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.