My trip to Portland last Friday was wonderful--the perfect day to drive; the sky was blue, the sun was shining and the trees were spectacular in their beautiful spring garb. Many of the cherries, plums, etc. were in their colorful pinks, whites and yellows while most of the cottonwoods, maples, etc. were in their not-completely-leafed-out stage--they had green leaves, but their skeletons were still shining through. Just glorious!

I spent much of yesterday baking pies for the youth auction. This time I did 2 each of lemon meringue & cherry. I think next year I'll go back to the apple instead of the cherry. They're more work, but bring in more money. One of the cherry pies went for $15 and the other for $25, but the lemon went much better. The one in the silent auction sold for $95. The man who bought the one in the live auction told me that he had gone to bid on the silent auction pie, but he knew no matter what he bid, it would be topped because a very interested party was standing there watching. He decided he would get the one in the live auction instead--he did, but he paid $300! for it! 

, Trust me, the kitchen didn't look like this when I finished the pies yesterday! I don't remember how that happened w/that cake, but it was sure a mess!

Well, I seem to have figured out how to get the pix where I want them, but don't know how to wrap text, but that is okay.

I had lunch with a couple of my friends last week and we shared some stories about things that had happened when our children were growing up, so will put a couple of them here.

Maybe it was because Vic was the oldest, but he never wanted to take "no" for an answer. He was about 4 or 5 when the kids and I were in the car and he wanted to do something that I said no to. Several times he asked, "why?" and I gave him the stock answers, "no," "because I said no," "because I'm the mom," but he continued to ask why. Finally Timm said, "'cuz she's an 'icked, old 'itch, that's eye!" Not only did Vic not get what he wanted, but that became my stock answer for a lot of things in the years after.

It hasn't always been against the law or particularly dangerous in small communities to leave the kids in the car while running in to get a few things at the grocery store. One day, when Mark was about 18 months old, I did just that thing. When I got back to the car, he had a bunch of bananas that his older brothers had convinced him to go in & get. We never did figure out how he got out of the store without any of us seeing him, but I went in and asked Barbara, the owner, to come out to the car & scold him. I knew she could really get angry, but she surprised me that time. When we got back to the car, Mark had peeled a banana about 1/2 way down, stuck it in his mouth and took his hands away. He looked so cute that there was really not much either of us could do, except laugh. Mark got away with shoplifting that time, but I don't think he ever  tried it again.

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned Uncle Bill & Aunt Alta whom I met met when they were in their 80's. I have a bowl and pitcher (not a set) that she gave me when I met her. The Thanksgiving that we lived by Maplewood School Grandma French was there for dinner with us. Bruce was 3 at the time and, as with many kids about that age, was extremely helpful. He wanted to help put things on the table so I gave him Aunt Alta's bowl, full of potatoes. But I cautioned him to be very careful because that was a very special bowl to me and I would cry if he broke it. Well, just as he was almost to the table, he slipped on a "drip" of water, his feet went out from under him, the bowl went up tin the air, turned upside down and landed on top of the spilled potatoes. The bowl got a small chip in it, but did not break. Thinking he had broken it, poor Bruce was absolutely hysterical. It took both Grandma and me several minutes to calm him down, and I learned right then that possessions are not nearly as important as someone's (especially a child's) feelings.

A similar thing happened to Kelli when she was 6. The rest of her birthday cake was in a beautiful Princess House domed cake saver and was right in the middle of the dining room table. No one was around so she decided to help herself and dropped the dome in the process. It broke right in half--no shards--and even though she wasn't supposed to be helping herself, I was just grateful that she hadn't hurt herself.

Actually, it's a wonder she didn't hurt herself more often than she did when she was little because she was such a climber. I used to keep lunch goodies in the cupboard above the hot water heater. She would get a chair, climb up on the counter, then to the top of the refrigerator and reach around the end of cabinet and get the goodies out.

Blair was the one who was the most accident prone--and still may be. I think I already mentioned that he broke his leg before he was 2 and wore out several casts before the doctor would finally agree to putting a walking cast on it. One time he had been running down the street when a neighbor boy came in & told me Blair had a car in his foot!. I looked out the window and there he was lying on the street with a car stopped beside him. I think it took me about 3 steps to get down to the corner! When I got there, I found that an axle from a plastic car, with one wheel missing, had stuck through his tennis shoe and into his foot when he stepped on it while running; I pulled it out, took him to the doctor for stitches and antibiotics & then I got sick to my stomach.

It's almost 10:30 & I still have some things that I promised myself I would get done before going to bed, so guess I better scoot away.