Hello Friends, we have been busy and you can tell because I have not posted to my blog in a while. April flew by! We have been very busy with church stuff (more about that later), but early April was taken up with plans for our cruise up/down the Columbia River. We left on April 11and were gone for 12 days. The cruise was only 7 days but then we took off for a tour around the wine country of the Yakima Valley and then up to Leavenworth where we stayed for two days. Our oldest friends, Jill and Bruce Liebman, went along. In fact Bruce did all the driving and let us taste wines every place we stopped. Our cruise was on the Majestic Lines, a riverboat, and we highly recommend it to all. The photo is the first morning sunrise! We had great food, traveled through 8 locks and went on a jetboat ride up the Snake River. The theme of the cruise was Lewis and Clark's trip, so we stopped along the way to view cities of interest, including Pendleton, Clarkston area and finally far west in Astoria. It was a wonderful time!We're very busy with church right now; our group is growing and finding new activities, but we are still meeting in the small chapel. We hope that might be remedied this year. The congregation got to meet with the Presiding Bishop on the same day we left for our cruise. We were sorry to miss that opportunity, but from the reports, it was well worth a trip to Seattle to meet her and hear her advice. I am still doing the webpage and altar guild stuff. I am also trying to get trained to be a Worship Leader so that I can lead Morning or Evening Prayer when Rachel is not available. I continue to enjoy my EFM bible study class. Education For Ministry classes are local classes with a curriculum from Sewanee, covering OT, NT, Church History and Theology. It is work, but I enjoy it very much.
Scott and Missy surprised us last month by making an offer on a house on Whidbey Island. They will rent it out and then live in it half time after they retire. We had a clue because they had us going around to see houses; however, we didn't expect it so soon. We were down in Upland for a week after we returned from our cruise. Meghan is almost taller than her mother and such a grown up girl. She'll be in the 8th grade next year. We expect Scott and Missy and maybe Meg for July 4th week. They'll come up to visit us and to see their new house for the first time! Libby is flying back from the Bahamas as I write this. She has been at a training seminar and took a few days of vacation while she was there. It has been quiet without her in the area. We talk to her almost every day or so, keeping up with her business and things going on in Seattle. My niece, Bridget and husband Walter, were here on Saturday before Mother's Day. They were returning from an Alaska cruise and stayed with Libby overnight. We went over to Pike's Place Market and had lunch and strolled through the wonderful flowers. That was a gift for me: I got to pick out my favorite bouquet. Jim and I decided we don't get to the market often enough.
Jim just finished the Round Whidbey Race last weekend. He and his crew race all day and night and come into Oak Harbor early in the morning, if they have winds. He did OK,placing 4th in his class; although our wonderful Karen Marie, Too doesn't go as fast as she could in light air. He fusses about that, but we haven't made a decision to sell because we love the comfort she gives us when we cruise. We are planning many trips out this summer, going north and south. Today it is raining, but soon we'll have sunny skies and it'll look like sailing weather again.
We hope to get some renovations done on the house in June. I am praying we stick to the schedule because it has been put off for another year. We are remodeling the kitchen area a little bit and building a closet off the master bath, using part of the laundry room to do that. W are also planning a finish of the outside room into an extra guest room. It would be nice to have that done by July 4th week for the guests we have invited.
In September we are going on a tour of the Holy Land, something we had not planned for this year. We are going with a group from the Episcopal diocese. Our priest's husband, Nigel, also a priest, is leading the group. He's a Brit and so funny. We'll stay in Jerusaelem at the Anglican college and then two nights in the Sister's of Nazareth. We'll see it all! I'm starting a walking plan now so I can keep up!
May is almost over and soon we will have June flying by. Today I am reminded of cool rainy days at Girl Scout camp in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Great memories. All the best from the Whidbey Wagners.
P.S. I continue to knit great felted bags, mohair scarves, the 5 hour baby sweater for a church activity, but I am really busy folding origami birds for a memorial of those lost in the Middle East.
