June 2, 2010 High Tea with Special Friends

On our way back from Copalis we stopped for a few days in Elma. From there we were able to head out to visit people in the Olympia area. We made our way to Lacey and Lake St. Claire where our dear friends the Comers live. The sun was shining and it promised to be a wonderful day.

On the deck with Anne Comer.
Awaiting us was a beautiful High Tea. Note the cucumber slices with smoked salmon pate. Also the toast rounds with salmon pate and cucumber decor. Along with fruit, cookies etc. Please also note the english bone china tea cups. Haven't had the pleasure for awhile, as mine are all packed away.

Forget me not tea pot with lemon wedges at the side.

Here we are the four of us. Myrna, Bob, Don and Anne. We have known the Comers and their extended families for almost 55 yrs. Don and Anne were missionaries in British Columbia when I was a teenager. Don was also an accomplished mountain climber and still tells a good story with a wonderful sense of humour.

Enjoying the sunshine and being outdoors amongst the trees and flowers.

Anne has many pots on her deck with a variety of flowers. This is one of them. They looked a little water logged from all the rain we have been having.

This pot contained her pride and joy... a cat plant!!!

Brenda, daughter #3, was our server extraordinaire. She made our tea and served all the wonderful goodies. What a fun time catching up on everyone's family. We also enjoyed our first skype experience. We called Gayle (daughter #2) to wish her happy birthday. We may have to look into getting that on our computer if we keep up this travelling. Thanks again Comer's for a wonderful day.

Copalis Beach

On Memorial Day Weekend we find ourselves going to Copalis Beach to camp out with friends & family. We have been doing this for approx 7 yrs. There can be anywhere from 10 to 30 of us there for the weekend. This yr. with the weather forecast (rain), illness, etc. our number was 10 (5 rigs). One friend came with his 2 kids for one night. When we arrived on Thursday, our neighbors Patti and Terry, invited us to dinner. It was yummy and then 4 others came for cake and ice cream. This was the beginning of the eating experience. As you will see, we eat well. But what can you expect with 7 cooks out of the 10 people here. When you add a very wet weekend, what else is there to do... socialize, which leads to games and eating.

The first night of potluck. All of this came out of 5 rigs.

Parmeson chicken, ham, Pork roast with peach sauce, fruit salad, asparagus, mac n cheese, rice hamburger dish, Tx white sheet cake, brownies, strawberry cream pie, cookies.

Saturday night is spagetti night. Bob & Lorraine Coleman did the sauce from scratch complete with a secret dry ingredient. Oh my..

Spagetti & meat balls, salad, pea salad, homemade garlic bread, brownies, lemon cake. I am sure there was more. Just can't remember.

This was our brief sunny period after dinner. Frank and Bob were wearing their Cubs hats. Just had to get the Cub twins with the shadow evidence in the back ground.

The Colemans, Smileys and Myrna set up Mexican Train outside. We lasted about 5 rounds and then moved inside as it was getting so cold. I think Patti was the winner on this game.

Stan, Bev, Frank and Carolyn were headed to the beach for a walk. We actually had a campfire that night. The only night it didn't rain.

Sunday found us in the clubhouse for another round of Mexican Train.

Left over spagetti, roast beef with gravy, potatoes, green salad, chicken, carrots, sausages, scalloped corn, brownies, lemon cake. I am sure I missed something. So now you know what we do well!!! EAT.... It is the friendship and the fun times that we remember the most.

Stan started us on the question "When did you first meet as a couple?" Some interesting stories came forth with much laughter. We are blessed by our friendships. This group contains friends we have known since we were teenagers, family and new friends (5 yrs). All very special in their own way.

We are now off to Elma, WA to visit friends and relatives. It is still raining... later....

Quil Ceda Elementary Outdoor Education

Quilceda Elementary 4th and 5th graders move in for 2 1/2 days for outdoor education. Through the school year they have to earn points for good behavior etc and if they get 3 demerits, they can't come. They have classes on beading, canoeing, archery, outdoor games etc. Then when they come for meals, we serve the 4th graders first, then the 5th graders. There are 40 high school counselors, 40 parents and 9 teachers. The rest are kids. We served from 275 to 304 people per meal. There were drop ins each day which made the count rise for lunch. Mealtime was organized chaos!!! It was also important that we have the meals ready on time as they had a tight schedule.

This was the applecrisp going into the convection ovens for day 2 lunch. We had to plan all baking around the meal prep. Somehow we had enough pans for each day. 11 trays of cookies, 6 pans of apple crisp, 12 trays of cinnamon rolls, 5 large boneless hams (45# total), 300 hamburger patties, 40# of ground turkey, 10 flats of strawberries.... I think you get the picture.
This is Jane and Penny. Penny is in charge of the Dining Hall and ordering food. She keeps us on the straight and narrow and our budget under control. She is amazing.

