Where's Waldo....a.k.a. Wildash

G'Day Mates. I am back! For those of you caring souls who have inquired about my whereabouts, I have decided to relieve your stress of wondering if I have indeed fallen off the face of the earth. Nope, alive and well in Portland. I can hardly believe I have been here two months already. Now some answers to those much asked questions. Where are you living? Are you working? What is happening with your folk art business?
Here we go:
Where am I living? Well, I am still a woman of many beds. Hmmmm, that sounds interesting, not so much. Thanks to the generosity of my sons, I am still their house guest. I am pretty sure I have found a place and will be taking up residence in Vancouver, Washington(just across the bridge) beginning of November. Travis rents a house with Anne on ten acres in a wonderful place called Sauvie Island. It is about 20 miles or so from Portland (about $7 in gas I might ad) The view is amazing, it is where the Columbia and Willamette rivers meet. When I look directly ahead I can see the Columbia coming towards us and the Willamette runs in front of his place. There is a great little beach and as I am sure you have noticed from previous blogs, I get to watch boats all day long if I want, it still amazes me. Sunday it was a ship carrying about 6,000 Toyotas and one with Subarus, Toyotas go into Portland, Subarus to Vancouver. I am somewhat of a ship-o-holic. I can't get enough.
He has 25 or so chickens and I have come to really enjoy them. The island is a tourist and great biking destination for Portlanders, there are several pumpkin patches and about three corn mazes, lavender fields, all kinds of produce available and a huge wildlife preserve, mainly birds. I would love to live there, but it is a little out of my price range.
This is my main residence, I have a room there, which includes my 2'x4' livingroom, I have a TV and my wingback chair between the bed and the wall. It is amazing what you can do when necessary. Trav suggested I enjoy it there while the weather is still nice. Several nights a week Jarred and Elizabeth kindly share their abode in Portland with me. We still all seem to be managing it okay although I am ready for my own place. Jarred had some time off so we went out to the coast and have had a lot of fun together. Elizabeth has an gallery opening next week and I will be able to attend. This is the joy of the whole move, it has been somewhat traumatic leaving my life and friends in Des Moines, and I have moments, but the ability to see my family whenever I want is a blessing I never tire of.
Rent here is unbelievable, it continually shocks us all. Thus the decision to look in Vancouver. Prices there are a little more reasonable. It is about 9 miles from downtown Portland. The good thing is no state income tax. Portland has no sales tax, so perhaps I will have the best of both worlds. I have found a house, it is tiny but just what I am looking for. They even take care of the yard. I will have to condense a little more but after living a simpler life, that is more appealing.
The days of nothingness have long passed. I am busy all the time. I try to help out as much as I can at each house. I have become quite a cook. After 20 years of feeding one, I now find myself cooking meals for a very appreciative group. Anne and I have done some caning and I have even baked a pie from scratch. I have enjoyed getting to know Anne and think we have become good friends. She recently moved here from San Francisco so we have a few things in common.
Several days a week I go in and work at Travis' shop. He has very large business, Atomic Auto. There is always lots for me to do, be it drive a customer somewhere or deliver a transmission to Salem, a pleasant drive.  I think the guys are all used to having Momma Travis around. He has also given me a office there to do my art. At first I was not sure how this would work out but it has been great. I work a few hours for him then go back into my little place. I hope to build a large amount of inventory, then re-energize my website. I have applied for a big show in December and will know next week. I also have been working on an Etsy site and will have some things listed in the next day or so.
Life is busy and as you all know, that seems to be how I function best. I have been reading a lot, am addicted to public radio as I have much more time to listen when I commute.
I am getting used to urban living and the trials and tribulations that come with that, traffic, finding things like banks, P.Os etc. you forget how easy it is to get around Des Moines. I am getting more comfortable each day that passes and see the advantages of this wonderful area and this great city.
A huge part of my heart is still in Des Moines, I have had a few sad times, but will never question the decision to move here. It will just take some time for me to get into my own rhythm of my life again.
Thanks to all of you for your emails, Facebook comments and for traveling along with  me on this journey. I promise to do better at keeping things updated.
Off to work I go, I am in Portland as I write this, hopefully tonight I will add pictures and will share with you my new life.

A new past time.

