Lawnmower in Paradise

After many months of discussion, debate, research and anxiety, hubby's new John Deere lawnmower was delivered.  His biggest concern was the steep slope on the side of the house.  Only one of those commercial mowers that you stand on would be able to mow that hill.

Hubby was all a-twitter mowing his lawn for the first time.  My last words were "stay away from that hill".  Half an hour later, there he was, stuck, on the side of the hill.  Oh Deere!

Mount Jefferson State Park

It was a beautiful morning, just a tad of cloudy, and we decided to go hiking.  Mount Jefferson State Park is a few minutes away.  The peak is 4665 feet, which is 1665 feet more than the town of Jefferson.  The only car in the parking lot was ours.  It was 69 degrees out.

We chose the mile long trail. It was creepy being the only people in the park and hubby kept mentioning bears.  Scrambling over rocks and tree roots I kept my eyes away from the cliff edges and my ears open for big furry creatures.  We did see a butterfly and a chipmunk.

Summer Reading

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer.  Even though I read mostly fiction, my favorite books tend to be non-fiction.  Comeback: A mother and daughters journey through hell and back deals with drug addiction.  Mia, who was sexually abused as a small child by her father, takes her pain out on herself and her mom and stepdad.  She runs away at the age of 15 and lives on the streets doing just about anything to get drugs.  Her parents find her and send her to a rehab center in Russia.  When the center closed down, she went to Montana.  Both mother and daughter tell their story.  To say there's a happy ending of this joint memoir is wrong. There's a happy beginning. When you get to the end, you'll want to cheer. 







Making an Exit is also about a mother and daughter.  Lillian was born in 1908.  She married a violinist and they had one daughter, Elinor.  After they got divorced, Elinor went to live with Lillian's parents and she went off to work. She was a flamboyant non-conformist who created her own company selling parts-any kinds of parts-automobile parts, military parts, etc.  She traveled the world.  When Elinor was a teenager she went back to live with her mother.  She doesn't really get to know her until Lillian gets Alzheimer's.  The book is funny, inspiring and hopeful.  Elinor wrote"The last ten years, they were our best".