Minto Brown Island

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago - we've been walking... A LOT! One of our favorite places to go is Minto Brown Island. This large, 898.9 acre natural park includes open and wooded areas with many trails for walking, jogging, and biking. We love it because there are so many trails to walk on - and always something to see. Today we took our camera. Here are some interesting views from our 3.5 mile tour.

We discovered this old car off one of the roads last week. It's the reason we took the camera with us today. It's been stripped clean - and we have no idea how long it's been there. But, it was certainly an interesting photo op.

Some beautiful berries and plants along the way. We love to stop and pick a few berries during our walks. They are SO delicious, especially when they've been warmed by the sun!

Richard - early on during our walk. Still refreshed and smiling!

An inviting bench along one of the paths. We didn't take advantage of it today.

We already saw a new path today that we plan to take tomorrow morning. We're walking about 5 times per week. Usually about 45 - 60 minutes per outing. Minto Brown park closes over the winter and into early spring. What in the world are we going to do during those long months!

A Good Movie?? - Sentimental Sunday No. 22

When Richard and I had been dating only a short time, my Mom called me and told me that she and my Dad had seen the BEST movie and we simply MUST rent it. I asked her what the name of it was and who was in it. "It's called Breathless, and it stars Richard Gere," she replied. Ok great Mom! Thanks for the recommendation... and I went to the video store to rent it.

I told Richard that my Mom had recommended this movie to us - so after dinner we sat down and prepared to be "wowed!" We watched... and we kept waiting for the movie to get "good"... and we watched... and it really wasn't going ANYWHERE. In fact, there was one scene that I was a little embarrassed to be watching with my beau, and I got the giggles, because that's what I do when I'm embarrassed. Both Richard and I agreed that it was probably the worst movie we had ever seen.

The next day I called my Mom and told her we had rented and watched the movie and we both thought it was really awful and wondered what she and my Dad could have been thinking. She started laughing hysterically and said, "yup... it was pretty bad wasn't it!" She just thought it would be funny to make us suffer through the movie like they did and make us think it was going to be GREAT!

That was my Mom in a nutshell... probably the funniest person I've ever known.

We've Been Walking...

... a lot! We're trying to be more healthy and take better care of ourselves. So, a walking we will go. There are some beautiful parks in Salem, and we have been enjoying ourselves while taking advantage of them.

photo from cityofsalem.net

Our favorite place is Bush Pasture Park. There are several trails to walk, and the park this time of year is gorgeous. Plus, we've been experiencing such high temperatures this week - the park always seems cooler with all of the grass and trees.

Happy Walking!

True Beauty...

can be seen in these gorgeous flowers. In late May and early June our Peony plants display the most incredible blossoms. I wish they lasted longer!

Tomatoes - Sentimental Sunday No. 19

photo from i.ehow.com

Nothing tastes more like summer than home grown tomatoes. My father grew the most amazing tomatoes every summer. They were huge and juicy and full of flavor. Funny thing was that he didn’t eat tomatoes. He hated them. Would pick them out of salad, didn’t want them on hamburgers, and would never think of eating one by itself. But, he loved salsa, catsup, and spaghetti sauce. Mom and I were lucky that he liked growing them – and did so for us.

My Godfather, Orie, grew fantastic tomatoes too. After Dad had passed, Orie gave me some tomatoes one day when I was visiting him. They were so wonderful. I remember making a tomato and cheddar cheese sandwich. It was truly the best tasting sandwich I ever had. I can still recall the flavor of a warm summer day on bread. It was fantastic.

Dad and Orie both tended their tomato gardens with great care. And, Orie believed if the plants didn’t bear enough fruit you merely had to yell at them in Italian and threaten to cut them down… then they would bear fruit. Hey, it worked for him. He had a plum tree that didn’t bear fruit for YEARS. He finally got tired of it “just sitting there”. So, about the time the blossoms should have started to appear – he went out back and yelled at it… in Italian. He told it that if it didn’t bear fruit that year he was going to cut it down. That darned tree gave more plums than you have EVER seen. I think half of them ended up rotting because there just weren’t enough people in the family to take the plums. I made jar after jar of plum jam out of them. It was delicious.

Unfortunately, we don’t seem to have the “green thumb” when it comes to tomatoes. We attempt to grow them every year – and they just don’t want to give us much in the way of ripe delicious tomatoes. Hmm… maybe I need to learn Italian!

I Never Knew...

How blue the sky could be, until we moved to Oregon. Growing up in Southern California I thought I had seen blue sky. But, it's not. It's more of a "grey blue". The beauty that is Oregon constantly surprises me, even after 12 years. I love how close we are to nature, the fresh air, and the tall trees.

This photo was taken yesterday in our yard. I looked up and felt small next to the Douglas Fir trees that surround our property. I liked how the trees stood out against the sky and puffy white clouds that were drifting by.