Sweeter

A few favorite photos from Italy

I was just going through some of our Italy photos. There are so many that a I love.  Here's a few.

Sleepy lion in Assisi with the Umbria Valley below.

 

Town of Soriana Nel Cimino celebrates the Festiva Santa Theresa - the patron saint of motorists.

Beautiful fountain in the town square of Soriano Nel Cimino.

 A statue in the Vatican Museum.  One of the Pope's commissioned the fig leaf for modesty.

Poppies grow everywhere.

Bell tower in Sienna.

Shop displaying a boar head...wild boar is a local favorite in the Umbrian Valley.

 
Soriana Nel Cimino at sunrise.

 

Shrine to a saint in a tiny church (holds maybe 20 people) in Soriano Nel Cimino.

 
Old women gather after church.

 
Basicalla St. Francis in Assisi. 

 
Blogging from Italy.

  
 
 
 
 
 

Eric Olmsted - I'm dang proud of ya!

All of you who know Eric and I well, know that Eric believes strongly in giving back to the community.  He loves Vancouver, the State of Washington, the Pacific Northwest.  He's volunteered all over, attends fundraisers for worthy causes, and serves on multiple boards.  Eric cares about people...he listens to them...he encourages them...he helps them seek solutions.  On top of this, Eric is a businessman and a family man...giving and caring.

Eric ran for City Council several years ago...making it through the primary and getting almost 40% of the vote in the general election...certainly a pretty good showing for his first try at public office.  A recent vacancy on the city council, gave Eric the opportunity to apply for appointment to the position.  There were 15 applications and Eric was one of 4 selected to be interviewed tonight for the open position.

I was pleased to see so many of our friends and Eric's supporters were able to attend the interviews (which were open to the public and televised on CVTV).  Eric was the first candidate to be interviewed.  I felt his answers were direct and concise...and honest...much like he is.  He didn't ramble, he didn't skirt answering any questions, and he didn't use the interview time as an opportunity to politic. He was himself...an honest and good man without an agenda, simply wanting to do his part to serve his community.

The council made their decision tonight, and they decided not to appoint Eric to the position.  Part of me was disappointed, part of me was relieved, but mostly, I guess I was confused.  Not that the other candidates weren't all good people to choose from, because they were...but I guess...it's just hard for me to understand when others don't see the many amazing qualities in Eric that I see every day.

I'm proud of Eric.  Proud of his values, his ethics, his hard work, and his dedication to his family and his community.  I raise my cyber glass of wine to toast this man....I'm so, so proud to be his Mrs.

Thank you everyone for all your encouragement, support and friendship!  You all mean so much to us!

Oh, no! No snow!

The Sunriver Gang.

Eric and I joined three other couples (and a few very cool young ladies) for a weekend trip to Sunriver, Oregon.  The purpose....snowshoeing (well, and eating, drinking, playing cards and hot tubbing...sounds good, doesn't it)  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Mother Nature had other plans because there was no snow to be found.  We checked into our rooms at The Pines Resort...which was gorgeous....huge rooms, giant bathrooms, rustic/western furniture and a big stone fireplace made with local lava rock.  After settling in, we decided since there was no snow, we'd move onto Plan B....hiking. 

 

Saturday we bundled up and headed to Lava Lands in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument Park.  The volcanic cinder butte erupted over 7,000 years ago covering 10 square miles with molten lava.  It was a surreal experience, such a bizzare landscape, like being on the moon.  In fact the astronauts trained here for the first lunar landing.

 

Lava Lands "lunaresque" landsacpe.  Check out the beginnnings of a rainbow in the sky.

 

 
Love this sky shot!

 

After Lava Lands we headed over to Smith Rock. This place was breathtaking.  It's an amazing canyon created by the Crooked River.  Smith Rock is a rock climbers paradise, and it ain't too shabby for hikers.  Our group hiked down to the bottom of the canyon and then split from there.  Us more genteel (ok...lazy) hikers took the river trail, while the more athletic took the steep (and I mean steep) hike up the side of the butte to the top of Smith Rock.

 

Smith Rock and the Crooked River canyon.

 

Can you believe people actually do this for fun?!

 

Eric actually hiked to the top of Smith Rock (behind him) in 25 minutes...and he's still smiling.

