Sand Bubbles

Laury, a FaithWriter from Illinois, flew to visit Marita, Janelle, and I this week. We talk on IM and the phone all the time, so it didn't really feel like meeting her for the first time. It's been so much fun to laugh and tease in person, though. The three of us have sore cheeks from laughing so much. Both Laury and my pain levels are much lower than they've been for a while.

Marita lives right on the Columbia River, a couple of hours northwest of me, and today I drove to stay the night at her house with her and Laury. Mari's family is out of town, so it's just the three of us giggling away as we please. As I type this, we're watching a movie. Mari says she's never going to watch one with the two of us again. LOL ;-) I thought I was bad about talking during movies...Laury's even worse, ha.

After dinner today we went wading in the slough where the river is very shallow and lazy. The sun was slipping below the horizon--just an orange glow lighting the tops of the foothills and casting a silver sheen over the rippling water. The tide was up, and that created a fascinating phenomena with the sand--I've never met sand that acted quite like that. As you stepped into it, the sand sunk down a few inches, releasing a cascade of burbling bubbles that massaged our feet with every step. As the sky darkened, tiny fish jumped from the water, catching their dinner in glistening streaks.

Birds and tumblers and giggles

Today we went out to Chrissy’s favorite place. It’s a lovely walk along Hawkesbury River. I saw a number of birds that are very colorful and pretty, plus a cute sparrow just like the ones we have at home. ;-) We stopped at Gloria Jeans--a coffee house chain. I had a some hot chocolate. It’s a bit different than US hot chocolate--less rich and less sweet. It was very nice, though. I also discovered that what we in the US call a barbeque, they call a webber, and they often call bikes "push bikes".

After lunch Norm and I went to a small circus that has stopped nearby. The animal acts weren’t very exciting, and the animals weren’t very enthusiastic except for one monkey who thoroughly enjoyed his flips and handstands. However, the people’s acts were great. One of my favorites was a sort of Three Stooges type tumbling act. It was also a lot of fun when a six of the gymnasts’ young girls and toddlers came out and did a few tricks.

Chrissy had a rather hard evening--very painful. But she took one of her higher pain killers and now she’s quite giggly, lol.

Tonight Norm and Chrissy’s son, Ken, joined us for dinner and we ate outside with a fire in the outside wood burning fireplace. We made a late birthday cake for me, and then, apparently in Siggee tradition, Norm and Ken sang a very low, off-key rendition of happy birthday while Chrissy and I giggled.

Now Chrissy and I are sitting side by side, working on our laptops and chatting, hehe.