The Heathman Lodge, Vancouver, WA

The Heathman Lodge is a rustic retreat in Vancouver, and brings modern amenities to the Pacific Northwest architecture.  The grounds have lovely landscaping and sculptures, and the Lodge boasts a great restaurant (Hudson's).

Fort Vancouver, Part II

Here is the sign at the entrance to Ft. Vancouver, and a lovely gazebo that provides a contemplative place to view the Columbia River and many acres of the fort.

Fort Vancouver, Washington

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District (which covered the northern half of the region known to Americans as the Oregon Country). Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of the Columbia River in present-day Vancouver, Washington, near Portland, Oregon. Today, a full-scale replica of the fort, with internal buildings, has been constructed and is open to the public as Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

For more than 150 years,  Ft. Vancouver housed thousands of Army soldiers and their families.After World War II, my husband's father was the Army Chaplain for the VA Hospital at Fort Vancouver.  This weekend, after the death of Don's mother Grace, we traveled to Vancouver and met with family to plan the memorial service in December.  After the arrangements were made, we had brunch, and then went to the cemetery together, and finally visited the old family home on Ft. Vancouver where Don and his family lived for many years (until their father's retirement from the Army). They lived in a large old house on Officer's Row, just a few houses down from Grant House, where Ulysses S.Grant was stationed on September 20, 1852. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), then a 30-year-old Brevet Captain, later a famed Civil War general and United States President, arrived with the 4th Infantry regiment at Columbia Barracks (later called Vancouver Barracks), a U.S. Army base on the Columbia River.

Christmas Anticipation!

My granddaughter Kaila can't wait for Christmas this year! She and Dave put up their tree today.  I can't wait to see it.

A Trip to Flower World Today

October and Halloween are past, and November is well underway.  I stopped by Flower World today to see what they had growing, and much to my surprise, there were hundreds of poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima)!  There were red and salmon-colored varieties that stretched the whole length and width of the indoor portion of the public greenhouse area.  They were small, but I'm assuming that they are in place to be tended during the next two months while they grow to their mature size.  I can't wait to shop next month and make my selections!

I did buy a pink and white Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera), which will join the one I already have at home. It should burst into bloom during the first few weeks of December.  This trip to Flower World was enough to catapult me into the Christmas spirit a month early!  I can't wait!

Carving the Pumpkin

It was a good weather day today, with warm temperatures in the mid-50's and no rain.  We carried our large pumpkin out to the picnic table in the pasture, and the carving began!  Kaila's job was to pull out all the pumpkins seeds so they could be roasted and eaten later.

Here is the process as it unfolded.  Even Nala the Dog was out there, cheering us on!

The Search for the Perfect Pumpkin

Well, today the search was on for the perfect Halloween pumpkin, with just three days until the big day!
Kaila and I always take this challenge seriously, and we spent much of the morning looking at literally hundreds of pumpkins--big ones, small ones, white ones, orange ones, and ones that weighed over 100 pounds! With her little shopping cart, Kai picked a great pumpkin that had plenty of room to carve a big, smiling face on it.

Here she is with her prized gourd, and we even had a few minutes to play in the corn stalks before getting our pumpkin in the car.  She named it "The Pouting Pumpkin".