Thanks to the generosity of my friends and their retirement gifts, I now am a boat owner again. No, not a pontoon, this time a "personal water craft". I was at the store and they had a big sale. How could I resist? This one I can manage by myself and it gives me the ability to be on the water again. After a few days of mastering the art or paddling and very sore arms and abs ( I do not have a 6pack yet) I realized I felt the joy of my days on the water before my boat went down. This has now become the reward of my day. Today I plan to attack the barn and try and sort my possessions and will reward myself with an hour or two of kayaking. I am alone at Travis' they went camping so I am busy feeding chickens, collecting eggs and just general busyness but the barn is on the horizon. I think you could call the blog my way of avoiding the inevitable.

 One cannot take a picture of oneself while paddling, so this is the best I could do.

 It's even more fun when you can see the boats up close. 

 The house from the kayak.

 The hardest part of kayaking is getting it down the hill.

Big boats and more!

No, I am not going to constantly be boring people with boat pics, just when I think they are worth sharing. You never know what is going to come around the point here and yesterday I glanced up......a camera moment. Here it was. Spy boat, weather explorer, who knows but something to ponder.

Walking

This morning, another beautiful day, went for the walk and met several neighbors. I am sure they were wondering who the stranger was walking. Both stopped and introduced themselves and it was nice to find out a little more about the island. I was curious about the mountain I saw and Anne pointed out it had no top. Obviously it is Mount St. Helens which blew it's top.

 Also a large red boat this morning. 

Still figuring out the blog, working on separating the photos. It is all new to me but I will persevere. Tough life ;)

Boats, boats, boats.

Boat watching, a favorite new past time, and this is just in a few hours. Being a water person, I can never get enough!

The art of doing nothing!

I never really understood when I asked a few friends who have retired, what they did all day. Knowing I have my crafts and a million other things to do I have never worried about keeping busy. Then I discovered  how it feels to just not do much at all. Of course I am justifying it by saying "you have been so busy for so long, take a rest" but it sure is easy to just fill your days with nothingness. I keep planning to write on my blog and then the chaise lounge calls or a nap. I know this will end sooner than later as I will have to find some kind of way to add to my finances since rent is so expensive, but for now I am going with the flow.
At present I am staying with Travis. He lives on Sauvie Island, check it out. It is amazing, farms all around and I get to look out at where the Columbia and Willamette rivers meet.
Boats, boats, boats, I find myself sitting watching as barges, sailboats, jet skis, all kinds go by. It is a joke now as my son happily points out to  me "Look Mom, another boat" and then chuckles under his breath. I now have quite a collection of boat pictures.
What a sight to see the beautiful full moon the other night with the Vancouver skyline beneath it. Pinch me!

Destination reached.

When I left Des Moines I had the brilliant idea to create a blog so interested parties could follow my trip. Of course I didn't take into consideration a few details. One was computer time, although my hosts and hostesses were more than understanding if I wanted to sit and use the computer, their company was the gift of my travel and I wanted to take advantage of every minute with them. We managed to sit and laugh and share stories of "old times" and just generally enjoy each others company. The second was exhaustion. I seem to require naps a little more often now and after fun days of visiting and exploring, that old bedtime came around faster.
For my own sake and anyone interested, I will be posting more photos of the journey. It was great! As happy as I am to be here with my family I savor the memory of the trip. It is wonderful to travel alone and be in awe of your surroundings, but sometimes there was that moment when you wanted to say "look at that" to a fellow traveller.
The closer I got to the destination, the churning in my stomach increased. Anticipation? Fear of the unknown? Early on Wednesday morning I got a text from  my son Jarred and it said "I hope you are as excited as your family is!". I felt myself sit up and immediately check my "Nav Nan" or better known as Garman navigator to see how far it was to Portland and wanted to zoom.
Arriving in Portland at peak hour traffic was daunting and if you have ever used a navigator it was somewhat comical. Confused June, confusing Nav Nan by not following her directions. She had to keep "recalculating" I actually found myself talking to her.
The reunion was great followed by another great Jarred quote "I realized today, you aren't going back" then a funny little grin. I guess I still feel like I am on a vacation.
That bubble burst when I went to Travis' yesterday where all my things are stored in the barn. Oh MY!!!
I thought I had scaled down. I was stunned and now reality has hit. I am here to stay. I will just have to take it one step at a time,  the rest will follow. Onward and upward.

