A steak dinner tradition!

In recent years our dear friends Kennard and Margene Haworth have hosted me, and sometimes others in the family, at their house in Newberg for one of Kennard's delicious bar-b-que steak dinners, accompanied by appropriate fixin's that Margene put on the table.

However, in following this great tradition last Saturday evening (10/29), Kennard and Margene decided that they wanted to take Tasha and me out to dinner at Sayler's Old Country Kitchen, a restaurant that none of us had ever visited out on Stark St. in Portland, very near Tasha's place. After a wait of about 30 minutes (the restaurant is extremely popular), we sat down to a delicious dinner that included relishes, salad or soup, bread and butter, an entree, and ice cream or sherbet for dessert! Three of us had filet mignon; Tasha ordered salmon. It was an unforgettable evening! - rw

NOTE: Stay tuned for Nancy's photos and captivating description of her ISKL "Gap Trip" to India with H.S. students!

October Apples & Fly Fishing ...

On a spectacularly gorgeous October day (10/18) with great views of Mt. Hood, I hitched a ride with good friends Gary and Susan Fawver for a drive up to Parkdale to buy apples at the Kiyokawa Family Orchards. Even though I only had 3 weeks before flying to KL, I wanted to buy a few apples to slice-up and dry in our Jenn-Air oven that has a special temperature setting for drying. The two varieties to the left (Tsugaru-red & Ginger Gold-green) were especially recommended for drying; the apple to the right is a HoneyCrisp, sweet and good for eating. To get to Parkdale we drove up by Mt. Hood and saw some spectacular fall colors en route.
Our timing on the trip was excellent since after purchasing our apples it was the perfect time for lunch at the Hood River Inn where I am pictured on the deck overlooking the Columbia River.

The very next day I had arranged with my good friend from Silverton Friends Church, Jim Thomas, to give me some tutoring in the fine art of fly fishing. So, he drove his pickup out near the Santiam River at Mehama where we found a nice casting pool for a couple hours of practice. Maybe someday I'll actually go fly fishing! I am pictured trying to figure everything out while the master shows how it's done. - rw

An Oregon "Weather Miracle"!

On a Tuesday in October (10/11) when the weather was supposed to be "showery," Riley Case and I drove up to Multnomah Falls to try the 5-mile Multnomah-Wahkeena Falls Loop. The miracle was that it didn't really rain on us! (a couple of one-minute light showers, but nothing more) Lots of rain on the drive back, but, Providentially, we escaped rain on the 3 1/2 hr. hike.

On the same hike a couple weeks back with Tasha and her roommate, we took the wrong trail at the trail junction pictured and ended-up right back where we started from (Wahkeena Falls). This time I decided we'd do the hike in the opposite direction, and we had no problems. The sky was cloudy most of the time, but there was an occasional burst of sun and the sighting of blue sky. Below Riley and I are pictured at the viewpoint on the way down to Wahkeena Falls.One of the cool things about the hike was the shades of green -- including the moss on the trunks and branches of trees. Very impressive, even on a gray day!

On the drive back home Riley wanted to drive up to Vista Point since he had a number of postcards of the place in his vast postcard collection, and he wanted to verify that the building was still there! - rw

Last Views in Sydney

The end of the tour to the Blue Mountains was a cruise down the Parramatta River to Sydney Harbour. It was overcast and rainy but we did go under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. -Nancy

Day in the Blue Mountains

I had one day before my flight back to KL so I joined a tour to explore the Blue Mountains National Park that is about an hour from Sydney. It was great to be out of town. It was a cool, misty day but the weather made me homesick for Oregon. The azaleas, rhododendron and flowering cherry trees sure made the day seem like spring in Oregon. There were even the Three Sisters (not up to OR standards) and many waterfalls. The tallest is Wentworth Falls that is 614 ft. but can't be viewed all at once. The best view was from the cable car across the valley. - Nancy













We even saw a waratah flower in full bloom. This is the state flower of New South Wales.

State Library of NSW

Since I'm exploring libraries I stopped by the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney. The original library had an exhibit on how shopping has changed in Sydney and the very modern new addition had plenty of room for online researching and also the traditional reading areas. It is a beautiful space. I wish US citizens valued both school and public libraries as much as Australians do. - Nancy

Spring in Sydney

After the conference finished on the final day I took the train to downtown and explored the Botanical Garden and harbour area. Even roses were in bloom. The most amazing view was seeing workers on the top of the Sydney Opera House. Not a job for me. -Nancy

Library Envy

The library conference was held at St. Ignatius College, a private school for boys in grades 7-12. They had a fabulous new library that had just about everything I could want - plenty of comfortable seating, computer teaching labs, teaching areas, small study rooms, lots of work space for staff, flexible display space, good periodical displays, flexible shelving for books and the size was ample. -Nancy

Library Conference in Sydney

Oct. 2 was the first day of the library conference I attended in Sydney. I had plenty of time so decided to walk to the conference from my hotel. It is spring in Sydney so I enjoyed the cool weather and beautiful flowers. I'm standing on the entry of the main hall at the school where the conference was held. Quite the view. - Nancy

Visiting Poet at ISKL

Poet Taylor Mali spent four days working with our middle and high school students at ISKL. It was a rich experience for all. The second picture is with two of our eighth grade humanities classes.- Nancy