Birthday cake was lemon chess pie.

MM manages a stable on Maui and Sunday is usually her day off; but, yesterday, she was there surveying the damage from the hurricane.  Happily it was minimal and the horses were all safe.  

Nevertheless, she took along reinforcements just in case she needed help spotting trouble.

This week Roxie and I drove up to Bend for such a lovely visit with Wanda and Riley, Roxie’s new BFF.

What a handsome boy!   We had great fun taking daily walks around their beautiful neighborhood.  Riley was very kind to share his toys.

Next day was kayaking.  Sadly, Riley does not care to kayak, so he had to stay home.  🙁

We loaded Wanda’s blue boat to the top of the Subaru next to my red one.

I circled around several roundabouts with Wanda’s guidance,

and headed out for Hosmer, possibly my favorite Oregon lake.

Shallow, clear, it sits below three amazing mountains.

South Sister

Broken Top

And an almost snowless Bachelor

It’s hard in this beautiful state to zero in on one’s favorite lake; but, for paddling, Hosmer comes to the top of my list.

 Paddling up to the waterfall, we found a good place to stop for a delicious lunch of tomato sandwiches with gorgonzola on little buns, eaten  while throwing a big stick into the stream for Roxie to fetch.

It was pretty big for a small dog to haul out.

We were able to paddle upstream almost to the falls.  Wanda says most years by this time the waterfall is no longer flowing, so we were lucky.

On the way back in, Roxie seemed to think I was taking too many pictures and letting Wanda get too far ahead.  You have heard of dog-paddling?  Well, this is dog-not-paddling.

All too soon, it was time to head back to our valley, sad to leave our dear friends.  Riley was kind enough to give Roxie one of his favorite toys to bring home.  It wasn’t that great a toy anyway after Roxie had chewed the squeaky out of it.

Pretty little boats. Perfect weather. Beautiful lake.  Breath-taking mountains.   Good food. Good friend.  Good dogs.  Good life.

I know you’re headed out for your vacations, but when you get back do you think we could possibly stay a bit more focused on the real questions?

I’m just a silly girl, but I think I can make a short list for you if you need some help.