Good-bye to Oregon ...

Flying by Mt. Hood on October 13th from Indiana, it wasn't difficult to notice that the "Oregon Monsoon Season" (snow and rain) had not yet begun! In fact, up until I fly to KL on Wednesday the 20th, the weather is supposed to be clear (cold at night, sunny and crisp during daytime hours). A good time to say good-bye! - rw

Fall in Indiana ...

On my last full day in Indiana, with unseasonably warm temperatures in the high 70's, low 80's, Riley Case and I drove two cars up to Bunker Hill, IN so we could leave one vehicle there before driving south to the town of Cassville so we could begin a six mile hike along the old Nickel Plate RR bed that is now a lovely asphalt-paved walk -- especially with the fall colors just beginning to show their brilliance.

The entire Nickel Plate trail between Cassville and Peru is 12.7 miles; however, I decided that was a bit more than I wanted to tackle on one day. My only disappointment was that I never found a Starbucks Coffee house -- or any coffee shop at all -- at the halfway point!

Back in Oregon on the 13th, I will have exactly one week to get organized and packed before flying out of PDX to join Nancy in Kuala Lumpur. - rw

Homecoming at Taylor University

This is the historic "Swallow-Robin Dorm" at Taylor University, and it's still standing in spite of the fact that the dorm I lived-in as a student was razed long ago. During the academic year, 1952-53, while I was a freshman at Long Beach (CA) City College, Swallow-Robin was used to house all of the freshman boys at Taylor who, according to oft-repeated legends, made mayhem in the dorm that year -- with waterfights, elaborate conspiracies against the sophomore class, chickens and raccoons in dorm rooms, leaps from second floor balconies, etc. Anyway, one freshman student, "Rocky" Fisher, who was only at Taylor that one year and then went on to become a very successful businessman, decided that he should try to pull together "the Swallow-Robin gang" + a bunch of his friends who were football players + other hangers-on at this year's Taylor Homecoming.
So, since I arrived at Taylor the next year as a sophomore, and thus was part of that Class of '56, my friend Riley Case (who lived through the escapades at Swallow-Robin) insisted that I should come to Taylor (as a "hanger-on") and get-in-on the experience. It was great fun!
(The picture above shows the group who gathered for the Friday night "Swallow-Robin/Football Reunion.")

Thanks to the gracious hospitality of Riley and Ruth Case in Kokomo, I was able to enjoy the experience and also "connect" with other friends from the class of '56 like Bill Plumb and his wife Mickey, pictured in front of the beautiful clock tower which is now the centerpiece of the campus. Other highlights of the week-end included a chance to see the C.S. Lewis exhibit (& collection) in the Zondervan Library, taking-in some of the Homecoming football game, and visiting with President Gene Habecker and his wife MaryLou in the "Musselman House." I also appreciated the chance to see David and Becky LeShana and most of their family at the annual Alumni Brunch on Saturday since the LeShanas were being honored at the week-end with a special alumni award.

Pictured below are Riley & Ruth Case and the plaque in front of the tree that was given by their family on the occasion of their 50th Wedding Anniversary.










Of course there were other delightful experiences in the context of the Case's gracious hospitality -- like watching Riley catch a fish out of the pond behind their house after a brief fishing "trip" to the pond by Riley and Loren Lindholm. (Loren and Tuckie Lindholm, Riley & Ruth Case pictured below) - rw

Claudia in KL

The first night Claudia was in KL I took here to the KL Menara Tower. We had views of the city. One of Claudia's goals while in KL was to eat Durian. Durian grows in tropical forests and the odor has led to the fruit's banishment from many hotels and public areas in Malaysia. We found a restaurant that served it. The durian was smothered in a crepe with lots of whipped cream. Even so the taste was strong. -Nancy



The Petronas Towers are quite impressive - especially at night.

Snorkeling at Tioman

Claudia and I did a snorkel trip for one day while at Tioman. We went to three locations. I took lots of underwater pictures and video. - Nancy

A Trip to Tioman Island

My friend Claudia Fisher from Oregon who is working as the librarian at the International School of Suva in Fiji for a year came for a visit. We spent the weekend at Tioman Island - good weather and excellent island views. -Nancy

Church Retreat

While at the St. Andrew's Church retreat I played with an underwater camera and got some pictures of the grandkids in the pool. -Nancy


























Gabi and Rania participated in the presentation that the children did at the final service.

Author Visit at ISKL

Work has continued for me while Ron has been in OR and other locations. Australian author John Marsden came to ISKL to speak to our students.-Nancy



Students in the ISKL library.

Doug has a birthday

Tracy had a wonderful surprise birthday party for Doug. It was truly a surprise as Doug was sick and had to rise from his sick bed to celebrate.-Nancy

It's almost Halloween!

... which, of course, means pumpkins!

So, on a beautiful fall day in the Willamette Valley, I joined a group of ten other seniors from Newberg Friends Church on an outing to Champoeg Park and Dave Brown's "Mustard Seed Farm" (where a host of pumpkins were on display). The one to the left has a small white tag on top that indicates that it weighed-in at 380 lbs.! Dave indicated that there is a big market in the Northwest for oversized pumpkins; hence, the farm grows them in quantity. (The ones pictured at the top are over 100 lbs.)

Arnie Mitchell led the tour today, taking us first to the Champoeg State Park Visitors' Center and a tour of the "kitchen garden" out behind that produces the same variety of vegetables that would have been grown locally in the 1860's by the early settlers in Oregon.
For example, the pole beans in the picture to the right were trained-up on a "teepee" made of three long sticks, with supporting strings stretched from top to bottom.

All in all it was a very interesting day -- especially to hear again the story of the mammoth flood that wiped-out the "city" of Champoeg, right on the banks of the Willamette River, in the fall of 1861. One highlight of the day was the lunch which Arnie and Barb Mitchell provided for the group at the Feller House B&B that they operate not far from Champoeg Park. Feller House was originally built in 1865 and has been added-to and extensively remodeled since then (picture below). - rw