Yes and No: On Staying Home in Oregon Instead of Traveling

 Yesterday was Tuesday, which is the day of the week on which I'm committed to posting. This week's post was supposed to be about some place I've traveled to in the last year.

I have been very busy, so, instead, I'm going to tell you about staying home.

No doubt you already know this, but here on this mortal coil, you can't be in two places at once. It is really too bad.

Also, you usually can't say Yes to very many things without saying No to a bunch more. Also too bad.

Paul left today for the Horse Progress Days in Indiana. It might seem odd to you to have "horse" and "progress" in the same sentence. Essentially, it's a huge gathering of Amish people and a few others where they do all kinds of horse-related activities and demonstrate new machinery that's adapted for use with horses.

A couple of months ago, Paul sent me a video about the event, and when I saw the little Amish kids in a pony cart parade, I felt that I just had to go.

But there is that matter of the mutually exclusive Yes and No.

So Paul left today, by himself, with specific instructions to ask an in-charge Amish guy if it's ok to take pictures, and then to take 2-5 pictures of each event and send them to me. People who used to be Amish aren't supposed to be this ga-ga and touristy over little Amish kids, but I am. 

I said No to listening with delight to hundreds of Pennsylvania Dutch conversations and Yes to conversation of a different sort, very much in English but also deeply satisfying. My neighbor Anita and sister-in-law Lois are coming over tomorrow for our annual birthday tea.

I am planning fresh mint tea, cucumber sandwiches, a chocolate cake, and much empathy.

And, let's be honest, Oregon is the best place to be as June closes and July arrives. Golden fields in neat windrows, the whine of passing combines, the excitement of harvest, the exquisite smell of cut ryegrass on an evening breeze. All to the accompaniment of almost no humidity.

Saying No to traveling with Paul means saying Yes to watering my dahlias, watching the sun drop down behind Mary's Peak as it leaves a pink sky behind, and checking my potted plants on the porch in the cool early morning.

No to travel means Yes to staying home. Not a bad exchange, really, especially since Paul let me know that his flights were delayed and he arrives in Chicago at 3 am.

I hope he has fun, chuckled Mrs. Smucker as she tucked the chickens in for the night and turned off the lights.

A few shots of our summer, so far:

Jenny came home for a week. We visited Grandma and played Triominoes

The sisters-in-law went to the town of Sisters for a few days.

Emily came home for the summer. Jenny took a "Beau or Bro?" shot.

Ben graduated from Oregon State with a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering.

Ben demonstrated his expertise in his research field of smoldering combustion.

I tried a straw bale garden and it was a complete disastrophe, as Emily used to say.
I should have put more soil on top of the bales, but the main problem seems to be that the 
straw was from grass treated with a long-acting herbicide.

However, the geraniums and cats are flourishing.

And the garlic is growing little elf hats.