A lot of our work was prep work. Jim & Bob are slicing tomatoes for the hamburgers. Every piece of fruit, tomatoes, carrots etc has to be washed and then sliced, shredded or chopped. Salads to be made and fruit portions to be sliced. Two trays for each side. 8 gal of milk per meal.

Here is Jane at the washing station for the veggies and fruits. We were blessed with excellent team mates. Everyone helped each other.

Jared and Tara were our pots & pans "dish pigs". They are also the cooks for the next group coming into camp. Here they are going over their order sheets with Penny. Their's is a specialized menu for vegetarians.

Here is a food line. It is hard to get a picture of the whole set up. This is the beverage station and the end of the line. They usually start with fruit or salad, then the main entree like hamburgers and sweet potato fries, all the condiments, cookies, watermelon and beverage.

Getting up at 4:30 am, we were blessed to see a gorgeous sunrise.

It comes up over Mt Baker and the Chuckanut mountains. God's blessing on the day.

Different jobs at the campgrounds.

Our main job here at the campgrounds is to keep 40 acres of grass mowed. This is me on the little mower that I do the RV park with. We also try to use it around the cabins, as it picks up the grass so they don't track it in the different buildings.
This is Bob on the big John Deere. It is used on the bigger areas, like the playing field, trails, parking lot and other areas..

Last year I put on 150 mattress covers and this year we put on another 150. A two stage job when you are a shorty. Pull it all onto the top half and then..

... sit the mattress up and pull it down the rest of the way.

Then there are the water line leaks. This one was the result of the buses or trucks that ran over this connection. Later on we had a septic line problem causing a back up into one of the main restrooms. What a mess that was. Never a dull moment.

Another one of my duties... help put away the grocery orders for the camps. There are 2 trucks that come once a week and bring produce, breads, canned goods, freezer goods. I get to help check the list and make sure we got everything and that everything is acceptable. Penny does the walk in cooler and frozen goods. I do the pantry and cleaning products (toilet paper, towels, soap, etc)

The latest job was as cook for one of the groups. This is apple crisp for 275 people. They are ready for the oven. It is unreal the amount of food we went through. Who knows what else is around the corner. But there will always be grass to mow.

The Painter's Final Products

This painting is quite detailed and is to be used for a Bainbridge Island tour event. The middle will have a map in it. She is even going to make note cards from this. Note the ferry boats, mountain and even a slug on the tap. Very detailed work.
This picture doesn't do justice to this water color. The deep hues of this flower were exquisite.

I love different types of doors, so this one caught my eye. It makes you want to open the door and see what is on the other side.

This shows a variety of the paintings done. Some very modernistic.

I love this one. I could title it the Wragge boys. (my cousin's boys). Another week at the campground comes to an end.

Beginning of the NW Water Color Society week

For the next 4 days, the water color painters have taken over the campground. They set up the tables in the dining hall so there are two people to a table. They arrange their painting area and start to work on some wonderful paintings. Today they literally blew in with the wind and rain. They were greeted by a dessert buffet for their evening snack. It sure doesn't look like the camping food we usually get.
Crackers with brie cheese, another assorted cheese plate, mixed nuts, butter tarts & lemon tarts.

Veggie plate, fruit plates and chocolate dipped strawberries. They were so good.

This iris arrangement was in the center of the table. Aren't they gorgeous.

Patti is the head cook for the next 4 days and has 3 helpers. I think she does a lot of the baking ahead of time. She is a hard act to follow.

Flora, Fauna and Wild Things on Samish

The continual battle for food goes on from sunup to sundown. They are so pretty when the sun reflects on their colors. The left is a rust colored rufous hummingbird. On the right is a green one.
At the bottom of the hill by the burn pile you look out to the east over the commercial oyster beds.

To the west is a view of Freestad Lake. It is a man made lake dug out by Sig Freestad so the campers could swim without waiting for the tide to come in. It is a salt water lake. Right now we have a problem with jelly fish, which unfortunately sting when disturbed.

A salmon berry blossom.

Wild honeysuckle. The humming birds love this.

Part of the trees on the bluff. This tree has the most beautiful rust colored leaves.

If you can make it out, it is a humming bird nest. It is attached to a stem of Oregon Grape. I didn't get to see the momma on the nest. Any sound and they are out of there.

Down by the grass dumping pile, I found 3 peacocks or peahens. They were not disturbed by me at all. Just gave me the once over and went on their merry way. This is very near the Blue Heron Rookery. We call it the white forest. Will have to get some pictures of them in the future and also of the bald eagles that fly over. More later....