Central Oregon

Just returned from 8 days in Central Oregon, (Sunriver to be exact) with some color on my pasty whites and fresh color on my roots! What the hey, a little mind body overhaul in the sun! I got in a few rounds of golf, bike rides, good photo 'ops" and read 4 books!

The golf was really Not Bad, considering that I haven't played in months and was playing with my husband who fancies himself a coachadysst! That would be someone who isn't playing worth spit so take it upon their shoulders to tell others how to perfect the game as it is in progress. REALLY? I managed to escape the front nine with a 50, (I had a few 7's along the way) so was delighted to post the score for my first time out in almost a year. I beat my husband and felt a pang of satisfaction that I managed to par a hole or two even with his voice in the background saying "are you sure you want to do that" and "check that grip" or "watch that alignment", usually during the back-swing or just as I settled into a putt. Good heavens, there was no money on this game dear! I must remember to eat some chilly or something before our next twosome outing!

The bike rides are spectacular around our end of Sunriver. We are located out near the Marina and airport so have pretty quick access to the the trails going away from population and toward scenic waterways, mountains, horses and glider planes. Also only a 10 minute peddle away from a nice resturant on the water with a lovely bar looking out on the scene. I jaunted in on my own once for a cooling ice tea (not long island) before my peddle back. I had intended to go back for a mojito but never got the op again. Oh well. "Drunkin' woman wipes out on bike, drowns in irrigation ditch!" Not a pretty headline eh? On one of the rides, I saw in the distance a great cloud of dust coming up off a otherwise calm and clear horizon. The fields and mountains behind the cloud were in perfect evening light so was spectacular for filming. No' I had left the camera at the condo! RATS! Rode on up to see that it was a herd of 50 or so horses being escorted out to new fresh pasture after a day hauling tourist on their backs all day. Wow, were they enjoying running free, going home for their day to enjoy a great pasture meal and just "be" horses. It felt like a snapshot from the past and gave me chills. I got a close look into the eyes of one horse as it passed near the fence where I was watching. I swear it raised it's head a little higher and fluffed it's nostrils as it look right at me, like "don't even think about coming out for a ride old girl"! I vowed to get back out their and see the end of day release once more before we left for home. See the photo? I loved this moment.

As to the books read: I started with a small serving called "Four Season's in Rome" that was the lead into the reading orgy that was to follow. It's about a fellow who was given a grant to go live in Rome for a year, given office space at the University with other Fellows, and a good chunk of money to do whatever. He didn't even have to produce, just be! The catch was that he and his wife had 6 week old twins and the courage to go ahead and do this thing. It was interesting to rad about them covering the same areas in Rome where my family live, and see them grow with the twin boys in a foreign land. A good quick read.

Next I took on "Loving Frank". It is a historical novel based on fact about Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress Mamuh Borthwick. I got about four chapters or so into it and was still ambivalent about finishing it...still hadn't really hooked me. Once I got really interested in the some of the characters, I was totally STUNNED by the finish. So unaware of this little piece of relating to Taliesin North and Frank and Mamuh. I got on line to be sure the author hadn't gone off her rocker but sure enough the things she wrote about were true. Oh how I wish my grandmother was still with us, (I miss her everyday yet, but that's another blog) because she no doubt would have known all about their affair and the outcome, it had to have been such a scandalous and shocking thing in the thirties.

Finally, my daughter introduced my to a set of novels I never would have found on my own. I am into historical novels, bios and auto-bios, travel novels, etc. But books about Vampires and Werewolves? She said she had noticed a lot of her high school students reading these books while student teaching a began reading them to see what they found so compelling. My goodness! I got through the first two she brought and bought the third on as fast as I could when we returned to "P" town. It is all based in Forks, Wa, our backyard, and runs off to other places where I have traveled around he world. The best foreign site was one of my favorite places in Italy, Voltera! Wish I had read this book before I visited there again last September. So many of the things would have made more sense, and been even more intriguing because they still have some of the festivals mentioned in the chapters. Because Voltera is the site of one of the oldest Etruscan civilizations, it is already fabulously interesting to me, but with the Vampire thing, well, you see where this is going. SO, if you feel like reading something quite out of your usual genre, take a look at the Twilight Saga books by Stephenie Meyer. Nuff said.

We celebrated Rico's bday while there too. "Best puppy in the world" had a great day, got a new birthday hat (thanks for the humiliation LJ) and got to eat ice cream! What more does a 3 year old pup want!

So for now, back home and inspired to do more each day that is 1), physical, 2), simply because I want too, 3), see Mama Mia as soon as it comes out, 4), golf at least once a week, 5), read a book a week . Humm, best get up from this computer and start!