Saturday Sept 7

Yesterday morning we visited three beautiful lakes: Trillium, Timothy and Frog Lakes. While growing up, our default camping spot was Frog Lake, so we all looked forward to spending some time reminiscing at this beautiful little gem of a lake at the base of Mt. Hood. Frog Lake is named for obvious reasons – the place swarmed with little frogs. On my fifth birthday, our family had its first camping experience at Frog Lake. It was a trip of firsts: first outhouse, first hand-pump water-well, first rock skipping, and first meal cooked over an open campfire! Life would never be the same. Paul had just turned three and our older sister had just turned eight, Jim and I were in-between. Drawing on our vast life experience, we devised a sure-fire prank to pull on our father. We caught about 20 little frogs, each less than an inch long and put them in his sleeping bag. We assumed that at night the frogs would hop around and frighten him. What could go wrong? Yes, that was the year dad found 20 dead frogs in his sleeping bag.

We visited our parent’s grave in the Willamette National Cemetery yesterday afternoon. In some ways my parents were very generous, but in others they were, shall we say, frugal. So, when my dad learned that as a veteran of the Second World War, he and my mother could be buried free at the National Cemetery, deal done. What dad later learned was that he would receive only one cemetery plot. Mom died first; she is on the bottom bunk. Dad followed 14 years later; he is on the top bunk. They were married almost 56 years. Loved the Lord. Loved each other. They left quite a heritage. One of dad’s endearing quotes, “If it’s free, take two”.

We went to the Roosevelt High School (our alma mater) football game last night. Some things never change, Number 72 was still sitting on the bench! The last time I wore number 72 for the Roughriders was 50 years ago during the fall of 1969! A few of our elementary school and high school friends joined us for the game and pizza afterwards. It was delightful to get caught up with two childhood friends, meet their spouses, and swap stories after a 50-year hiatus.