This land is my land, this land is your land.............

Monday.....the road to Cody......beautiful scenery
I am fortunate to have a friend Carol Bittner, art teacher in Des Moines for 30 years, now retired, and lives half the year in Cody. Great house, great company. What better way to see Yellowstone than with someone who has spent 16 years there as a child.
Tuesday....relaxing, just hanging out.
Wednesday.....day spent in Yellowstone. So beautiful, wet spring, so lots of beautiful waterfalls and wildflowers. No bear sightings but lots of other wildlife. An amazing day.
Thursday....Caught up on rest, a few errands then the Buffalo Bill Museum. Fantastic, a must if traveling across the country. Beautiful western art exhibit.
Friday.....On the road again. 500 miles ahead to get to Kalispell, Montana.

Travel

When I got up on Monday morning ready to hit the road again, I looked at the van and sighed. All I could think of was how much I wanted to zoom across the mountains and there it was loaded down. It felt like how my life has been these past few months. I just wanted to dump it all. It has felt good to get rid of all the things from my house, scarey but now I know I will be doing more sorting etc. on the other end. It does feel good to simplify.
And so I hit the road, fearful of the mountains ahead, would Scarlet Too(the van...and faithful friend) make it with this big load? I just took a deep breath and started the climb over the Big Horn Mountains. We chugged a little but made it to the top then zoomed down the other side. The fear left and I have felt pretty confident that I could overcome any obstacle I would encounter. 1100 miles later we are still going strong. Hopefully this will be how the rest of my adventure will be.

Alive and kicking in Montana

I have had several emails as to why I have not been keeping up with my blog. No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth and no, I am not in Portland yet. I am ambling across America. The past week I have not had access to WiFI so the blog has had to wait, but I drove all day yesterday and made it to Kalispell WY and am back on the air.
WOW.....is all I can say. I have taken lots of pictures, reminiscent of the old time slide show when I look at the all, so I will just share my favorites with you.
So far 1500 miles and have one leg left after this to get to Portland. I feel I have been on the road forever but have enjoyed every minute. I am extremely fortunate to have friends and family who live in wonderful places and have been experiencing America the Beautiful, that is for sure. So bear with me getting this updated. I will be posting lots of photos while I am here.

A new home?

As I travel across the country I am open to all kinds of possibilites for a new home. Hmmmm...maybe a teepee is the answer. And in a wooded setting, communal potties and showers. What more could one want!

For Billy Bubba..Sylvan Lake

Okay Jeff, I was here, couldn't take a photo on the spot......wedding going on. Great to be able to picture Matt's wedding.

America at it's best

I finally have remembered how it feels to relax. Perfect weather, no humidity. Slept late, lazed around, then off for a drive in the Black Hills. As often as I have been here over the years, my mouth still drops at the sight of Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and George. What amazing feats. And to be seeing them from a convertible made it even better.

And to think they are made using corn

Across South Dakota

Every American should make the trip across South Dakota. Yes, long boring stretches but where else could you see such amazing sights as the Corn Palace in Mitchell or Wall Drug. I have seen the Corn Palace so many times but I happen to be one of those people that am amazed by it. Where else could you see a building covered with corn. Today when I went there they were adding corn, I watched for awhile, quite fascinated.Next stop Wall Drug, America at it's best

Finally on the road.

After many sad good byes I made the final departure from Des Moines yesterday. The last few weeks have most certainly been a challenge but thanks to many hands, my van was loaded my neighbors garage is empty and I have begun this new adventure. I am finally in a place with wireless so can actually try and get this blog up and running.

The last drama was the van, it is really LOADED. I was unsure I could even get it over the mountains, but after two days of driving I am feeling much better.
Yesterday morning I hit the road about 6am and had a nice leisurely drive to Sioux Falls. I had to drive north to Albert Lea then across 90 because of the flooding on 29. It took a little longer but was a great drive, I just love to get behind the wheel and drive always feel like a grand adventure.

By George, I think she got it!

Step one, blog created. Needs a lot of tweaking but for now at least I have something . Just one step at a time.

Virgin blogger

So.....here goes. I am in my usual rush to get things done before hitting the road and making an attempt at learning another NEW thing. Blogging. This is a trial run so we shall see.......