 

We awoke Sunday to gloomy skies and persistent rain.  But, being the hearty souls we are, we laced up our hiking boots, put on our hats, and set off for Benham Falls, which is the largest falls on the Deschutes River...and also a Class 6 rapids.  Personally, I don't know how anyone could survive a run down this thing.

 

A rainy hike to Benham Falls.

 

Class 6 rapids at Benham Falls.

After hiking through Benham Falls we were a bit wet and chilled....so we decided we'd had enough outdoor fun and headed into Bend for lunch at the Deschutes River Brewery.  Six pints of beer (collectively) and some burgers later, we were fat and happy...until, the waitress told us about a gelato place (housed in a candy store) down the street.  Since we'd all been to Italy earlier this year, well, we just had to try it.  Powell's Sweet Shoppewas unbelievable!  Besides having a killer gelato selection, they had every kind of candy imaginable in this place, including some of my favorites from when I was a kid....U-No bars, Sixlets, Laffy Taffy, candy cigarettes, Zotts...the list goes on and on.  And, in the back...a big screen TV showing, what else, but Willy Wonka (the orginal).  The screen is surrounded with Willy memorabilia, and vintage theatre seats are the perfect spot to sit and watch while you munch on your movie-sized Mike n' Ike's.  Sweet! 

Kids in a candy store, Bill and Eric order gelato.

 

 

Eric and I at Smith Rock.

We're still hoping to go snowshoeing sometime this winter, but the weekend was so much fun with incredible natural scenery, challenging hikes, amazing food, and good company, I don't feel like I missed a thing.

Arrrgghhhh! Blankety-blank typepad!

I just finished a wonderfully written (in my opinion) blog about Eric's and my wonderful New Year's Eve at Skamania Lodge...complete with photos.  It took me an hour.  I resized some of the photos and then typepad crashed my computer...this has been an on-going problem when I use typepad.  I had thought it might just be the computer I was using...but no, it's happened several times.

So, I'm not in the mood to completely rewrite my masterpiece, so here's the summary.

Skamania Lodge gift certificate.  New Year's Eve.  Freezing rain.  Made it safe. Cozy lobby with fire and rocking chairs. Wine by the fire.  Gazing at the tree.  What's with all the kids?  Dinner...dissppointing, but atmosphere made up for it.  Back to the cozy lobby after dinner.  Hot cocoa.  Piano players.  Bagpipes.  No noisemakers, streamers, or drunks (how wonderful).  Happy.  Relaxed.  Comfortable.  Happy New Year!  Breakfast next day made up for the not so good dinner.  Beautiful views.  Love Skamania Lodge.  Love the Columbia Gorge (one of God's masterpieces). One of our best New Year's ever.

Here's a few photos...huge, because I'm afraid to resize them again.

   

Yeah, George! Boo, Potter! Go, little guy!

Many of you know, or maybe you don't, I work for a credit union.  In fact , I'm a credit union "lifer".  For my entire professional career (24 years now), I've been a proud credit union employee.  I've worked for small credit unions and large credit unions...west coast credit unions and east coast credit unions...conservative credit unions and liberal credits unions.  Each one was unique, but underneath it all...they held the same principle...help people succeed financially...with dignity.  Credit unions are non-profit.  We're not out to make a buck on the back of the little guy.  Instead of sitting in fancy boardrooms trying to figure out how we can squeeze more profit out of customers so we can pay our executives millions of dollars in bonuses, we sit in boardrooms trying to figure out how we can offer lower loan rates, higher deposit rates, lower fees, add more convenient services...all for the benefit of our members.

I was (you probably were too) outraged...and I mean hopping mad....when the government "bailed" out the big banks.  Billions upon billions of taxpayer money (yours and mine) went to keep these guys afloat.  Yes, our hard earned taxes went to support outrageous salaries, private jets, and even extensive art collections. I don't know about you, but umm...I'd rather my tax dollars went to help young people go to college, fund cancer research, even build more dog shelters, than to go to these greedy corporate giants.  (Please note:  I'm talking about big banks here...not to be confused with your local community bank, those guys are a-ok. Not as great as credit unions...but, you know, I'm biased.)

Yes...credit unions are the "Bailey Building and Loan's" of the world, and those big banks, well, they're the mean old "Mr. Potters."  I came across this video today that shows the difference between us little guys, and those big guys.  Go little guys!   Check out the video.

So, if you still do business with one of those big banks.  Give it some thought.  Check out a credit union.  Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.