Week in Review: An Eclectic Bit of Rambling from Mayberry

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

This is a long post.  If you want to leave a comment,  you will need to go all the way to the end.  Thanks!

Months ago, I signed up for Fedjit Live, opting for the free version that lists the City, State or Country of where you guys are visiting from.  It is interesting; there are countries that I have never heard of before.  It also shows if you were searching Google for a phrase or item and ended up being led to one of my blog posts.

There are very popular posts that are mainly so because of the title of the post itself.  This is especially true for "Heidi 1937", "Billy the Exterminator and Vex Con", "Preparing for Winter Fun", "Info and Links Regarding the Joplin, MO Tornado of Saturday Night" and "The Letter R".  The SEO (search engine optimization) picks up those key words, and when somebody searches the net for those titles, they lead them to my blog.  Cool.

One search the other day absolutely cracked me up.  Somebody who had been here before or knew a tiny bit about my blog searched for "tyler letsom, ramble ramble"  and wa-lah!  They found me.  Tyler is a Matthews, the Letsoms are my Grandma's people and I suppose that I do ramble.  I notice that I really ramble in person as I tell a story.  I start out with the title, fill in the backstory and then get to the main point.  It drives some people crazy, but I certainly do appreciate those friends and listeners who are patient and can sit through the whole thing until I am done. 

Last week was busy, filled with family, helping out Cary at work, and blogging/organizing my photos.  Kylie came to visit for a few days, and last Wednesday, she played softball with our nephew Jimmy's team.  Though she hadn't played since she was in first or second grade, it all came back to her.  Kylie is a jock just like the rest of the Matthews.  I knew that I was marrying into backhoes, but didn't realize that I was marrying into athletes!

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Kylie practices hitting as Nick pitches to her.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Ethan and Jimmy during warm-up.  Ethan had a busy day that day ... he mowed a lawn and filled in three pits that consisted of hauling and dumping thirty wheelbarrows of rock.  He made $18.00 for his efforts.  I think that I have found the guy to pull our weeds.  At 13, he is a super worker.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Seth and Fred.  Watching Seth play is like watching a pro-player.  Fred is the manager of the team, and he really knows what he is doing.  They were behind 15-0 and he brought them back to win.  It was really fun to watch everybody, and I hope we go and do that again soon.

Speaking of baseball, Johnny's team did go on to regionals and worked their way up throughout the tournament, but sadly will not be going on to the world series after all.  Johnny won the home run tournament though, and hit 4 out of 10 balls out of the park!  Way to go, Hollywood, and way to go Black Hills.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Gage turned 5.  I am going to make him a book for his birthday ... a book about him.   I need to get going on that!

Source:  Tom Hauck. @ ESPN RISE

Tyler had another great week last week, playing at ESPN's Elite 11 in Malibu, at Pepperdine University.  It sounded like everybody had a great trip and enjoyed the California sun.  Here is the link to the article about him and others: "CLICK HERE".

Source:  Kari's Facebook Page

If it seems like I haven't posted much about my girls and Casey, it is because I haven't seen them since Memorial Day.  They are doing well, and have been attending weddings and family reunions like crazy.  I'll be so happy to see them next weekend though.  Kari and Casey are in the top picture, and Kristin and Casey are in the following one:

Source:  Kristin's Facebook Page

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 We had some young deer come to visit.

Then they left.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

On Saturday, Cary, Darlene (my MIL), Kylie and I went to lunch at Paulina Lake Lodge. Afterward we drove around looking at the campgrounds on Paulina and East Lake.  The weather was pleasant, the wind was down, and the lakes were very full.  So were the campgrounds.  I didn't feel like taking any pictures that day, so I didn't.  I'm thinking that my catalog is pretty full of the pictures of the places where we usually go to, and unless I see something unusual or extremely beautiful, I'm going to slow down a bit.

Here is one of Paulina Lake Lodge from last year.  We did sit on the deck and to eat our lunch on Saturday.  The food was very good.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

The view wasn't bad either:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

On Sunday, I went ahead and made an attempt to make things look better on our front patio.  This is the year of making the best of our leftovers in lawn furniture.  I think that we are going to have to bite the bullet and buy some new stuff next year.  Even the umbrella droops. This is not a fancy home and garden post, but it is more of a how if you spend $100 on hanging baskets you might be able to spruce things up a bit.   I didn't even take any "before" pictures, it was that bad.  Of course, the lawn itself always very beautiful.  Cary sees to that.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

When seat cushions go on sale at the end of the season, I think I'll spring for some.  The metal chairs from Bi-Mart have really lasted; I think that this may be the fourth year we have used them.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

We are now officially collecting windchimes.  Kylie and I each chose a new one from Bi-Mart last week.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Our teak chairs are too wobbly to hold much weight these days, and have been relegated to plant stands.   

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

I kept the handles on the baskets on purpose this year.  That way, if we leave for vacation or it is going to freeze, I'm just going to take them inside and put them on my kitchen island.  I have those glass self-watering bulbs that I can stick in so that they will still get watered.  It has just been that kind of year.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Cary's arm was feeling better yesterday, and he took the opportunity to use the New Holland skidsteer to clean the weeds out of the gravel area in the front.  It is amazing how much he can get done on that thing.  Good job, BFH!

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

The neighbors horses were saying hello to me as I was taking these pictures this morning.  So I took their picture.  Well, that about wraps it up for now.  I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.