (when they have Young Women aged girls) and the Branch activity planner. She was in charge of the party which turned out great!

A sweet picture of President O' Connor with some of the children. He read the Christmas story from the scriptures as the children acted it out. Then he talked to them about how both Jesus and Santa give gifts and without any fanfare or costume, he played Santa and had a special homemade stocking filled with treats for every child. What a great and simple way to celebrate Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We were happy to be invited to share Dan and Gretta's Thanksgiving dinner.

Beautiful table setting. And in case anyone wonders, that is sparkling cider!

 Gretta is from Venezuela and wanted to share a traditional dish with us.

 Cooking with Gretta!

 Assembling the ham bread. Ham, bacon, raisins, green olives. And yes, don't be so shocked that I ate green olives!

 

 It turned out great and was so delicious!

Don't leave out Dan! He did a lot of the cooking also!

 

 

Lots of delicious food!

Elder and Sister Terry were banished from the kitchen. Here we are watching "You've Got Mail."

Wonderful to spend the day with family. Thanks to Dan and Gretta for making it a memorable holiday and thanks for putting the pictures on facebook so I could steal them for the blog!

Dave's Killer Bread

I never thought I would be dedicating a blog post to a loaf of bread, but everyone should know about Dave's Killer Bread!

We like the 21 grain bread (the green label) the best.

This is Dave.... and he has a fascinating story. His family operated a bakery when he was young. Instead of showing an interest in the bakery, as a teenager he showed an interest in drugs. He did four prison sentences through the years. Three and a half years into his last sentence things clicked and he was able to get help for his drug abuse and receive an education. After he was released the last time, he went to work at the family bakery which his brother now operated. But Dave decided to take it further and developed his own recipe and started Dave's Killer Bread.

Dave doesn't hide his past. Every label tells his story.

And this is his theme.

 

Dave is based in Portland and his bread is available not only in stores such as Winco and Costco, but is even available by mail order! It may cost around $5 a loaf but is worth every dollar. It's the only bread we eat now. Go out and find some and try it for yourself!

Heceta Head Lighthouse

There are supposedly thirteen lighthouses along the Oregon coast. We took a recent Saturday to visit one of them.

We stopped in Florence, Oregon hoping for Elder Terry to be able to visit a fly fishing museum I had read about. Unfortunately, the museum is now a play house! So we ate delicious clam chowder at the restaurant behind me before heading on our way north.

 View of Heceta Head Lighthouse from a distance

After a half mile and all uphill walk we found that the lighthouse was fenced off but we were able to get a close up in spite of the barbed wire fence!

The wedding we passed on the way up the trail. She was having a hard time walking because of her heels getting stuck in the grass. It appeared to be a nice wedding looking out over the ocean.

Another distant view with neat rock formations below. No wonder they needed a lighthouse!

A view of the rocks from the lighthouse.



On the way back down the trail we came across this tree covered with hanging moss.

A beautiful shot of the sun through the trees. It reminded us of the Sacred Grove.

The ocean at low tide. This was standing  quite a ways in from the shore.Very interesting to see the erosion at the water line and to know that before too long it would all be filled in with water. We had to drive over the neat bridge behind me to get to the lighthouse.

The beautiful Pacific Ocean

Close of a perfect day.