A TRIBUTE

I often go walking in the Grandview Cemetary, overlooking the beautiful Grande Ronde Valley. Today was a very special day; it was beautiful beyond belief, and the "Avenue of Flags" was a beautiful reminder that it is Memorial Day Weekend. The veterans are honored on this weekend, and each veteran has a little flag by his/her grave. George "Bud" Hendrickson, whose grave is shown above would be proud to be buried in a cemetary that honors Veterans and be surrounded by American Flags. In addition, over 200 flags line the avenues of the cemetary. Each flag represents a soldier who lost his/her life in the line of duty to our Country. The flags are donated for the weekend by family members who were awarded those flags when only a body returned home after combat. This is such a beautiful display and it can't help but bring tears to the eyes when remembering all of those, alive and dead, who sacrificed a part of their life so that we might be free!

Above is the view from the top of the hill. Bud's grave is by the little tree.

This is the same spot, but the view is looking up instead of down the hill.

This avenue goes down from the mosoleum and connects to the ones I just showed.

This view looks down on the Veteran's Memorial, which is in the center of the cemetary. I know we are remembering loved ones who have passed on this Memorial Day. Let us also take a few minutes to honor, thank, and remember those who have served our country, and in many cases, lost their lives. I would like to thank a few members of my and Ron's family for their service and sacrifice:

My Dad, Bill Calvert could not serve as a foot soldier, because he was too short (5' tall) and had flat feet. So he served in the Army Corp of Engineers building military houseing and power dams during WWII

John Hendrickson, recipient of a Purple Heart

Bud Hendrickson, recipient of a Purple Heart

Leon Hendrickson, recipient of a Purple Heart

Edward Waite

Richard Waite--Army and Air Force

Dennis Waite--Marine Corp

Alan Waite--Army

Dmitri Waite

Kresimir Waite

Patxi Waite

Clay Thurston--Afganistan

Jay Lawson---West Point Graduate

Jack Jensen

Russell Farmer
Thank you all, and many others who I may have overlooked. I admire you and love you for your service. I am proud to be an American!

TUESDAY

Well, Kim did a Tuesday last week, so I decided to do a Tuesday this week, so here goes:

6 am--Got up, showered, got ready for the day, ate breakfast
6:30--made the twin beds up with the clean sheets I washed yesterday, vacuumed the room and put the beds back where they belonged. Vacuumed the pink room.
7:15 Picked up in the kitchen, checked out the mail from yesterday
8:30 went to TOPS for an hour
10:00 Visited with my visiting teacher
11:15 Cleaned the bathroom by the kitchen, and the utility room. vacuumed and mopped both rooms
12:00 Had lunch
12:30 vacuumed the filters in the furnace
1:30 Cleaned the mud room
2:30 Went around the house and vacuumed ceiling cobwebs
3:30 Rested for a bit
4:00 Cleaned out and straightened my medicine cabinet--threw out old and never-used stuff!
(The proper way to dispose of pills you didn't use is to put them in a baggie with some water and disolve them, then add coffee grounds, sand or cat litter and dispose in your garbage can. I opted for the cat litter)
4:30 Vacuumed the big bedroom and bathroom
5:00 Went for a walk
6:00 Made dinner (Soupa Tuscana and French Bread)
6:30 did dishes
7:10 went to a band concert at the high school (it was good, but I almost fell asleep!)
9:15 Had a snack of watermelon and watched some of the programs I had DVR'd
11:00 Went to bed

La Gande Open House

No one has ever posted pictures of the La Grande reception, so here are a few. The Island City Hall does the decorating every month, and since it was April, they did an Easter theme.

We made the centerpieces pretty simple.

This was the gift table

This was the fun refreshment table. The punch fountain was on a ledge behind the table on the left. People love those punch fountains, and they liked the fun refreshments--a variety of cheesecake, donuts cream puffs, cookies and candies! Since the Boise reception was very elaborate, we wanted this one to be pretty simple--for a smaller crowd! Sure wish all of the relatives and friends from here could have seen the Boise reception!

Lovin those puzzles. . .

Ky's little guy, Kresiumir, (age 2 2/3) loves to do puzzles all by himself! I love to watch him. He props the picture to look at and organizes his pieces. . .

He carefully thinks about where he wants to start . . .

Wow, almost done!

Got to get those hard-to-reach places!

Happy boy--finished product! This amazes me because I have a hard time putting together a 24 piece puzzle--He didn't get the puzzle gene from me!!